Page 5 of Spark
Only Matt and Chris had had her back. Despite their skepticism, they'd made sure to quash the teasing before things got too bad.
Miserable at the unwanted attention and hostility, Sophie had stopped mentioning it, and just hoped everyone would forget.
But that didn't change the occasional upsetting encounter with a ghost or other kind of spirit, especially in a place like Todos Santos.
Some of the spirits she’d seen there had been the shades of innocent civilians killed during the years-long conflict between the former government of Todos Santos and rebel forces. Other ghosts had been anguished family members trying to protect their loved ones even after death.
Sophie had kept her head down and resolutely ignored the specters. She had been there to help the living. She couldn't do anything for the dead.
And she sure as heck hadn't wanted to gain a reputation as the crazy gringo among the AIMM staff, not if she wanted to get the letters of recommendation that she had needed for her medical school applications.
"Look, I didn’t mean it that way. It's not that I don't believe you," Mom said, patting Sophie's shoulder reassuringly. "But it's all just so weird. Assuming you actually saw what you thought you saw,whywould a monster ghost try to attack one of the waiters?"
"I don't know," Sophie said. Then, she surprised herself by adding, "But I'm going to find out."
* * *
Bearpaw Ridge
Grizzly Creek Ranch,
Saturday, June 2
Way too early the next morning, Chris Langlais fixed himself an extra-large, extra-strong mug of coffee, nuked a plate of leftovers that he'd brought home from the restaurant, and seated himself at the breakfast nook table in his house at the Grizzly Creek Ranch.
He was still tired from an extra-late night at work.
Thanks to all the excitement around Javier Ornelas's medical emergency last night, Chris had stayed at Calidus past the official end of his shift, helping Uncle Dan and the other cooks wrap up dinner service and then clean the kitchen from top to bottom as part of closing.
But despite all that, he'd set his alarm in hopes of running into Sophie, who was staying at Damaris and Mitya's place on the other side of the ranch, in the cluster of houses built near the big yellow Victorian main house.
Chris planned to oh-so-casually invite her out for coffee at Cinnamon + Sugar. In addition to catching up, he wanted to find out if she'd gotten herself a boyfriend during her year away, or whether she was available.
They'd been friends ever since Chris had come to live at the ranch at the age of ten, after a series of scary, horrifying events in his old home in Albuquerque.
All that time, he'd never thought of her as anything more than a friend, and he'd sure missed having her around when she decided to take a gap year after graduating from college.
But last night, his first thought when he spotted her in the Calidus dining room had been,Holy shit, she's HOT!
His sudden surge of attraction had only gotten stronger when she hugged him, and he discovered what a soft and sweetly-scented armful she was.
He'd immediately started fantasizing about licking the whipped cream off her deliciously plump lips, and rubbing himself against her luscious curves…preferably while both of them were naked.
His imagination had then jumped to theotherthings they could do with whipped cream, and he hadn't stopped thinking about her since.
The front door banged open, and a heavy tread announced his housemate's return.
"Hey Chris, I heard about what happened at the restaurant last night." Matt Swanson poked his head in the kitchen. "Is Javier going to be okay?"
The scent of horses drifted to Chris's sensitive nose.
He'd learned early on in their friendship that Matt was one of those Annoying Morning People. His ranch chores meant that he had to get out of bed at the butt-crack of dawn, but he was always disgustingly alert and cheerful when he returned to the house for breakfast.
And he was like thatbeforecoffee. Which just wasn't right.
"I hope so, but I haven't gotten an update from Uncle Dan or anyone else," Chris replied. He took a swig of coffee, then dropped his bombshell. "Sophie's back. I ran into her at the restaurant last night."
Matt, who was headed for the fridge, came to a dead stop in the middle of the kitchen. He sent a suspicious look in Chris's direction, as if he thought that Chris might be trying to prank him.
