Aa Ghost Among Ghosts

Maxine hong Kingston Sheree Hamilton sat on the hardwood floor of her one bedroom apartment, meticulously painting her well-pedicured feet. She skillfully applied the second coat of the silver nail enamel on toes that were separated by white cotton balls.

A gold-toned pendulum clock on the wall said 11am. Sheree should have been at work today, but she'd asked for the day off. A maintenance worker was coming to fix the vanity in her bathroom and she wanted to be there when he or she arrived.

Although her new apartment was in a gated community with trusted staff, Sheree just didn't feel comfortable with a strange person being in her home while she was away. So here she was waiting for him or her. And whoever it was, was over an hour late. Earlier Sheree had decided against phoning the main office to report the delay. She certainly wasn't interested in creating a disgruntled relationship with someone who may have to fix something else for her in the future.

As a form of distraction from her increasing ire, Sheree continued to slowly paint her nails. From her outer appearance, she didn't look angry at all. The ice blue, V-neck tank shirt and matching draw-cord shorts Sheree wore made her look like the lady of leisure today. Only her flashing hazel eyes gave her real feelings away. Only they alluded to the unspoken truth that she really couldn't afford to miss work, today or any other day. Sheree needed the money.

Yet even though a missed day at work might set her back a bit, there was no way she was going to ask her family to reinstate her sizable allowance. Especially after she'd recently made such a big fuss about being independent.

Sheree was determined not to be like her older sister, Kelly, who was content to let their wealthy parents take care of her forever. Kelly already had five college degrees and no job to speak of yet. It seemed obvious that she wanted to be a perpetual student. Sheree lost track of which degree her sister had in what.

Although her older sister didn't seem in the least bit interested in cutting their parents' purse strings, Sheree was and did. Which was why she hoped that this repair job wouldn't take more than one day. In all honestly, she wished that it wouldn't take the rest of this day. She'd already been home all morning waiting and she really didn't want to be locked up in the house all evening, too. She had a class to go to tonight. Sheree was in her last year of dental school and was eagerly looking forward to passing her boards and establishing a patient-friendly dental clinic, much like the one she worked for now.

Sheree finally painted the last toenail, tightened the silver polish top, and leaned against her golden pillow-back loveseat to let her nails dry. The raised woven leaf design of the loveseat felt cool against her cinnamon skin. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply, trying to release the tension that been building since 10am.

Opening her eyes, Sheree looked around the room for something else to do once her nails eventually dried. She smiled at her surroundings. Sheree liked her modest apartment with its well placed mirrors of different shapes and sizes that gave the room a sense of light and space. In her living room sat a comfortable golden loveseat and chair atop of a cinnamon-colored rug. Most of the things in her apartment were along the earthen tones. Browns, beiges, and specks of gold had always been soothing colors for Sheree.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Sheree leaped up and waddled to the door. Her nails weren't fully dry yet. When she opened the double bolted safety door, she was confronted with eyes the color of winter gray clouds, mahogany skin the color of a rich coffee bean, and muscles that seemed to be carved out of stone. The man before Sheree was six feet of gorgeousness. And the sight of him caused her breath to catch in her throat.

Sheree wasn't the only one unexpectedly affected today. When Graham Leverett rang the doorbell, he was all ready and prepared to explain the cause of his delay. But when that door opened, his mouth was slammed shut. He couldn't say anything as he took in the beauty facing him.

The woman at the door