Page 66 of After Life
“Ow!” He gently disentangled our fingers, shaking them a little as he shot me a wounded glare. “Testing your strength now that you’re among the living?”
“Sorry,” I muttered. “I... sorry.”
He took my hand again, folding his fingers around mine this time and offering me a small smile. “I wanted to fess up,” he started again. “When I knew you were going to be okay, all I could think was get him to tell me everything so I can write it all down. Research was the first thing I thought of, once I knew.” He huffed, shaking his head. “I just... You were gone and I might never have known. I might have just thought you were acting weird, tired of me or something, and just never known. And all I could think once I knew you were really okay was add that to the spreadsheet. Start a new one, interview Oscar.” He cut a glance my way and murmured, “And I wondered if... if you saw Reggie. Or your parents? Or—”
I scooted up the bed, pulling on his hand until he moved with me, stretching out alongside me. “It’s nothing to feel guilty over,” I murmured against his temple, pressing a soft kiss with my words. “It’s nothing for me to be angry over, either. What you’re doing, it’s important. And I think... I think maybe Enoch is on to something.”
Julian tipped his face toward mine. “What? What does Enoch have to do with my spiraling guilt complex?”
I kissed him again. He scowled but kissed me back. “First let’s make our travel plans, then I’ll tell you about the boy band we’re joining.”
“Got everything?” I asked, following him out onto the porch. A truck that was more rust than metal idled in the drive, Cap sitting in the reclined driver’s seat with his snapback pulled low over his eyes. The remains of Hurricane Nelson were evident in the streaky clouds overhead and the roar of the ocean still pounding the shore so close by, no longer the whispering hiss with the voice-like sibilance it had been just a few days before.
Maybe that’s a good thing.
“I think so,” Julian said, adjusting his grip on the cane so he could pick his way down the shallow steps to the front walk. “Everything should be packed up and right there in your sweaty hands,” he teased, the humidity making us both more damp than we’d like.
“My hands aren’t sweaty,” I complained, shouldering the bags. “I have very nice hands, thank you very much.”
“Mmm hmm.”
He winked at me as we reached Cap’s truck. Cap climbed out to help us arrange the bags and get ourselves sorted. “Y’all heard? Hurricane Nelson didn’t do much to the mainland other than some street flooding, knocked out the cable for a bit so some folks got pissy they missed the season finale of some show.” He paused to help Julian up into the front passenger seat before adding, “Gotta be honest with you, Delia and those kids are likely not gonna get any time, maybe just a fine since they weren’t there for the, uh, big event and just are considered accessories.”
“So was Jeremiah, technically, but you can’t arrest a ghost.” Julian murmured. At my startled look, he lifted a shoulder. “It’s true.”
“Sorry. I’m just still getting used to this new Julian-believes-in-ghosts development,” I admitted.
He nudged me with his shoulder as Cap climbed into the driver’s seat, sandwiching me between the two of them. “Well, it’s only going to get worse.” Julian sighed. “Better get used to it.”
Cap started the engine, glancing up at the house for a long moment before shifting into reverse. “Feds came and got ‘em,” he said after a moment. “Ray-Don, he was sellin’ shipwreck debris. The kids are both under eighteen and were helping him sell it on the down-low.
“Apparently, it’s illegal to sell artifacts like that,” he added with another shrug. “But since they’re kids, they’re not gonna get much in the way of trouble. Delia... She’s just getting a slap on the wrist for causing a public nuisance when the cops were arresting Ray-Don.” He reversed down the drive to the road, pointing us in the direction of the ferry dock. “I still own Honey Walk, but I’m never livin’ there. It’s mine, though. And I can’t stomach the thought of anyone else... Anyone else getting caught up in it.”
I nodded slowly. Since the night on the beach, I hadn’t seen or heard Jeremiah or any other ghost. I knew they were there—I could feel them, sense their presence just out of reach.
Jeremiah was waiting, I was sure of it. Waiting for someone else to try, to keep up the family tradition. Sandra... I reached out as we drove past the beach path entrance. I could feel the flutter of awareness, of existence, but it was either too weak for me to discern or I was simply too far, or too blocked.
Grandmere at work again, I thought. How long would it take to unlearn the ways she taught me and really understand what I’m capable of?
And maybe she was. She was definitely being quiet again but, historically, that meant little when it came to Grandmere.
The journey to the mainland was long but not as quiet as I thought it might be. Debris from the island and mainland both littered the passage—mostly bits of trees, some broken wood from what Cap said were smaller docks, some fishing paraphernalia. The waters were choppy, leading Julian and me to stick close to Cap in the cabin... cockpit... bridge... whatever of his small cabin cruiser. Cap didn’t seem bothered by any of it, navigating toward the mainland with a loose grace as he talked with Julian about historic houses and his ‘line of work’ before being on the show. Julian white knuckled the entire journey (and, to be fair, so did I), only unclenching when we were safely moored.
“Hey, so...” Cap called as we stepped off onto the pier. “I guess we should stay in touch? Or somethin’?” He fidgeted with the brim of his cap, staring determinedly at some bit of flotsam spinning past in the water. “For that Enoch kid’s... thing.”
Julian looked askance. “The boy band?”
I laughed. “The boy band.” I fished one of my old business cards out of my wallet, and Julian added his own number and email to the back before I handed it over to Cap. “I know you’re not very comfortable with your—”
“Gift,” he muttered. “Ma always called it a gift.”
“Well. If you’d like to talk, I’m available. Or...” I thought of Jesse, Lisa’s brother. We hadn’t spoken much but he had been kind, a calming presence really. He’d be a great listener for an uncertain, scared, unwilling medium. “I can find you someone.”
Cap nodded, taking the card and giving us a wave as he hopped back onto the boat. He watched us till we cleared the pier and a gaggle of people came between us.
Chapter 16 — Julian
It was nice to be back home, even if only for a few days before heading back out on the road. Our stay in Charleston had been brief—hotels were price gouging (a fine tradition on the Gulf Coast in the wake of a hurricane, no matter how small), and we were, frankly, tired of everything. Returning to my apartment in Houston seemed like the best idea—we had just over a week until our next shoot, and Oscar and I had no desire to even try to have a do-over on our romantic getaway.
