CHAPTER TWELVE

“I don’t know where your doctors train, but my body hasn’t felt this good in ten years,” said Trevon, smiling at Alec and Tailor. He’d been going through a number of physical, background, and intelligence tests with the team, finally succumbing to the pressure of a naked hot springs bath in a strange, secret pond. He was grateful he’d done it.

“The hot springs make all the difference,” grinned Alec.

“I’m gonna gain fifty pounds if I keep eating this cooking,” he said, shaking his head. “I swear this is the best food I’ve ever had in my life, and I’ve eaten a lot of good food.”

“Mama knows what she’s doing, but so do the rest of our cooks,” smiled Alec. “We’ve got Michelin star chefs back there, as well as homegrown cooks. It’s all the same to us here. Delicious.”

“Anything new on Butch?” asked Trevon.

“Nothing yet,” said Tailor. “We’re hoping that the team got a sense of something while they were there today.”

“A sense? Like a guess? I figured you guys would be more technical than that,” he laughed. Tailor and Alec smiled at one another, nodding. “What? Did I offend you?”

“No. No, that’s not it. Look, Trevon, you’re going to be working here on the property for a while. We hope long term.”

“Me too,” he grinned.

“Right, well, there are some things you need to know about us. We were all Special Forces.”

“I knew that,” said Trevon. “One of the men said that to me the first time we met.”

“Okay. Well, we also have some interesting things, people on this property.” Trevon stared at him, then looked over his shoulder, his eyes darting from what he was seeing to the two men before him.

“Would those interesting things be ghosts?” he asked calmly.

“Yes,” nodded Tailor. “They’re family to us. Friendly, helpful, and wise like you can’t imagine. They won’t hurt you, and in fact, they’ll probably help you in some ways.”

“You sure?” frowned the big man. Yori stared at him as a smile came across his face.

“Such a big man to be fearful of a group of spirits,” he smiled. “We do not possess people.”

“How did he know that’s what I was thinking?” gasped Trevon.

“Yori, stop gettin’ in folks heads,” said Tailor. “We asked y’all not to do that unless you had to.”

“I did have to. He is innocent and good. The kind of good we need here. The kind of good that the world could use a little more of. He is a gentle spirit and soul with a love for all things living,” he said, nodding at Trevon.

“And he’s cute,” smirked Martha. Trevon looked at the ghostly figure and laughed, shaking his head.

“Ma’am, I’ll take that,” he laughed.

“Stop flirting with him, Martha. Nathan will get jealous,” said Alec.

“You are innocent, but you do feel guilt,” said Yori. “Guilt for your love of the woman.”

Trevon stiffened and looked at the men. He nodded, lowering his head as he stared at his plate of food.

“Brother, there is never anything to feel guilty about for loving a woman. A woman who is single, available, and loves you back.”

“I don’t know that she loves me back,” he said, shaking his head. “I told her I’d give her some time to be alone with Carigan, but I desperately want to hop on a plane and go see her.”

“Call her,” said Tailor. “Call her and tell her that. Maybe she feels the same.”

“I already did that,” said Trevon. “She wants to take a break. I think I was a good distraction for her while Butch was getting worse before our very eyes.”

“Fuck, sorry,” said Alec. Tailor nudged him, and he scrunched his shoulders. “What? I am sorry. But we all know what that means.”

“It don’t mean anything,” said Claudette. “My baby brother is a big idiot sometimes, Trevon. You must understand how awkward this is for her. Her daughter’s father either commits suicide or is murdered. He may or may not have known about the two of you, and his daughter does not. That’s a lot to unpack for her.”

“That’s true,” he said, looking at Claudette. “I don’t want to cause them any pain. Lara and I started out as friends, just talking about Butch and his condition. We spent a lot of nights on the phone just wondering what we could do for him, how we could make it better. Then, a while back, he had an injury that put him in the hospital, and we saw each other almost every day.

“We didn’t plan it. It just happened. We went back to her hotel room, got to talking and then suddenly we were climbing all over one another. When we caught our breath, we slowed down, started talking again, and realized we’d both enjoyed it more than we wanted to admit. Carigan was still in Scottsdale at a friend’s house.

“We said we’d keep it between us. See one another when we could. E-mail, call, text, that sort of thing. As I told you before, I think Butch knew something was up, but he never said anything. I’m not sure he would have cared. I just wish we would have spoken about it.”

“He knows,” said Claudette, gripping his hand. “He knows.”

“Are you an angel too?” he asked.

“No, honey. Ask my Jake. I’m no angel,” she said with a wink. “But there is another Claudette who is one of our ghosts. Don’t confuse us.” Claudette left them, and Trevon just shook his head.

“Man, I love your family,” he smiled. “I’ve never met a more interesting group of people, more loving and helpful in all my life. My family was good. My dad died when I was in middle school, so my mom was a single mother raising four boys, two of whom ended up in prison. My youngest brother and I got lucky, I guess. Or maybe we just listened more. But your family is awesome.”

“Most people feel that way,” laughed Alec.

“Hey, big stud,” called Noelle. “We got work to do. Did you fill your belly?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Then let’s go. Santa waits for no one.”