Chapter Two

She didn’t know how he knew, but Becker brought her a vase of roses that smelled heavenly and instantly lifted her, along with the kiss he planted on her as soon as he walked through the door. His jeans were low-slung, and his white T-shirt made her hum under her breath. He was everything she could have ever hoped for, if she’d ever let herself hope.

Mumford, the silly dog, tried to jump up into Becker’s arms. Over the course of the last month, the dog had become jealous of any affection not directed toward him.

They both laughed as Becker reached down to pick up the Corgi mix. Mel had no trouble sharing the love. She scratched his ear and snuck in another kiss with Becker while the dog was distracted.

“I’m going to get these into water, and then we’ll have dinner.”

“Sounds good. And smells even better.” He hugged her close and kissed the top of her head. “Anything on the schedule for this evening, or are we in for the night?”

“We’re in. I was going to work with Dougal about doing his first solo cleaning tomorrow, if you want to hang with us. Or he and I can work by ourselves if you have stuff to do.”

“Nope, you’re not getting rid of me that easily. I want to see how this all works. I feel like I should do more to see how things are done around here.”

She appreciated his interest, especially if this was going to continue as they had been since he moved in. She would never ask him to give up his vet practice, but she’d like him to be involved if he wanted to be, so that she wasn’t a one-woman show. Which was funny because she’d figured for years that she’d be alone forever. And now her life was so full it was almost overwhelming sometimes.

After dinner, they sat in the living room. Dougal joined them, along with the ghostly equivalent of a gossip rag, Chester, because of course he was into everything. She also had her mom there to answer any ghost-type questions. Mel only knew her side, not the ghost side.

“Basically it’s the same thing you’ve been doing lately with a partner, but this time I was going to have you go on your own,” she said to Dougal, who sat cross-legged on the floor next to Mumford. “It’s a routine cleaning. Every year Jacquelyn Featherman’s family comes into town for a week. While they’re clean enough about not messing up her physical house, they do mess with her spiritual house, and bring out all kinds of things that need to sleep.”

“Can I ask a question?” Becker actually raised his hand.

Mel laughed and kissed him on the cheek. “Of course.”

He blushed, endearing himself to her even more. “So if they do this every year, why does she have them come to her house? Which raises another question.”

“You didn’t raise your hand again.”

Chester snickered, and Dougal laughed. Even Mumford had a grin on his doggy face.

“You got me. But I was wondering why you don’t move them out of her house—the items that hold the ghosts that get stirred up, I mean. Couldn’t you just bring them out here and lock them down or something?”

“Good questions, both of them. First, they’re Mrs. Featherman’s only family, and she doesn’t realize they stir up anything. This is a free-of-charge kind of thing I’ve done for years because she used to be the librarian at the high school. Helping her is my way of paying her back. She introduced me to my best friends.” Mel didn’t mention that those best friends were made of dead trees, and that they took her to worlds outside of her own. “Second, they’re all attached to objects she loves. And it’s not only ghosts. Sometimes it’s a bad vibe that puts a pall on the house. If I clean the day after they leave, then she only has a few hours where she feels depressed, thinking it’s just the sadness of the family leaving, not something more. Which it is.”

Becker looked at her for a moment longer than she felt he needed to, causing her to blush. Did he think she was not very bright for helping? For not telling the woman she had ghosts in her house and should eradicate them?

Finally, he spoke. “You are the best person I have ever met.”

Mel gulped, not expecting that, for sure. “I, um, I’m not.”

He held her hands in his. “No, you are. You give, but no one even knows how much. I find that incredibly wonderful and very sexy.”

She blushed even harder, and Chester howled with laughter.

“She doesn’t take compliments very well, boss.” Chester hung in midair, running his hand over the dog’s ears. Mumford seemed to know someone was touching him, even if he couldn’t feel it. Unless he could. She knew a lot of stuff about the other world, but not everything. Things still surprised her from time to time.

“Moving on,” she said, to stop the uncomfortable turn the conversation had taken.

Becker laughed this time. “I guess you’re right, Chester. Maybe I should give her more, so she can get used to saying thank you.”

Mel sputtered. “Don’t you dare. I don’t need more compliments. This is what I do. What I’m happy to do.” That ended the subject for her, even though Becker and Chester still smiled. Even Dougal smiled, and Mumford let his tongue loll out.

Bunch of irritating males.

“Now, moving on. When we enter the house, you’ll start to feel the energy. Some have said they feel it on the street, but everyone is different. I’ll be taking Mumford with us to let him meet Mrs. Featherman. That’s the excuse I gave, anyway, and by the way, having you with the dog has been so totally awesome because I don’t have to bake as much anymore. I always would make loaves of cinnamon bread or zucchini bread to take over as an excuse. I’d have to say I was just dropping by as a concerned neighbor for anyone who didn’t hire me but needed me. Now I don’t have to do that anymore, so thanks.” That had been the extent of her connecting with the outside world. That and grocery shopping. Things were different now.

“You’re welcome,” Dougal said in his deep voice. It had become less troubled, and he’d smiled more often in the last month. About the same time Mumford had started cozying up, Dougal had started coming out of his self-exile. She’d hoped for the change and was delighted it seemed to be underway. He’d said he wanted to stay and help instead of accepting her offer to release him, months ago. When he’d first settled in, he’d kept to himself, and it had concerned Mel. She’d tried to engage him a few times, but he had seemed to need space to come to terms with the new direction his afterlife was taking. She’d given him that space, silently rejoicing when he started interacting with other ghosts.

“Okay, so you’ll see the energy, or feel it, whichever works for you. I suppose you could hear it, too, but I’m not sure about that. We’ll figure it out as we go. Once you pinpoint where it’s coming from, you do your thing, brush it away, tuck it back where it belongs, or sweep it out of the house if you can. The other ghosts in the house you can’t get rid of, but the vibes can be swept out.” She tapped a finger to her chin, jingling her many metal bracelets. “I’ll try to get Mrs. Featherman to open a window, even though it’s hot as hell in August. I’ll think of something. That way you can just pitch them right out the window instead of having to gather them all at the front door to toss them all at the same time.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Dougal said. “Is there a way to tell who belongs with which object? I don’t want to cork someone into somewhere they’re not supposed to be.” The ghost put his arm around Mumford.

It went on like that for another hour or so, while the moon rose high in the sky. Becker got a call from a barn that had a horse in labor. He kissed her goodnight at the door, promising he’d be back as soon as he could and giving Mumford a quick tummy rub he loved.

Mel waved as Becker drove away, but it felt different from when her father had left. She knew Becker was coming back. He lived here, for goodness’ sake. But then so did her dad, technically, and she could only hope her father made it back in one piece. Part of her ongoing issue centered on her constant concern that he would come back attached to something. Or that he’d never come back at all because he’d died and she couldn’t find him. That was one of her worst fears.

She shut the door and snuggled in with her dog for the night. Becker would come in as soon as he was done. As always, that was the moment Mumford grumbled before settling into his big doggy bed on the floor. Until that time, she was happy to have Mumford’s furry body to cuddle close. Tomorrow morning would come soon enough, and then they’d be working. Working was good. It was productive. It would take her mind off her dad and give her something to do. Plus she always enjoyed the lively conversations she had with Mrs. Featherman about reading. And she was excited to see Dougal work on his own for the first time.