Under A Painted Sky (Spirit Warrior Series) (15 page)

“I’ll go make some
coffee,” he said.

“I’d like to take a
shower if that’s okay?” I asked.

“Sure, make yourself at
home. After all, mi casa is
su
casa, pun intended,”
Logan said.

“I guess it really is,”
I replied.

I made the bed and got
my things for my shower. We’d left in such a hurry last
night,
I didn’t know what all I had brought. I found enough of everything. The water
felt great as it cascaded warmth over my skin. I took a quick shower, got
dressed and slapped on some makeup. I ended up with a short outfit that I’d
grabbed in my terror last night. It was a red tank top and black jean shorts.

I hadn’t grabbed any
jewelry. I had a fetish for jewelry. I did have my beautiful ring that Logan
had given me and that is really all I needed though. I cleaned up my bath mess.
I carried my dirty clothes with me into the kitchen. I asked for a bag and he
gave me one.

I saw that Logan had
breakfast on the table of French toast with sausage. I said, “Wow, I can’t
believe you cooked breakfast.”

“I didn’t want you
getting weak on me. Have a seat,” he said.

I sat down and drank
some fresh brewed coffee. It was very good. I took a bite of the French toast
and it was amazing. I ate my breakfast as we talked about the day and our plans
to go see Cheveyo.

Logan said, “We are
getting to the bottom of this ghost thing. It doesn’t make sense. It looks like
the ghost or whatever it was did not want to harm us. It had every opportunity
to hurt us, but didn’t.”

“I can’t understand why
me. What have I done or what have I not done? It may not want to harm us, but
it could make me harm myself from fear,” I said.

“You finish eating and
I’ll shower and dress and we will go see my friend and find out what his next
suggestion is.”

I finished my food and
cleaned up the kitchen.

I looked at my phone
and there was a message from my aunt to call her when I got some free time. My
brother had sent a text saying he missed me. That was it. Wow, I hadn’t even
been on Facebook lately. I really didn’t even miss it. It must be love!

Logan came out and
grabbed his keys and phone. Looking at his phone, he said, “Wow, nine messages.
I will just be a few minutes; I need to check on these. It may be important.”

“No problem. I just
checked mine and I had one from my aunt and she said to call when I had free
time. I sure dread that call. I guess I’m going to have to tell her about
what’s been happening here,” I said.

“Why don’t you wait a
little longer on that one,” he suggested.

“I think you are right.
I’ll just text my brother and tell him everything is great.”

We both took care of
our messages. Logan had to make a few calls and set up a few things and then he
called Cheveyo. When he got off the phone, he told me that Cheveyo said he was
about four miles away from us in town and had just finished his business. He
said he could come to Logan’s house if we wanted him to and Logan told him that
would be great. I wandered around the house and asked about the artist and
paintings on the walls.

I told him how much I
loved the paintings and how beautiful they were. The furniture was not that of
a young person. He had Aspen carved furniture in his house.

“This is so naturally
awesome,” I told him.

“I guess you could say
that it’s a kick back, although that was never my intent. I referred many new
homeowners who wanted the natural feel to their home to this company that does
that type of Aspen. And after they received many high dollar orders as a result
of my referrals, they offered to furnish my little house. They insisted, so I
let them. It was a sweet deal,” Logan said.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Cheveyo pulled into the
driveway and Logan went out to greet him. They came inside and we sat around
the table in the kitchen. Logan told him about the problem that still existed
and how upset I was about our guest ghost.

“I thought I had taken
care of it, but it looks like it must be someone you know who had been there
and died. When that is the case, the spirit won’t leave until their unfinished
business is taken care of, no matter what you do,” Cheveyo explained.

“That is what is so
weird, because it can’t be anyone I know. Since this house was built and my
aunt bought it, I’m the first to live in it. My aunt has only seen it, not
lived in it. Actually, Logan has been taking care of it and has been there the
longest,” I said.

“Logan, I guess you
need to find out if someone died working on this project,” our Spirit Warrior
said.

“I can do that, but I’m
pretty sure that didn’t happen, or I would have heard about it,” Logan said.
“I’ll call the contractors.” He went into the living room to make the call.
When he came back, he said, “Nobody was hurt or died during construction.”

“The thing that does
not make sense to me is that Logan said that he didn’t hear or see anything
while he was at the house for more than a week. Also, I was at the house for
two days before I noticed anything. The third day is when things started slowly
happening and I certainly didn’t think it was spirit related in any way. I
thought it was just a new house and would have some kinks,” I said.

“Maybe we better just
decipher what has been going on and when. Logan, do you have a tablet of paper
and three pens?” Cheveyo asked.

“Sure do,” Logan
replied, and went to the desk for them. He handed them to Cheveyo.

“I am going to give
each of you a piece of paper and I want you to write down everything that has
happened and the day, approximate time and date. When you are done, I will
consolidate the two papers and try to get a better picture of everything that
has happened,” Cheveyo
[LEB3]
 
instructed.

He gave us the papers
and pens and we started writing down everything we remembered separately. After
about 20 minutes had passed, Logan gave him his paper and I followed his lead.
Cheveyo had been making a layout on his papers. He took our pages and began to
consolidate them into his layout.

Logan asked if we
wanted a drink and we both let him bring us a bottle of water.

After another fifteen
minutes had gone by, Cheveyo finished his layout of our guest situation.

Cheveyo said, “I don’t
understand why the spirit did not show up until after all the work Logan did on
the house and after you had been there for two days.”

“Me either. I don’t
even understand these ghosts or spirits, period. I always thought that was
someone’s imagination. Before coming here, I had always laughed at stories of
ghost. Now that I think about it, the people always did look desperate and
freakish. I just thought that was part of the act to get people to believe
them. Now I feel really bad.”

“So, you were alone the
first time you noticed anything going on?” Cheveyo asked.

“Yes, but I had been
with Logan earlier. You see, Logan had been taking me and showing me
Albuquerque ever since the second day I arrived here. After writing it all
down, it looks like it started on day three of me being here,” I said.

“When did you first
notice something?” Cheveyo asked Logan.

“It was night four when
I experienced the ghost or whatever it was,” Logan replied.

“So, on day three, you
told Logan about the spirit and then he had an encounter on night four?”
Cheveyo asked.

“I didn’t realize it
was a spirit until day four and that’s when I told Logan,” I responded.

“You say you have been
together basically every day since you arrived,” Cheveyo said.

“Yes, and until at
least after dinner every night,” Logan said.

“Why don’t we do this?
Let’s recount every place you have been and time frames of when you were with
Logan since your arrival,” Cheveyo said.

We both filled in the
blanks of all of our time together and places we had been. We gave him all the
details and he studied them fiercely.

He said, “You really
have been together the biggest part of the time haven’t you?”

“Yes, we have,” I
affirmed.

“From all the things
that happened, I don’t think the spirit means to bring harm to you, Isabella. I
would have to guess that the spirit is trying to get your attention, and it is
upset, maybe even sad,” Cheveyo said.

“Well, it definitely
got our attention! What about the word ‘help’ on the mirror? Maybe it needs
help,” I commented.

“But, what could we
possibly do to help? I don’t know, but I can’t let this thing run Isabella out
of her home and scare her beyond belief. This is crazy,” Logan said.

“What if we all go back
there and camp out until we figure this out?” Cheveyo suggested.

“I don’t know if my
heart can take anymore,” I said.

“We will be with you
every minute, Isabella, and I swear I won’t let anything happen to you,” Logan
said.

“That goes for me,
too,” Cheveyo said.

“I guess I don’t really
have a choice,” I said.

“You could stay here at
my place, Isabella, and Cheveyo and I could camp out there,” Logan suggested.

“I guess I better go
back there. My aunt has already left me a message and she might call. I would
just be worried about the two of you the whole time anyway, so count me in,” I
said.

“Okay, so why don’t I
go and pick up a few things that I might need, and we will meet back at the
Vista Hermosa house at say 2 p.m. Is that good?” Cheveyo asked.

“That sounds like a
plan to me. I’ll bring the papers with me,” Logan said.

“I wish we each had a copy,”
Cheveyo said.

“No problem. I’ll make
us copies before we meet up. I have a copier in the other room on my desk,”
Logan said.

“Great, I am outta here
then,” Cheveyo said.

“Okay, catch ya later,”
Logan replied.

Logan looked at me and
I guess I looked worried, because he put his arms around my waist and pulled me
into him.

“Nothing in the world
will ever come between us, especially not a ghost. I will protect you, babe,
and guard you with my life. Don’t be afraid.”

“Does this mean we are
now ghost busters? Wow, this seems so ridiculous!”

“No, I think with
Cheveyo, we are Spirit Warriors,” Logan replied.

“Who in the world would
believe all of this? And what do I tell Aunt Carol?” I asked.

“I don’t know too many
who would believe, but as you can see, my friend, Cheveyo, does. He believes
enough to put his life on hold to come help us. I still say we tell Aunt Carol
nothing because you would just have to be here to believe it. I think it will
only upset her and make her question our sanity. For now, let’s just act like
everything is under control and that is not a lie. We are somehow managing with
our spirit. I have enough to tell her, what with falling in love with my job
assignment and all,” he chuckled.

“I think you are right
on all accounts,” I replied.

We gathered our things
together and drove to a Red Robin nearby to grab a hamburger. We had plenty of
time before meeting Cheveyo. We went in and sat at a table and placed our
order. I got the sautéed
shroom
burger and fries and
Logan got the guacamole bacon burger and fries.

He took my hand across
the table, looked at my ring, and squeezed my hand.

“I am so glad I found
you, Isabella,” he told me.

“I am the lucky one,
Logan,” I replied back. “I can’t believe how amazing you are. I certainly would
never have dreamed I would meet the sexiest guy in town and he would fall for
me,” I said.

Logan smiled that great
smile of his.

“The truth
is,
who wouldn’t fall for you, when you are like the
brightest star on the darkest night? You shine with a love as big as the
galaxy.” I smiled back.

“I have never met
another like you. You are an original masterpiece,” Logan said.

“Wow! Be careful not to
put me on a pedestal, because I will surely fall off. That is the sweetest
thing anyone has ever said to me. I love you, Logan.”

Our food arrived at our
table and we ate our lunch. Mine was very good.

“How is your food?” I
asked Logan.

“It’s good, just the
way I like it. The guac makes it really good,” he said.

The waitress came by to
ask about dessert and we declined. We were stuffed.

After paying, we got up
to leave, and Logan left a tip for the waitress. I had tried to pay, and of
course, he wouldn’t let me. When we got in the truck, I saw that I had another
message on my phone from Aunt Carol, and I decided I must call her.

Logan said, “No, I will
call her. It is past time anyway. I might as well get this over with.”