44 Book Five (5 page)

It had been a hard, hot, long day.

Hard because of the constant flow of tourists and locals streaming through the doors. Hot because we were in the third day of a sweltering heat wave with the temperatures over 100 degrees. And long because the air conditioner still wasn’t fixed, causing a slew of complaints from angry customers.

“It feels like hell in here,” said a plump, middle-aged regular. She wiped off her forehead with the back of her hand, her gold bracelets clanking together. “I mean, really. This is ridiculous. It’s been days. Has Mike hired someone or is he trying to just fix it himself?”

I nodded. Smiled. Waited.

“Tell him that I like it here, but Thump has good coffee, too. Not to mention Starbucks. And I’m sure that they have their air working.”

I replied with a technique I had found most successful when dealing with difficult customers.

“You’re right,” I said. “What can I get started for you?”

She gave me a sour look but went ahead and ordered her usual non-fat latte.

“Iced,” she added and rolled her eyes as she moved over to the machines.

“Bet you’re wishing you were on the river with Ty Terrifico instead of working here at Satan’s Left Armpit,” David said under his breath as he passed by.

I smiled. He was right. I would take a set of angry rapids any day over a set of angry customers.

I helped the next two women, who were actually happy and friendly and didn’t seem upset at all with the heat. They both ordered and left tips and walked down to the end of the bar.

After a little while, I took my break and wandered over to the back room, where it was cooler and darker, the air loaded with the rich smell of coffee beans. I could hear the workers pounding away. Maybe they would get it fixed sometime today.

I walked over to the sink and washed my face and then looked at myself in the mirror. I had a pretty good tan going, but a few freckles were now sprinkled across my cheeks.

“Abby Craig,” David said, singing my name as he walked up to me. He was carrying a tray of dirty mugs to the dishwasher. “So when do you get out of here?”

“I’m closing,” I said.

“Ugh,” David said. “That’s a bummer.”

“You?” I asked.

“One more hour. Mike asked if I could stay on, but I said no way. This heat is making me sick. Maybe Mike should just shut us down till it’s fixed. Aren’t there laws or something about making people work in these conditions?”

David was a big baby sometimes, but he wasn’t wrong. It was too hot and I was also wondering the same thing, although not about the laws, just about whether we would close or not.

I caught David in the mirror staring at me, a strange expression on his face.

“Sorry again about the Paloma thing,” he said.

“It would be nice to be able to talk to you about this sort of stuff. I wish I had a friend I could trust that way. I don’t really even talk to Ty about it.”

“I promise to do better,” he said, sounding sincere. “I will. I want you to tell me everything about the ghosts you see. I think it’s fascinating. That’s why I blab. But no more. I will zip it.”

When I looked at him, I was surprised to see that he wasn’t smiling. It was one of the few times I had ever seen him so serious.

“Well, good,” I said.

He came a little closer.

“Okay, I’m just going to come clean,” he said. “I told my mom about you, this was a long time ago, promise. Like back when you were dealing with that Kaboom High School thing. Anyway, she wanted me to ask. We were wondering if you see any of my dead relatives around me. You know, like their ghosts.”

I paused for a moment, looking at him.

“You told your mom about me?”

“Well, it just sort of came out,” he said, smiling. “She read about you in her newspaper and I was all like, I work with that girl. I was proud, Abby Craig. That’s all.”

I scrunched the paper towel into a ball and threw it at his head, but it bounced off his shoulder when he ducked.

“What?” he said, laughing. “She watches a lot of those ghost shows and she was so excited when I told her. She’s hoping you can see my Aunt Jenny or my grandma or somebody else. So, do you see anyone?”

He closed his eyes as if summoning spirits.

“All right,” I said. “Let’s see.”

I had never seen any ghosts around David, but I looked at him quietly now anyway. His white and gray energy moved in faster waves around him, telling me that he was both excited and nervous about what I might find. Just to make sure he thought I was being thorough, I took my time.

“No,” I said. “Sorry, but nobody’s there.”

He looked a little disappointed when he opened his eyes.

“Really, David,” I said. “It’s a good thing. Some of the ghosts I see are pretty scary.”

He smiled.

“Oh, okay. If you say so. I guess I was just hoping. I mean, I really miss my grandma. So just let me know if you see something.”

“I will,” I said. “Promise. But only if you can keep it a secret. Things have finally gotten back to normal and I like it that way.”

“Deal,” he said. “Sorry again. And I’m glad those brutal newspaper people are leaving you alone.”

“Me too,” I said, sighing. “I better enjoy it while it lasts.”

David gave me a quick look, trying to figure out what I meant. I was thinking about the trial scheduled for December and all the publicity that would be involved. David still didn’t know anything about Nathaniel Mortimer or the other scientists who had tried to kill me.

“You cooking up some other ghost story for the press or something?” he asked.

“No, nothing like that,” I said. “But Kate always says once in the public eye, always in the public eye.”

“Hmmm,” he said. “Okay then. Well, I guess we better get back out there before Mike throws a fit.”

We walked up to the front and he groaned as we stared at the line wrapped around the tables and over to the bathrooms in the back of the store.

CHAPTER 10

It was just after the first small set of rapids when they started in.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” the gray-haired man sitting closest to me said. “If we capsize I’ll save you.”

“Don’t trust him, hon,” another one said. “Alone with him in the water? It would be a disaster!”

They all broke out in laughter.

There were seven of them in my raft, middle-aged, all wearing the same hats and shirts, some with the price tag still hanging off the back.

“Hey, sugar, let’s pick it up a little and make this a
real
ride,” yelled the guy up front, turning completely around so that I could hear him.

I put my personal feelings and wishes aside. After two seasons of guiding, I hadn’t had one customer fall into the water. I didn’t want to start with these idiots.

I was ready for a little break and happy to make it on shore to scout the upcoming rapids. I smiled when I saw Ty waiting. He helped steady the raft while everybody got out and started walking down the short trail.

“Hey, sweetheart, wanna switch groups?” Ty said in a low voice after the men were out of earshot.

We rarely switched, but we all had an understanding that sometimes certain people were better with certain guides and that it really was in everybody’s best interest to feel comfortable going down the rapids.

“No,” I said. “I’m okay. They’re not that bad. Just 52 cards short of a full deck, if you know what I mean.”

“And you’re just left with the jokers, huh?”

“Exactly.”

He squeezed my hand before letting go. I was hoping he would stay here with me and the rafts and let one of the other guides talk to the group, but he started following them to the rocks. 

“Have fun,” I said.

As he caught up with them, they swarmed around him, full of questions. He was all smiles and charm as usual. I stayed back on shore with Amber and Pam, sitting in the shade after we made sure the boats were tied down. It was another scorching day and that sweet smell of pine needles filled the air, lingering as we talked about our plans for after the season.

Amber was going back to her job at a bakery. Pam was going to work in a physical therapy office. Neither of them seemed too thrilled.

“So what about you, Abby?”

“I’ll probably just pick up more hours at Back Street for a while,” I said. “Maybe something else. I’m not sure.”

They nodded and Pam sighed.

“It’s so nice out here,” she said. “I’m sure going to miss it.”

I felt better after sitting there for a few minutes at the edge of the forest, remembering how lucky I was that I was able to run the river all summer. It was a good life.

“So how are things going with Ty?” Amber asked as she rolled up the sleeves on her T-shirt.

“No complaints,” I said.

“You guys seem really great together,” Pam said. “But in case you didn’t know, it’s making the front office girls crazy.”

I did know actually. Neither of them said goodbye to me anymore when I checked out.

“But us guides are all really, really happy for you two,” Amber said.

The tourists were heading back over toward us and we got up and untethered the boats. We got in and pushed off. I back paddled while we waited for Ty’s raft to go first. I usually followed him down the rapids, staying in his wake.

My fools were a little quieter and listened as I reminded them about their footing and about paddling. It was how it usually was when we were heading into the deafening roar of the whitewater, when the waves started pushing us around. It tended to separate the men from the boys. And the sweethearts.

“Paddle left!” I shouted.

They followed directions like it was a team-building exercise. We were headed into a giant boulder, but I wasn’t too worried. We had time and I steered us into a good position, shooting around it and then letting the river take us down, throwing us into the sudden calm waters at the end of the run.

“Amazing!” one of them yelled.

As the men climbed onto the bus later, one of them walked over and handed me two twenties, the biggest tip I’d ever gotten.

“Thanks, that was really fun,” he said.

“Glad to hear it,” I said, pocketing the cash.

I looked over at Ty. He started laughing.

“So, sweetie, does this mean you’re buying dinner tonight?” he said.

I punched him in the arm and we grabbed the paddles and life vests and walked up to the shuttle bus.

CHAPTER 11

I circled the park. It was still hot. Large cauliflower clouds drifted across the sky up above. The weatherman had been talking about storms for days, but so far nothing had materialized.

I walked past the basketball court and watched the game for a minute. It was three on three and both teams were making most of their shots. Just as I thought of him, I glanced over at the bench and saw someone sitting, wearing a baseball cap.

“Jesse,” I said, walking up to him, my heart fluttering.

“Hey,” he said, adjusting his hat. He stood up and gave me a long hug.

“You’re looking good, Craigers. Tan, lean, happy. I’d say you’re almost glowing even.”

He smiled like there was something hidden in the words.

“You too,” I said, as we sat back down. “Except for the tan part.”

He looked at his arms.

“Man, I try. But so far, no luck.”

His eyes wandered back to the game.

“These guys are good,” he said. “You should watch them and get some pointers.”

“You’re better,” I said.

“Yeah. But you could learn something when I’m not around.”

I laughed, but then stopped suddenly as I wondered if there was some meaning in those words too.

That’s how it was lately when I saw him. I always feared he was coming to tell me that he had to leave, that he was permanently going to that other world where he really belonged and we could no longer see each other. I sensed that it could happen at any time and I dreaded it.

I let the silence sit for a minute in case he wanted to add anything, but he was quiet.

“Relax, Craigers,” he said, seeming to notice my tension. “I just dropped by to say hi. No big deal.”

“Good,” I said.

“See that guy with the Duncan jersey? Watch his wrist right before he releases the ball. That’s what you need to work on. That flick. You shoot the ball like a professional brick layer. Work on that and you might not miss all your shots.”

“I don’t miss
all
my shots,” I said, kicking him.

“So how’s life? What are you up to?”

I told him a few stories about my days on the river. Then about David and how Kate was back at the newspaper, working a lot of hours.

“Whoa, did you see that?”

The guy had just nailed a three-pointer.

Jesse played with his hat again. He was trying hard to act normal, but I could tell there was something off about him, something on his mind.

“Let’s walk,” he said.

We strolled next to the river. I took his hand. It felt right holding it, but it was also confusing. The only hand I had been holding lately was Ty’s. I didn’t know what it meant.

“So you happy, Craigers?”

“Yeah. It’s been a good stretch.”

We stopped and watched a family of ducks float by. He was making me nervous again, saying things without saying them. We hadn’t ever talked seriously about Ty, but I was pretty sure that’s what he was getting at. Unless it was something else.

“Are you here to warn me about something?” I asked suddenly.

“Yeah, there might be thunder and lightning tonight followed by periods of darkness. Otherwise, no, no serious warnings today. But I want you to know that if something happens, I’ll always be with you in one way or another. Even if you might not be able to see me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m saying that it was foolish of me to tell you I would make sure to say goodbye if I had to leave. We don’t know if that’s possible. I couldn’t find you the other morning. I was looking, but couldn’t find your energy. It was blocked.”

“Blocked?” 

“That’s not the right word. I don’t know. I just couldn’t find you.”