Page 96 of The Ghost of You

“I’m sorry,” she whispers to me.

I pull the blankets up that have shifted off us and cover her back up. “What are you sorry for?”

“I’m guessing you found me. I—I don’t remember,” she stutters as tears crest her eyes.

I wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her into my body. “Shh, baby. Don’t cry.”

“Noah, I’m such a mess.” She sniffles as her hands cover her face. “I—I can’t. God, it’s been seven years. Seven years and I forgot.”

I stiffen. I know exactly what she is talking about. Her fiancé died seven years ago. And I can’t help but think—no, I know I am the reason she forgot.

There is a pleading in her eyes when she looks up at me. “How could I be so reckless? How could I forget?”

“I’ve distracted you,” I answer as I break her stare and look over her head trying to figure out a way to separate myself from her.

“Don’t do that.”

I glance back at her and see a fury in her eyes. “Do what?”

“Please don’t blame yourself. It’s my fault I forgot.”

“If I wasn’t around, you would have remembered.” My jaw stiffens.

Her hands move up to my neck. She pulls me down so our lips are barely touching. “If I didn’t have you around, no one would have found me on my porch last night.”

I grunt at that and try to pull away, but her grip is stronger than I thought.

She gently presses her lips to mine. “I need you, Noah. I need you here with me. Especially today.” Her lips go back to mine, pressing more firmly, begging to be let in. And I can’t hold back as she hooks a leg around my hips, pulling us closer together. I surrender to her lips, coaxing her tongue into my mouth. Cresting my hands up and down her body.

“I need you to come with me today.”

“Where?”

She sighs, pressing her forehead against my chest. “To the place I go every year.”

I can tell by the way she grips me tighter when she says it that it’s hard for her. To see him again. To face the ghost of her past. “Whatever you need, Mayberry.”

* * *

I thoughtwe were going to a cemetery. But the address she put in my GPS is in the middle of nowhere.

We drive in silence for the two hours it takes to get to her destination. Thoughts swirl in my head about what fully happened to her. I know her fiancé died. I know she was devastated. Who wouldn’t be? If I had lost Claire in an accident, I would feel just like her.

But as I glance over at her every now and then I don’t see sadness resonating in her eyes. I see an anger so deep-seated it vibrates through her veins. I see a pain crushing her chest causing her to hiccup a breath every once in a while. I see regret flash through her eyes as she clutches the necklace around her neck and I am not sure why.

She directs me to pull over on a dirt road that looks like it leads to nowhere. I follow her directions, driving slower to avoid the large divots in the road. The wind is picking up making it harder to see the road in front of me as the dirt blows across the windshield.

I startle when she grabs my arm. “Slower. The turn is up here soon.”

I keep my eyes out for a road in the middle of this forested wetland. I’m thinking she forgot where we are going when she suddenly yells. “Hard left, right here.”

I have no idea what she is talking about but see an overgrown path pulling back in the direction we came from. I turn the wheel hard and start to drive forward when she tells me to stop. I am confused as shit when she jumps out of my SUV. Even more so when I look in my rearview mirror and see her brushing away my tire tracks where I turned.

“What the hell?” I ask her as she climbs back in.

She bites her lip. “Umm well this is technically private property.”

I turn the car off and look over at her. “You’re telling me you dragged me across state lines to trespass. You do realize I’m a cop?”

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