October Ghosts. Jenny Plumb

of them had ever come to blows.

      "Why don't you call Aunt Becky and ask her if she'll have dinner with you?"

      "You know how your father feels about my sister!"

      Rolling his eyes, Seth was about to point out how ridiculous that statement was when he noticed Jessie waving out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and saw Olivia and Paula coming toward them. "Sorry, Mom, I've got to go. I'm about to have dinner with my friends."

      "But, Seth, honey, I'm alone."

      "Mom, I want you to get yourself some dinner, turn on the TV for company, and just enjoy having the house to yourself for a little while."

      "But, Seth—"

      Feeling especially guilty, he hung up on her. He knew from experience she would keep him on the phone for hours if he let her, and he'd be a wreck by the time they were done. But unless she'd already polished off the bottle of wine she was working on, she wouldn't call back.

      He shoved his phone in his pocket and tried to shove down his emotions along with it. He'd had years of practice, so it wasn't too difficult to smile at the women as they got in line together.

      "Hey," he said.

      "Braden and I made the reservations this afternoon!" Paula said excitedly.

      "For all four Saturdays?" Jessie asked.

      She nodded. "It's all planned out."

      "That's great. Is Braden joining us for dinner?" Jessie asked, eyes darting toward the cafeteria.

      "Of course. We'll tell you all the plans once we get inside."

      "Great," Jessie answered with much less enthusiasm than before.

      Seth watched as Olivia linked her elbow with Jessie's and leaned the side of her face against his upper arm. He still hadn't been able to figure the two of them out. Jessie clearly liked Paula even though she was dating someone else, but Jessie and Olivia spent all their free time together and they were quite touchy-feely with each other. Plus, he knew Jessie had some kind of relationship with a woman named Angie, because he spent the night with her sometimes. It was all very confusing, but Seth didn't want to pry. They'd only been living together for two and a half weeks, and he didn't want to rock the boat or make his new friend uncomfortable, because he genuinely liked his roommate.

      Soon the four of them had found Braden, and they were all sitting at a table together with their dinners.

      Paula immediately launched into the plans they'd made. "This Saturday, we'll spend the night at the Benson Hotel. We got one room with two queen beds on the seventh floor. Once we check in, we'll check out all the supposedly haunted areas, and if nothing supernatural happens, we'll split into smaller groups to see if that prompts anything. The next Saturday, will be a tour of Portland's Underground Shanghai Tunnels. Because it's October, they have a special haunted tour, and we have tickets for seven-thirty. The third Saturday, we'll spend the night at the Heathman Hotel and we actually got room 510, which is supposed to be haunted. Then on the last Saturday, we'll be taking the twilight tombstone tour of the Lone Fir Cemetery."

      "That all sounds fun, even if we don't see any ghosts." Jessie sounded enthusiastic. "I've never stayed in a hotel as nice as the Benson."

      Paula grinned at him, and the two of them monopolized the conversation, discussing the amenities at nice hotels.

      Seth easily kept track of what they were saying without diverting much brainpower to their conversation and instead surreptitiously watched Olivia. He found her strikingly beautiful. He knew Jessie was attracted to Paula, but he found everything about Paula off-putting. The mask of thick makeup, the costume of revealing tight clothing, and the brash personality all reminded him of an actress performing instead of being a genuine person. Olivia, on the other hand, seemed genuine with her lack of makeup, comfortable yet pretty clothing, and introspective personality. He found himself attracted to her in ways he hadn't experienced before and then felt like an ass since she clearly had something going on with Jessie.

      Jessie asked, "Is the hotel going to be okay with us wandering around, when our room is on the seventh floor?"

      Braden regarded him with disbelief. "Are you serious right now? The hotel doesn't police their guests. We paid plenty to be there, so we can go wherever the fuck we want."

      Olivia glared at Braden and snapped, "It's a valid question. You paid for one room, but they have hundreds. If we're traipsing around bothering other guests, they could ask us to leave."

      Seth looked down at his tray to hide his approving grin. He loved it when Olivia stuck up for Jessie. It was sweet and cute at the same time, since she usually never raised her voice or disagreed with anyone. He'd never heard her defend herself, only Jessie. He finished eating while Paula and Braden argued about what they should do if a staff member did ask them to leave.

      Three days later, on Saturday afternoon, Seth and Jessie were packing for their excursion.

      "Hey, Seth?"

      "Yeah?"

      "Could you do me a favor tonight?"

      Seth nodded absently while stuffing a clean shirt in his backpack. "Probably. What is it?"

      "If we split up to check out different areas of the hotel, I'm going to suggest that I go with Paula and you go with Olivia. I was hoping you'd back me up when I do."

      Seth stopped packing and decided it was past time for him to talk to Jessie about Olivia. He liked Olivia and wanted to ask her out, but he had to make sure Jessie would be okay with that first. He turned to face his roommate and sat on the edge of his bed to give Jessie his full attention.

      "Why wouldn't you want to go with Olivia?"

      Clearly surprised, Jessie turned to look at Seth. "It's not that I don't want to go with Liv, it's that I want to go with Paula. I uh… kind of like her."

      "Yes, I know. That's obvious, but—"

      "It's obvious?" Jessie asked with dismay.

      "Maybe not to Paula, she's pretty self-involved, but it's obvious to me. But what I don't get is your relationship with Olivia."

      Jessie shoved a small bag of toiletries inside his backpack. "We're just friends."

      "It seems like more than that to me."

      Jessie shrugged with his back to Seth. "Okay, we're close friends."

      "So, you wouldn't mind if I asked her out?"

      Jessie spun around and scrutinized Seth. "You like her?"

      Seth nodded. "I do."

      "Oh."

      "So are you going to change your statement about just being friends?"

      Jessie sat on the edge of his bed, facing Seth, and shook his head. "No. I just… I don't know if you'd be right for her."

      "Why not?"

      "I-I can't say."

      Seth scowled. "What do you mean, you can't say?"

      Jessie frowned and looked down at his feet. "I mean it's not my place to say. Look, you can ask her out, and I think you'd be great boyfriend material for most any girl, but if Liv says no, it's probably got nothing to do with you personally."

      "Well, that's frustratingly vague," Seth grumbled.

      "Sorry." Jessie scowled and then stared out their little window. "Olivia has skeletons in her closet. I'd like to tell you about them, but I can't break her trust."

      Seth reluctantly respected that decision and sighed. "Okay, I'll try not to take it personally if she rejects me."

      "Good."

      Curiosity getting the better of him, Seth asked, "What about Angie?

      Jessie fidgeted with the straps