A Ghost of the Past Read online

  Prologue

  She had to get away, she thought to herself pushing the branches out of her way as she ran. She could hear the breathing as her assailant crashed through the brushes behind her. She was almost there; he would protect her because he loved her. Oh, God, please let her make it to him. The tears were coursing down her face as she continued to run. Her black hair short now for that was how he liked it whipped into her eyes, and she brushed it away so she could see. She did not know why this was happening to her. She was only 19, going into her first year of college, and she was getting married in two days to her high school sweetheart although he was only in his third year of college. She saw his house up ahead, and she smiled with relief. That is when she felt the jolt and her eyes widened in pain as she stopped dead in her tracks.

  “Really, dear, you should not run in the forest at night,” the voice said gravely as her assailant came closer, and her eyes widened in disbelief and hurt for she recognized that voice.

  “Why?” she murmured as she slumped to the ground her green eyes normally so bright with happiness dimming with pain and tears as she tried to focus on the shadow. The shadow raised the gun again, and hesitated for only a moment before it whispered, “Many reasons” and then pulled the trigger one last time. She swore she heard before the bullet hit her in the heart, “You should have never made her cry.” Then she heard nothing.

  Shay Montgomery woke with a start as the dream began to fade from her mind.

  “Oh, my God,” she said to herself as she quickly glanced around her one room apartment a little bigger than a supply closet. Everything seemed normal, as she ran a shaky hand through her black hair that reminded her of the woman in her dream. She shivered as she thought about the fading dream. Why did it seem so real, she asked herself as she drew her knees up to her chin. She looked around her room one more time before her eyes settled on the clock next to her bed. It was four in the morning, and yet she was afraid to go back to sleep. She pushed back the covers and met the chill of the room. She rose shakily to her feet and she threw back her head as she readied herself for the day. Just a nightmare, she told herself, and she pushed it out of her head.

  Chapter 1

  Shay was in no hurry as she drove along the interstate but she knew she would have to stop for supplies soon as she was running low. She was excited as she smiled to herself turning up the radio as Carrie Underwood’s Cowboy Casanova came on. This new job was her dream job, and she worked hard for it. She hoped that she could show them what she could really do as she looked at the exits.

  One exit stood out from the rest, and she felt a shiver go down her back. Something told her she should avoid that exit as she continued driving. Unfortunately, when the exit came up that same something forced her to put her blinker on and take it. She swallowed nervously then shook it off as she made the turn going into Pine Valley. She was only getting supplies and she would be gone in under twenty minutes so she continued until she noticed the café and across from the café was a mom and pop’s store. She pulled her camero into the parking space in front of the store, and she glanced briefly at the café. She was hungry and she thought she might step in to get something to go. Walking into the store, she noticed the stares and again felt that shiver go through her. The store clerk looked up with a smile until his eyes met hers and his smile drifted away as his face paled. Shay looked around and noticed the same look on everyone’s face as she quickly picked up what she needed. She needed to get out of this town, she thought to herself, as she picked up her last item on her list, and the stares made goose bumps rise on her flesh underneath the jacket she wore.

  “Sir,” she said in her soft voice as she approached the counter, and noticed the older gentlemen take a step back from the counter as if he did not want to come into contact with her. She definitely needed to get out of this town, she repeated to herself as she placed her items on the counter. He rang her up without looking at her again, and in respect for him, Shay instead of handing him the money placed it on the counter pushing it toward him. He did the same as he laid her change on the counter pushing it towards her.

  “Thank you,” she said softly, “I am sorry if I have caused any discomfort for you and your other customers.”

  Shay quickly grabbed her change putting it in her pocket, and grabbing her bags, she headed for the door.

  “What is your name, miss?” the clerk said quietly and Shay could hear the slight hesitation in his voice. She turned back giving him a polite smile her green eyes wary, and replied, “Shay Montgomery. Have a nice day, sir.”

  She nodded to the other customers and stepped out of the store taking a deep breath as the wind blew. She walked to her car as she took another deep breath and her stomach reminded her that she had not eaten yet. She bit her lip looking over at the café and sighed heavily as she opened the door to her car. She put her bags in before closing and locking the door for she had a bad feeling that she was making a terrible mistake, but she needed to eat and it should not take longer than maybe ten minutes to get a to-go bag. She walked across the street to the café not paying attention to the eyes that followed her although she felt them. She did not see, though, two people immediately pull out their phones as they made calls. The one person was excited as she talked while the other’s ones gleamed with horror and another look that would have made her rethink her decision to get something to eat as he talked on his phone.

  Cordial “Cord” O’Ryan was talking with his site manager in their office, as he was the owner of O’Ryan’s Construction when his cell phone rung. Still talking he looked down at his cell’s screen to see his sister’s number, he rolled his eyes as his site manager, and best friend, Todd Henderson, laughed. He also happened to be his sister’s current boyfriend although they knew each other since his third year of college, and Cordial just hoped that they would work out.

  “Hi, Ray,” he said as he looked over the blueprint with Todd.

  “Cord there is new person in town. She just left Mr. John’s store and heading to the café. Don’t you have a lunch break coming up?” she asked excitedly.

  Cordial frowned at her attempts to introduce him to another woman, this time a complete stranger.

  “Ray,” he began but she cut him off.

  “Todd, make sure that you bring him when you meet me for lunch,” she demanded before hanging up her phone.

  Todd sighed for he knew no one could make Cordial do something he did not want to do. He looked at his best friend and sighed soundlessly for he also knew his friend had not been truly living since Charity passed away.

  “Come on, Cord,” he started using his nickname as everyone does, “humor your sister this one time. Besides, isn’t this the tenth time, and didn’t you make a bet with her that if by the tenth time you were not interested, then she would have to stop trying to hook you up?”

  Cordial stopped for a moment, his silver eyes thoughtful then he smiled and Todd could see the smugness in those eyes.

  “That is true,” he said with a touch of humor in his voice and Todd just shook his head as they headed out of the office. Everyone else was heading for lunch and they all said, “See ya later, Boss.”

  Cordial and Todd waved and told them to have a “good lunch” as they headed to Cordial’s vehicle.

  Cordial and Todd got into Cordial’s Dodge truck and headed for the best and only café in town. After parking, they headed inside to find Ray sitting at one of the booth’s in the back. She waved her hand to get there attention and they headed over to her.

  “Hi, brother,” she said affectionately as they slipped into the booth. She gave Todd a kiss when he slipped in next to her and Cordial felt a twinge of envy before he ignored it to give Susie, their server who ha
d walked up his customary order, as did Todd sending her a brief smile before turning back to Ray. She smiled with a seductive wink at Cordial and he watched her walk away with a decisive look in his eye.

  “So,” he stressed turning back to Ray and Todd, “where is this woman you wanted me to meet?”

  Ray took a sip of her drink before she answered, “I only know her name because Mr. John asked her it before she left the store, Shay Montgomery.”

  Cordial took a swallow of his coke wishing that it were something stronger but he never drunk during the day only at night in the privacy of his house.

  “Okay, so how are you going to introduce her if you don’t even know her?” Todd asked, and Ray frowned as she thought about it. Then she saw the woman in question come out of the restroom and her purposeful strides to the register where Susie stood looking at her with narrowed eyes.

  “There she is,” Ray said quickly before she could leave, and Todd looked towards the register as Cordial turned around to get a better view. Then the woman turned as she reached into her back pocket and Cordial got a good look at her.

  “Ray, what in the hell…?” Todd said harshly but Cordial did not hear the rest of the sentence as his silver eyes narrowed with disbelief and resentment as he stared at the woman with a few exceptions looked like his fiancée Charity who had been dead more than six years.

  His body stiffened in his seat and he blocked everyone else, who was mumbling in the café, out as he focused on one person.

  His silver eyes flashed as his lips went into a grim line, and with everything in him ready to explode, he listened to the conversation at the register.

  Chapter 2

  Shay finished getting the money out of her pocket to pay for her lunch and she wished she had never listened to the voice that told her to come in. The minute she walked in all eyes were focused on her and she could see the same emotions reflected in their eyes like the ones that reflected in the customers eyes across the street in the store. In fact, if she was not mistaking, at least four of those same customers were now sitting in booths and chairs in the café. She sighed soundlessly and handed over her money to the young woman with her narrowed eyes, which made her few less welcomed then she already felt.

  “Your total is $8.69,” she said with snarl, and Shay handed her a ten-dollar bill, which the woman, Susie from her nameplate, snatched from her. She held her sigh in again as she lowered her sunglasses shading her green eyes that were starting to flare with temper.

  “Your change,” she said snidely making sure to miss Shay’s hand so that it fell all over the counter and floor. Shay held back the rude comment that sprung to her lips and began picking up her change. Her cell rung just as she finished picking it all up and she pulled it from her jacket pocket absently as she slid the change in her pocket with the change from the store.

  “Hello,” Shay said distracted as she grabbed her to-go bag.

  “SHAY, SHAY,” the voice screamed on the other end and Shay quickly pulled the phone away from her ear as the woman continued screaming over the phone.

  Then there was silence for half a moment as she looked at the phone waiting for the next scream.

  “Shay, did you hear me?” the voice demanded again and Shay looked around the café.

  “Yes, Amanda,” she said with a hint of humor, “so did the entire café in which I am standing.”

  “Oh,” the voice said over the phone then as if nothing was said, “So did you hear what I said?”

  Shay smiled slightly and shook her head as she brought the phone back to her ear, “Yes, I heard what you said, and congratulations.”

  She listened for a moment as she looked out the window, and she frowned softly, “Amanda, that may be a little tough as I am just starting this new job.”

  She listened a little more than she shook her head as she said with a hint of steel, “No.”

  Amanda sighed on her end of the phone and she said, “You still are hardheaded and stubborn.”

  “Did you really think that was going to change?” Shay asked with a hint of laughter in her voice and she heard the smile in her friend’s voice.

  “No,” Amanda said confidently as they had been friends since they entered college together. Shay had been her roommate, and although she had been reserved, she had been nice to Amanda. She learned later why Shay was the way she was, and she had learned to accept her for it because it made Shay unique in her own way.

  “Hey, Shay,” she said, and Shay about to head out of the café frowned with her hand on the door.

  “Yeah,” Shay said cautiously.

  “Do not ever change,” she heard her friend say.

  She laughed as she pushed the door open and the last thing the people in the café heard was, “And they say that change is a good thing” as the door closed behind her. The silence in the room drew out the owner of the café, Mrs. Loveland, a tall beautiful black woman who opened the café after her husband of twenty years passed away.

  “What is going on in here?” she asked in her loud but gentle voice.

  Then everyone started talking at once and she looked around with a frown.

  Cordial sat still in the booth his eyes still focused on the door that the woman walked through his mind running that one-sided conversation they heard through his head. He turned eyes that were the color of steel back to his sister, “Not funny at all,” he growled before getting up and walking out. Ray followed him with her gray eyes and she heard Todd say harshly, “Smooth, Raylee, real smooth” before getting up himself and walking out. Ray sat there longer as she thought about what she did. She knew she made a mistake, but there had been something about the woman that had caught her attention. When she realized what that something was her eyes widened and she slid out of the booth, hurrying out of the café just in time to see her brother drove away with Todd in the passenger seat. She watched them leave as the thought went through her head; Shay Montgomery had apologized for the discomfort she had caused, something Ray knew that Charity would have never done. I am sorry, Cordial, Ray said as she stood there looking after the truck long after it was out of sight.

  Shay kept her foot on the gas as she quickly took the turn to leave the town. After hanging up with Amanda, she could still feel the eyes on her and she had just wanted to get out of there as fast as she could. She had felt the shiver go down her back again as she had walked to her car and this time, she felt eyes on her that made her skin crawl with fear because the eyes felt hateful. She would breathe easier when she got back onto the interstate, and with that thought in mind, she made the turn. She saw the truck stopped a little ahead of her and she tapped her brakes to slow down but nothing happened. She frowned as she pushed a little harder still nothing happened. The driver of the truck had stepped away from his vehicle and was waving at her until he realized she was not slowing down or stopping. Shay could read his eyes as he shouted at her and even though she could not read his lips, she knew what he was saying as she twisted the wheel hard to the left missing the truck but running her car into a ditch. She banged her head on the steering wheel as the car finally stopped. Shay shook her head lightly and groaned at the pain that shot through her head. Looking around, she noticed her car in the ditch to the left of the truck and her windshield had a crack right down the middle. She slowly reached for the handle and opened the door as the driver from the truck came running down to her.

  “Are you okay?” he asked and Shay looked at him as she put a shaky hand to her throbbing head.

  “Why didn’t you stop your car?” the man asked in a slightly defensive voice.

  “I tried,” Shay said, “but for some reason my brakes were not working. The brakes were fine when I checked them a few days ago.”

  The man looked at her with narrowed eyes and she heard him mutter, “You should have taken it to a mechanic instead of doing it yourself.”

  Shay eyes narrowed at his comment then she moaned as her head throbbed.

  “Come on,” he said helpi
ng her out of the car, “Let’s get you to the doctor.”

  He walked her over to his truck where Shay could see that he had been changing a flat tire, and leaning her against his truck, he pulled a cell phone from inside the truck.

  “Hey, is Dr. Jameson in,” he asked after dialing a number. After getting the information he asked for, he explained what happened. After a few minutes on the phone, he hung up after assuring the person on the other end that they would be there in a few minutes.

  “Let me get you into the truck then I will go back to get your keys, okay?” he said helping her to the passenger side of the truck and Shay just nodded her head which caused her head to throb even more if that was possible. After placing her in the seat, Ted Johnson climbed back down to her car to get her keys noticing the take-out bag from the café. Walking back up to his truck, he made a quick phone call.

  “Hi honey, I am going to be a little late. There was an accident and I am taking the woman now to see Dr. Jameson,” he said climbing into the truck and glancing quickly at his passenger. She had her eyes closed and leaning against the door.

  “No, I am fine. I will explain everything when I get home. I love you,” he said before hanging up his phone and he finished changing his flat tire before putting everything in the bed of his truck.

  “I am sorry,” the woman said, as he climbed back into the truck and he glanced over at her. He gasped with recognition as she opened her eyes.

  “It is okay,” he stammered turning the ignition and taking his eyes off the woman. God, he felt as if he had just seen a ghost.

  Chapter 3

  Shay was quiet through the whole ride to the doctor’s office. She did not know what happened, and that bothered her because she was normally very cautious when it concerned her vehicle. At the doctor’s office, the man dropped her off after explaining again, what happened, and Shay could see that he just wanted to get away after giving her keys to her car with a shaky hand.