Spirits of Spring (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 4) (8 page)

I nodded my head in agreement. The first customers,
Mrs. Tuttle and Mandy, entered the shop so our talk of ghosts
was effectively over anyway. “You said you needed my help,
too, Rita. What do you need from me?”

Carefully speaking in code now that we were in the
company of a very nosey librarian, Rita told me what she
wanted from me. It’s a good thing we weren’t alone. If we had
been, I probably would have responded using some four letter
words not typically found in any dictionary Mrs. Tuttle would
approve of.

“I’m going to a convention in Ohio in May and I would
really like it if you joined me. The entire community is buzzing
over the news of your achievements at the theater.
In fact,
there’s an open slot on the lecture schedule that has your name
on it. What do you say?”

Ah, yet another resident of Charlotte’s Grove with
undiagnosed brain hemorrhaging. She couldn’t be freakin’
serious, could she? There’s no way in
hell
that I was ever going
to expose my dirty little secret to the world.
Far too many
people knew already. I’d gotten used to the idea of being a
freak but that didn’t mean I was—or ever
would
be—proud of
it. I couldn’t even form a verbal response. I simply looked at
her like she was crazy—because she obviously was—and shook
my head no.

“Okay but if you change your mind, let me know,” Rita
said as she as she scooped up her bags and headed for the door.
“And by the way, you have spirit, Ruby. A whole lot of spirit,”
she said with a wink before disappearing onto the sidewalk.

After about ten seconds of believing that her strange
comment was nothing more than confirmation that she was in
need of an MRI, I finally figured out what she meant. She was
talking about Clay. No more shades, phantoms, or wraiths for
me—there wasn’t anything even remotely frightening about
dealing with a spirit. But before I even attempted to send Clay
into the hereafter, I wanted to talk to Zach about it first. I sent
him a quick text to let him know that I needed to talk to him
and got a disapproving glance from Mrs. Tuttle.
Apparently,
she thought the world was her library.

“Zach,” I said, pointing to my phone and she instantly
softened. I’d given up on ever being able to charm the old bat
myself but as long as I had Zach around, I wouldn’t need to. A
few minutes later he replied.

“Stop at shelter on way home. Someone I want u 2
meet!”

He knew how badly I hated suspense but refused to tell
me who I was meeting even after multiple texts requesting
more information. I even begged a little. Okay, so in reality, I
begged a lot. With no clue of who this mystery person was, I
took a few minutes to fix my hair and makeup before leaving
Something Wick-ed. I needed to be prepared just in case.
In
case of what, I have no idea. In fact, I was actually a bit nervous
when I walked through the shelter door. Not that I thought that
Zach would introduce me to someone dangerous or anything
but after what happened at the theater, I was a bit leery of
meeting new people.

“Zach,” I called as I walked in the door, “where are
you?”

“We’re back here,” he replied from the far end of the
building. As I walked past the kennels, I stopped to give Luck a
few pats on the head. He reminded me so much of Zach and our
early days together before everything got so complicated. Now
that the dust was starting to settle, maybe there would be more
carefree days like those ones in our near future.

I followed the sound of his voice and found him in the
room Andy reserved for surgeries. Zach was alone in the room
and seated in Andy’s desk chair with a small blanket stretched
across his chest. It wasn’t until I took a closer look that I
realized there was a small lump lying under the blanket and
directly over Zach’s heart. My fear of meeting someone new
instantly dissipated.

“Come here, Ruby, I want you to meet Foxy.”

As I got closer to where he was sitting, he slid the
blanket down and revealed a tiny tiger striped kitten curled up
on his chest purring contentedly. “Oh Zach, she’s precious!”

“Yes, but she’s very, very sick. Someone brought in a
mama cat and her litter of kittens about a month ago.
They all
seemed pretty healthy except for this little girl. Foxy wasn’t
growing as fast as the others so I started bottle feeding her
myself.
After a few weeks, she seemed to be doing a lot better
but
she
started
having
contemplated
euthanizing
seizures
this
morning.
Andy
her before he
and
Rita left for

Niagara Falls but I begged him not to. I formed a bond with her,
you know? He told me what meds to give and I’m going to
spend the night here with her. I want her to make it but even if
she doesn’t, I’d like to be with her when she passes.”

“You’re sleeping
here
tonight?
What about the play—
aren’t you going to go watch Rachel’s big debut?” I got word
earlier that her stomach bug was cleared up, releasing me from
any obligation I may have felt to take on the role of Kira one
more time. I would have done it for Giuseppe but
my
stomach
would have been churning every time I shared a scene with
Lucas. Suffice it to say, there would have been zero lip locking
this time around. Zero.

“No, to be perfectly honest with you, Rachel herself isn’t
even all that excited to be taking the stage tonight. She doesn’t
know any details about what happened back stage last night,
but she knows exactly how conniving Lucas really is now. Plus
my parents are going and I kind of want to steer clear of my
dad as much as possible for a while. He’s really riding my ass
about the accident. I didn’t even tell him I broke my phone, too.
I asked Andy for an advance on my next pay and replaced it
myself.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said as I reached out a finger to stroke
Foxy’s tiny head. “I can imagine what my dad would say if I
wrecked
my
car. A whole lot of blah, blah, blah about how I’m
lucky to be alive, I imagine. If it helps any, I’m sure he’s only
doing it because he loves you.”

“No, that isn’t why he does it,” Zach said as he carefully
rose from the chair with Foxy still cuddled tightly to him.
“Rachel dropped off an air mattress so I can try to get a little
sleep here tonight. I need you to hold Foxy for a while so I can
inflate it.”

“Me? Are you sure? I’m one big accident waiting to
happen—I’m afraid I’ll hurt her or something.”

“Yes, you,” Zach said with a smile. “She’ll be just fine.
She seems to lose body heat rapidly when I’m not holding her
so I don’t want to just put her down somewhere by herself. Sit
down and I’ll lay her on you then you can just put your hand
under her rear to support her. You won’t break her—I
promise.”

I sat down in the chair in sheer awe of him.
Most
seventeen year old boys were out having fun or looking to get
into some sort of trouble but Zach was here at the shelter
comforting a dying kitten. Without a doubt, he had the most
beautiful heart of anyone I’d ever met. Sure, he was still an
undeniably hot guy but that wasn’t really why I was attracted
to him. What drew me to him—what drew me closer to him
with each passing day now—were the moments like these.
While most girls were satisfied with what they saw when they
looked at him, I could see something
even
more stunning
underneath.
My love for him was stronger than ever and it
almost moved me to tears.

“You’ll make an excellent father someday, Zach,” I said
as he placed the frail little kitten onto my chest.
Forgetting
what he said about supporting her weight with my hand, she
woke up frightened as she began to slide down my shirt.

“Thanks, Ruby,” he replied as he caught her and guided
my hand into place. “You’ll make an excellent mother someday,
too—after I show you the ropes, that is.” Then he gave me a
smile, the one I’d come to think of as mine because it was
different from the way he smiled at other people.

With a giggle, I replied, “Thanks, shitass!” Now that all
of the drama was behind us, we managed to achieve a new level
of comfort with each other. He wasn’t just my boyfriend
anymore—he was my best friend in every way. And if there
was one lesson I’d learned, it was to always tell your best friend
the truth.

As he began pumping up the air mattress, I broached
the subject that originally brought me here in the first place. I
wasn’t sure how he was going to feel about me wanting to help
Clay move on. While it wouldn’t be dangerous, it would still be
another ghost related issue so soon after my battle with Allison.
But on the other hand, if I chose not to help Clay, I would most
likely continue to wake up with him in my bed—or worse.
What if he accidentally popped in on me when I was in the
shower? Or even more embarrassing yet—while I was on the
toilet? Even if Zach didn’t love the idea, he would have to agree
that the bond between Clay and me needed to be broken.

Confident that he would go along with the plan as long
as I fully explained my reasoning, I took a deep breath and told
him the truth. “When I woke up this morning, Clay was in bed
with me.”

The noise coming from the air pump instantly ceased
and was replaced with the sound of air rushing back out of the
mattress. “You what?”

“You heard me correctly. Clay and I accidentally formed
a bond while I was kidnapped.” I took my eyes off of Foxy and
saw that Clay was now standing right in front of Zach and
curiously checking out his misfire with the mattress.

“He does know how to use this thing correctly, doesn’t
he?” he asked, pointing to the air pump.

“Yes, Clay, he does. Now can you excuse us for a bit? I
need to talk to Zach about how I woke up this morning. Go visit
with the dogs or something.”

“He’s here? Now?” Zach looked confused, excited, and
maybe even slightly jealous all at the same time.

I wasn’t an easy girl to love, but he
somehow still
managed to do it. Hopefully Rita was right and this ghost thing
would get easier over time. “He was. But when I asked him to
leave, he did.” All of a sudden a healthy round of barking
sprung up from the kennels. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one
in the building who could see or at least sense his presence. As
the howls grew louder, I decided that I probably should have
sent
him
somewhere where there weren’t any animals.
“Sounds like he took my suggestion, too.”

Zach regained his composure and began to inflate the
mattress again. “Well I have to admit that the idea of you
waking up to Clay makes me a bit jealous. But I know that it
isn’t your fault and I’m glad that you were honest with me
about it. So now what? Is there any way to break this bond or
are we stuck with him forever now?”

And that was the perfect response to my outlandish
revelation. He was honest about his feelings yet accepting of
my situation. The fact that he asked if
we
were stuck with Clay
was simply just icing on the cake. Zach didn’t see this as
my
problem—he saw this as
our
problem.

“That’s exactly what I wanted to discuss with you. If I
talk to him about what’s keeping him earthbound, I should be
able to help him resolve the problem so that he can move on.
Can you handle one more ghost adventure with me?”

“As long as I’m with you, I can handle anything. What
can I do to help?”

Even
more
perfect response. We’d reinvented our
relationship before but this time I really felt like we’d gotten it
right.
This was how we were
supposed
to be—honest and
supportive. “I don’t think you
can
help me but thanks for the
offer. I’m going to talk to him tonight. With any luck, the
problem will be solved by morning.”

With the air mattress now ready, Zach scooped up Foxy
who was now fully awake and purring softly. “She looks so
much better than she did this morning. Her eyes are brighter
and she seems to have a little more energy. I think she may
even be ready to start eating so I’m going to try feeding her
now. Clay needs your help as much as Foxy needs mine. Good
luck!”

“You, too,” I said then kissed him goodnight. “I’ll let you
know how it goes and you do the same, deal?”

 

“Deal,” he said as he gently eased the bottle into her
mouth. “Goodnight, Ruby.”

 

“Goodnight, Zach.”

I lingered in the hallway for a moment and watched him
as he spoke softly to Foxy while feeding her. It was so precious
that I pulled my phone out and took a quick video of them
together. Even if Foxy didn’t make it through the weekend, I
wanted to have something that I could show him
later to
remind him that he did everything he could to save her.

“Scout’s Honor!” I called, feeling like a witch calling her
familiar.
Just like any good familiar, Clay appeared instantly
beside me on the futon.

“We gotta stop meeting like this—people
will
start
talking.”

“Yes, well, that’s exactly why I called you here. We need
to talk about sending you into the light. Don’t get me wrong—
you’re cool to hang out with on occasion, but you shouldn’t be
hanging around here.
You should be in a better place and I
want to help send you there.”

His usual smile turned to a worried frown. “What
makes you so sure that I’ll go to a better place? People like me
usually go elsewhere,” he said and pointed directly down.