Phantoms of Fall (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 2) (40 page)

“Okay, follow me,” he said, handing me a rake and
walking toward the oak grove.

“Hey, I don’t know what kind of deal you made with
my dad but it’s
your
deal not mine.” I dragged the rake behind
me unenthusiastically.

“This has nothing to do with your dad,” Zach replied
as he started to rake the scarlet oak leaves into a pile. “Come
on, just trust me.”

Of course, I trusted him so I started raking leaves
alongside him. About ten minutes later, the pile was huge and
when he leaned his rake against a tree, I thought we were
done so I did the same.

“Watch this!” Zach took off running at the pile of
leaves and then just flung himself into the middle of it. With a
poof, the mound of scarlet foliage exploded into the air as his
weight came down on it. “Whoo!” he shouted, tossing
armloads of leaves into the air.

He was right—it looked like a lot of fun.
Stupid,
juvenile, not a care in the world kind of fun. Just the kind of
fun I needed to ease some of the stress I’d been besieged by
since the first day of school.

“My turn, my turn!” I yelled as I hurriedly reformed
the pile with my rake.

Zach helped me until the heap was big enough to jump
in again. Then with a smile on my face, I stood in front of the
pile with my arms outstretched and fell backwards into it.
With my eyes open, I watched the sky as I fell. It was a soft
landing, with the weight of my body sending the crimson
leaves into an upward flutter until they fell back down around
me. It gave me a feeling I hadn’t felt in months. I felt free.

How did he do it? How did he take the simplest things
and turn them into the best moments of my life? When we
tired of jumping in the leaves, he lay down in them and
attempted to make an autumn version of a snow angel.
They
were the worst angels I’d ever seen but that didn’t matter. I
got down and flapped my arms right along with him.

Leaf angels gave way to leaf fights until we both fell
into the leaves exhausted and laughing harder than I’d
laughed in years. When he wasn’t looking, I grabbed a
handful and threw them in his face.

“Oh, so that’s how you repay me for showing you a
good time, is it?” Zach rolled over onto his side and propped
himself up on one elbow.

“Yep—that was the best part!” I giggled as he feigned
anger.

“That’s it—you’re really going to get it now!” Zach
straddled me around the waist and held me down as he
shoved handful after handful of leaves on top of me, burying
me except for my face.

When he was done, I asked between giggles, “Are you
happy now?”

He leaned over, placed his lips on mine and gave me a
long, smoldering kiss. “Now I’m happy,” he said as he started
to brush the leaves away from my hair. “And what makes me
the happiest is
seeing
you
smile—I haven’t seen nearly
enough of it.”

He helped me up off of the ground and we took turns
brushing each other off before driving to City Lights. It was a
Monday night and a little earlier than most people ate dinner,
so the restaurant was empty except for a few older couples in
the front of the dining room. Zach asked the hostess to seat us
at the most private table they had and she complied. She led
us to a booth in a back room that I didn’t even know existed.

Our table looked like something you’d expect to see in
the VIP room
of a trendy
club.
It was
a
circular booth
recessed into the wall with deep purple curtains hanging at
the sides for the ultimate in privacy. The seats were made of
a matching hue and the tablecloth was a silvery gray. Both
the music and the lighting were soft and romantic and the
hostess lit the silver candle on the table before she walked
away. I felt like a princess as I made myself comfortable and
Zach slid in close beside me.

Once our waitress brought our drinks and took our
orders, I knew we were alone for at least fifteen minutes so I
decided to broach the subject of what we almost did during
the party.

“So I thought a lot about what we almost did last
night,” I said as I folded and unfolded my napkin nervously.
This was going to be harder to talk about than I thought.

I could feel the familiar nervous bounce of Zach’s leg
under the table. “Did you change your mind about that?
Are
you glad Rachel interrupted us when she did?”

Did he change
his
mind? I couldn’t tell but I spit out
the truth anyway. “No, the exact opposite, actually.”

 

The bouncing under the table came to an abrupt stop.
“Oh, so you still want to…soon?”

“I do—but I want to make sure we don’t get
interrupted again.” With my nerves in check, I dropped the
napkin into my lap and relaxed a little.

“You and me both, Ruby. I would have died if it was
anyone but my sister at that door.”

 

“Me too—which is why we need to plan this out a
little.”

 

“Good idea. Any suggestions?”

I took a sip of my soda and bit off a mouthful of
breadstick while nodding my head. I barely ate all day and
my stomach was growling like an angry bear.

“I want to do it at Rosewood. All we need is a plan to
get Dad and Shelly out of the house for….” I had no idea how
long it would take. If I estimated on the low end, I could hurt
his feelings. On the other hand, if I guessed too high, I could
be setting an unreachable standard for him. Uggh—just ask
him, Ruby!

“So, how long do you think we’ll need anyway?”
There, I said it. Zach slid the basket of bread my way and I
gladly shoved another bite of it into my mouth.

“Well, I’ve been thinking about that, too. I suppose an
hour or two would be enough but I was hoping for more.”
Zach started to play the “nervously fold and unfold the
napkin” game now, too. “I know it may be asking too much,
but I’d like to spend the night with you—or at least have
enough time to safely fall asleep with you in my arms.”

That was the right answer. “Okay, but if you want to
spend the night we’ll have to get your parents out of town
with them. Casino, maybe?”

Zach shook his head. “That’s a no-go.
Mom and Dad
are saving up to buy Mom a new car. There’s no way they’ll
want to go gambling.”

“I guess we’ll have to settle for an afternoon then but I
don’t know how we’re going to pull this off.”

The
waitress
arrived
with
our
meals
and
all
conversation ceased while we shoveled the food in.
I was
seriously starving but Zach was always hungry so I knew he
would understand.

Halfway
through his
stuffed chicken
breast, Zach
paused with his fork above his plate. “So, any ideas on how to
get them out of the house for a day?”

I washed down the last bite of my roast beef before
answering him. “I do have one idea but I don’t want to sound
obvious when I suggest it to them.”

“What’s your idea?” he asked before popping another
bite into his mouth.

“Shelly loves the book
The Phantom of the Opera
—
she’s always wanted to see it on Broadway but never has.
Now that she’s not writing she has enough spare time to do it,
but I don’t know how to approach it without sounding like I’m
up to something.”

“That’s a good idea—it’s at least an eight hour drive
round trip from Charlotte’s Grove to New York City—not
including the musical itself.” Zach gave me the same sexy
smile from the night before. “You have no idea what I can do
with ten hours alone with you.”

“But I’m ready to find out,” I said as a wave of warmth
spread throughout my body. Simply put, it was the perfect
plan. Now how were we going to pull it off? After breaking
into the school unnoticed and without any help, getting Dad
and Shelly to New York City should be easy.

“If you keep talking like that, I won’t be able to wait
for the perfect moment.”

“Oh, if you want to do it tonight, I’m okay with that.” A
little disappointed, but okay. It wasn’t until the moment was
almost perfect that I realized how much I wanted it to be.

“No, sweetie—I’m just kidding.” Zach placed his hand
on my leg. “We’ve waited this long, a little longer won’t kill
either of us. Have you ever read
The Phantom of the Opera
?”

“No, Shelly always told me I would like it, but that was
back when I made a conscious effort to do the exact opposite
of everything she suggested. Why do you ask?”

“You need to ask Shelly to borrow her copy and then
tell her how much you loved it. Plant the seed in her head and
you never know what might grow on its own.”

He was a genius. I knew I wasn’t just dating him for
his looks, his charm or his sense of humor—I loved the fact
that he was smart, too. We lingered over our empty plates for
quite a while just talking before we left the restaurant. We
talked about his adventures in anger management and how
scared he was when he thought he would get kicked out of
school.
He told me about how his
parents
made him
apologize to Ryan and pay for his medical bills. And how truly
lucky he was that Ryan’s parents hadn’t decided to sue.

“I’m really going to have to start saving for our
apartment soon—I don’t want to have to rely on you for
money.”

Oh no. I didn’t apply to the same college he did! What
was I going to do now? I could still apply but I missed early
admissions. Pendleton University was a popular school—the
earlier you applied the better your chances were of getting in.
He was going to be disappointed but I had to break the news
to him.
“I didn’t exactly apply to Pendleton, Zach.”

His face sunk visibly with the news—he looked at me
like I just threw a kitten into the toilet. “What? Why?”

“When we weren’t together I assumed our plans were
dead—I applied to a school in Philadelphia instead.” I started
to feel like I threw that kitten in and flushed it, too.

“So you’re going to Philly then?”

I could hear the hurt in his voice. “No, of course not!
I’ll apply to Pendleton and if I don’t get in now, I’ll shoot for
the spring semester instead.” I placed my hand on his
shoulder. “Either way, I’m still going
where
you go and
when
you go, Zach.
I could just get a job and work full time for the
fall semester.
And besides, it would give me more time to
write anyway.”

“Write? What are you writing?”

“While we were apart, I started writing a book. It was
the only the thing that kept me sane. When I finish it, I’m
going to try to get it published.”

“Ruby, that’s awesome! What’s it about? When can I
read it?”

 

“It’s far from finished but you can read what I have so
far if you want.”

 

“Definitely—why wouldn’t I? I want to be a part of
everything you do.”

We started to get the stink eye from our waitress and
when I looked at the clock I saw why. We’d been at the table
talking for almost three hours. My curfew was in an hour so
Zach paid the bill and we walked to the car. There was only
one thing left to discuss and we needed to be completely
alone for that conversation.

33. One Phantom Too Many

“I’m sorry we don’t have more time to talk about your
ghost. It’s my fault—I should have been watching the clock.”
Zach said as he parked the car at the bottom of the hill. “Time
just seems to melt away when I’m with you.”

How could I have been so stupid? I should never have
missed out on so much time with him.
Now that we were
back together I wanted every moment of my day to be spent
with him. There couldn’t be another boy out there who would
deal with my ghost problems so sanely and rationally.

Zach reclined his seat and slid over so I could join him.
It was a cool night so he pulled the blanket out of his backseat
and wrapped it around us.

“Before I start though, I have one question to ask you.
You said you could feel Garnet that day—I get that. But last
night you said you knew I could see ghosts—plural—how did
you figure that out?”

“I just put the pieces together. It seemed like too
much of a coincidence,
you
know, after everything
that
happened over the summer.
The Wakefield family lived in
that house for over half a century with no explosions. You live
there for three months and damn near blow the place up.
Then you kept talking about the girl that was following you
around school but somehow she was never there when you
tried to point her out to me. When you started working at
Something Wick-ed with Rita—that was clue number three. I
spent a lot of time researching near death experiences during
my suspension and found that it’s a common side effect.”

Wow. I thought I kept everything such a secret but he
was more observant than I gave him credit for. He knew me
better than I even knew myself.

“You pay attention to everything, don’t you?”

 

“Only where you’re concerned.”

That comment deserved a kiss so I gave him one. But
just a quick one—I had to tell him everything and if we kissed
for too long that would never happen.

So I spilled it all, everything up to the point where I
decided to break into the school.
I was dreading that part.
Would I cease to be his perfect girlfriend once he knew? I was
ashamed of what I did but I stood behind my decision. What I
learned that night was crucial and there was no other way I
could have learned it.

Nothing I said so far seemed to surprise him.
He
listened unfazed until I said the words. “So I snuck into the
school on Halloween in the hopes of catching an anniversary
residual haunting that would prove that Mr. Raspatello killed
Garnet.” I spoke quickly and then braced for the impact.