The Ghoul Next Door

chapter Fourteen

“No, no.” She waved off my concern. “The producer is walking down the hallway now.”

“Is that all? No biggie.” Okay, my stomach flipped. I was a little nervous too.

Mindy leaned down, attempting to catch her breath. “You’re not going to believe who is with him. Go peek out the door.” She gestured with her hand.

I hurried over to the door and eased it open, trying to stop it from squeaking. “What!”

“Exactly.” Mindy joined me by the door.

“What is Cooper Garrett doing with him?”

Cooper ran the clothing boutique across the street from my bookstore. He’d taken over after his cousin Brianna had used the black magic on Callahan. I still didn’t know how he’d managed to keep the store open and thriving. He had zero fashion sense, but he had psychic ability and it looked as if he was moving in on my gig.

“I’m guessing that he’s going to be on the show too,” Mindy offered as if she was the psychic.

The producer had led me to believe I’d be the only psychic, but now all of a sudden we needed another one? Why he’d kept this a secret, I had no idea.

“He’s probably eye candy for the show. You know, to get ratings,” I said, as I shut the door. I didn’t want them to see us gawking. “That’s the only reason they’d ask him to be on the show. Eye candy.” I was trying to justify my jealousy. There was room for both of us, right?

“Did someone call me?” Candy Cherry popped up beside me.

Great. I’d never be able to say the word candy again. “No, we’re talking about something else.” I wanted to shoo her away. Mr. Fine and Elvis still sat at the table, waiting for me to make my next move.

“Is everything okay?” Elvis asked.

I nodded. “Everything’s fine.” How could anything be all that bad with him around?

Mindy waited for me to finish the conversation with the ghosts, then said, “Oh, and you’re not eye candy?”

I lifted an eyebrow. “No, I’m not. That’s not the reason they hired me.”

“Calm down, I know, but it’s an added bonus as far as they’re concerned. You two are going to be like Paranormal Ken and Barbie.”

“I’ll never be a Barbie. My waist isn’t small enough and my hips are too wide. And I like it that way.”

She took a drink of her soda. “You know what I mean.”

The door rattled as Matt opened it. “Cooper’s going to get a butt-kicking by the first demon he comes in contact with and I’m not sure if there’s a thing I can do to stop it,” I whispered to Mindy.

“I guess he’ll learn the hard way. Here they come.” Mindy smoothed down her shirt with her hand, then wiped her forehead. “Fix your hair.”

“Are you primping?” I laughed. She was primping. We weren’t even on the show yet and she was worried about her appearance.

I chastised Mindy, but I found myself wondering if my lip gloss had smudged. I couldn’t help myself. Was my hair frizzy yet? The humidity was at its daily high. I ran my hands over my hair and rubbed my lips together, checking to see if remnants of gloss remained.

“I can’t believe Cooper is here.” Candy Cherry said.

I whipped around and looked at her. How did she know Cooper?

“Look at this clown,” Mr. Fine said. “He thinks he’s some kind of hot-shot.”

In spite of my frustration with having to share the show with someone who obviously didn’t give a grasshopper’s hind leg about taking his talents seriously, I had to suck it up and work with the guy. If in fact that was why he was there. But why else?

Matt Kelly, the producer closed the distance between us with Cooper strolling closely behind him. Matt was lean, but well-muscled and tanned. Probably from too much vacation time. His white buttoned-up shirt needed at least one more button secured. No one needed to see that much of his chest. The gray in his salt-and-pepper hair matched his pants. He was what Mindy referred to as a silver fox.

“You guys found it.” He moved toward us with big steps.

“Well, we are from Magnolia. It’s kind of hard not to know where everything is,” I said.

I eyed Cooper with a slight smirk. We stared at each other as if we were in a shootout. No way would I allow him to win.

“Touché. Touché. Listen, I’m really excited to get started.” Matt clapped his hands together, then stretched his hand toward me. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Larue. I’ve heard a lot of good things.”

“Thank you.” I shook his hand.

“Larue, I’d like for you to meet your new co-host, Cooper Garrett.” Matt gestured to his side.

He knew good and well that we’d already met. I stared the men down. “I know Cooper.”

“Right, well, I thought he’d be a good addition to the team. I met him last night at Homestead Tavern. His ability to speak with spirits is spot-on, so I knew he had to be a part of the show.”

Cooper winked. He could be such a pain in the butt.