Spirits of Spring (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 4) Read Free Page A

not
longer. As she took a deep breath in preparation for round two
of the whiplashing, I seized my opportunity.
    “Rachel, I know it looks bad—I know that I must look
like a super bitch right now, but I can explain. Please hear me
out!” I pleaded. “You have to believe me—it’s not what it looks
like. Scouts honor!”
    When I held up the Boy Scout hand signal that I learned
from
Clay,
I of course thought
of him.
And he
instantly
appeared beside me with a huge grin on his face when he
realized he was once again in the ladies room. That grin turned
to a slight look of fear when he glanced Rachel’s direction and
saw the steam all but rolling out of her ears. He pointed to the
door and walked straight through it without a word. How sad
was it that I was now scaring ghosts and not the other way
around? Why couldn’t I just have a normal life?!
    “You have exactly sixty seconds,” she said as she looked
at the time on her phone. “Starting now!” Rachel leaned back
against the sink and folded her arms across her chest. She cast
her eyes at the floor in front of her. If she was so mad at me
that she couldn’t even look at me, how much worse was my
conversation with Zach going to be?
Assuming that Rachel let
me walk out of the restroom with the ability to still speak, that
is.
    Unsure of whether or not she would actually hold me to
her one minute promise, I flung the words out of my mouth as
quickly as I could. The fact that I had been torn between Zach
and
Lucas, between
the
long
road and
the easy
way
out,
between the past and the present—all of it shot out of me in an
emotional regurgitation. All of the things I’d been holding
inside of me for way too long because I hoped they would go
away on their own now lay metaphorically at my feet as well as
hers.
    “So yes,” I admitted, “I did enjoy that kiss but not for the
obvious reasons. That kiss freed me from all of my guilt and
doubt. Kissing Lucas proved to me once and for all that I want
to be with Zach and only Zach.
Please tell me where he is!
I
have to talk to him and beg him to take me back!”
    Once I fell silent, Rachel finally looked me in the eyes.
“So why is Lucas here with you now? He sure doesn’t look like
someone who just had his heart broken.
Or are you keeping
him on the leash until after you talk to Zach?
You know, as
backup in case my brother wants nothing more to do with
you?”
    Her accusation inflamed me but I knew that I’d earned
it. “No, Rachel! I haven’t talked to him yet because I want to
talk to Zach first. He’s the one who truly deserves an apology
here. I’ll deal with Lucas later. Even if Zach never wants to
speak to me again, I still don’t want to be with Lucas. If I can’t
be with Zach, then I would rather be alone.”
I waited for
another round of assaults but it never came. Instead, she asked
me only one question.
“Are you absolutely certain that you’ve made your
decision once and for all?”
     
“One hundred percent, Rachel. It’s Zach or it’s nobody
at all. Now please tell me where he is.”
    “I don’t know where he is and frankly, I’m a bit worried
about him.
He was really upset when he left the Bantam.
I
texted him a few times but he never responded. Just before you
walked in, I got a funny feeling that something bad happened
but I tried to ignore it. That feeling isn’t going away either. I
knew something was wrong the day Grandma died, remember?
This doesn’t feel exactly the same way but kind of. You don’t
think he could be….” Rachel stopped herself from saying the
next word but I didn’t have to be psychic to know what it was
going to be. Dead. She was pondering whether or not Zach was
dead.
    As I was about to console her by saying that I would
know for certain if he was, I realized that it would be a lie.
Seeing ghosts wasn’t an exact science. I hadn’t come across Lee
or my mom yet—the two people you would think would have
contacted me first.
Sudden horrible