Free Dead Living (Spirit Caller Book 5) by Krista D Ball Page A

surrounding island was turned into a luxury hotel. It’s a ten-minute boat ride just to get out there and it’s basically in the path of whales. There are loads of photos of folks sitting on the front deck of the lighthouse while whale pods happily swim by.
    And we’re going there!
    “So, good surprise?”
    I leaned my head against his shoulder for a moment. “The best.”
    He grinned, though didn’t take his eyes off the road. “I had planned to propose there. When I got better.”
    “You’ve been better for a while now,” I said, sitting back up. I did squeeze his hand that rested on the gear shift.
    “The nightmares are mostly gone,” he said softly.
    “That’s good,” I said quietly.
    “I’m glad I did the therapy,” he said, lowering his voice. He often did that whenever he talked about seeing a therapist. Like he had to convince himself that it was the right thing to do.
    “Good,” I said. I meant it. “It was important for you to talk to someone.”
    “I suppose it’s stupid to see a doctor about parts of the injury, but not others. And I live with a social worker.” He grinned. “You’d never let me live it down if I refused to talk to someone.”
    “I wouldn’t have,” I said with a smile.
    We fell into comfortable silence as we drove down the deserted road. Every so often, I saw spirits going about their business. I found it easier to ignore the random other around me now that I’d accepted that there would always be spirits around me. It didn’t hurt as much, either. I could handle telling the child molesters to piss off, and I could deal with Mrs. McAvoy and her little gaggle of suitors.
    “You’re quiet.”
    “Oh, I’m just thinking.”
    “About…”
    I didn’t want to talk about spirits, but there was something else that had been on my mind lately. “I was thinking about buying Mrs. Saunders’s house.”
    “You already have a house.”
    “No, not to live in. I was thinking I’d renovate it and rent it out as a short-term rental. Furnished, ya know, for tourists, or for anyone who needed a place to live for a couple of months from around the area.”
    “Huh. You hate cleaning.”
    “If I can’t handle the cleaning, I’ll pay one of Amy’s kids minimum wage to help me.”
    “Never mind her kids. Amy’d probably love to do it. That woman can clean like a bandit.” Jeremy glanced over at me. “How much is the house going for?”
    “Sixty,” I said with scorn.
    “That’s higher than I was expecting.”
    “Seriously? I thought it was crazy low.”
    “Rach, come on. It’s in the middle of nowhere and the house is old. And it needs a lot of work. I think sixty is high. I wouldn’t pay more than fifty for it. But, never mind all that. Why do you want it?”
    “I just said…”
    “I know, but why .”
    “I’m bored. I’m painting, but that’s difficult to do all of the time. I’m not getting out of the house as much as I should. It would be nice to have something else to keep me busy and bring in a little more money.”
    “Honey, you don’t need to work. I make enough for the two of us.” He shrugged. “And you still have a lot of money in the bank, don’t you?”
    I waved him off. “That’s only because I sold the condo Mom and Dad mostly paid for and they wouldn’t let me give them back the money.”
    “Right...” Jeremy said, as if I was stupid. It annoyed me. “So you have plenty of money if there is a big emergency. Like, when I got hurt.”
    I flashed him an angry glare. “If you ever get hurt again, I’m going to kick your ass.”
    Jeremy grinned his lopsided smile. “I will try very hard not to get hurt again. In the end, it’s your money. I can’t tell you what to do with it.”
    “But, would you be mad?”
    “Nah. I’d rather you spend it on trying something to make you happy, as opposed to us just wasting it, to be honest. If nothing else, we’ll have a guest house for LARP weekends.”
    “I’m not buying a house for you