tightly closed eyes.
Ashlynn tugged off her white helmet, and her beautiful blonde hair flipped all over the place. Mollie still had no idea how such a perfect. blue-eyed china doll could be related to the crass Scooby. He’d inherited all of his mother’s Italian features and Ashlynn somehow got all her father’s Swedish blood, though she definitely shared her brother’s adventurous side. Ashlynn loved two things—fashion and her bikes. She’d be her brother’s acolyte, except she had a soul. “I am so sorry, Mollie.” Her southern accent came out when she was distressed, and it came out in droves now as she leaped off her bike. “My brother’s a crazy man. Let me get him off your hands.”
Scooby stirred, peering up with annoyance at his kid sister like she’d ruined his fun. Ashlynn tapped her foot with irritation. She was a super sweetheart—if Mollie could’ve kept Scooby’s family after the breakup, she would’ve held onto her. His friends laughed loudly, enjoying the show.
“Guess he’s alive,” Janson muttered.
Her ex wasn’t through with them yet. Rolling over, he pushed to his feet and jogged towards his friends. “I’m a ghost! The great George Price is a ghost!” His friends shouted out with him, all of them crying out they were ghosts as they ran in the direction of the New Orleans Hotel where they always held the biggest party in town. Mollie prayed for patience: Please God, don’t let me wring Scooby’s neck.
Ashlynn sighed deeply and got on her bike. “There’s no controlling the man.” She tucked her hair back into her helmet, muttering to herself, though everyone could hear her, “If I could, he’d never have broken up with you.”
Blushing wildly, Mollie got ready to show everyone to the catacombs when a car inched between her and her tour group. Unfortunately, she recognized exactly who this was too. “Hello, Mother Renee.” She tried to catch her mother’s attention before Mother Renee noticed that the night wasn’t going quite like she envisioned, but her mother’s sharp eyes narrowed on Rosa. “You want me to take care of her?”
Blessedly, the growl of Ashlynn’s motorcycle roared to life as she took off and drowned out her mother’s words, but Mollie couldn’t depend on that for long. “No, no.” Mollie quickly made up a story. “I invited her.”
“You? Why do you always sabotage yourself?”
Mollie shrugged, her gaze darting to Janson and back to her mother. “I thought they made a great couple.”
“I don’t understand you sometimes.” Her mother stopped herself before she got into another tirade against Mollie’s dating life. “Look, I don’t want to get into it. My date stood me up, so I’m meeting with the mayor. He wants to talk.” She put her hand up, stopping Mollie’s certain flow of questions. “Relax, it’s business, so I told him to meet me at the New Orleans Hotel.”
Where the party was? He’d totally try to pick up on her mother there. Mr. Tweed had always had a crush on her mother. The last thing they needed was the mayor in the family. What was she thinking? “Mother Renee!” Her mom drove off, heedless of anything else Mollie had to say.
“Mother Renee?” Janson caught the last part of her conversation—who knew what else he’d heard. “Is she a nun?”
“That’s my mom, but thanks.”
“Is she part of the show?”
All her frustrations from the night erupted from her mouth in a groan, and she shook her head, kneading her brow with her fingers. “Yeah, you got it. My private life is all part of the show—everything designed for years to amuse you.”
His lips tipped up into the first real smile that she’d ever seen on him, and immediately her angst slipped away as she studied his genuine look and softened. Oh, his beautiful hazel eyes looked almost green when they were bright with laughter. So cute. And she was staring at him.
She cleared her throat. “So... I guess you just saw that the Price brother died... um, poor Charlie Price died from his wounds a few days later, and all but two in the gang were dead, so yeah.” She clapped her hands with finality. “Don’t mess with Eureka Springs.”
Or me. Or whoever.
She couldn’t protect her heart from Janson forever. It was definitely time to wrap things up.
CHAPTER SIX
“This is spectacular!” Rosa was enthralled with this magical night, though Janson was sure that these interruptions of the ghost tour weren’t on purpose, judging by the harried wrinkle on Mollie’s brow—her very cute brow. He’d almost killed that