Unfinished Business An Angela Panther Novel (A Chick-lit Paranormal book) (The Angela Panther Series) (25 page)

“Geesh. So demanding. Okay, so she cleared up a lot and I think this might be actually okay, eventually. She explained the difference between a ghost, a spirit and a celestial being. Apparently a ghost is like the kind you see in scary movies, they don’t really know they’re dead. A spirit can travel between here and the other side, like Ma, and a celestial being is a more evolved spirit.”

“I’m so gonna be a celestial being when I’m dead, but I’m still going to haunt my kids, especially after today. They totally deserve it.”

“You’re such a loving mother.”

“I know.”

“You can start haunting them now, you know. Ghosts like to flick lights, so do that.”

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea."

“They also like to turn on appliances and blow them up.”

“Seriously? I don’t think I can do that yet but I’m going to flip furniture and lock the TV on CNN just to torture them.”

“Yeah, CNN would be torture, especially in my house.”

“That’s because you’re conservative. Hey, maybe I should make it stick on FOX News? Nah, I’d go nuts then, too.”

“Funny. Anyway, apparently there are some pretty specific signs when there’s a spirit or whatever around. It gets cold, which we’ve both noticed with my mother.”

“Yeah, did Linda say why that happens?”

“Yup. She said they release an emotional energy and it’s a cold energy so the more emotional the ghost, the colder the energy. We feel that release when they’re around. Plus, they’re using the energy from us and from the room, which is warmer, so when they take it, it gets colder for us.”

“Your mother was always a very emotional woman so I bet you’ll freeze nose hairs on people when you die given how emotional you are.”

Seriously? Did everyone see me as emotional and dramatic? This was really starting to yank my chain.

“I’m not dramatic, Mel.”

“I didn’t say you’re dramatic, Angela. I said you’re emotional.”

“Is there a difference?”

“Not really, but emotional sounds nicer.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“No problem.”

I wanted to dig deeper into my dramatic tendencies but decided to pretend it didn’t impact me and continued talking about my date with psychic Linda.

“Anyway, so when you feel a sudden chill, probably there’s a ghost or a spirit nearby.”

“That’s creepy.”

“I know, but at least you can’t see them.”

“There is that. I guess I’d rather be cold than see some creepy, naked streaker ghost, unless of course, he’s hot. Then I’d want to see him.”

“And here we go again, down the deep, dark, sexual well we call your mind.”

“Okay, okay.” She laughed. “I’ll stop. What else did she say?”

“She also told me that spirits carry a scent with them, maybe a perfume they always wore or something their families or people who knew them would associate with them. That won’t be all that helpful to me, but it’s good to know to tell others, as a way to help validate to them.”

“You’re going to validate to people? Does this mean you’re going to be an actual medium, Angela, like that Long Island woman on TV?”

“No. It means I’m already an actual medium, Mel, but it doesn’t mean that I’m going to hang a sign on my door and start burning sage, okay?”

“Ah, bummer.”

“Seriously, Mel, I’m so not interested in doing anything like that. Can you imagine? I’d probably scare the crap out of everyone I know and my kids would be horrified. Well, Emily would be.”

“You’re right, but what happens if you get a message from a ghost? Will you try to help them?”

“We talked about that too, but I really don’t know what I’ll do. I guess it’ll just depend on the situation.” I paused and then added, “And if I have PMS.”

Mel laughed. “What about the streaker dude at Starbucks? Did you talk about him?”

“Yup. She said that’s totally normal. Apparently spirits have senses of humor, and a lot of them come back and do stuff like that because they did those things while living and they miss it or just because they can now and it gives them pleasure. Seems a little odd to me, but who am I to judge them?”

“That’s awesome! I’m so coming back and grabbing hot guys’ butts, especially the young ones. Ooh, I’m going to hang out at the beach all of the time.”

“You are such a cougar.”

“Heck yeah, I am. You need to look at young butts, they’re fantastic. I’ll text you some.”

“Thanks, but I think I’ll pass. Jake’s butt is fine with me.”

“Jake has no butt.”

“He does so.”

“His butt is the size of a baby’s.”

“I like baby butts.”

“You’re a creeper.”

“But you love me.”

“There is that.”

I explained the rest to Mel, then went home and filled Jake in on it all, too. My husband was pretty darn amazing. He sat and listened to everything I said and didn’t once look at his phone. He offered his help, support, advice, anything I needed to make this easier for me. I told him how much I appreciated and loved him, and then we went upstairs and had really great sex.

I didn’t call Mel and fill her in on the details.

L
ater that night, I sat quietly on my deck, thinking through my conversation with Linda. She discussed the importance of quiet time, and suggested I learn to meditate. My mind is a cesspool of OCD-like information and quieting it down is hard, and I was sure meditation would be next to impossible. Linda suggested hypnosis but I could only handle one new age thing at a time. Jake and Josh were distracted with a video game and Emily was still with Taylor.

Emily and Taylor. Pill parties. My mind created images of Emily popping pills from a big bowl and I had to force myself to push them out so I could have quiet time. It didn’t work. The bowl popped back into my mind and then I wondered if Josh had emptied the dishwasher today, which then made me wonder if we needed dishwashing detergent and then I questioned how much laundry detergent we had and if I’d washed Josh’s sheets last week and then I couldn’t remember if I’d picked up Jake’s dry cleaning and if he needed it for his next trip and then I wondered when he was supposed to go on his next trip. Maybe I should consider hypnosis after all. The quiet time thing wasn’t working so I gave up and went back inside.

My mind traveled back to Emily. She’d called and asked if she could sleep over at Taylor’s and while it wasn’t my first choice, I went with yes. I’d like to chain her up to her bed and protect her forever, but that wasn’t right either, so I opted to trust my kid to make the right decisions yet again, and I hoped she would.

Jake and Josh were in the family room watching the Military channel with their mouths in full gape. If the TV showed all snow they’d look the same. It was the standard Panther look for TV viewing.

Ma was standing in the kitchen. “Angela, it’s Emily. You’ve got to go. She’s been trying to get in touch with you.”

I grabbed my phone off the kitchen counter and check my texts.

“Jake, did you hear my phone going off?”

Mouth still gaping, he ignored me.

“Jake?”

Still nothing.

I stood in front of him. “Jake, did you hear me?”

“Yeah."

“Okay. What did I say?”

Blank stare.

“Jake, my phone. I have nine texts from Emily. Did you hear them?”

“Oh, no. Sorry. We’re watching this show about a new military plane. You gotta see this.” He started to rewind the show.

“No, honey.” I read Emily’s messages. “Holy crap. We gotta go. Emily is at the hospital.”

Jake jerked up off of the couch. “What? Is she okay? What hospital? Let’s go.” He ran into the kitchen, grabbed his shoes and put them on without untying the laces.

Josh was worried. “Is Emily okay, Mama?”

I read through the texts. “Yes, she’s fine, buddy.”

I looked at my mother who stood in the corner of the kitchen, out of Josh’s view. I wanted to ask her why she didn’t tell me sooner, but I didn’t want to say anything in front of my son. I figured since Emily’s texts said she was okay, Ma didn’t feel the need to push the issue too much. I didn’t understand that considering we’d agreed she’d keep tabs on my daughter and keep me informed.

Jake came back in the room. “I’ll start the car.” He mouthed to me, “What do you want to do about Josh?”

“Let me call Mel and see if he can stay with her.” I bent down and held Josh’s hand. “Your sister is okay, Josh. She said Taylor is sick, but I’m sure everything is going to be fine, Little Man. Why don’t you go upstairs and pack some stuff up to stay with Mel and we’ll drop you off on our way to get Emily.”

Josh closed his eyes. “You’re right Mama. Emily is okay, but Taylor isn’t. Her parents are going to be very sad, Mama.”

Jake's eyes bulged.

Ma and I shared a look. Josh was special, just like me and I knew eventually I was going to have to deal with it, just not tonight. 

“It’s okay, little man. We’ll talk about it when we get back, okay? Go get your stuff and I’ll call Mel.”

“Sure Mama.” He hugged me and started toward the stairs.

“You make me proud, you know."

“I’m a great son.”

“Yes, you are.”

I called Mel and filled her in briefly. We dropped Josh off on the way and told him if it wasn’t too late, we’d pick him up on the way home. He assured me he’d be staying the night at Mel’s because we were going to stay at the hospital for a long time.

I told Jake Ma was in the car with us and asked her why she didn’t tell me about this.

“I didn’t know it happened until a few minutes ago and got to you as quickly as I could, Ang.”

“I thought you were keeping an eye on her, Ma?”

“I was. I just wasn’t there the whole time. I can’t be there all day long.”

“Okay. I get it.” I explained what Ma said to Jake.

As we approached the hospital I realized I hadn’t even acknowledged Emily’s texts so I called her from the parking lot. She was crying so hard I couldn’t understand her.

“Honey, it’s okay. We’re on our way in now. Try to calm down and we’ll see you in a minute.”

“Okay,” she cried.

###

E
mily, Taylor’s parents and two boys I didn’t recognize sat in the emergency room. Emily rushed up and hugged me, crying harder. I hugged her tight and then motioned to Jake to take over. I walked over to Taylor’s mother Chris and hugged her.

“What happened? I didn’t see Emily’s texts until thirty minutes ago. Is Taylor okay?”

Chris started crying and her husband Steve helped her sit down, then approached Jake and me. “We don’t know what happened exactly. All we know is Emily called from the pool and said that Taylor fell and didn’t get up.”

Emily interrupted. “Yeah, Mom. She was just lying there by the side of the pool and she wouldn’t move.”

Steve continued. “We called 911 and met them at the pool. She’s been unresponsive. They said she wasn’t breathing and they couldn’t get a heartbeat so they had to use the bag to help her breathe after they shocked her heart, then they brought her here but we don’t know what’s going on. We don’t know if she had a stroke or an aneurism or what. They won’t let us back there and no one has come out to tell us anything.”

“Oh my God, Steve. I’m so sorry. When did she get here?”

He looked at his watch. “I don’t know, maybe fifteen minutes ago? I’m going to see what I can find out.” He walked over to the desk.

“Emily, what were you guys doing at the pool?”

I asked her, and then stared directly at the boys, but they wouldn’t look at me.

“Ma, I wasn’t doing anything, I promise. I don’t know what happened. She was fine one minute, and then the next she wasn’t.”

“Okay."I glared at the boys. “Who are you?”

One boy completely ignored me. I decided once I figured out who he was, I’d call his mother and chew her ass out for not teaching her kid proper manners. The other boy spoke.

“Uh, I’m Brennan Steele, Mrs. Panther. I’m like, Taylor’s boyfriend. This was like, an accident. We didn’t know this was like, gonna happen, man, ya know? I’m sorry.”

I looked at Jake and his face was red. Oh boy, that was never a good thing. Red faced Jake meant someone was going to get an ass chewing. I would have felt sorry for the kid but my spidey senses told me he was a big part of the reason Taylor was in the hospital.

“Listen, Brennan, you need to tell us everything so we can tell the doctors. Was this some sort of pill party or something? Did Taylor take any drugs?” I peered at Emily and the nameless boy. He continued to look away but Emily had guilt written all over her face.

“Taylor doesn’t do drugs,” Chris said.

“Chris I’m not saying she does. I just think we need to know what’s going on so we can tell the doctors, and I know these pill parties are popular now so I think the more information we can give the doctors, the better they can help Taylor.”

“But she doesn’t do drugs." She was crying.

Brennan was silent. And No-name continued to act as though he was deaf. Little snot.

“Em, who is he?” I pointed to no-name.

She glanced at him and then back to me but didn’t say anything.

“Emily, who is he? And this time it’s not a question, Emily.”

“That’s Kyle.”

I gave Kyle my psychotic mother look. He cringed. “It was a pill party, wasn’t it?”

He stared at me but didn’t speak. It took all I had to not shake the kid. Jake, however, was less controlled. He walked up to Kyle and got right in his face.

“When an adult is speaking to you, young man, you answer, and you answer with respect.” He was a little too close for Kyle’s comfort, so the boy backed up.

Emily spoke, probably sensing Kyle couldn’t get his voice to work and had probably peed on himself a little. She stumbled over her words. “Um, it wasn’t really a party. Brennan and Kyle just brought over a bag of pills and Taylor took some, but Mom, she was fine for like, an hour after she took them, so it can’t be from the pills.”

Chris cried louder, and Steve came over and hugged his wife. "The doctor is coming out to talk to us.”

“Emily,” I said. “It is absolutely from the pills. Do you know how many she took? What they look like? Are there any left?” I changed my direction and spoke to Brennan and Kyle. “We need what’s left of those pills now.”