The restaurant was inside of an old tavern that had clearly been in business for at least three hundred years. In fact, they proudly displayed their history inside the front door. As Gabriella and Elliot stepped inside, she noted that she was correct in that assumption. The next display over showed details of all the hauntings that supposedly took place in the inn over the years. Gabriella glanced at Elliot to see how he reacted to it, but he seemed to be distracted by the decorative autumn display on the other side of the hallway.

Gabriella gave herself ten seconds to glance over the article. Missing items, mysterious voices, cold spots. A clear classic haunting that was nowhere near her problem tonight.

No, tonight she was going to sit down, have a nice dinner with a cute boy, and spend some time being a normal person who didn’t analyze puff piece articles for signs of real paranormal activity.

She glanced over at Elliot, who must have sensed her gaze, because he turned, looking a little sheepish. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m trying to expand my work with Dad’s company to focus on landscape design so I get distracted.”

“That’s fine,” she said. “It’s a beautiful setup.”

“Isn’t it?” Elliot said. “Look at the splashes of color up here against the knots on the wall. It’s so simple, but it’s elegant. Anyway, come on, I made a reservation.”

His hand twitched like he was about to hold it out to her, and then thought better of it. Gabriella followed him into the waiting area at the end of the hallway, where a host stand was tucked against the wall.

“Two for six o’clock,” Elliot said to the young woman, who hurried over to the stand as they walked in. “It should be under Elliot Ramsey.”

She glanced down at her stand, then smiled broadly at Elliot. “Of course,” she said. “I’ll show you to your table.”

She started walking so quickly that Gabriella nearly had to run to keep up with her. Elliot walked smoothly, but she could tell he was trying not to laugh and she had to appreciate that, at least. She felt like an overgrown child playing dress-up at this tavern. But Elliot seemed right at home, giving the reservation information and following the nicely dressed hostess into the intimate dining room down the hallway.

The woman led them over to a small table beside the window. “Enjoy your meal,” she said, setting down a couple of small black menus. “The waitress will be over soon.”

And then she was gone, leaving the two of them alone in this small room. Three other tables filled the space, but there was no sign that anyone else would be coming in. Before Gabriella could comment on it, Elliot let out a long breath.

“God, I felt like a little kid out there,” he admitted.

“Really?” Gabriella said with a laugh. “You seemed like you knew exactly what to do. I was the one running after you.”

“That’s good to hear,” he said, laughing now, too. “Because I had no idea what I was doing.”

“Me neither,” she admitted. “I’m just happy to be here.”

That seemed to catch him off guard, because his open smile suddenly took on a spark of something that made Gabriella feel a little warmer just looking at it. He looked like he felt lucky to be here with her.

---

“So what do you do when you’re not up here at your mom’s?”

A little while later, they were finishing up their meal. The sun had set completely but outside the window, the leaves were still brilliantly red and orange in the floodlights. Inside, Elliot was giving her that crooked smile that made her heart flutter, even as he asked a question that made her freeze up inside.

“Oh, nothing exciting,” she said. “I live alone, so I’m usually just hanging out at home if nothing else is happening.”

“Nice,” he said. “I’m pretty similar, except I live with one of my brothers. His house is down the street from my parents’ house and he rents me a room.”

“That’s nice,” Gabriella said. “Does he work for your dad too?”

“We all do,” Elliot said with a laugh. “All four of us. Two live at home, two live at Dave’s. But we all work together.”

“I can’t imagine,” Gabriella said, shaking her hand as the waitress set a slice of cheesecake down in front of them.

The date was going better than she’d expected. They’d had a simple dinner, but it was delicious. She’d had baked chicken while he had fish and it had been surprisingly relaxing to chat with him about random things once they were eating. She’d managed to avoid any discussion of her own work and it seemed like maybe she was going to get out of here without it coming up at all.

“Yeah, it’s just me,” she continued, taking a small spoonful of the cheesecake. “It’s not bad, though. Except for when I decide to watch a horror movie before bed.”

Elliot laughed, taking his own bite of the cheesecake. “I can’t do horror movies,” he admitted. “My older brothers showed me The Exorcist far too young, and it just messed with me.”

Gabriella laughed. But maybe this was her opportunity to get some information. “I love them,” she said. “They’re just so interesting.”

“I guess,” Elliot said. “But I guess I’m just chicken. Even when I remind myself that there’s no such thing as ghosts, I’m too scared to go to bed without the lights on.”

And that was it. Gabriella tried to mask her disappointment with another bite of cheesecake. “You, um, you don’t believe in ghosts?” she asked, hoping it sounded more casual than she thought it did.

Elliot laughed. “Nope,” he said. “God and all that? Who knows? It makes my brain hurt just thinking about it. But I know for a fact that there’s no such thing as ghosts or monsters. Despite what my brothers tried to convince me when we were growing up.”

He beamed at her and she tried not to let her disappointment show. “What about you?” he asked. “Do you believe in ghosts?”

His tone was sweetly teasing. Gabriella shrugged, feeling the disappointment filling every part of her. “Who knows?”

She knew. She knew perfectly well. In fact, she’d spent all day yesterday tracking a ghost in a grocery store. And she found it. It had been in the back of the deli and she’d nearly destroyed forty dollars’ worth of ham trying to get to it.

But Elliot was so sweet. And he was gazing at her with that look again, the one that seemed almost shocked that she’d agreed to a date with him. Which was ridiculous. He was the one out of her league. She was sitting here in the one nice dress she owned with her hair carefully put up to hide the bald spot from a monster ripping out a chunk of it.

“I’m just all set on ghost stories,” Elliot said. “Give me an outer space documentary or a stupid comedy and I’m happy.”

He pushed the last bite of cheesecake toward her. “That’s all yours,” he said with another smile.

---

An hour later, Gabriella was trying to push their discussion aside as Elliot walked her to her car. “Are you driving back to Fitchburg tonight or are you staying here?” he asked.

“I’m going home.”

They’d almost made it to the end of the night without him asking about her job, so she clamped down her tongue before finishing that with “I have work tomorrow.”

“Well, drive safe,” Elliot said.

Before she could respond, he leaned down and kissed her. Gabriella’s eyes widened, then she closed them, leaning into the kiss. His mouth was warm on hers, and tasted faintly like the wine they’d had over dinner.

Then, too soon, he was pulling back, the cold night air flooding back into the space between them. She opened her eyes to see him smiling at her.

“Can I take you out again?” he asked, looking a little nervous. “Like, sometime soon?”

She’d deal with it when the time came. It was worth it if she got to kiss him like that again. “I’d love that,” Gabriella replied.

Elliot smiled and ducked down to kiss her one more time, the brush of his lips on hers much lighter this time. Then he waited as she got into her car and turned it on. Once she was set, he went to his own car with a wave.

The ride home was dark and rainy, but Gabriella didn’t care. She couldn’t wait to get home, lie down on the couch, and dissect every moment of the night. Sure, he didn’t believe in ghosts and she worked as a paranormal investigator. But that was the only problem and if this worked out, she was confident they could get through it.

By the time she went to bed, she was still happy, but a little less confident about everything. As she checked under the bed one last time, then slid under the covers, Gabriella glanced at her phone.

ELLIOT

Good Night 🙂

He was serious about seeing her again, wasn’t he? Despite everything, she’d been a little nervous that he was just being nice and she’d never hear from him again. On one hand, she’d be heartbroken. But on the other, it would solve the problem that was now gnawing at her.

She’d tell him on the next date. That way, if things went wrong, they’d know they weren’t compatible early and she wouldn’t have given enough emotion to it to wreck her.

God, no wonder none of the others really dated. This was so nice and so exciting and also sucked so bad.

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 17