The Irish Castle: Ghosts

by Lila Dubois

  I smiled at Parker; a melancholy feeling that I’d grown accustomed to experiencing washed over me. I knelt down, feeling the sudden need to hold on to something, in this case, my pittie. Smooshie put her wet nose to my ear and licked my cheek. I patted her.

  “Theresa holding down the fort today?” I asked. She was Parker’s other paid employee. He could only afford to have us both on part time thanks to an anonymous donation that rolled in every month on the fifth. Theresa Simmons, who had started as a volunteer, had worked at the Pit Bull Rescue Center for over two years. Parker also had several volunteers who spent time socializing the rescue dogs to get them ready for rehousing.

  “Keith, Jerry, and Emily are in today, so she has plenty of help.”

  “Good, I hated leaving you short on a Saturday. I know that’s when you run your errands, but it was the only time Mr. Peterson had open to meet with me.”

  “Life happens.” He glanced over at me, his blue eyes locking on my gaze. “They don’t get much better than Merl Peterson. He gave me my first job, did you know that?”

  “No, you never told me.”

  “Yeah, he likes to hire local teenagers for odd jobs. He’d hire me occasionally for things like deck building and roofing. Summer work. It was long hours but a decent paycheck.”

  “My first job I clerked at a convenience store. I worked nights and some weekends.” I’d had to quit school to work full-time, and the Valhalla Gas & Go was the only place that would hire an eighteen-year-old dropout.

  “I’m glad you’re putting down roots here.” He looked around, his upper lip curled a little in disgust. “Even if it’s this place.”

  “The house has good bones,” I told him.

  “That’s not a house.”

  “It has doors and windows and rooms and—”

  “Ghosts.”

  “Parker.”

  “Facts are facts, Lily.” He walked up the front steps as if drawn, his voice like that of a tour guide. “Randall Dilley, who built the place back in 1908, hung himself in the living room. Another owner, Lincoln Edwards, was killed in a combine accident in the 1940s, a whole family disappeared from here in the eighties, and there hasn’t been someone living there since Old Man Mills died in the upstairs bedroom two years ago.”

  “Let me guess.” I mockingly gasped. “He was murdered.”

  “Nah. Natural causes.” Parker paused. “Or so they say…” He let it hang there as if to imply there were more sinister reasons behind the old man’s death. What he didn’t realize is, because of my witch ancestor’s gift, I could smell bull-poop from a mile away.

  Anyway. I knew a little about John “Old Man” Mills. The property had been held in escrow as the court tried to find a blood relative somewhere to inherit. No one came forward, so the property was sold to Merl—who’d sold it to me.

  “You want to go on the supply run with me?” Parker asked.

  “No thanks.” I smiled. “Another time. I want to get in and measure the rooms. I need to figure out where I want to start with this place. Besides, Buzz is bringing out the trailer today.”

  “That’s fast.” His lips thinned. “Well, thought I’d ask.”

  “And I appreciate it.” To lighten the mood, I asked, “Do you think the ghosts took him out?”

  “Who?”

  “Old Man Mills, of course.”

  “I think he’s one of the ghosts now.” He moved in close, his tone ominous. “Some say when the moon is full, and the wind is right, you can smell his farts on the breeze.”

  I giggled. “That’s terrible.”

  I will not flirt with Parker. I will not flirt with Parker. It had become my mantra. A mantra that failed fifty percent of the time.

  I knew Parker liked me. A lot. I could scent his attraction. For whatever reason, his desire for me smelled like honey and mint. Crisp, refreshing, and exciting. But he deserved to be with a woman he could grow old with, and I had a terrible feeling that if I allowed myself to love Parker Knowles, I wouldn’t be able to give him up when the time came for me to leave Moonrise. I could only stay for so long before people would start asking questions about why I didn’t age, and the first rule of integrating with humans was to never let them know you were different. Not unless you wanted to be hunted down like an animal.

  Humans had two impulses when it came to things they didn’t understand. Kill it or dissect it. I didn’t want either of those things happening to me.

  Chapter 2

  After Parker left, I grabbed the toolbox, shovel, and scraper and took it into the house. The peeling blue ivy wallpaper in the living room gave the house the haunted feeling Parker had mentioned, but it was the most updated of all the rooms. It had drywall, not plaster, which meant, unless there was mold, I could save money by just stripping the wallpaper and painting in there.

  Even with all its many failings, I already loved the place. I felt as if I’d finally found a home. A place to call my own.

  I set the toolbox down. Getting started would be the tricky part, but I wasn’t afraid to work hard. I would need to hire a contractor to tell me which walls were support walls, and which ones were room dividers. The place could literally tumble down around my ears if I decided to get sledgehammer happy.

  Smooshie’s ears perked. She stared at the door with expectation then began to bark the moment I heard the gravel spinning under the tires. I had great hearing, but Smooshie’s hearing was incredible. I went outside. I grinned as I saw Buzz’s blue pickup pulling his twelve-by-sixty-foot trailer onto my property. Behind him was a brown four-door car, its hazard lights blinking as they made slow progress up my drive.

  When they got close, Buzz stopped, stuck his head out the window and shouted, “Where do you want it!”

  I pointed to a piece of flat ground about twenty feet from the house. It was the side closest to the well and the power meter. I’d have to pay someone to come out and hook up the water, electric, and run a pipe to the septic tank, but I’d put money aside for that purpose already.

  Five men—two in their forties or fifties, one that looked to be in his teens, and two who looked somewhere in between—got out of the brown car and began methodically getting down to the business of helping my uncle land the trailer.

  They worked efficiently to get it blocked at the wheels, unhitched, and level.

  Buzz got out of his truck and grinned. “It was a scary drive.”

  “I bet.” The other men joined us. “Who’re your friends?”

  “Lily, these are some of my lodge brothers. This is Nick Newton.” Buzz gestured to one of the older men. His hair was a dirty gray, which meant he’d probably been a light or dark blond before age changed the color. His hazel eyes were warm, and the deep leathery lines around his mouth and eyes marked him as someone who’d spent his life in the sun. “He owns Handy Contractors, and I’ve known him long enough to know he’ll only rip you off a little.” Buzz’s grin matched Nick’s.

  Nick shook my hand. “As opposed to a lot,” he added. I could smell tobacco on him, but his fingers weren’t stained yellow, so I put him at under half a pack a day, maybe less. “This is Paul, Jeff, Mark, and my nephew, Addy.” He cuffed the younger man behind the ear. “Addy’s the Moonrise varsity quarterback. The kid has a great arm on him. Next year, if he can stay out of trouble, he’ll have his pick of colleges if he can get the team to state.” The older man beamed with pride at his nephew.

  Addy was the youngest in the group. I’d seen him before at The Cat’s Meow. He was usually surrounded by a couple of buddies, including James Hanley, a real jerk of a kid, and fawning over teenage girls. I’d heard the name Addy at their table, but I’d always assumed it was one of the girls.

  “Addison,” the teenager said, automatically answering my unasked question. His cheeks reddened. “It’s a family name. I’m used to Addy, though.”

  I gave him a sympathetic smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Addison.”

  The young man gave me a glance that was decidedly
grown up, so I gave him one back that conveyed a when-hell-freezes-over message. He blushed again.

  Paul was Paul Simmons. Late thirties, early forties, less gray than Nick and shorter, but well-built and handsome. He was a plumbing department manager at Hayes Home Improvement Center. I wondered if he was related to Jock Simmons, the lawyer Parker had used when he’d been suspected of murdering Katherine Kapersky. I hoped not. I didn’t have much use for Jock. I believed he beat his wife, Theresa, the other woman who worked for Parker at the shelter. In my book, any man who puts his hands on a woman is despicable, but a man who hits a woman he vows to love is not only despicable, he’s disgusting.

  “I’ve heard nice things about you, Miss Mason,” Paul said.

  I wondered from who. Buzz wouldn’t go out of his way to talk about me. He was a private person for obvious reasons.

  I peered up at Paul. “It’s all true.”

  They all chuckled at the small joke, and the introductions continued.

  “Mark is the new guy,” Buzz said.

  Mark Stephens was the fourth guy. Mark, it turned out, was an electrician by trade.

  “I’ve been back here for two years, and I graduated from Moonrise with Jeff here.” Doesn’t that count for anything?” He laughed and shook his head. “When do I get to stop being the new guy?”

  “When another new guy joins the lodge,” Nick teased.

  “I was the old new guy,” Buzz added.

  The last fellow, Jeff Callahan, was Parker’s age, it turned out. He and Mark had both graduated high school with Parker. Jeff had a beer gut that hung over his belt, which he sincerely needed since he had no butt to hold up his jeans. He was an accountant, which surprised me. I usually thought of pocket protectors and thick glasses when I thought of someone into numbers. This guy looked like a good ol’ boy and smelled heavily of marijuana. My brother used to smoke it, so I was intimately familiar with the scent.

  I smiled, though, when I realized Buzz had brought me a contractor, a plumber, an electrician, and… Well, I wasn’t sure how Jeff’s accounting skills would come in handy, but it felt like Buzz had stacked the deck in my favor.

  “I can’t thank you all enough for helping Buzz get the trailer parked and leveled. I wish I had a working kitchen, I’d invite you in for coffee or something.”

  “Buzz is paying us with a free meal tonight.”

  “It’s my turn to bring dinner for poker night.”

  “Yep. No kids, no wives, no bosses,” Jeff said, nudging Buzz. He looked at me. “No offense, ma’am.” He raised his arms. I noticed he had a couple of rubber bands around his arm. It reminded me of my dad, who would take the rubber bands off the mail when he got it and put them around his wrists until he could move them into his desk drawer. Most of the time he forgot. My mom would snap him with them every time she passed him. I loved watching the two of them together.

  “None taken. Now if I were your wife…” I raised my hands in a shrug. “Then I’d be sorry.”

  “Now that’s the truth,” Nick said.

  “Hey,” Jeff said defensively.

  We all laughed. It was nice. It was a community. My community.

  “Lily, Nick said he’d come out and inspect the house for you if you want. He can give you a good idea of what it’s going to need.”

  “That’s great. I really need to know what walls are load-bearing. I want to expand some of the spaces. I guess I’ll have to deal with wire and plumbing as well.”

  Paul piped in, “Come by Hayes when you’re ready. I’ll give you a good deal on plumbing supplies.”

  “And maybe a little help installing?”

  Paul grinned. “Maybe.”

  “Thank you.” I beamed at Buzz. In the five months I’d lived in Moonrise, these humans had made me feel more welcome than I’d ever felt growing up in a town full of Shifters and witches.

  “No problem. Hey,” Nick added. “Tell Parker I really hope he can make it to the celebration Saturday night.”

  “There’s a celebration.”

  “Coach Thompson,” Addy said. “My football coach. He’s retiring this year, and the school is having a banquet for him. They want the entire ‘09’ state champion team to present him with a lifetime achievement award. Lots of folks coming into town for it.”

  The teenager didn’t seem very enthused at the prospect of losing his coach. “It must be hard losing him right before your senior year,” I said.

  Addy looked up at me, his expression grim. Nick laughed though. “I’ve been that man’s right hand for fifteen years. He’s a great coach, but I have my own ideas of where to take the team next year.”

  So Nick would be the new coach. The kid forced a smile at his uncle, but it was easy to see he wasn’t thrilled about having Nick as the new head coach.

  “I’m sure it will be great,” I said diplomatically, then changed the subject. “I really do appreciate you all coming out here today and for the offer of help.”

  When Buzz’s friends finally crawled back into their car and left, he put his arm around my shoulders and turned us around to look at the house. “Home sweet home,” he said. “I’m proud of you, Lily.”

  My parents were long gone now, but when Buzz said that to me, I heard my father’s voice for the first time in eighteen years. It made my eyes water. “Thanks.”

  “You okay?”

  “Yes. I’m just really glad to have found you.”

  “Me too.” Buzz stared at the thick trees off in the distance. “That’ll be a nice place to run,” he said.

  He was talking about a four-legged run, cougar-style. The lovely, large plot of land and the isolation of being surrounded by trees and wide-open farmland had been a big selling point, ghosts or no ghosts.

  “Did you know John Mills? The guy who died here?” I asked him.

  “Yes,” Buzz answered. “I heard he got pretty senile there toward the end. Dementia took him hard.”

  Poor guy. He’d had no family to help him. “Parker says the place is haunted.”

  “Parker doesn’t want you to leave his garage apartment.” Buzz chuckled. “Ever.”

  “Don’t you worry about what Parker wants.”

  Smooshie barked her agreement right before a squirrel in a tree caught her eye. She ran break-neck speed to the base, her barks, high and excited.

  “At least the dog is happy,” Buzz said.

  “I’m happy, too.” I crossed my heart. “Promise.”

  Buzz’s expression grew somber and pinched. “You know it’s not a sin for Shifters to have friends and lovers. You don’t have to be alone. You just have to be realistic about your expectations.”

  “I’m not alone, and I’m not lonely,” I lied. The thought of dating someone other than Parker had crossed my mind. The problem was, I only wanted to date Parker. I didn’t want to bother with another man, human or Shifter.

  Buzz had once been in love with my mother, it was before I was born, but she and my father had been true mates. It had been the reason Buzz had left our hometown and never returned. It’s why I didn’t doubt that he loved Nadine, but they would never have children. That only happened when a Shifter found his or her mate. Buzz and I had talked about how unfair it was to Nadine, but he assured me that she didn’t want kids anyhow. Once on a girls’ night out, she’d also told me she wasn’t interested in having a baby. I could understand her position. I’d never wanted children of my own either, but that had been when my brother Danny was alive.

  Did I want them now? Did Parker? I’d never be able to give him a son to play ball with, or a daughter to…well, he could play ball with her too. I smiled a little.

  “Earth to Lily,” Buzz said.

  “I have plenty of friends around here, and I don’t need a lover.”

  “Yeah. Right.” He gestured toward my home. “Can you use some help with the house? I’m happy to help with some of the demolition.”

  I laughed. “Since I’m not dating, I’m going to use all my pent-up energy to gi
ve the walls a work over. I need to take the inside down to the bones and see what I’m working with.”

  “Asbestos, mold, and lead paint, if I had to guess.”

  I laughed again, and Buzz joined in. I loved the rich tone of his laughter. Again, he reminded me of Dad. “You’re awful.”

  “Did you get the place inspected for mold and stuff?”

  “Not yet. I plan to do it this week.” I shook my head. “But even if I have to strip it down to nothing but studs, I’m going to return the charm to this old place.”

  “You really do like it, don’t you?”

  “Why are you surprised?”

  “I bet Nadine you bought the place just so you could run away from Parker.”

  I looked around my isolated property. “I bought the place so I could run.” I grinned.

  Buzz and I drove out to the state park a couple of times a month to placate our other halves, but my cat was itching to get out more. I had no idea how Buzz managed not to go stir crazy in town with all the watchful eyes of the community on him. I guess he had a lot of years of practice. I shuddered at how many times I’d let my eyes change or a claw slip. Out here, there were no homes for miles, and my house had a long driveway. Add that to the woods covering the back half of my twelve acres and my Shifter hearing to warn me of anyone arriving, and I was in werecougar heaven.

  “And I plan to run a lot.”

  “I get it,” he said.

  “You want to stay for a while? We can get a quick rabbit hunt in.” And by hunt, I meant more of a chase and not catch. I preferred my food cooked on a stove to raw and possibly wormy.

  “Tempting. But I have a thing tonight.”

  “Oh yeah, poker with your lodge buddies. Thanks for getting your friends to help with the trailer move. I’ll call Nick tomorrow to have him come out and look at the place.”

  “Then you’ll have to thank him. They volunteered when Merl and I told them what you were doing out here. I don’t know Jeff or Paul well, but Nick’s a good man.”