Page 28 of The Spirit Key
Maybe I was seeing ghosts for a reason.
Chapter Seven
“HE TOOKit a lot better than I thought he would.”
Tim handed me a glass of water, which I drained quickly.
“He’s making me promise that I’ll come meet his kids and, as he said it, as theirseconduncle, I should be prepared to spoil them rotten.” I put my hands on my hips. “He’s my brother. How did I get to be second uncle?”
“I changed them, babysat, washed puke out of my hair, and got a golden shower from Carter. What have you done?”
Missed out on my niece and nephew. Never got to know my sister-in-law. And wasn’t there for my brother. Fortunately, Tim picked up my slack. Again.
“Fine.” I frowned. “You win this round.”
He chuckled. “Wait until you meet them. You’ll have a hard time saying no to them. Every Christmas I put five thousand dollars into a college fund for each of them. When Ryan asked me to be their godfather, I was thrilled. I love those kids like they were my own.”
Five….“Where’d you get that much money?”
He eyed me cautiously. “Did you really never look me up? Seriously?”
“Um….” How to say what I wanted without coming across like a bigger ass than I had been? “I stayed away from social media. I had to, because I wanted to come back home every day, and I knew that if I saw your face, I wouldn’t be able to stay away.”
He grinned, and my stomach fluttered. He walked over to me, took my hand, and held it up to his cheek. “You mean, this face?”
I swallowed hard as I stroked his skin. “Yes.”
“Can I tell you something?”
There were no words in my head, so I nodded.
“I don’t want you to go back to Chicago. I want you to stay with me. Or, if you really have to leave, I’m hoping you’ll let me come with you.”
“You’d move?” I slid my hand down to his chest, ignoring the hope that was taking root in my heart. To learn that Tim wanted me every bit as much as I did him was heady, but to know he’d leave his place and move to Chicago? Shit, that’s some heavy stuff.
“I stayed here because it was the only home I had, but when you returned, the only home I wanted came back.”
Holy crap, he knew the right things to say to make my legs turn to jelly.
“I know we have issues to work through—”
“Like you not believing me?” It slipped out, I swear. I hadn’t meant to hold on to that frisson of annoyance, but I couldn’t help it.
He sighed. “You have to understand something, and I hope you’ll listen to me with an open mind. It’s not that I didn’t believe you. I’d never believed ghosts were real. In fact, if you had been anyoneotherthan you, I would have been certain you were either trying to scam me or make a fool out of me. When I saw that… thing come out of my chest, it freaked me the hell out.” He leaned over and brushed our lips together. “But never once did I not believe you. It’s just hard for me to wrap my head around.”
Which, if I hadn’t flown off the handle and stayed to talk, I would have understood.
“I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry for, I promise. We just need to find our rhythm again. We used to be so in sync when we were growing up, and it’ll take time to get back to that, but we will.”
“I hope so.”
He reached up and pinched my cheek between his thumb and forefinger. It wasn’t enough to hurt, but it was to get my attention on him. “I know so. You’re not going anywhere if I can help it, at least not without me.”
See what I meant about legs of jelly? As a teen, he’d been the object of every fantasy I ever had, but as an adult? He was the answer to them too.
“So, anyway…. Listen, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m going to blurt it out. I have money. Quite a bit, in fact. That college fund I started for the kids? By the time they’re eighteen and ready to go to school, it’ll be paid for. Or if they decide college isn’t for them, they’ll have a fund to take them on a trip or help them buy a house, get married, or whatever.”
