Oh no. Not another ghost.
I stood there holding my paintbrush, my pulse leaping at my throat. What the hell had I just seen?
The experience had been so eerie, I almost jumped out of my own skin at the sound of footsteps approaching the overlook.
Yesterday, I had seen the old crazy woman again. She’d been wandering on the boulders to the south of Les Jumeaux. As I stood there on the overlook, listening to the approaching footsteps, I briefly wondered if it might be her again. But the tread was too heavy and purposeful.
“Evan?” I called out shakily.
But it wasn’t Evan who broke the tree line. It was a tall man with blondish brown hair wearing dress pants and a button-down shirt, the buttons at his throat unfastened. He paused several feet away and looked at me, his mouth hanging open, clearly as surprised to see me as I was him.
He had a nice face. Not Evan-quality handsome, but few faces were, in my undoubtedly prejudiced opinion. It was glazed with a light sheen of sweat, as if he’d found the climb to the outlook strenuous.
“So sorry to disturb you,” he said quickly, walking toward me. “I’m Dr. Ryder… Wes Ryder,” he added, stretching out his hand. “I’m old friends with Evan. I’ve known him since grade school in Tahoe Shores. He said I’d find you up here.”
Why, if he’d been expecting me, had he appeared so shocked to see me? But then I started to suspect there was a perpetual look of surprise to Wes Ryder’s expression, as if he couldn’t entirely comprehend the situations in which he found himself.
“Hello. I’m Anna,” I said, switching my paintbrush into my other hand so that I could shake with him. “So you’ve known Evan since he was young?”
“Since first grade,” he said amiably, shoving both his hands in his pockets. “I’ve only just learned he was back at Les Jumeaux. With a new bride.” He studied me through narrowed eyelids.
“That’s me. I’m glad to meet you. I’m dying to hear more about what Evan was like as a boy.”
“Best in class, best at sports… best with the ladies.”
I looked away, made a little uncomfortable by his intense scrutiny.
“Sorry. I’d heard you were beautiful, but reality pales,” he said in a conciliatory manner.
“Thank you,” I said, moving away to my worktable. I pretended to busy myself with blotting excess paint off my brushes with a newspaper. I’ve never been comfortable with casual flattery. It always flusters me, striking me as too intimate coming from a stranger. Invasive, somehow.
“Is Evan coming up here, as well?” I asked.
“He’s busy with something in his office, so I said I’d come up and get acquainted. You painted that?”
I turned and saw him staring at my work in progress. “I did,” I said briskly.
“Beautiful and talented,” he said after a pause. “Evan always did have all the luck.”
I glanced back at him and our gazes briefly met. There had been a hint of longing in his tone—or had it been envy—only partially disguised by his charming, insouciant smile. I had a thought that he’d been referencing Elizabeth. I realized I had an opportunity here, having access to a person who had a long history with Evan… all while Evan himself was absent.
“I suppose you’re referring to Elizabeth,” I said with fake casualness as I turned toward him again. “Was she very beautiful?”
“You couldn’t take your eyes off her,” he said gruffly.
“Did she go to school with Evan and you?” I asked, taking several steps toward him.
“She came to Tahoe Shores when she was fifteen. But she wasn’t in the same grade as Evan and me. Not in the same universe, you might say.” His smile widened when he saw my questioning look. “She was two grades ahead of us.”
“Was she? I hadn’t realized she was older than Evan. Not by much, of course. I get what you mean. People two grades ahead of you when you’re that age seem like they’re gods.”
“That’s not the only reason Elizabeth Madaster seemed like a goddess. She floated while everyone else crawled. She always did seem like a creature from another realm.” He smiled wryly. “An angel, maybe.”
“Wow,” I said with a nervous laugh. “You’re going to make me downright insecure.”
“You have nothing to be insecure about,” he replied quietly.
I cleared my throat in the awkward pause that followed.