Grace asked, wanting to wrap her friend in a hug.
“Nope. He refused. Even when I tried to explain that I’d just wanted to find something that might spice things up for him, he shut me out and told me everything was fine the way it is.”
But Grace knew things obviously weren’t fine; otherwise, Joy wouldn’t be snooping around his porn history, trying to figure out how to get him back in the saddle, so to speak. She gave Joy a sympathetic smile. “Have you tried talking to a counselor?”
“Paul won’t go. He won’t do anything.” She sighed heavily. “I know he’s embarrassed about what happened. So am I. But it’s not like I’m not openminded. I just want him to talk to me about whatever it is.”
Grace bit the inside of her cheek. She couldn’t help but wonder if Paul was seeing someone else. Wasn’t that usually why men suddenly lost interest in their wives? Although Bill hadn’t lost interest in Grace. Maybe things weren’t as black and white as everyone believed. “I’m sorry, honey. I wish I could help.”
“I know.” She thanked the waiter for the margarita he placed in front of her and said, “Okay, enough about my pathetically lacking sex life. Tell me what happened today. You said something about a message?”
Leave it to Joy to remember what we’re really at lunch to discuss, Grace thought. “Right.” She launched into the story of what she and Hope had experienced at the house. When she was done, she sat back and crossed her arms. “Any ideas what that might mean?”
Joy pursed her lips. “Nothing past the obvious. I think you could be onto something about needing to solve a mystery, or it could be about passing on a message. I’ve got the property records from the courthouse now. Tomorrow we can work on digging into the histories of the former owners and see if there was any foul play or anything unusual that might give us some clues.”
“Meanwhile, I have to show the house to Matt tomorrow. Any ideas on how to keep the ghost from scaring him off completely?” Grace asked.
She wasn’t surprised when neither of them had any answers.
Chapter Thirteen
Armed with a half dozen properties to show Matt, Grace walked into the café with her head held high and determination in her step. She’d had a moment of clarity the night before when she’d been walking on the beach. There wasn’t anything to be gained by not telling Matt about what had happened the day before at the cottage. She knew she had a responsibility to the seller to do everything in her power to move his house, but Matt was also her client. He deserved to know what he was getting into. And while there wasn’t anything official that said she or the seller had to disclose unusual paranormal activity, she had a moral obligation to do just that.
Grace couldn’t live with herself if she sold someone a property that wasn’t right for them, or worse, turned out to be their worst nightmare. “Good morning,” she said, slipping into the booth across from him. “Are you ready to find your new beach home?”
“You’re awfully confident.” Matt pushed a cinnamon roll over to her and waved at the barista behind the counter. “Can you get Grace something to drink?”
“The usual?” Kari called back, watching Grace.
“Yes, please.” Grace waved at her and nodded in appreciation as the barista went to work on her chai tea latte.
“You must come here a lot,” Matt said.
“It’s better than a stuffy office.” She pushed a folder over to him. “These are the houses I set appointments for you to see. They include the two you sent me last night as well as a couple others that show a lot better in person than their pictures indicate. Take a look. If there are any that are an automatic no for whatever reason, just say so and I’ll cancel.”
Matt didn’t even look before he was shaking his head. “I’m up for seeing whatever you think is worth looking at.”
“Okay then. Perfect.” She smiled at him but couldn’t help wondering how the showings were going to go. So far, he’d been pretty vague about what he wanted. The only two requirements were an ocean view and that the place had to be big enough for extended family. That left a lot of room in the middle.
It didn’t take long for Grace to finish off her cinnamon roll, and then the two of them climbed