“I’m honored, Adrian. I love being out in the field, and I’ve never really given much thought to moving up the ranks. I mean, I’ve taken the appropriate tests so that it could happen, but I never thought it would.” I thought about how much my life had changed in a year and realized maybe a little more change was on the horizon.
“Captain Roman-Wyatt,” Josh said, testing to see how it sounded. “I like it.”
“It does sound kind of snazzy.”
“And think of the names I can call you when you’re bad. Captain Cock Badger!”
“I’m never bad,” I rebutted.
“Oh, you are, but in a very good way.”
“Sally Ann, let’s get our pizza to go,” Adrian said. “The love birds want some alone time.” We hadn’t said anything, but now that he mentioned it…
“Yeah, grab some pizza and get out,” Josh said. “The grandmas have this under control for a few minutes.”
“Few minutes,” I whined. Who was I kidding? By that point, I’d settle for a hand job in the laundry room and a few seconds would be all it took.
It was amazing how quickly our friends cleared out of our house. My mom and Bertie entered the kitchen burping the twins on their shoulders. They looked around the empty kitchen in surprise.
“Where’d everyone go?” Bertie asked. She looked at Josh with narrowed eyes. “Did you fart, Joshy?”
“Mom, seriously?” my husband asked. “Of all the things you could accuse me of doing to clear a room, your first guess was farting?” Bertie just shrugged.
“Oh, I think I know.” My mom’s dark eyes twinkled. “You told them you wanted some alone time while the babies were preoccupied. I reckon no one was getting much action in the hospital suite or while you bunked down with the babies in the hotel rooms on the drive home.”
“Ohhhh,” Bertie said, “they are turning an interesting shade of red. I don’t think I recall Joshy every looking that embarrassed.”
“You boys go on upstairs and get busy. We got the babies covered,” my mom told us.
I thought it was great that our moms were so hip about the fact that we wanted sexy time together, but I doubted either of us would get an erection knowing that our moms were downstairs waiting for us to finish.”
Josh and I looked at each other and exchanged grins. “Nah, we’re good,” we both said at the same time.
“Suit yourself,” Bertie said, “but blue balls can be very painful. Plus you want a healthy prostate for optimal—”
“Not another word, Roberta,” Josh tersely said. I’d never heard him address his mother by her first name. “We’re very familiar with things like blue balls and prostate health. I need you to stop thinking about them so that I won’t think about you thinking about them. I’m at risk of never getting another erection as long as I live.”
“Jeesh, you don’t have to be so testy with me,” she replied petulantly.
As much as we loved our mothers, we lived in pretty tight quarters the past few days. I thought it would be best for a little break. “Why don’t you get a bite to eat while we give the babies their baths?”
I didn’t care that we hadn’t grabbed a bite to eat for ourselves and that my stomach was threatening to eat itself. I wanted a happy husband who’d be able to get it up as soon as our children fell back to sleep.
I took Destiny from my mother and Josh took Dylan from his. Bertie kissed Josh’s cheek then whispered something in his ear.
“I’m sorry too, Mama,” he said softly.
I appreciated their help more than I could express, but I was eager to get into a routine with our angels. Josh and I quickly got into a rhythm together just like we did everything. He washed then I dried and dressed them. Once they were ready for bed, we tucked them in and watched over them for a few minutes as they slept.
I brushed my finger against Dylan’s soft cheek then Destiny’s. “Only your daughter would insist on having her own birthday,” I said.
“No, your son didn’t get with the program. He had to arrive at eleven fifty on New Year’s Eve when the whole world knew they were supposed to be New Year’s babies,” Josh replied. “So impatient like his father.”
“Me? I’m the epitome of patience. Look how much crap I took from you while I waited for you to come around.” Josh smiled sheepishly at me. He had no comeback because he knew it was true. “There are moments in my life when I felt like someone was watching over me, guiding me perhaps. It was never a spiritual feeling like God or a guardian angel; it felt different.”
“Like a big brother watching over you?” Josh asked.
“Yeah, I guess that sums it up right. Is that just wishful thinking that I want Dylan to know that he lives on in our son, or how we named Destiny to honor Bianca and Georgia bringing us together?”
“Who’s to say that they’re not watching us right now?” Josh asked. He tipped his head to the side thoughtfully before he looked up toward the heavens. “Now would be a good time to look away. I’d like to have some alone time with my husband.” Josh looked at me and said, “That is if you want…”
I didn’t let him finish his sentence. I took him to our bedroom and showed him what I wanted. I was better with actions than words anyway.
“O Captain! My Captain!” Josh whispered.
So long for now. Josh and Gabe will be back December 2017 with A Dye Hard Christmas!
To Michelle Slagan,
You make me laugh, you keep me sane, and you make the world a better place. I’m so proud to call you my friend! To the moon and back, beautiful lady!
My head felt like vicious elves took a jackhammer to my brain, my throat was dry and raw, and I struggled to open eyelids that felt weighted down by something heavy. My first sense that sparked to life was smell when I inhaled harsh antiseptics through my nose, then I registered the sound of machines beeping near my head. My sluggish brain realized that I was in the hospital, but I couldn’t remember why. The sudden memory of River’s car careening out of control on the ice-covered bridge forced me to consciousness.
My eyes darted open, and reality slammed into me as hard as the impact of our car into the side of the bridge. One minute we were on a date for his birthday and the next our world literally spun out of control. I searched the semi-dark room for River and panicked when I didn’t see him. We hadn’t spent a day apart in over five years, and there was no way he’d leave me alone in the hospital. The pain in my skull increased as my blood pressure rose high enough to trigger a warning alarm on one of the machines I was hooked up to.
Several nurses and a doctor rushed into my room and their attempts to calm me only upset me more when they wouldn’t answer my question. “Where’s River?” It took me several attempts to get the words out of my dry, aching throat but they acted as if they hadn’t heard me. I struggled to get free from their grasp so I could find my husband, but they easily controlled me in my weakened condition. Instead, the nurses and doctor just kept repeating the same thing.
“Calm down, Mr. Jackson. We’re here to help you.”
A heavy fog invaded the edges of my consciousness, and I realized they’d injected me with something to calm me. Ativan? Something stronger? The hospital staff eased off of me once my body started to relax.
“We need to get your blood pressure down, Mr. Jackson,” a soft-spoken and kind-eyed nurse told me as I melted into the hospital bed. “You have a nasty brain injury, and high blood pressure is dangerous right now.”
“River,” I said weakly once more before my eyes drifted shut.
When I reopened them again, a different nurse was checking my vitals. “You’re looking much better already,” she said. I had no idea how good, or bad, I looked, and I didn’t care. I only wanted to know one thing. “Let me finish checking your vitals, and I’ll bring in your visitor.”
My pulse kicked up a notch as hope filled my heart, but luckily not enough to set the alarms off again. I knew that River wouldn’t have just left me alone. He must’ve gone home to
get some clothes or got a bite to eat. The nurse’s comment about my appearance momentarily worried me until I remembered that River didn’t care if my hair was a mess or if I had cuts or scrapes on my face. He loved me unconditionally. My God, he must’ve been worried out of his mind. How long have I been out of it?
The nurse patted my shoulder and told me that she’d be right back. I tried to wiggle into a sitting position, but I was too weak. My face hurt to smile, but I plastered the biggest one I could muster when the door reopened. “He’s been worried sick about you,” the nurse said when she came through the door. The man who entered behind her wasn’t the one I longed to see though.
My cousin Memphis, who felt more like a brother, looked at me with so much sadness in his eyes that my heart knew what he was going to say before the words left his mouth.
“No!” I refused to believe it. I childishly covered my face with my hands, so I didn’t have to see the pity in his eyes. I willed my ears to block the sound of his voice when he told me that River was gone.
“I’m so sorry, Em,” Memphis said softly.
The days that followed were the worst in my life. I learned that River’s family claimed his body and buried him while I was in a coma. They refused to tell me where, so I had to spend what little energy I could muster on hiring a lawyer who would fight for my rights that the state laws didn’t recognize at the time. The anger kept me from focusing on the agonizing reality that my husband, my lover, and my best friend was gone forever. Whenever the anger subsided, even if it was only a brief respite, depression moved in swift and hard. I couldn’t get out of bed, and I tried to sleep as much as I could because at least I saw River in my dreams.
Those dreams of my husband soon morphed from fond memories and wishful hopes for an impossible reunion to odd predictions and pleas for my help that I didn’t understand. The dreams were broken fragments of events, all terrifying and deadly. I saw names on mail, street signs, and a shadowy figure stalking an unsuspecting young lady. The fear, agony, and despair were so strong it would bring me out of sleep, gasping for air. I knew I had to be cracking up and worried that the brain injury was graver than the doctors first suspected.
River would always revisit in my dreams, and his presence would calm me. It took me a while to realize that the dreams were actually psychic visions of things that had happened or were future events. I didn’t understand how something like that could just start happening to me. I’ll never forget the first time I contacted a police department with information on a cold case. They thought I was a nut job, but looked into the lead that I gave them anyway. Once it panned out and they discovered the body of the missing woman, the cops treated me like a suspect until they cleared me. They gave me a wide berth when they realized that I was a psychic and not a psycho. In fact, I think they would’ve understood better had I been crazy.
The truth was, I felt crazy. The visions started coming closer together, and I began traveling around the country. My abilities became sharper and evolved over time. I was no longer just dreaming about incidents. I started having visions when I touched a garment or something that belonged to the victim or possible killer. Peaceful moments became frustratingly scarce as my visions came more frequently. Still, I had River to assure me in my dreams.
In one of them, River slid an envelope across our table to me. It had an address in Blissville, Ohio. I looked at River in confusion, and he gave me a smile that was equal parts sad and happy, if that was even possible.
“What’s this?” I asked my husband.
“It’s your new home. They need you there, and you need them,” he said.
“Who’s ‘they’?”
River reached over and cupped my cheek like he had every day that we’d been together. “Just trust me, Em. Know that I’ll always love you and I’ll be looking out for you.”
“You sound like you’re going away,” I tearfully said. “Don’t leave me again, River.”
“You’re going to be just fine, Em. I promise you.”
I had no intentions of moving from the home that River and I made together. It was a comfort to walk through the rooms that he had and sleep in the bedroom that had spawned so many beautiful memories. No, I wouldn’t do it.
River didn’t come to me in my sleep the next night or any of the nights that followed. It felt like I’d lost him all over again, and I couldn’t function through the depression and despair. I had given up on life, and I knew it was only a matter of time until life gave up her grip on me, and I could be with my husband again. I was wrong. Life wasn’t ready to give up on me, and the dreams of a quaint, white house in a lovely, small town kept recurring until I couldn’t take it anymore. River might not have appeared in those dreams, but I was sure he was driving them.
I packed up my things and moved to the house in Blissville, Ohio, not knowing what River had in store for me.
It didn’t require psychic abilities to know that my new neighbor didn’t like me. The house in my dreams was available to rent, and I signed a contract without touring the place. River said it was where I needed to go, so that was where I went. I had hoped he would return to my dreams after I did what he asked. I felt my neighbor’s intense regard the moment I stepped out of my vehicle on move-in day. I recalled a strong wind kicking up suddenly and wrapping around me like an embrace, but it didn’t feel welcoming to me. I felt an intense focus aimed at me and looked up to see the silhouette of a man watching me from the second story window in the house across the alley from mine.
The first floor of the home was a salon called Curl Up and Dye, which I thought was witty and cute. The second story could’ve been used for salon services also, but I had a feeling it was the owner’s personal residence. I was too far away to make eye contact with the guy, but it felt like I did anyway. I saw the man stiffen as if he felt it too, then he took a sudden step back and jerked the curtain closed. The last thing I wanted to do was alarm my new neighbor. I didn’t know why, but I knew that he was an important reason why I moved to Blissville.
The minute I walked inside the rental property, I sensed the lingering traces of evil lurking in the kitchen. I knew without being told that something very bad had happened there and not much time had passed since then. Accepting that I had psychic abilities wasn’t easy; in fact, I thought I had lost my mind. Once I realized my gifts were there to stay, I learned some basic psychic practices like cleansing a home by burning sage.
The following day, I walked to the salon and made an appointment to have my hair highlighted. I took a lot of flak from friends and family for my high-maintenance hair routine over the years, but River had always loved my long hair. He’d said the highlights made my green eyes stand out even more. It might’ve seemed silly to some, but I felt a connection to him when I continued doing the things that pleased him.
The interior of the salon was elegant without being fussy and chic without being feminine. I liked the mix of earth tones with old Hollywood style glam. Someone, I suspect the person I saw in the window the previous night, put a lot of love and attention into the design and decorations for the salon.
“Hi, can I help you?”
I turned my attention toward the guy behind the counter who offered me a friendly smile. “Hi, I’m Emory Jackson.” I extended my hand to him, but he just stared at it oddly for a few seconds before he shook it and introduced himself as Chaz.
“You’re new around here, aren’t you?” he asked with a quirked brow. Perhaps they weren’t as formal in Blissville as I was accustomed to with my upbringing.
“Just moved in yesterday,” I confirmed. “I would like to book an appointment with a stylist, please.”
Chaz narrowed his eyes and studied my hair. “Hmm, multi-dimensional coloring with a possible need for toning. Whoever did your hair was really good, but don’t worry that you downgraded stylists when you moved to town. The staff at Curl Up and Dye is phenomenal. Let me see who is available first,” he said, looking through the calendar on his computer. �
��You’re in luck because Josh has a cancellation next week. You’re going to love what he can do for your hair.”
I had a name to go with the silhouette in the window. Like the night before, I could tell someone was watching me. When I turned to face the salon area, I expected to lock eyes with Josh, but everyone in the salon staring at me took me by surprise. I stood there motionless except for blinking as an awkward silence spread throughout the salon.
“I need a big cock!” a bird squawked from another room.
My eyes widened in shock because that was the last thing I expected to hear. A faint blush spread up Josh’s cheeks, and I wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment or the nearly hostile vibe I picked up from him.
“Dirty Bird!” Josh said, and the salon erupted into laughter.
“Dirty Bird!” the bird repeated.
“I think I’m going to like living here,” I announced.
“It’s unforgettable,” Chaz said, handing me an appointment card. “We’ll see you next week.”
I couldn’t tear my eyes off the platinum-blond owner to respond right away. I couldn’t explain the type of bond I felt toward him except that it wasn’t sexual. “I’m looking forward to it,” I told Chaz.
Josh turned his attention back to the client, and I could tell he’d dismissed me. I hadn’t made a very good impression on the new neighbor, and for some reason, I kept thinking his opinion would matter to me some day. I gave Chaz a friendly smile and left the salon in search of lunch and groceries.
My height and long hair often made me stand out in a crowd, but it was never as obvious as when I walked into the diner. Everyone stared at me just like the salon clients had, and I realized that it would take me a while to get used to small-town living. The waitress was very friendly when she took my order.
“I’m Daniella,” she replied. “Welcome to Blissville.”
“Thank you, Daniella.” At least she and Chaz seemed friendly. I couldn’t say the residents of the town were hostile; it was more like they were cautious. Josh, who clearly wanted me to pack and leave town, was the only exception up to that point.
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