Shades of Summer (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 1)

by Joy Elbel

  After the movie was over, Zach declared that he had to get home. He wanted to see how Rachel was feeling and then go to bed. Before leaving, he announced to Dad and Shelly that he would be picking me up early in the morning so we could spend some time at the library. They reacted favorably as I knew they would. What parent wouldn’t love a boy who makes a library date with their daughter?

  I followed him outside to say goodnight but I wasn’t exactly sure how to do it. When he leaned against his car, I did the same. “I guess I’ll see you in the morning then?” I wanted to kiss him so bad it almost hurt.

  He nodded his head. “I wish I didn’t have to leave you.”

  “Me, too,” I said sadly. If the first few hours of no physical contact were so hard, how horrible was I going to feel in a week or, heaven forbid, a month?

  “This will all work out in the end, I’m sure of it. Just call me if anything happens. Or better yet, tell your parents what’s going on,” he pleaded. “I’ll go right back in there with you and we can do it now. I think they’ll believe you, I really do.”

  “No, I can’t. I can’t risk having them send me away.” I fought back the tears. “I can’t lose you now.”

  He started to reach for me and stopped. “At least think about it. Please? I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

  “I’ll be okay. I’ll spread the salt as soon as I get upstairs. And I swear I’ll call you the second anything happens.”

  “You better.” He opened the car door and got inside. “I have to go before I don’t go. See you in the morning.”

  “Goodnight.”

  I watched as he drove away, wondering if I would ever get to kiss him again. I gathered up Coco and trudged miserably up the stairs to the attic.

  25. Written in the Stars

  The night passed without incident. I was still sound asleep when the alarm went off in the morning. Coco lay cuddled beside me on my pillow and I got up slowly so I didn’t wake her. I must have hit the snooze button repeatedly because I quickly realized that Zach would be picking me up in less than an hour. I dove into the shower with only one thing on my mind. We had to find something at the library today, we just had to.

  I barely made it down the grand staircase when his car pulled up out front. I raced out to meet him, eager to get the research started. The sooner we figured out who was haunting Rosewood, the sooner we could pick up our relationship where we left off.

  “Good morning, Ruby.” He sounded tired and I noticed his eyes were bloodshot. He looked like he was being haunted now, too.

  “Are you sure it’s a good morning? You look like you didn’t sleep a wink.” But even no sleep looked good on him.

  “That’s because I didn’t.” He slid on a pair of sunglasses and we took off.

  “Why not? And are you sure you don’t want to put off this off until tomorrow when you’ve had some sleep?” I didn’t want to wait, but I didn’t want to see him miserable either.

  “Absolutely not. The sooner we find something, the sooner we can be together. And I’ll be able to get some sleep.”

  “So it’s my fault you didn’t sleep then?” Why did I keep hurting him in one way or another?

  “It’s not your fault. I just couldn’t fall asleep because I was worried about you. I sat up with my phone in my hand. If you needed me, I wanted to be ready to run out the door in a moment’s notice.”

  What could I say to that? I wanted to tell him it wasn’t necessary, that he couldn’t be so absorbed with caring for me that he neglected himself. But I knew in my heart that I would do the same thing for him if the situation were reversed. And nothing he could say would stop me.

  “Thanks for caring. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t met you. I can’t imagine going through this alone.”

  “You’re welcome. Just remember though, you wouldn’t be in this situation if you hadn’t met me.” So I wasn’t the only one wallowing in guilt—I could hear it in every word he spoke.

  “But it’s not your fault. You didn’t force me to like you, you know. Even if I knew from the beginning that this would happen, it wouldn’t change how I felt about you.”

  “Thanks, Ruby, I needed to hear that. No one ever said relationships were easy, right?”

  “If they did, they were lying.” I laughed and he soon joined me. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and find the answer today. Honestly, you probably can’t wait to get some sleep. And I would love to join you.” I knew I shouldn’t have mentioned sleeping with him, but I couldn’t help myself. And by sleeping, I actually meant sleeping.

  “Don’t start that now! Yesterday morning was amazing. I can’t stop thinking about it but we have to focus on what we need to do. The minute this is all over though.…” He trailed off without finishing his sentence, but I knew what he wanted to say because I wanted to say it too.

  “You’re right.” I said as he pulled into the library parking lot with plenty of time to spare. We were the only car in the lot—even the librarian wasn’t there yet. We decided it wasn’t a good idea for the two of us to stay alone in the car together, so we got out and sat on a bench out front.

  We watched the squirrels chase each other up and down the trees until the librarian arrived. She was an older lady with fluffy white hair and orthopedic shoes. She was wearing a thick sweater even though the temperature was already well into the eighties. She didn’t look like the type that would tolerate us making out in the stacks, and she gave us a look that suggested as much. We would be safe on her watch.

  We followed her inside and immediately got to work. Zach asked the librarian, Mrs. Tuttle, to point us in the right direction and we split up. Zach began filtering through the countless newspaper articles dealing with Rosewood while I checked out the several books I could find the on the history of Charlotte’s Grove. Once Mrs. Tuttle seemed satisfied that there wouldn’t be any hanky-panky in her library, she left us alone to do our work.

  Two o’clock came way too quickly. We were so involved in our research that an angry Mrs. Tuttle had to collect us both at closing time. The air in the library was hot and stuffy, but the air outside brought us no relief. The heat was making us sleepy so we decided to walk to the nearest convenience store to get a soda before driving home. We didn’t find the miraculous answers we’d hoped to find, but we each uncovered one interesting fact that could lead us there.

  “So I didn’t find any evidence of suicide or violent deaths on the property, but I did find something interesting.” Zach sat down on a park bench and gestured for me to join him. His eyes were still bloodshot but the soda seemed to be helping him to wake up.

  “Me, too. What did you find?” I asked warily, hoping that we didn’t just waste four hours in that sweat box only to both come up with the same clue.

  “I found out that there’s a cemetery somewhere on the property. I figured it might be an excellent place to start.”

  The thought of living that close to a cemetery totally creeped me out. “I haven’t seen one.” Then I had a horrible thought. “Oh, please don’t tell me the house is built on an ancient Indian burial ground!” I’d seen enough horror movies in my time to know that never ended well.

  His face beamed with the most beautiful smile and I was reminded of how he looked the day we met. “That’s what I like about you—you’re always looking on the bright side.”

  “I’m not a pessimist—I’m a realist.” I insisted. “If you’d seen the things I’ve seen in that house, you would believe in Native American curses too, you know.”

  He was full out laughing now and I suspected that lack of sleep was to blame. “Seriously though Zach—they must be unmarked graves or something because I haven’t seen anything that so much as resembles a graveyard.”

  “You forget how big that estate is, Ruby. The cemetery’s probably deeper into the woods than we walked yesterday. And there’s a lot of ground cover in there—it might be well hidden by now.”

  “True. So we need to go headstone h
unting then.” It wasn’t how normal teenage couples spent their warm summer days, but after all of the times I’d gone to Scenery Hill with Lee, it didn’t seem all that strange to me. “Are you ready to hear what I found?”

  “I’m always ready to hear what you have to say.” Obviously, lack of sleep didn’t dull his charm.

  “I found a little known piece of Rosewood history. The house passed from the Bakers to the Wakefields, but for a few years during World War II, the Wakefields used it as a boarding house for war wives. They rented out rooms to women whose husbands were overseas. A lot of sad women must have walked those halls.”

  Zach threw one arm around the back of the bench and sat facing me. “Really? That’s even better than what I found. War brings out the most powerful emotions. Imagine having your family ripped apart, not being able to afford your house anymore…not to mention your husband being killed in battle. Or worse yet, missing in action.”

  I shuddered at the thought. “I don’t even want to imagine losing you like that. Promise me you’ll never go into the military.” While I knew we needed brave men and women to protect our country, it made me think of what happened to Lee’s dad and how it changed Lee forever.

  He put his hand to his heart. “I promise. But I do find that interesting.”

  “You find the military interesting?” He’d never struck me as the type who would want to go into the armed forces. But Zach was such a mystery to me at times that I really shouldn’t be shocked by anything that came out of his mouth.

  “No, what I find interesting is the fact that I said imagine losing your husband and you automatically thought of me.”

  I felt so stupid. I wasn’t the kind of girl who’d planned her wedding since she was six, but in my mind’s eye, I could definitely see Zach standing at the end of that aisle someday. But he certainly wouldn’t end up there if I scared him off by sounding like a bridezilla-in-training.

  “Oh, well, what I meant was…,” I stuttered around like an idiot. What exactly did I mean? Why did we have to have so many awkward moments like this one?

  He let me flounder around for a while before letting me off the hook. “Take it easy. I wasn’t freaking out about what you said, I was happy to hear you say it.”

  O. M. G. Where exactly was this conversation going? We couldn’t even touch each other for fear of supernatural retaliation, but now we were talking about marriage? I gulped down the confusion and asked, “You were?”

  “Yeah. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ready to get married any time soon. But I do want to someday, and I hope it’s to you.” He said it so nonchalantly—like he just said he’d never tried sushi but wanted to someday. He was so perfect that I started to wonder if he was just a figment of my addled imagination.

  “Your confidence astounds me. We have to get rid of this ghost before we can even date, and you’re already thinking that far ahead. How can you be so sure that we’ll have a happy ending?”

  “There’s that glass half empty again,” he said, teasingly. “But seriously though, I believe in destiny. I believe we met for a reason—that we’re meant to be together. Don’t you?”

  Did I? I wanted to, but after what happened to Lee, I learned that nothing lasts forever. Nothing was ever set in stone. But it wasn’t Zach’s fault that I doubted the powers of fate so I replied affirmatively and he seemed satisfied with my answer.

  We decided what our next course of action was as we walked back toward the library parking lot. There were two items on the agenda: Find that cemetery and dig deeper into the war time link at Rosewood. I suggested we search for the graveyard right away, but Zach shook his head no.

  “I’ve been running on fumes all day—I need to get some sleep before I pass out.”

  I was disappointed and there was no hope of hiding it. As much as I wanted to solve this mystery, I wanted to spend time with him even more. If he went home and got some sleep, I would be alone with my thoughts. Thoughts of Mimi and of how everyone I loved seemed to die.

  Zach must have read my mind because he quickly added, “I just want to nap for a few hours though. I have something planned for us tonight.”

  I brightened up instantly. “You do? What is it?” Then my cheerfulness faded. “It’s not movie night with Dad and Shelly again, is it?” Two nights in a row was more than I could bear.

  He grinned. “Better. Way better—trust me. But it’s a surprise.”

  When most people said “trust me”, I tended to do the opposite. But where Zach was concerned, I was willing to do what he asked. “I trust you.”

  “You won’t be disappointed,” he assured me.

  “When it comes to you, I know I won’t be.” And I saw a sparkle in his eyes that said I never would.

  When nine o’clock came and went and I still hadn’t heard from Zach yet, I figured our plans for the night were cancelled. Not that I could be mad at him or anything, he’d sat up all night on guard in case I needed him. Nevertheless, I was still incredibly disappointed. I’d just settled in with the second book in the Cinnamon Jones series when I finally got a text.

  “Pick u up in 30?”

  Thirty minutes would put us squarely at ten o’clock. What could he possibly have planned for us that would start so late? I was already changed for bed, so I had to hurry up and pick something out to wear. I texted him back and dug through my closet. Too depressed to do laundry after the breakup, I soon realized my choices were pretty slim. The bruises on my leg were completely erased now, so I decided to throw on the new denim shorts I didn’t have a chance to wear yet. The bonus was that every top I owned would look good with them, so I rifled through the hangers to find something red because Zach had said I looked good in that color.

  I found a cute tank that he hadn’t seen me in yet and went to refresh my hair and makeup. By the time I looked at the clock it was almost ten. I stepped into a pair of red ballet flats and went downstairs to wait for him. Perfect timing. The second my foot hit the bottom step, I heard his car out front. I yelled to Shelly that I was going out with Zach. She called out a far off, “Have fun,” and I ran out the door.

  The nap did him well. His eyes were no longer bloodshot, and shined a vivid ice blue. His shirt was the color of his eyes and set off every ripple of the muscles in his arms. He smelled like heaven. I knew that wherever he was taking me, I would be the envy of every girl there. He smiled as I got in the car and I melted. Would there ever come a day when I didn’t go weak in the knees at the very sight of him? Hopefully not.

  “Where are we going?” Not that it mattered as long as I was with him.

  “You’ll see.” He drove toward his house and I wondered if it was movie night with Garrett and Diane instead tonight.

  He took the turn off and stopped at the bottom of the hill leading to The Hideout. I craved time alone with him, but the idea of making all of the girls in town jealous tonight had kind of grown on me. And the thought of being completely alone with him here might not be such a good idea. He was looking way too good—the temptation would be fierce.

  He opened the door to the backseat and pulled out a blanket. I nearly fainted.

  “Are you serious? We can’t…but we’ll want to…do you think this is a good idea?” The sky was endlessly clear and all I could picture was what could happen with the two of us on a blanket on a hot summer night bathed in starlight.

  He grinned. “I know what you’re thinking. But trust me—I know what I’m doing.” He started up the hill and I followed, still pondering the bathed in starlight thing.

  Once at the top, he spread the blanket on the ground and lay down motioning for me to join him. I hesitated. How could I lay there beside him and not want more? How could he? I wasn’t afraid of how far we might go—I was afraid of what would happen to me when I got home to the House of a Thousand Horrors.

  “I don’t bite, you know.” He added slyly, “Unless you want me to.”

  I couldn’t take it anymore. “What are we doing here? We’ve stopped
even holding hands because of what might happen, but you bring me here—like this—what did you have in mind?”

  “Look up.” He pointed to the sky above us.

  I raised my eyes and saw the most amazing night sky that I’d ever seen. The stars fairly shot out of the sky they were so bright. There were no city lights to interfere up here so I could see every single twinkle. I lay down beside him to get a better view. I understood exactly why he brought me here.

  “It’s incredible.” Nightfall decreased the heaviness in the air that made the heat unbearable all day long. All that was left was a soft warm breeze, the dazzling sky and Zach. It always came back to Zach.

  “I knew you’d like it. Here like this, it feels like we’re alone in the world. Like nothing could ever come between us.”

  “It does. Can we stay here forever?” I knew it wasn’t possible, but a not so small piece of me wished it could be.

  “We could be like Andromeda and Perseus.”

  History was never my thing so I racked my brain in an attempt to remember who they even were. I gave up. “Who?”

  He pointed to a cluster of stars that looked like the letter ‘v’ flipped sideways. “That’s Andromeda. And over there is Perseus.” He pointed slightly to the left now to a constellation that resembled an upside down ‘y’. “Do you know their story?”

  “No—tell me.” I never met anyone who was so perfect. Usually guys who looked like him lost brain cells as they gained muscle mass—I wasn’t used to someone so gorgeous being so smart too.

  “Andromeda was the most beautiful girl in all of Greece. When her mother bragged that her beauty surpassed that of any of the goddesses, they demanded she be sacrificed. Andromeda was chained to a rock and left to be devoured by the monsters of the sea. As she waited there to die, Perseus sailed by. She was so perfect that he thought she was a statue. It was only when he saw a tear roll down her cheek that he realized she was flesh and blood. He fell instantly in love with her. He fought and slayed the beast for her, winning her heart and her hand in marriage. Their love impressed the goddesses who once sought to destroy her and so they were allowed to live out their lives in happiness. And when they died, they were placed side by side in the sky as a testament to their undying love for each other.”