“Just a quick look? Nothing else?” Her stomach tumbled.
“You have my word.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Closing your eyes would help. Focus on the darkness your eyelids bring.”
Arianne followed Niko’s instructions to the letter, prepared to wait. But only a second had passed when he asked that she open her eyes again.
“That’s it?”
He dipped his chin in an affirmative.
“Wow, when you said quick…” She rolled to her side to face him, elbow akimbo. “What did you see?” she asked, inspecting each green blade. Niko’s fingers lifted her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze.
“Did you go through anything traumatic right before you started seeing souls?” He pulled his hand away. “A near death experience like a car crash or a drowning?”
Arianne sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. The water’s supple undulation soothed pulsing nerves. “Does a major operation count?”
“Only if you died and were brought back.”
He said it so softly that Arianne had to tilt her head to the side in order to hear him. She kept her eyes on the lake.
“My sister, Carrie.” She paused. “She has a smile like the sun. No matter how sad you are, all you have to do is see her smile and everything will be all right. She doesn’t even need to say anything. Just flashing those pearly whites is enough.”
“What does this have to do with a major operation?”
“Carrie and I are really close. Besides Ben, she’s my best friend. We’re a year apart. There was this one time…Carrie wanted to climb up a tree. I told her not to. I said she’d fall. But you know what she said to me?” A corner of her lips quirked upward, and she wiped a stray tear on her shirtsleeve. “She said, ‘don’t worry, I know you’ll catch me.’ All of this with a silly grin on her face. I did catch her, you know. Had my arm in a cast for six months while she walked away without a scratch.”
“I don’t know—”
“Then one day,” Arianne interrupted, “she got sick. Kidney failure. She needed a transplant to stay alive.” She lifted a shirt corner, exposing part of her midriff.
“Ari,” Niko gasped out.
She let him trace the scar before she tugged her shirt down. “I was the only match. I would have given her both my kidneys if Mom and Dad would’ve let me.” Arianne twisted around. “I’m not sure if I’d died on the operating table. Only that a couple of months later, I could see dead people.”
Niko gathered her into a tight embrace so fast that she forgot to breathe. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he whispered into her ear.
“Okay,” she puffed out. “I got my apology a while ago, but what’s with yours?”
He held her at arm’s length. “Seeing you sad…it hurts here.” He touched his chest. “Like I can’t breathe. Like my heart would leap out of my ribcage. I don’t know—”
Arianne interrupted him again—this time, with her lips. A shock, like sticking her fingers in a socket, rushed through her with such speed that she had to struggle not to wobble. Niko gathered her closer until only their clothes provided a barrier between them. It hurt, but Arianne didn’t seem to care. She clung to his neck and tilted her head just as he deepened the kiss. Like the first notes of a love song, a sigh swelled out of her.
Kissing Arianne made Niko’s mind go blank. A clean slate. His heart danced in the heavens among the clouds. He hadn’t expected her to act so impulsively. But her impulse was one he welcomed like sweet mint tea on a balmy day. The pillow of her lips cradled his like no other. He could stay there in her arms until forever came knocking at the door.
Her stomach growled. Arianne covered her gasp with her hand, but the blush on her face went from cotton candy to beet. She dropped her gaze. Niko had to stifle his chuckle with a fist.
“Sorry,” she said.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.” Niko pointed toward the end of the dock.
Arianne twisted to follow his arm. “Niko!”
A table dressed in cream appeared. Slender tapers reached for the sky, their flames swaying like belly dancers. Folding chairs sat lazily across from each other. White plates with blue enamel beckoned for food to appear on them. Crystal flutes sparkled, capturing the rays of the setting sun. The heavens turned from early afternoon yellow to sunset orange, bathing the lake in golden confetti.
Arianne ran for the dock. Niko picked himself up and dusted off his jeans and ambled after her. Small tremors still rolled through him—aftershocks from her kiss—and a half-moon grin appeared on his face.
“It’s so beautiful.” She picked up a fork with ivy carvings on its handle, counting its tines. “It’s almost like I don’t want to eat from it.”
Niko pulled out a chair for her. “But you want to.”
She returned the fork beside its brothers, sat down, and granted him salvation in her smile. “How long have we been here?”
“A few hours.” He practically levitated onto the folding chair opposite her’s.
“Well, that explains why I’m hungry.” She scanned the area. “Don’t tell me waiters are about to come from somewhere to serve us.”
“Is that what you want?” Niko asked in earnest. “Because I can just will the food here.”
“Right now, I’m too hungry to be waited on.”
“What will the lady be having this evening?”
“Well, kind sir, I believe I would like a plate of spaghetti and meatballs.”
“And for your drinks? We have a wide selection of sodas and sweet teas.” He quirked up an eyebrow. “Unless you prefer something stronger?”
“And get drunk?” She shook her head. “Grape soda is fine. With lots of ice.”
Within milliseconds of her request, a mound of spaghetti with three fist-sized meatballs appeared on her plate and purple fizz with ice clinking in celebration filled her champagne flute. Arianne’s saucer eyes grew wider. She took a whiff of her food and hummed.
“A toast.” Niko raised his glass.
“What’s in there?” Arianne raised her own.
“Root beer.” He winked.
“What shall we toast to?”
“To more than friendship.”
With fire-engine red cheeks, she asked, “What?”
Bumping his glass with hers, Niko took a sip of the sweet, bubbly liquid. He added extra warmth to his smile. Arianne continued to stare.
“You have to drink or it’s bad luck,” he encouraged.
She brought the rim of her glass to her lips and took a tentative swallow of grape soda. She put down the flute as if it would break. “About the kiss…” She picked up her dinner fork and moved a meat ball around the plate. “I’m sorry.”
Niko leaned in. “Why?”
“I didn’t mean to…I mean…actually, I don’t know what I mean. The part of my brain that makes rational decisions switched off, and the next thing I know, I’m kissing you.”
“Are you saying you didn’t want to kiss me?”
“No!” She sat up straighter, almost dropping the fork. “I mean…”
“Ari—” he reached out and closed his hand over hers “—I liked it.”
“You liked it?”
The shock on her face almost made him laugh. He had to bite down on the inside of his cheek to keep from embarrassing her. He squeezed her hand instead.
“Oh.” She studied her plate as if attempting to count every strand of pasta.
The waning sunshine couldn’t mask her happiness. If only Niko could reach out further without disturbing the
