Spirits of Spring (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 4) (26 page)

“Yes, master,” Zach said with a creepy fake accent as he
followed me, hunched over and dragging one foot behind him
like a character from some early horror film.

“Rachel’s dreams of stardom are over but you may want
to think about taking that act to Hollywood, Igor.” I delivered
that line with a straight face but giggled as soon as it was out.
He entertained me as much as he infuriated me.
If this was
what a lifetime with Zach was going to be like, I was more than
satisfied.

Zach continued to lurch around after me like a crippled
henchman, making me laugh even harder.
When I saw the
salesman heading our way, I gave him a light elbow to the ribs.
“Hey, act normal or he’s going to think he can get away with
price gouging us.”

Zach straightened himself
out after one last “Yes,
master” then met the salesman with a handshake. When asked
what kind of vehicle we were looking for, he begrudgingly
uttered, “SUV”.

I gave the man a rough estimate of our price range and
the features I was looking for.
Then I added that I was hoping
to find something in red.
Most of the vehicles out front were
brand new and even though I had more than enough to cover it,
I didn’t want to spend any more than I really had to. The
money I had needed to last us for a few years. As much as I
would have liked a brand new one, for now, it was out of the
question.

“Red? No. The only red ones we have in stock are this
year’s models straight from the factory. I do have a few recent
trade-ins that fit your price range, though. They’re out back—
follow me.”

No red. Okay, well, since Zach would be the one driving
it most of the time, I guess I could live with black or a nice
shade of blue to match his eyes.
Silver would be okay, too.
Anything but green—I
hated
green.

As we walked down the line of vehicles, I noticed a
distinct lack of blue. The few black ones were older than I was
hoping for and with much higher mileage. The only silver one
in the bunch was
huge
and the thought of driving something
that massive frightened me. That brought our choices down to
two. Two green ones.

“Can you give us a few minutes to discuss this?” I asked
the salesman. We were going to discuss the idea of going to Big
Al’s used car lot instead.

“Absolutely,” he replied with that all too friendly
salesman voice. “I have to go check on something in the
garage—I’ll be back in five.”

While Zach usually thought that I could read his mind,
he was usually dead wrong. Especially this time. “I know, I
love this one, too! He said, running his hand across the hood of
the smaller of the two green SUVs. Of course I want to take a
quick look at the engine first but, it has everything you said you
were looking for. I say we go for it.”

Figures. The minute I have second thoughts about the
plan, Zach decides that he is fully on board. I threw out the Big
Al’s idea but he quickly shot it down.

“I actually had Rachel do a drive by of Big Al’s before
she dropped me off at the shelter this morning. There wasn’t
anything good there.
This is the only other lot in town. If we
don’t get something here, we’ll have to go the whole way to
Graysburg. By the time we get there, they’ll be closed for the
night. And besides, honestly, this one is perfect, Ruby. What
don’t you love about it?”

“It’s
green
,” I said with clear emphatic disdain placed on
the word “green”.

 

“Yes,
and
? That’s not a good enough reason to not buy
a vehicle that’s perfect otherwise.”

“Well, I really like that red one out front. If I’m careful
about how much money I spend on clothes and shoes over the
next few years, I could definitely still afford that one.” I took his
hand and tried to lead him back to where the new vehicles
were parked but his feet were planted firmly beside the green
SUV.

“Yeah, like
that
is ever going to happen,” he said while
rolling his eyes. “Ruby, you need to just accept the fact that you
aren’t always going to get everything exactly the way you want
it in life.”

Shocked by the harshness of his words, I dropped his
hand and stared blankly at him. “What do you mean by that?
Are you trying to say that I’m a spoiled brat?”

“No, that wasn’t the point I was trying to make here.
I’m just saying that you’ve had an easy life—financially,
anyway. But that’s going to change once we’re out on our own.
We’re going to have bills to pay. We’re going to be fending for
ourselves. You won’t always be able to buy everything you
want. You’re going to have to learn how to settle for second
best some times.”

I bit my lip to keep myself from crying. “Fine. If you
want the green one, we’ll buy the green one. But I’ll have you
know that there have been many points in my life when I didn’t
get what I wanted. I’ve learned more life lessons than you
think
I have.”

“Ruby, I’m not trying to argue with you,” Zach said as I
waved the salesman over.

“Whatever. Look at the engine and if it looks okay, tell
him we’ll take it. I’m going for a walk to clear my head.” I knew
he was mad at me for getting mad at him but I didn’t care.
What I needed was a moment alone. Well,
mostly
alone.

“You and Zach shouldn’t fight over something as stupid
as the color of a car,” Clay said as I spotted the perfect tree to
brood under and began walking toward it.

“So you heard the whole conversation then? I didn’t see
you, when did you get here?”

 

Clay shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and
stared down at the ground. “Yeah, about that….”

Maybe I really
was
psychic because I knew exactly what
he was going to say to me next. “You can’t separate yourself
from me at all anymore, can you?”

“No,” he mumbled without raising his head. “I’ve tried
but I can’t. I can manage to keep
some
distance but not much. I
guess I should have told you sooner.”

“Yes, you should have!” After hearing that, the thought
of driving a green SUV around town wasn’t so big of an issue.
I
shouted loud enough that Zach and the salesman both turned
their heads to see what was going on. I just shook my head in
defeat. All I wanted was a few minutes alone. Why couldn’t
anything
ever
go the way I wanted it to?

I sighed heavily and slumped back against the tree in
defeat. When Zach motioned me to join him, I sighed again and
trudged back to where he stood with Clay tailing along behind
me.

“I looked everything over and told him we would take it
but we have a slight problem.”

“Of course we do. What is it now?” I never suspected
that so much drama could be involved in buying a vehicle. Car
shopping
was
more
complicated
and
nowhere
near
as
gratifying as shoe shopping.

“Unless you want to wait until you’re eighteen, you’re
going to need your dad to sign some sort of consent form. Do
you think you can talk him into doing it?”

Finally, a sigh of relief. “Is that all I need to do? That
isn’t a problem at all. But he won’t be able to do it until
tomorrow, though—he’s working the late shift at the hospital
tonight. I can sign my part and write out the check then you
can come over with my dad tomorrow and pick it up while I’m
in Pittsburgh doing some
real
shopping. Sound good?”

Zach stroked the hood of the SUV once more before
saying, “Sounds great!”

Once things seemed to be at least semi back on track,
we finished up at the dealership and I announced that I had one
more thing planned for us before taking him home.
I still
needed to tell him that I was now stuck with Clay until I figured
out how to break the bond. Now wasn’t a good time, though.
Zach and I hadn’t had a romantic date in a long time and I
wasn’t about to spoil it.

“I’m taking you out to dinner tonight—no ifs, ands, or
buts. I’ve been dying for a nice juicy steak all day and I won’t
take no for an answer.”

“I don’t know, Ruby. Can’t we just go to Chow Ming
tonight? My mom’s working at the diner tonight and I would
rather not have to deal with anyone in my family for the night.”

“The diner? For steak? Why would I take you to the
diner for steak? We’re going to City Lights, silly.”

 

“No, we aren’t. It’s closed. They sold the place. I
thought I told you about that a few weeks ago?”

Zach was acting really weird and I had no idea why.
What else was going to go wrong today? He was probably just
trying to get me to go to Chow Ming because it was
less
expensive. He may have gotten away with talking me out of a
brand new vehicle but he wasn’t going to talk me out of that
steak. I drove off toward City Lights anyway.

At the main intersection, Chow Ming was to the left, City
Lights to the right. I turned right despite protests from Zach.

 

“Fine. Don’t take my word for it then. But in about five
minutes, you’re going to wish you’d listened to me.”

Zach sat there with a smug look on his face as I drove. I
glanced into the rearview to check for oncoming traffic before
switching lanes and caught sight of Clay in the backseat. There
was a slight smile on his face. Was he happy that Zach and I
were arguing? Was he still holding out some sort of hope that
he and I could be together someday? Sigh.
I wanted to smack
them both across the face with a wet fish.

But as soon as the building came into view, I felt like I’d
been the one to take that soggy carp to the cheekbone. The sign
for City Lights was no longer there. Instead, there was a bright
blue neon sign that said “Mistyque”. I was just about to point
out that the sign was misspelled when my brain kicked in and I
took another blow from the metaphorical fish.

“Tell me that isn’t what I think it is. For the love of God,
please.”

“Sorry, Ruby. I could have sworn that I told you about
this. Yeah, it’s exactly what you think it is. Jack Wolfe bought
that restaurant for Misty—it’s her graduation present. She’s
going to step right out of high school and into restaurant
management. I guess with everything else going on at school
you didn’t hear the news.”

Not only was I pissed that my favorite restaurant was
now forever on my condemned list, I was also a tiny bit bitter.
Okay, a
lot
bitter.
How did someone so mean and nasty keep
moving up in the world the way she did? Next thing I knew, she
was probably going to have a seat in the Senate. Not that she
wouldn’t fit in perfectly in a nest of corruption like that, but it
was just the idea of it that made my blood boil.
And Zach
thought that
I
needed to learn some life lessons the hard way.

Sadly, I turned the car around and went back to Chow
Ming. While consuming my first plate of wontons and spring
rolls, I became sad.

“I was hungry for steak and I hate the fact that Misty
isn’t ever going to see a single hard day’s work in her life. But
what really upsets me—what
really
grinds my gears—is that
because of her, I will
never
get to share another meal with you
at City Lights. I know we didn’t go there often but it was kind of
like
our
place, you know? We haven’t been there in a while and
if I’d known it would be our last meal there, I would have
enjoyed it a little more.”

Zach suddenly turned somber and lowered his fork.
“Every moment in life could be the last. The last conversation,
the last kiss, the last goodbye. If more people thought about
those things on a daily basis, maybe the world wouldn’t be as
full of sadness as it is.”

“Wow. That was pretty philosophical for someone who
only lost their favorite restaurant.” The sarcasm rolled off my
tongue before my brain had a chance to catch what it was
doing. When I realized that he was talking about his grandpa, I
felt like an insensitive jerk. I’d been through a similar situation
but when I met Lucas, I was able to put my feelings of regret
over what happened to Lee in the past. Zach would never have
that kind of opportunity.

Hurriedly, I tried to smooth over my callous remark.
“I’m sorry, Zach. As soon as I said that I realized what you were
referring to. Or shall I say
who
you were referring to. You don’t
talk about him very much—maybe you
need
to.
After we leave
here, we can go up to The Hideout and—“

“After we leave here, you can drop me off at home and
then you can go back to Rosewood. I’m never talking about
that situation ever again. Not after what happened last night.”

The look on his face was foreign to me. I wasn’t used to
him looking so dark and brooding. It wasn’t like the anger or
jealousy that I’d seen there in the past. It was something much
deeper than that.
I felt like I was looking into a mirror and I
didn’t like it at all. I was too afraid to ask what happened for
fear that he would shut down completely.
There would be
plenty of time later to pick Rachel’s brain for an explanation of
his ominous response.

We finished our meals in silence, breaking it only for
the official reading of the pithy sayings in our fortune cookies. I
went first in the hopes that he would follow suit.
Too bad I
didn’t read it to myself first.

“Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten
them.” Really? If ever there were a time when I needed one of
the usual dumb quotes, this was the time. Instead I get a deep
quote about dead people.
There was always a fifty percent
chance of getting a silly one and I was hoping that those odds
would be with me tonight. They weren’t.