Page 13 of The Spirit Key
“How would you have looked at me if I came to you and said, ‘Hey, Tim, guess what! I see dead people’?”
His lips curled into a sneer. “You’ll never know, will you? You never had the decency to trust in me. Would I have believed you?” He shrugged, and the look of sadness returned. “Honestly, I don’t know. I always thought you were just goofing around, but too many things happened when you were there that I think might have helped me to accept what you said was true. Mom said she thought you were, in her words,a special young man who has an interesting road ahead of him. I suppose she was right. The day I went to your house and your mom showed me the note you left, my whole world crashed down around me. I thought….” He shook his head. “You know, it doesn’t matter. You left, and I think we both moved on.”
I wanted him in a way that I’d never wanted another man. Not a quickie in a motel room, not exchanging blowjobs in the alley behind the bar. I wanted him to hold, to explore—maybe even to love.
“Are you seeing anyone?” I blurted out.
His eyes went wide and his lip curled just a bit. “How does that have anything to do with this?”
“I just wanted to catch up on your life. I thought maybe you’d be married, have some kids, and a dog named Rover.” I swallowed hard, trying to get the lump out of my throat at the thought of him having a wife.
He shook his head. “No one special in my life. Hasn’t been for a long time. After Mom got sick, I mostly just stayed inside. Going out and seeing people got awkward. What about you? Any ball and chain in your life?”
I held up my hands and barked a laugh. “Absolutely not. I am totally ball-less.” My face heated like a blast furnace when I realized what I’d said. Tim, naturally, didn’t miss it either. He grinned, then burst out laughing.
“I always thought that was true. Thank you for confirming it.” He continued to chuckle a bit longer, then went back for more coffee. Finally he sighed, put his cup down, and leaned back. “I have to ask you something. Are you going to run again?”
“I have a job… a life in Chicago.”
“That’s not what I asked and you know it. Now answer the question.”
“I don’t know.” I drew in a breath. “I haven’t seen a ghost for five years. Then I get to Milwaukee, step off the train, and I—”
Her face was etched in my memory. The fear, the confusion, the pain.
“Really?”
There was nothing I could do besides nod.
“But Chicago has to have way more ghosts than Milwaukee. Why wouldn’t you see any there?”
It was a question I’d never asked myself. As long as I didn’t see them, I didn’t care. “I don’t know.”
He drained his cup and stood. “Want another?”
“No, but thank you.”
“Hey, look at me.”
I turned my head up and found him smiling down at me.
“We’re going to figure this out, I promise.”
“But—”
“Yes, I’m angry. Hurt. Pissed beyond belief. But I’m trying to see things through your eyes. I’m not sure I would have handled it any better than you. Promise me that if you go, you’ll keep in touch, okay? Don’t just disappear on me again.”
He was worried for me? And he wasn’t going to kick me to the curb?
“I promise.”
“Then that’s good enough for me. If you keep being honest with me and don’t leave when things get tough, I’ll do my best to get over my feelings. Deal?” He held out a hand, which I grasped in mine.
“Yes. Deal.”
Tim stood there, holding my hand, staring at me.
“Is something wrong?”
