The Ghost of Christmas Never Read Free Page A

aimed my way. I
peeked over the side of the mattress and found him looking up at me. "What's that?" I pointed.
    "What does it look like?"
    "A camera."
    "Good call."
    "And why is it focused on me?"
    "It's focused on the bed because the ghost that haunts this room supposedly likes
to snuggle with whoever is sleeping in it."
    No wonder he didn't want to flip for the thing. I glared at him. "Are you kidding
me?"
    Jake gave me his best what'd-I-do shrug. "What are you pissed about? You don't even
believe in them."
    So I didn't. Fuming anyway, I turned off the lamp again. "Good luck filming your ghost of
Christmas never."
    He just laughed.
    I didn't worry about spirits for very long. In fact, I didn't worry about spirits at all since I
was not a believer. Instead, I lay in silence, thinking about the huge apology I owed my sister. She
was all the family I had, after all. And like an overprotective parent, I needed to let her get on with
her life. The thing was...in all the time I'd cared for her, I'd never once considered what would
happen to me when my work was done.
    I thought of the angel at the check-in counter earlier that evening. I'd wanted a husband
and a dozen babies at one time. But fate had dealt a different hand. Mia had become the focus of my
maternal instinct as I'd baked and decorated, helped with homework, and anxiously waited for her
to come home from dates with boys who didn't deserve her. For years, I'd shelved my personal life
without regret, and what did I have to show for it? A well-adjusted sister who was everything I'd
ever wanted her to be: happy.
    Great job, Libby. Now you can get a life.
    As if I knew how.
    Suddenly the other side of the bed dipped slightly. Jake, I assumed. Trying to scare me.
Just as I looked over my shoulder to tell him off, the comforter rustled, rose, and settled in a new
shape. My entire backside went freezing cold as nothing I could see snuggled up to me. Screaming
bloody murder, I threw back the covers and leapt from the bed. My feet landed on Jake, who yelped
in surprise as I quick-stepped over him and crashed into the table.
    "What the hell?"
    "There's something in that bed." I turned on the lamp and frantically pointed.
    Jake worked his legs out of the sleeping bag so he could get up. Of course there was
nothing in or even on the bed, and in the bright light of normalcy, I doubted that there ever had
been.
    Now I pointed at him. "This is your fault. All that talk about ghosts..."
    "You had a nightmare?"
    "No. I never even got to sleep."
    "Really?" He went to his camera and messed with it for a several moments. "Holy
shit."
    I joined him at the dresser and peered at the screen as he rewound what he'd just filmed
and reviewed it again. I saw myself in bed. On the other side of it a white mist appeared and began
to take the form of a middle-aged man in a sleep shirt that Ebenezer Scrooge might've slept
in—ruffled neck, shirttail hem, long sleeves. Before my eyes, he sat on the bed. I watched him lift the
covers and crawl under them so he could cuddle up to me.
    Ew!
    Outraged, I whirled on Jake, who clearly struggled not to laugh.
    He quickly composed himself. "I did warn you."
    I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.
    "And you can't really blame the guy. You're a beautiful woman alone in a bed."
    Huh? Deliberately not going there, I snatched the camera to throw it at him. He grabbed
my wrist and gently took it from me. "Easy now. That cost me three grand."
    I yanked myself free. "You set me up."
    "I didn't think he'd show with me in here."
    "But you turned on your camera just in case." I bit my knuckle in horror. "Oh God. Please
don't tell me that's why you offered those people my room. If this was all just an elaborate ruse to
get me in here..."
    "While you'd definitely be worth the effort, I'm really not that clever."
    For some reason I believed him. I sat on the foot of the bed. Jake put down the camera
and sat too close to me. I'd never been more aware of a guy. In