Free Ghosts by Heather Huffman

C HAPTER O NE
    Present Day
    HE WAS DRUNK . He knew he was, and he knew he shouldn’t be, but Vance couldn’t seem to make himself care enough to not order another. He closed his hazel eyes, sinking his fingers into his sandy hair as he held his head to keep it from hitting the bar in front of him. His mind tried to reach back to a memory just out of his grasp. It hurt to think too hard, so he tried to let it go. Like a gnat on a summer day, the memory refused to leave.
    Thinking of the farmer and his wife only reminded Vance how he’d let them down. All of the effort they put into saving him had been wasted. He tried harder to push the memory away, only to have it replaced by an even more painful one: Soft brown eyes that shone with love, auburn hair, and musical laughter tormented him now. The image of her face sawed through his soul like a dull knife. He could feel the world crashing in on him, and he took another drink to stave it off.
    He glanced around the grungy little bar for something to take his mind on a safer journey. A blonde across the room smiled, trying to catch his eye. He turned back to the bar. It wasn’t in his nature to be rude, but he’d spent enough time in places like this to spot a huntress on the prowl, even from that distance. He had no intention of being her prey, and the kindest way to stop it was to not let it get started in the first place.
    Vance had never been particularly social anyway. Since Harmony, he’d become even more of a recluse. He was lost, drifting, and not sure how to get past the pain—or maybe he was afraid to move past the pain, afraid she’d go with it.
    His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and eyed the screen speculatively, wondering if he had the courage to answer. Jessie was his only true friend in the world, and she’d have his hide if she knew where he was at the moment.
    The phone stopped buzzing and he sighed, his decision made. The second he dropped it on the counter, it buzzed one more time. He picked it back up to read the text that had come through. Not surprisingly, it was Jessie: It takes less than a week to get to my farm from anywhere in the world. You have that long to make an appearance or I’ll come find you myself. He knew her well enough to know she wasn’t bluffing.
    Vance signaled the bartender. “I’d better settle up. And while I’m at it, could you call me a taxi?”
    As it happened, he was less than a day’s drive from her farm, but he’d still need his week to look presentable enough to pass inspection. If Jessie had any inkling how he’d been whiling away his time, she’d start to worry about him again, which inevitably led to hovering. He wasn’t in the mood for hovering.
     

C HAPTER T WO
    JESSIE HOVERED OVER VANCE , worry creasing her pretty brow. “Are you sure you don’t want more bacon? You look thin.”
    “Jessie has truly become an Ozarkian. She thinks bacon fixes everything.” Jessie’s husband, Gabe, reached across the table to take the piece of meat Vance had declined.
    A hint of a grin tugged the corner of Vance’s mouth. When he’d first met Jessie, she wouldn’t dream of touching anything as unhealthy as bacon. Of course, that could largely be attributed to being Harmony’s roommate. Harmony had always been a health nut.
    With that thought, sadness gripped his heart anew. Jessie could see it, and the wrinkle in her brow deepened, her lips pursing to further express her dismay.
    Vance gave his best impression of a smile and shook his head. “I’m fine, just full.”
    Jessie opened her mouth as if to disagree with him, only to be interrupted by a child crying in the next room. Instead of her planned argument for Vance, she muttered, “If they are fighting over that silly toy kitchen set again, I’m going to thump them both.”
    Gabe waited for Jessie to be out of earshot before leaning over to Vance. “You’ll have to thank the girls for their timing later.”
    “It was a well-coordinated