I wasn’t going to give him time to ask how he had died. He’d remember when he was ready. Meanwhile, I kept talking. “Your body is in the old city cemetery in Cedar Rapids, next to your parents. But your love has always been here with me. I think that’s how you came back.”
Some ghosts haunt places; others are tied to people. John and I had pledged to love each other forever. Apparently, the universe took us seriously.
I watched him trying to process it. John was a sportswriter, so he was good with facts and statistics, but I could see that this new reality fell way outside of his version of logic.
“So I’m really dead.” It was a statement, not a question. That was progress.
I smiled at him. “But I still love you.” This was what we had always said to each other when one of us had done something stupid. I figured getting himself killed qualified.
“I love you too,” he said, his voice quiet. “So what happens now?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? Neither of us was religious in the traditional sense; we were in uncharted waters here. A few of my more powerful relatives could interact with spirits, but even they didn’t really understand the mechanics of how it all worked.
“I guess we find a way to help you to move on.”
“Move on to what?”
“Whatever there is. I mean, isn’t your family waiting for you on the other side?”
He grinned at the cliché. “On the other side?”
I shot him a snarky look, the same one we’d passed back and forth for our entire marriage. This was so weird.
“The only ones I know ‘over there’ are my parents,” John said. He sighed. “My parents are nice people and all, but there was a reason I left home at seventeen, okay?” His eyes met mine. “I’d rather just hang out and wait for you, if that’s alright.”
My heart melted. I longed to put my head on his shoulder. “I’ve missed you,” I whispered.
“You don’t have to. Not any more.” He gave me the other look, the one that had melted my socks since that first day we met. “So, what do you say?”
♦ ♦ ♦
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