“No, I’m good,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay. I’ll come searching if you’re not back in a few minutes,” he said.
I kissed him quickly and stood. He smiled and winked at me before I turned and pretended to make a path toward the football stadium and the doors that had been left unlocked for access to the bathrooms.
Once I knew I’d wound around enough to be out of his sight, I turned and hurried to the edge of the campsite. I couldn’t go directly to the station because Cliff would see me if he happened to look over. He’d wonder what I was up to.
But I thought I’d be okay watching whatever happened from this distance. Suddenly, Joe rode his horse at lightning speed out of the campsite crowd and toward the station. I was still okay staying put, but when another ghost rider appeared, from the path on the side of the station, it was all I could do not to run across and join them.
I’d only quickly inspected the picture Jake had found, but I knew the figure whose features were dancing in the torchlight from a hundred and fifty or so years ago was someone Esther would love to talk to. If only she could talk to ghosts.
It seemed that Astin Reagal was in the house.
Chapter 22
“Uh-oh,” Gram said as she appeared next to me. “What do you suppose this is all about?”
“Not sure exactly, but that looks like Astin Reagal.”
The man on horseback was smaller than I thought he’d be; skinnier, with narrow shoulders. But Jake and Esther both had told me the riders were on the smaller side, so the horses could travel faster with the lighter load. Astin sat as high on his horse as his short stature would allow as the horse stepped in place, waiting for a command from its rider. But Astin looked around as though he wasn’t sure where he was.
“We should probably go talk to him. This might be his first time back as a ghost. His memory is probably all screwy. They’re so terribly confused on their first trip back to Broken Rope,” Gram said.
I glanced back at Cliff. Along with everyone else in the crowd, his attention was on the skit being performed on the stage. He smiled the direction of the skit, and I could see the shadow formed by his dimple.
“Let’s go around to the left a little so we won’t be noticed right away,” I said.
Gram nodded and then led the way.
Astin’s smell was distinctly horsey. It wasn’t a pleasant scent, but it wasn’t plug-your-nose awful either. Its pungency sharpened the closer we got.
“Astin?” Gram said as we looked up at the young man on the horse.
“I’m Astin Reagel,” he said, though he sounded uncertain. “Who are you?” The horse turned in an impatient circle.
“Hi, Astin, I’m Missouri Anna Winston, and this is my granddaughter Isabelle. You’re at the Broken Rope Pony Express station, but things are different than what you remember.”
“Different how?”
“You’re not in your time. You died a long time ago. You’re just back visiting.”
This was the first time I’d met a ghost who was on their first trip back. I hadn’t thought about how such a moment should be handled, but I marveled at Gram’s calm words. Surely it was more difficult than that to keep them from freaking out.
Astin’s face scrunched up as he thought for a long moment. The horse mellowed, and though it wasn’t completely still, it wasn’t jittery nervous.
“You say your name’s Missouri?” he asked.