Haunted Ever After (22 page)

My mouth gaped open and a surprised sound escaped. ‘Oh my God. Yes, I do,’ I said, and he exhaled in relief. ‘You’ve seen her again, haven’t you? The woman in the purple polka dot pyjamas?’

‘Huh? What? Who?’ he spoke in short sharp bursts, consistent with his highly confused and agitated state.

I turned to make sure no one was eavesdropping then moved closer to him. ‘It’s okay, I’ve seen her too. I was just as shocked as you are now.’

‘You don’t seem shocked.’

‘That’s because I’ve been hanging out with the ghost all weekend. I’m kinda used to her now.’ I smiled.

‘Whoa, this is…’ he ran his hands through his short, dark strands of hair. ‘Is this for real? Did someone put something in our drinks last night, or maybe that hot chocolate was a bit dodgy, I don’t know.’

‘Ty, it’s real. Her name’s Nancy and she’s, well, she’s not like us.’ I gestured to our bodies. ‘Only we can see her.’

‘That’s because you two are the most receptive.’

We both snapped our heads to the direction of the voice that had suddenly appeared beside us.

‘Argh!’ Ty flinched and stumbled backwards a little, regaining his balance and taking hold of the column attached to the porch. I’d never seen him so freaked out; all his confidence and certainty was gone. ‘How is this possible? What’s going on?’ Confused mumblings kept launching from his mouth.

‘I think it’s because you’re both in the caring professions or something, I’m not sure. Or that you’ve both had a big impact on your lives by death. Makes you more receptive to other energies, like mine.’

‘What? I haven’t lost anyone.’ I said.

‘I mean your patients,’ she explained. ‘You’ve been around death a lot. And Ty, I’m sorry about your parents.’

He eyed us both and mumbled an awkward, ‘thanks.’

I spoke to Ty. ‘Nancy was the one who told me where to find Greg last night. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t have found out the truth.’

‘So, you were, like, sent here to help Sally or something?’ Ty asked.

‘Something like that,’ she replied. ‘But also because I…’

‘She needs our help,’ I said.

‘Right. And I take it this has something to do with Wattle Falls? She wouldn’t leave me alone until I drove here to offer you a lift. Kept freaking me out and badgering me with flying objects.’ He slid a slightly annoyed glance in Nancy’s direction.

I held back a chuckle, I could imagine her doing that. She’d freaked me out too at first, but now things had changed I could look at the situation more objectively. Ty was still in the processing stage, trying to decide if he was hallucinating or really seeing the spirit of someone who had died.

‘Sorry about that,’ she said. ‘I had to get you here today, before Sally goes home tomorrow.’

Ty and I exchanged a knowing glance. Today, that’s all we had. Not much time to make sense of what had happened last night or decide where to go from here. Though I knew there was no way I could start anything with him with all that had happened. Like he’d said, I was on the rebound, very
freshly
on the rebound, and last night was a mistake. Enjoyable and extremely pleasant, but a mistake nonetheless. I dropped my gaze when it strayed to his lips and I remembered what they’d felt like.

‘Wattle Falls is where I lived. Where my husband still lives.’ Nancy dropped her gaze too.

I explained everything to Ty. I kept it fairly brief so as to not upset Nancy with the memory, but gave him enough detail so that he knew how important it was to set things right. Not that he was obligated to meet Nancy’s husband with me, but a lift and some moral support would be welcome.

Ty looked at Nancy with less fear and confusion in his eyes and more sympathy. His posture straightened a little and his fidgeting had stopped. ‘I’ll help. We’ll both help you.’ His eyes garnered my agreement.

Nancy smiled. ‘Thank you, so much.’

Ty smiled too. ‘All in a day’s work.’ He glanced at me and I grinned. His job description was becoming more varied by the minute. ‘Nice PJ’s by the way,’ he said to Nancy.

A warm feeling grew inside me.
Now that’s the Ty I’ve come to know!

* * *

After telling the girls Ty was taking me for a leisurely country drive (and winking at them so they assumed we wanted to be alone to discuss last night), we left for Wattle Falls. Nancy said if she disappeared occasionally it was only because she was nervous. But she promised she’d be there when we met her husband.

‘Thanks for doing this,’ I said to Ty. ‘I’m guessing it’s not every day a woman asks you to drive her to a widower’s house to tell him his dead wife has a message for him.’

‘Doesn’t happen that often, no,’ he replied. Every now and again he’d shake his head in disbelief and say, ‘I can’t believe it. I can’t believe this is happening.’

I was relieved someone else knew about her. I didn’t feel so weird anymore.

‘So she was here this whole weekend? Even when I was at the house?’ Ty asked.

‘Yep. All the time.’

‘During my strip?’

I chuckled. ‘
Especially
during your strip. If only you could have seen her then. Her dancing was nowhere near as good as yours though.’

Ty clicked his fingers. ‘That’s why you laughed. I’m right, yes?’

‘Yes. She was mocking your movements and I was having trouble keeping my composure. That’s why I said out loud that I wanted it to stop.’

‘You said ‘red’, what was that about?’

‘That’s what I called her up until this afternoon, when she finally revealed her name.’

Ty tipped his head back in understanding. ‘Red. Good nickname,’ he said. ‘The candles on the dinner table that night, was that her?’

‘Correct.’

‘And what about the Winter Solstice Festival, was she there too?’

I cringed at the memory. ‘My little performance? Courtesy of Her Royal Ghostness. She was tugging me sideways and I had to keep resisting, to stay with my friends. Before I knew it I’d camouflaged the awkward situation with linedancing. Got into the spirit of it and thought, “what the heck?”’

‘Ha! I knew there was something more going on with you. And the gemstone down your top?’

‘Red’s fault.’

Ty laughed. ‘Sounds like she’s been the life of the party.’

‘Ironic, hey? Oh, and you can also blame her for the bruise on your foot. I was trying to dislodge her from my shopping trolley.’

‘Aha, so that’s why you were going so fast around the corner.’ He slowed as a car ahead stopped to turn off the road, then resumed normal speed. ‘And let me guess, she’s the reason you got stuck in the pub toilets?’

‘Oh God. I’m so embarrassed about that.’ I shook my head. ‘She made the lock break, and well, I made my own trouble from then on.’

Ty laughed again. ‘What a sight that was, seeing you stuck under that door. Barron Springs has never been so entertaining.’

‘Gee, thanks. I’ll probably go down in history as the “toilet woman” or something.’

‘Nah, to me you’ll always be Sexy Sally.’ He smiled, and our midnight rendezvous jumped to the front of my mind again. It must have jumped to Ty’s too, because he didn’t say anything further for the next few minutes.

‘Ty,’, ‘Sally,’ we both spoke at the same time.

‘Sorry, you go,’ he said.

‘I was going to say…last night, it was…well, I don’t ever do things like that. I’m not normally like that. I don’t want you to think…’

‘I don’t think anything bad about you. I was concerned for you, and I let my attraction to you take over. I’m sorry.’

The idea that a hot-as-fire stripper thought of me as attractive was as difficult to believe as the idea of seeing ghosts. I never thought someone like him would be drawn to a Plain Jane like me.

‘Don’t be sorry. I’m extremely flattered.’ I could feel my face becoming pink as we spoke. ‘And it was…amazing, last night. But you were right. It all happened too fast, and we should probably just leave it in the past.’

He clamped his lips together and nodded.

‘Wait, you two did the hokey-pokey last night? How did I not know this?’ Nancy suddenly piped up, sitting in the back seat and leaning forward between us in the front.

‘Oh, hello again,’ I said. ‘And no, we didn’t do the “hokey-pokey” as you call it, not that it’s any of your business, you nosey thing.’ I shot her a teasing look.

‘Oh, so you like, just kissed or something?’

‘Gee, you are a nosey thing, aren’t you?’ Ty said.

‘Well there’s a slight shortage of gossip on my side of the world and I could do with a fix,’ she explained. ‘So was it good? Is he better than Greg, Sally?’

‘Nancy!’ I exclaimed. ‘I think that’s enough of this topic. Discussion over.’ I glared at her in embarrassment, but when Ty’s focus turned back to the road I eyed her and gave surreptitious thumbs-up sign. She bounced up and down in satisfaction.

‘I think you two would make a great couple,’ she added. ‘Ty and Sally. Sally and Ty. Tysally. Has a nice ring to it.’ She tapped her chin.

‘Enough,’ I said, though I knew she was just trying to distract from the upcoming task. The distraction was temporary, though, and she gulped as we slowed and turned into Bentley Street, Wattle Falls, then pulled up outside number 15.

The cute, white, weatherboard house screamed ‘family home’, a place to raise kids and live a happy-ever-after. But this homely facade concealed a deep grief within and a secret that would have remained hidden had Nancy Silverton not haunted me.

‘Here goes,’ I said, drawing a deep breath and walking to the front door, flowers and chocolates in my hands, and Ty by my side. Before knocking, I turned around. Nancy hung back, her ghostly body seeming tense and unsure. ‘C’mon,’ I encouraged. ‘It’ll be okay.’

She came to my side and breathed deeply too, though how ghosts could breathe I had no idea. Maybe it was a residual habit from living almost thirty years in the human body.

‘It hurts,’ she said. ‘I can feel his pain. The emptiness, the guilt, the sadness. I’m not sure I can handle it.’

‘You can. Just think how much better it will be when he knows the truth. I mean, not
better
, but he’ll have closure. He’ll be able to move on.’

‘You’re right. I know. Okay, let’s do this.’

Ty knocked on the door with a firm rap of his knuckles, and despite my nervousness I noticed how masculine and strong his hands looked. Somehow they gave me a feeling of strength, an assurance that I could handle this. That
we
could handle this.

Ty was about to knock again when footsteps sounded inside. The door opened inwards and the doorway framed a tall man with a slim build, light brown hair, and a pallor that I’d seen many times in my career. The pallor of grief. Of loss. Even if I didn’t know who he was, I would have deduced that he’d been through something traumatic or lost someone close to him.

I offered a kind smile.

‘Can I help you?’ he asked, and the sound of a baby’s mumblings could be heard within the house. Nancy made a sound, a cross between a gasp and a cry. Her daughter was inside, and she wouldn’t be able to hold her.

‘Hi, Chris?’ I said. ‘My name’s Sally, I knew your wife, Nancy.’

‘Oh,’ he said.

‘I wanted to offer my condolences, and give you these.’ I handed him the flowers and the chocolates.

‘Chocolate macadamia nuts,’ he said, eyeing the box Nancy had picked out when we stopped at the service station for petrol and gifts.

‘She told me they’re your favourite.’

Chris’s gaze connected with mine, and this seemed to comfort him a little.

‘She did? Yes, they are. Thank you, that’s very kind.’

‘If you like I can come in and put the flowers in water for you?’ I peered beyond him, hoping I wasn’t being too forward.

‘How did you know Nancy, exactly?’ he asked, obviously unsure whether to invite a stranger into his house.

Oh gosh, we hadn’t thought this through properly. I didn’t even think! We should have come prepared with a list of possible questions and answers, like a FAQ list. If Lorena was here she would have thought of it.

I glanced surreptitiously at Nancy, whose hand was over her mouth at the emotional impact of seeing her husband again. She quickly composed herself, and said, ‘Tell him you were my nurse a few years back, when I broke my arm.’

‘I was her nurse, a few years back when she broke her arm. We got along well and kept in contact ever since.’

‘Oh. Right. I don’t remember her ever mentioning a Sally. Then again, we only knew each other for about two years. Marriage and a baby happened so fast. There’s probably a lot I never got to find out about my wife.’ He lowered his head and appeared to go deep into thought, then snapped his head up. ‘Sorry, yes, I’d be grateful if you could put these in some water.’ He stepped back to allow us to enter, and Ty put his hand out for a handshake.

‘I’m Tyler, a friend — ’

‘Say boyfriend! No, say fiancé,’ Nancy directed.

‘I’m, ah, Sally’s fiancé.’ He cleared his throat and I scratched my head. Maybe Nancy wanted us to look as together and normal as possible.

Chris shook Ty’s hand. ‘Hi.’

We stepped into the house, and Chris ducked his head into another room, obviously to check on his daughter who sounded like she wanted company, then returned to us and led us to the kitchen. He lifted a vase from a high shelf and handed it to me. ‘You can bring them into the living room through there,’ he pointed, ‘I better check Ruby.’

I turned on the tap and filled the vase with water, and Ty took the paper from the flowers and placed the colourful display into the vase. I raised my eyebrows at him as if to say ‘so far so good’. Ty carried them into the living room and placed them on the dining table at the end of the room, next to the bay window that had a picturesque view of the street outside.

‘Thanks,’ Chris said, picking up Ruby from her walker. ‘Have you met Ruby?’

I stepped closer and smiled at the chubby baby with a light layer of red curls on her head. ‘No, I haven’t. Hello little one,’ I said in the usual accent reserved for speaking to human beings under the age of three. I took Ruby’s small hand and gave it a wiggle. She gripped my finger and giggled. ‘She’s gorgeous,’ I said to Chris. ‘And has her mother’s hair.’ I regretted saying that last bit, as Chris’ expression became sadder.