by Jill Sanders
“Stay. I know…I know what you think, but stay anyway.”
She shook her head quickly. “No, maybe soon. But not tonight.”
Seeing the fear and determination in her eyes, he nodded and then turned back to the computer screen and clicked a few buttons, placing her order. “How about I walk you home?”
“No, I can find my way.” She stood up. “Thank you… for helping me.” She nodded to his laptop.
“Thank you.” He smiled. “For not blowing it up.” She chuckled and then turned towards the door.
He watched her walk towards her house and smiled when the lights turned on inside. He sat back down at his screen and knocked off a few items before bed. He hadn’t realized he’d stayed up so late until he felt the chill on the back of his neck. Turning around, he watched the brightness appear just a few feet away.
He’d never seen her appear outside of his room before. This time, he noticed there was no anger, only sadness in her eyes. She glanced towards the bedroom and for a minute, he felt like he owed her an apology. Then he shook that feeling off when he realized he was about to explain to a ghost why he was working late. Not a ghost, he told himself and held in a chuckle.
She disappeared as quickly as she showed up and this time, he actually felt an emptiness when she was gone.
He shut his computer down and crawled into bed, but he couldn’t sleep. His eyes were glued to the ceiling as his mind filled with Xtina.
The next day, when his phone buzzed, he rolled over and answered his mother’s call. Glancing at the clock, he realized he’d slept most of the day away.
“You sound tired,” she answered. “Didn’t you get any sleep?”
His brain was too foggy to register who he was talking to, and before he knew it, he had answered.
“Yeah, I guess between the ghost and Xtina, I was too preoccupied to sleep.”
“Ghost?” The tone in his mother’s voice woke him up and he groaned.
“I mean…”
“What ghost?” His mother covered the phone and called out to his dad. “Charles, Michael is seeing ghosts.”
“Mom, no, I wasn’t awake.” He sat up and rubbed his hands over his face and thought about pulling out his hair. “It was a dream.”
“What’s all this about seeing ghosts?” His dad was now on the line. He closed his eyes and wished desperately for a cup of coffee.
“I was half asleep.”
“Was it the ghost or a woman that kept you up?” his mother asked.
He stopped himself from answering, “Both,” just in time.
“A woman,” he replied, hoping to divert the conversation.
“Would this be Xtina?” his mother said slowly.
“Yes,”
“Who’s Xtina? What kind of name is that anyway?” his father asked.
“She’s my neighbor, and her name fits her perfectly.”
“Well”—his father’s voice got a little louder— “sounds like we have perfect timing for our trip.”
“Trip?” He felt his stomach kick in. “What trip?”
“The one we’re planning for next month to come see you.”
He tried to think of a million excuses but knew that they wouldn’t listen to any of them anyway.
“When?” he finally asked.
“Around the tenth,” his father supplied.
“That should give you plenty of time to finish your kitchen.”
He groaned outwardly as he looked around at everything that still had to be done.
“Roseline, don’t pester him about the kitchen. I’m sure he’s working as fast as he can,” his father broke in.
“It’s not pestering, Charles, I’m just mothering.”
He listened to his parents argue for a few minutes as he walked into his kitchen, hit the button on his coffee maker, and poured a hot cup. When he glanced over at the house next door, he wondered if Xtina was up yet.
“He’s not even listening to us,” his mother broke in. “No doubt thinking about Xtina.”
He shook his head. “I did mention that I didn’t get enough sleep last night.”
“Yes, yes.” He could imagine his mother waving him off with her hands, the move she made all the time when dismissing him. “We’ll let you go, we just wanted to let you know about our plans.”
After hanging up, he decided some more sleep wouldn’t hurt. Unfortunately, his phone rang and he spent the next few hours working on a new project. Getting paid was better than sleep. Besides, he was hoping to save up enough money to get the next phase of the house done soon.
By the time he hung up from the last call, his stomach was growling and he had a slight headache. He dug around the kitchen and threw together a ham sandwich. Shoveling it and a handful of chips into his mouth, he decided he needed a few hours of sweat to clear his mind of Xtina.
Since his folks were going to be making an appearance in a few weeks, he figured the first place to work on would be his guest room. It only needed a fresh coat of paint and new hardwood flooring laid down, which he figured he could finish by dinnertime if he worked fast enough.
The paint went on smoothly and before he knew it, the walls were covered in a warm gray/blue. He touched up the white baseboards and crown molding he’d put in a few weeks before and then started hauling in the boxes of wood for the flooring. Strapping on his kneepads, he got to work laying the planks. He had a saw set up out back and took trips to cut the measured boards until he was on the last board.
Glancing outside, he realized he’d worked faster than he’d expected, since it was still daylight out. He straightened and rolled his shoulders and stretched all the kinks from his back just as his stomach growled again.
This time, though, he decided a cold sandwich wouldn’t cut it, and he was just about to reach for his keys to drive into town when there was a knock at his door.
When he opened the door, a smile spread on his face. “Hey,” he said to Xtina, who was standing on his front porch looking very sexy in a pair of tight jeans and a low-cut silver sweater that hugged her just right.
“Hey,” she said back, her own smile matching his. “I was thinking…” She glanced into his house briefly before her eyes settled back on his. “Would you come somewhere with me?” His eyebrows shot up in question. “I have this theory,” she finally added. “It won’t take long.”
He tilted his head. “I was just about to get some food. Could we grab something on the way?”
She smiled and nodded. “Sounds good to me,” she said after her stomach growled softly.
“I’ll just get a jacket. It looks like it might rain later.” He nodded up to the dark skies.
She followed him inside when he motioned for her to come in. “So, how is the remodel going?” When he turned to her, she smiled. “I heard the saw.”
“Come have a look for yourself.” He took her hand and walked towards the back, stopping just outside the guest room door.
“Wow,” she gasped. “You did this all today?” She walked into the room as he leaned against the doorjamb.
“Yeah, call it a need to work off lack of sleep.”
She turned to him, worry flashing behind those green eyes of hers. “Did she keep you up?”
He smiled. “No.” He moved closer to her. “Thinking about someone else did.” His hands took her hips and he pulled her close until his lips covered hers. He’d been starved for the taste of her again. He felt her melt against his chest. Her fingers dug gently into his shoulders as she relaxed into the kiss. When he felt her shiver, he pulled back slightly, not wanting her to feel how much he wanted her.
“It still gets me,” she said softly as she rested her forehead against his chest. “Not being able to see anything.” She shook her head.
When his stomach growled again, she chuckled. “Later.” She shook her head and took a step back, glancing once more around the room. “There’s a lot I’d like to do to my place.” She turned to him. “Ever consider getting paid for this?�
�
He laughed. “I don’t think my back would survive.” He rolled his shoulders again, feeling the kink between his shoulder blades.
“I can help with that.” Her fingers fidgeted for a moment. “Later.”
He smiled. “It’s a date.” He took her hand again and this time walked her to the front door. “Where were you thinking of grabbing some food?”
“How about some pizza?” she asked as they walked towards her car.
“Sounds good.” He opened her door for her, then rushed around to the passenger side and climbed in.
“So,” he said when he settled in the seat, reaching over and taking her hand, “our first date.” He smiled and winked at her and watched her cheeks turn a nice shade of pink.
***
Xtina parked in O’Riley’s Pizza parking lot and wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans. Michael made her feel nervous. She didn’t know if it was because she couldn’t read him or if it was the pure desire and lust she felt when she was around him.
Either way, her body had a way of acting strange when he was around. She watched him dart out of her car and rush around to her side to open her door.
She’d never really “dated” someone before. Sure, she’d gone on dates, but looking across the table in the noisy pizza place, she doubted that’s what this was. Mike wasn’t a “one date” kind of guy.
Her mind flashed to Jessie, and she felt her heart skip.
“So,” she said after they had ordered a large veggie pizza, “are you ever going to tell me what happened between you and Jess?”
She could tell that he didn’t want to talk about it, so she nudged slightly.
“I mean, I kind of saw…” She bit her lip. “From Jessie’s point of view.”
He shifted in the booth. “What did you see?”
“The night you went back to her place.”
“And?”
“How everything was hot and heavy… can I just say, wow, by the way.” She smiled when he chuckled. “Then…” She made a fizzle sound and leaned back.
He blinked a few times, then leaned back when the waitress delivered their drinks. She’d ordered a seltzer water while he’d gone for a cold beer.
“I guess you could say I had a vision.”
“Of?”
“What did Jessie say?” he asked, taking a drink of his beer. She could tell he was stalling but knew that he had his reasons.
“Just that it didn’t work.” She shrugged. “It’s like there’s this…”—she motioned her hands in a circle— “secret between the two of you.”
“No, no secret.” He took her hand. “Just weirdness.” He chuckled. “For lack of a better word.”
“What kind of weirdness?”
He closed his eyes and leaned back. “You’re not going to let this go are you?” She shook her head slightly. “One moment I was kissing her, then… I wasn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was… kissing someone else.”
“Who?” She waited, watching his dark eyes focus on hers.
“You,” he said softly.
“I… I don’t understand. How were you kissing me?”
“We were there, on Jessie’s sofa, and I looked down at her. Her brown hair turned darker, her gray eyes turned green, and her lips…” His eyes moved to hers and she had to swallow when she saw pure desire behind them. “It was you. I hadn’t met you, but it was you.”
“Okay,” she said after she swallowed again, then reached across the table and took a gulp of his beer. “Wow.” She shook her head.
“Yeah, wow. What did you see from Jess?”
She opened her mouth to tell him, but then the pizza arrived and the conversation changed. She was thankful since it was a little strange to tell Michael something intimate from her friend.
When they finished their pizza, they piled back into her car and headed to the edge of town.
As she drove, she thought about her visits to her grandmother. Each trip was harder and harder to deal with. Not that the old woman was a saint, but Xtina had always had a fondness for the woman. And seeing the rate at which she was declining was wearing on her.
Before this trip, the last time she’d seen her grandmother, she’d been a very frail woman in her early seventies. Now she was pushing eighty and looking at least twenty years older. She wasn’t just frail anymore, she was rickety.
Her grandmother could no longer walk and was confined to a wheel chair. Her hands shook and she was so thin that Xtina thought that if a big wind blew through, the woman would topple over.
But her mind was sharp as ever. She talked to her about her parents, about how she’d been raised.
Xtina had asked why she’d gone along with all of their craziness and had been highly disappointed at her answer.
“Well, dear, we did what we thought was best. You were always a very odd child.”
After that, Xtina had avoided touching her, since she didn’t want to experience any history she might get from the contact.
It had been hard to refrain from comforting the woman, up until that point.
“What are you thinking about?” Michael broke into her thoughts.
She glanced over quickly, then turned down the road she wanted. “My grandmother. I’ve seen her two times.”
“And? How is she?”
“She’s fine.”
“Are you going to keep her in Stockbridge?”
“Yes,” she said, knowing she had to tell him more. “She’s where she belongs.” She felt a shiver run down her back.
“What’s wrong?” He reached over and took her hand.
“She knew and, worse, she actually justified the way they treated me.”
He was silent for a while. “I’m sorry.”
She shrugged, trying to rid herself of all the negative thoughts that were flooding her mind.
“I have an uncle who killed his wife,” he blurted out.
She glanced over at him as she pulled to the side of the road. “What happened?” She leaned so she could look more closely at him.
“He came home to find her beating their kid, so he pulled her off of the child and she hit her head against the stove. Killed her instantly.”
“How terrible.” She reached over and took his hand. “What happened to him?”
“Oh, he’s living in Jersey with his seventeen-year-old daughter. My cousin was ten at the time and testified that the abuse had been going on for years. The marks on her body had been enough to corroborate his story. Actually, he’s a pretty cool guy.” He shook his head. “Just got a bum rap for a few years. But now he owns his own shop downtown and has made a pretty good life for them. Even found a pretty awesome woman and married her last year.” He smiled.
“Why…” She shook her head. “Why tell me this?”
He leaned closer to her. “You had a bum childhood, but look at you now.” He reached up and brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. “You’re an amazing person who is kind and full of amazing things. Your parents were asses.” She chuckled, causing him to smile. “But you don’t let it affect you. That’s pretty amazing in my book.”
“Thanks.” She leaned over and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “I’ve never had anyone deliver a pep talk to me before.”
He chuckled. “Now, are you going to tell me why we’re out here”—he glanced out his window to the darkness— “in the middle of nowhere?”
She nodded, her smile falling away slightly. “We’re here to see a ghost. A real one this time.”
Chapter Nine
Mike’s entire body went on guard. “A…”
“Ghost,” she broke in and smiled slightly, sending more shivers down his body.
“I…” He tried to think of a million reasons to not get out of the car, but when she cocked her head slightly, he knew the challenge was on. “Lead the way.” He got out of the car, but before he could open her door, she was beside him.
“This way.” She had brought a flashli
ght and took his hand as she led him through thick bushes.
The farther into the trees they went, the more his anxiety rose. Finally, they entered a clearing and the sound and smell of rushing water hit him.
“What is this place?” He glanced around. The moonlight was bright enough to see, so she switched off the flashlight.
“This is Starr’s Mill Waterfall.” She nodded to a dark building he could see across the way.
“The make-out place?” He glanced down at the few parked cars, which no doubt had steamed windows. Everyone in town knew that the old mill was the perfect place for teenagers to go “watch the submarine races.” He turned to her, his arms going over his chest as he smiled down at her.
“Yes,” she said, not giving him any attention.
“You know, if you just wanted to…” His words fell away when he felt it. He spun around so fast that he almost toppled over the edge of the cement pathway they were standing on. Her arm reached out and steadied him.
There, hovering less than a foot away was… well, a ghost. A real one.
Xtina was right. This one looked… different. Instead of a figure of a woman, this was just a puff of smoke with long brown hair. He felt his entire body go on guard and he pushed Xtina behind him.
“It’s okay,” she said in a soft voice. “Here.” Xtina walked around him and took his hand. Instead of just holding it, she raised their joined hands until their fingers brushed the mist. He jerked his hand away quickly, but she just took it again. “Trust me.” Her eyes met his and he was powerless to deny her.
This time, when their fingers touched the mist, an onslaught of emotions inundated his mind. Pain. Sorrow. Happiness. Fear. Love. It all hit him at once, like he was a child uncertain of how to control his emotions.
“Try to focus,” Xtina said softly into his ear. “See past all the emotions.”
He did as she asked and soon, there was only one emotion. Betrayal.
He dropped his hand, Xtina letting hers fall too.
“What happened to her?” He watched the figure hover over the water, as if permanently tied to the spot. Then he turned to her. “I thought you said you didn’t know anyone who had drowned before?” He remembered the night at her place, the image she had described after that night when the three of them had… an episode.