"Thenlet's go in. It's fucking cold."
"Shouldhave worn more clothes… Jeez. What were you thinking?" He laughed andunlocked the door. Not fast enough. I swatted his ass.
Helaughed again and pushed the door open, letting me go inside.
"Beer?"
"Please."
Heflipped on the lights and headed for the kitchen. I smiled at the cuteness ofthe place. I understood why he hadn't changed anything, Rebecca was everywhere. For the first time, seeing herdidn't hurt so much.
Thehouse wasn't much warmer than outside.
"Youcold?"
"Yeah.It's freezing in here."
Chiefshrugged and handed me my beer before turning and fiddling with the thermostat.The heat came on, blowing warm air from the duct above me. "Movie?"
"Sure."I smiled at him as he took my beer back, set both of them on the small table bythe door, and got me out of my jacket. Mostly. Just before I was completelyfree, he grabbed it and pulled me close to him, his lips meeting mine.
"Whatwas that for?"
"Noreason except I couldn't resist."
Thelights around us flickered, and the lamp on the table buzzed and the bulb blew.I couldn't help it. I yelped.
"Huh.That was weird." He reached over to the switch by the door and turned therest of the lights on in the living room. They blinked to life and held steady.
"Whenwas the last time you changed that bulb?"
"Coupleof months ago. I knew I should have gotten the LED ones. They last forever.Sit." He pushed me gently toward the couch and grabbed our beers, handingme mine as he plopped down on the couch beside me and grabbed the remote.
TheDVD player and TV both flickered to life and when he hit play, the moviestarted. "You planned this all out, didn't you?"
Hegrinned.
"Betternot be porn."
Hehit the stop button. "Do you think I would do that to you?"
"Beforedinner, I would have said no. Now, I'm not so sure…"
Hehit play again, and the Disney theme played loudly, filling the room. "Loser."He grinned and took a sip of his beer.
"Ifit's Frozen, I'm leaving. And telling all your friends."
Luckyfor him, it was Maleficent.
"Oooh.I haven't seen this yet. I told Mother she should audition but she was holdingout for the old hag role if they remake Snow White."
Hechuckled. "Oh, shut up. You know your mom is hot."
"ShouldI change my name to Stacy?"
"Isaid she was hot, not that she had it going on."
"ShouldI be worried?"
"Uh.I'm the one that should be worried. I keep waiting to wake up on a platter withan apple in my mouth as she cackles maniacally and sets the oven temperature tothree-fifty."
"Four-twenty-five.Otherwise the outside is crispy, but the middle is too rare."
"You'rescaring me." He smiled, leaned over, and kissed me.
Therest of the lights blew.
"Okay,what the fuck is going on?" He stood up, walked over to the window, andthrew open the lace drapes to look up and down the road. "I don't see anypower trucks."
"Checkthe rest of the house?"
Hewalked across the room and leaned into the kitchen, flicking the lights on. "Thisone works. Check the others?"
Igot up and moved to the hallway. "This one works!" I looked towardthe kitchen, but he had headed toward the garage. Turning back, I moved to theend of the hall to the bedroom. Leaning in, I flipped the switch and screamed.
Shestood there, billowing and angry as she frowned from the corner of the bedroombeside a dressmaking form next to the window. If I hadn't seen a hundredpictures of her in the living room, I probably would have been confused andangry instead of shitting kittens. It wasn't every day that you ran into yourboyfriend ex. It wasn't every day you ran into her ghost, either. At least shewas whole and normal looking. I don't think I could have handled burntbriquette Becca.
Chief'sfootfalls echoed down the hallway as he skidded to a stop behind me and gasped."Rebecca?"
"Maybewe should go to my place…"
Chapter 7
One thing was for certain, after thenight I'd had, I needed some fucking pie. And some coffee. I was fuckingfreezing and it had nothing to do with the weather. Chief hadthe heat pouring into the Jeep full blast. I don't think he was all warm andsquishy on the inside, either. In fact, he hadn't said a word since we ran forthe Jeep.
"Wantsome coffee and pie? We can talk."
Heturned his head and let his eyes shift from the road to my face. Forcing alittle smile, he gave me a slight nod.
"Youokay?"
"We'llsee after the pie and coffee."
Hepulled into the parking lot between the station and the diner and we walkedacross the street. "Chief of police, jay walkin' like some sort ofcriminal." I chuckled and grabbed his hand.
"Nojokes. Not right now, please."
Pursingmy lips, I gave him a sad smile and nodded.
Thewoosh of warm air and the smells of the warmer food pushed some of the icky 'Ijust saw the ghost of my lover's dead wife' feelings out of the way. Tabby, Marge'sniece who worked the night shift, waved from behind the counter and made coffeemotions. Chief and I both nodded emphatically. Tabby narrowed her eyes andnodded.
Chiefsat on the other side of the booth instead of taking the spot next to me. Notbeing a petty woman, I let it slide without comment. This was hard on me. Ithad to be like teaching Josie Calculus for him.
"Allthese years…" He shook his head and set it in his hands, resting hiselbows on the table.
"Shewas right beside you and you didn't know?"
Hepulled his face from his hands and shot me a rather unpleasant look. "No.All these years I thought she had moved to the next life or was roaming thecelestial planes. Anything but being stuck in this world as a ghost." Henearly sobbed as he worked his way through the sentence.
"Wedon't know that she was. For all I know, it could just be my powers manifestingher spiritual imprint on the house. I don't know how all this ghost shit works."I reached over and took his hand. "One thing is, I do know I'm sorry if mybeing there gave her form."
"Canwe lay her to rest?"
Yeah.If I punch her in the gut, turn her into a zombie, and let her melt into theground. "Idon't know,
