“Santeria,” Noah supplied helpfully. “The way of saints. We looked it up.”
“It’s white magic…mostly,” Kizzy added.
“Mostly?” Aaron’s alarm bells went off.
“It’s fine, Dad. He’s a good guy. Every religion has their rogues, but I’m betting he’s not one of them. He took the Hippocratic oath just like we did.”
“Sheesh, Kizzy, don’t scare me like that.”
“Sorry.” She rubbed her father’s back in a soothing gesture.
“So when are you going to start building?” Noah asked, probably trying to change the subject.
“The cinder blocks are arriving tomorrow. I hired a company to clean up any remaining debris today.”
Kizzy’s jaw dropped. “And what would you have done if we said ‘Hell no. We don’t want you to live next door’?”
Aaron shrugged. “Not sure. I probably would have reminded you this is part of the USA, so a free country. Or I’d say I taught you to ride a bike, kissed your booboos, and sent you to college…”
“No, you wouldn’t have.”
“You’re right. And I was pretty sure you wouldn’t say no.”
“Hell no. Welcome to the neighborhood!” She gave him a big hug, and Noah shook his hand.
* * *
A few days later, Gaia zeroed in on Aaron’s energy and took a peek around the area from the ether. Good, there was no one else nearby.
She knew he had bought a lot next to Noah and Kizzy with one half acre of available land for his greenhouse. He’d learned he could duplicate the rain forest conditions so the plants would grow where he wanted them to. However, the home had to be built completely from the concrete pad up.
Mother Nature popped in a few feet from him.
Aaron looked up from where he had been laying a big concrete block, brushed the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, and squinted into the sun. “Gaia! Great to see you.”
“I hadn’t heard from you in a couple of days, and then I remembered I didn’t have one of those cell phone things. I did have one, but I started receiving recorded messages for stupid things like my credit report. I don’t even have a credit card, so I threw the phone away. I’ve always been more of a ‘Don’t call me, I’ll call you’ kind of girl.”
Aaron laughed. He strode forward and met her halfway. He took a kerchief from his pocket and swiped it over his face, then gave her a quick peck on the lips. The sweat coming off his neck and back indicated he had been at work for quite a while. She hoped he wasn’t pushing himself too hard. Humans needed rest.
“Can you take a short break with me?” she asked.
Aaron looked over at the concrete slab with the cinder blocks setting up. “I really should continue while the mortar is still wet enough to work with. If it dries, I’ll have to throw it out and mix more.”
“Why are you bothering with all this building? I can whip something up for you to live in.”
Aaron returned to his short wall and placed another cinder block. “I know you can do that, but you shouldn’t.”
Gaia took a step back. “Shouldn’t? You still don’t want my help? Why? Are you afraid I’ll do it wrong?”
Aaron bolted upright. “No. That’s not what I meant. You’re more than capable, but there’s this supernatural being I know of who doesn’t like humans to notice things out of the ordinary—things that only a paranormal has the power to do—such as snap her fingers and create a building where there wasn’t one a few moments before.”
Mother Nature rolled her eyes, and one side of her mouth quirked up. “Are you talking about me?”
Aaron grinned. “Only if you’re the goddess who made the rule.” He slapped some more mortar on the top cinder block and spread it around the edges.
As he was about to place the next block on top, suddenly an entire concrete structure appeared in front of him. “Whoa!” He stumbled backward. “What the hell?” His gaze flipped around to where she stood with her arms crossed.
“Oh, this wasn’t what you were going for? I thought you’d like it.”
