Page 3 of Come Back To Me
He mutters under his breath. “Ugh fine, movie. Want to see a horror movie with me? There’ll be lots of gore and blood.”
“Oh, in that case . . . no,” I muse.
“Oh, come on. I’ll pay your way and take you for ice cream afterward.”
“Alright.” I force out a sigh, my lips threatening to break into a smile as I say, “But don’t expect me to put out just because I’m letting you feed me.”
His laughter echoes from the phone. “And there’s that best friend of mine. I knew he still existed somewhere in there, and you say that as if I’m not good at changing people’s minds.”
I bite back a grin. “Yeah, here I am telling you not to flatter yourself.”
“Yeah, yeah. So, I’ll pick you up in an hour?”
“Sure. See you then.”
“Yes you will, you lucky bastard you.”
I let out a soft chuckle and end the call, sliding my phone into my pocket. My attention goes back to the photos on the wall and the hollow sensation from before comes barreling back inside my chest. Those laughs might have been real but the good feeling didn’t last as it should. When will I go back to being myself again?
Everyone else is getting along okay. Sure, they all miss him and are sad, but they’re going back to their same old routines as if he’s been gone a while. Talking about haunted houses and fall festivals. Planning ahead when I keep wanting to go backward. Back to him.
The heel of my foot hits the box on the floor when I step back. My eyes fall on the contents inside and I bend down to lift out a large fuzzy spider. I hang it on the wall and keep reaching back into the box after that. This was Gareth’s favorite season. He loved all things spooky and Halloween. He would already have had all this up at the first of the month, and I can picture him looking down at me now asking what the hold-up was.
That leaves me smiling, and I put up more decorations, feeling closer to him with each pumpkin and ghost I touch. When the box is empty, I go to the garage looking for more and freeze when I see a bag hiding at the bottom of one of the containers. Tissue paper is wrapped around whatever’s inside. Did Gareth hide this here for me?
My heart pounds and I slowly reach inside, lifting up the paper. It’s a snow globe. My face wrinkles as I lift it higher in the air to study it. Why would he get me a snow globe of a place we’ve never been to before?
He’d been there for work but I never went along. We’d talked about it before, but our schedules never lined up in order for it to work. Was this going to be a surprise? Another trip away? I shake the snow inside and turn the key at the bottom. It plays a soft tune: one I don’t recognize. Puzzled by the gift, I don’t hear the door open behind me and jump forward when a hand lands on my shoulder.
“Woah. It’s just me. I tried knocking but I guess you couldn’t hear over the music you’re playing. What is that anyway?”
My shoulders lift and I set the gift back in the bag. “A gift for me, I think? Or maybe someone in his family?”
“Huh. What’s the song from?”
I pinch the bridge between my nose, shaking my head. “Never heard it before, so I’m not sure.”
“Or maybe you have but forgot.”
“I mean, with the way my memory is, that’s possible.” Holding the bag away from me, I start walking back into the house.
“Why were you in here anyway?”
“Was putting up Halloween decorations.” I point toward the living room, and he steps closer to the glowing pumpkins.
“So you were. Reminds me, I need to get started on that.”
“Don’t you normally make Glen do it?”
His smile slants. “Yeah, but I’m always there to direct where I want things. The man is hot as fuck but has no sense of direction.”
Rolling my eyes, I fix one of the spiderwebs. “Maybe because you’re always shoving him where you want him to go.”
“Maybe,” he deadpans. “But everyone needs a little shove sometimes.”
“Is that the reason you’re really here?”
His hands slip into his pockets and he shoots me a sheepish look. “Nah, I’m here because I need someone to go see this movie with me. Glen hates slashers and this used to be something I did with you before life got crazy.”
