Free The Ghost of a Chance by Natalie Vivien Page B

everything
and think nothing. Portia stayed behind at the cabin.   Perceptive cat. Somehow she knows that, right now, or perhaps
forever, I need time alone.
    My unstopping footsteps carry me
over the snow-covered path so quickly that I am startled to find myself at the
driveway so soon but even more startled to note a truck parked beside my car.
The words "JLS Trucking" are painted on the driver's side door in a
jagged font.
    He's waiting for me on the front
porch, arms crossed, leaning against the railing. Waiting...in the same spot
that Portia waited on the day I found Catherine's body.
    "Jason," I say, pacing
toward him without hesitation, the emotions stirred up by my visit to the cabin
still ruling my head. "Can I help you?"
    He scoffs, as I knew he would.
"You can help me," he growls, "by keeping your nose out of my
business and your hands off of my wife."
    "Excuse me?" I stare at
him with open distaste. "What are you insinuating?"
    "I'm insinuating," he
simpers, stepping down to confront me at eye level, close enough to smell the
reek of alcohol on his breath, "that, if you know what's good for you, you
ought to steer clear of Alis and stop putting ideas in her head. She was happy
until you started messing with her. Now she's talking about a divorce—"
    "Jason, Alis is a grown woman,
and she came to her own conclusions. I listened and offered advice, as any good
friend would."
    "Good friend! Well, that's a
laugh, isn't it? Is that what you lesbos call yourselves now, 'good
friends'?"
    I wince in response to the
lingering of his unwelcome presence, so near and foul, when all I want is
silence, an empty house, an empty heart. Instead, his hostility makes my blood
boil over, and when he steps forward, shoulders shoved toward me, menacing,
threatening, I push him with all the rage I possess back, away, and he falls
against the steps, looking stricken.
    "Get off my property," I
hiss. "Now. I have no qualms about calling the police."
    He leans back against the
staircase, his surprised expression giving way to underlying hatred. "Got
no qualms about getting naked with another man's wife, either, do you, lesbo?"
    Suddenly, his shirt lapels are
gripped fiercely in my hands. Our noses are practically touching, and the
stench of beer fuels my fury. "Maybe you didn't hear me the first time. So
I'll reiterate. You're trespassing. Get off my property now, or we're going to
have a serious problem—and I think you've got enough legal issues to deal with
at the moment, don't you?"
    He laughs. "What, are you
trying to scare me? You think you're stronger than me?"
    "No, but right now, I'm a lot
angrier than you. Anger and adrenaline make for a potent cocktail." I
hiss. "Go."
    He grunts, making sounds without
words. I ease off cautiously and step backward, until I'm off of the steps,
past the driveway and standing back on the snow-covered grass, several feet
away from him. "Go," I repeat, with quiet wrath.
    "Touch Alis," he croaks
as he stumbles awkwardly to his truck, "and I'll kill you." He
opens the car door with a violent screech of metal and throws himself into the
seat, slamming the door shut behind him. He starts the ignition and rolls the
window down, shooting daggers at me with his eyes. "Dead!" he cries.
"Just like your stupid hippie girlfriend. World's better off without your
kind."
    I launch at his door, and he speeds
off, gravel spitting up from his squealing tires. A rock hits my cheek; I smell
blood.
    When his truck disappears from
sight, I turn slowly and ascend the porch stairs, gripping the railing with
both hands to maintain my balance. My heart is racing within me to the point
that I'm nearly doubled over in pain, and my head aches from the aftereffects
of the confrontation.
    How dare he? How dare he come here,
spouting baseless lies? How dare he mention Catherine ? I claw at the
unlocked knob and kick the front door open with my shin. I spy the phone on the
kitchen counter and begin, finally, to think.
    I should