you didn’t have those same tendencies.”
Grace wanted to deny his accusations about Bill but couldn’t. He was on the nose about her ex. Those were two things they’d argued over plenty of times, with Bill always insisting that she was making a big deal out of nothing. And he did his best to hide his actions from her, so she had no idea just how many times he’d crossed the ethical lines, only that she was in no way surprised that he did. “That’s fair,” Grace said. “I hope I’ve proven to you that I’m not him and that just because his ethics are lacking that doesn’t mean mine are, no matter how many years I worked there.”
“So far, Grace,” Landers said, “you’ve exceeded my every expectation. Consider your conditions of employment lifted even if for some reason this sale doesn’t go through. You’re the type of agent a firm needs to keep on staff. I hope you like it here well enough to not go out on your own, because you’re one I’d rather have on my team instead of the other way around.”
She couldn’t keep herself from beaming. “Thank you. That means a lot.”
He gave her another small salute with his glass and said, “Now get back to work. We all have properties to move.”
Grace and Nina both chuckled, but the rest of the staff had already gone back to doing their own work. It was just as well. Grace didn’t need them eavesdropping on her conversation with the boss. She nodded to Nina and then crossed the room to talk to Owen.
“Hey,” she said. “Looks like you’re going to have to put up with me for good now.”
“Looks like it,” he said, but he didn’t look up from his computer.
What was happening here? This was more than just not flirting at the office. This was starting to feel an awful lot like the cold shoulder. “Are you all right?”
“Sure.” This time he did glance up at her. “Congratulations on the sale of the cottage. Looks like you’ll now have an opportunity to see more of Matt Dahl once the sale goes through.”
Grace frowned. She was about to ask what he meant by that when Nina called, “Grace? Vince Hill is on the phone. He says Gigi Martin is ready to make an offer on the Victorian, but she wants to see the house one last time before Vince turns in the paperwork.”
“What? You’re kidding!” Grace glanced at Owen. “Can I call you later? Maybe we can get dinner.”
“Sure, Grace.” This time he sounded more like himself. “Good luck with the house.”
She smiled at him and then hurried to get Vince’s call.
“Hi, Vince,” Grace said, striding up the steps onto the porch of the large Victorian. She was surprised he’d beat her there since he was from a neighboring town. “You made good time.”
“Gigi was in a hurry,” he said, taking her hand in both of his. His crooked smile and brown eyes were warm as he smiled at her. “Hopefully we can get this done tonight.”
“I’m all for that.” Grace glanced at the open front door. “Is Gigi inside?”
“Yeah. I hope you don’t mind. We used the lockbox.”
“Not at all. Should we go in or give her some more time?” Grace didn’t want to rush Gigi. But she wanted to be around to answer questions should any come up.
“We can go in. I think this was more of a ritual thing.” He winked at her and added, “You know how witches are.”
Grace chuckled. It was no secret that Grace was a witch, as were many of the permanent residents of Premonition Pointe. Her kind naturally flocked to the magical town.
They found Gigi standing at the back door, staring out at the churning ocean. And to Grace’s surprise, there were also two transparent ghosts in the shape of women flanking her on both sides.
She blinked. Yep. Still there.
““When you weren’t able to find out who the spirits were who lived here, I did a little digging of my own,” Gigi said absently. “They couldn’t let just anyone buy this place.” She turned to face Grace and Vince. “They needed a witch who was willing to share their space, not someone who wanted to displace them.”
The two ghosts nodded their agreement and moved just a little closer to her.
“After the smudgings, they got kind of upset,” Gigi explained. “That’s when the Hannigan sisters combined their powers to accelerate the decay out front.” The woman chuckled softly. “I can’t say