Love In The Wrong Dimension (Romantic Ghost Story) (33 page)

“
Oh my god,” Jemma was stunned. “And you didn’t remember any of this?”

“
No. Max said I must have been so traumatised by what happened that I lost my memory. It was him who helped me remember.”

“
I can’t believe it’s the same Max we’re talking about here,” said Jemma, still stunned by Claire’s story. “He’s such a mean, nasty creature to us, and yet you clearly have a strong bond with him.”

“
Like I said before, we’ve been helping each other.”

“
We came to talk about the plans for tomorrow, but I don’t suppose you’re in the mood right now?” said Jemma, hoping that it might delay Tom’s departure.

“
Actually, I could do with the distraction. I’d be happy to help. In fact I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. Can I tell you what I think is best?”

“
Yes please,” said Jemma and Tom at the same time.

Claire closed her eyes, as if mentally filing her own problems away for now. “Well, first, I don’t think you should tell Susie anything. As soon as you’ve gone back, Tom, she will disappear and will never know anything about it. There’s always a risk that she’ll talk about it around Max, so it’s best to keep quiet. Now, Jemma you should stay at home with Susie tomorrow to keep an eye on her, you’ll only know for sure that it’s worked when she disappears. And besides, Tom will need to focus on the wormhole, and he might be distracted if you’re there.” Claire stood up and started pacing in front of the bench. “Now, Tom. I’ll help you locate the wormhole, and you must then use all your powers of thought to direct that wormhole to the time and place you need to get to. I think its best that you go back to the point where you leave your car with the keys in. If there are no keys, the thief won’t be able to drive it and Susie won’t get killed. The trouble is, if the wormhole collapses before you have a chance to remove the keys, you won’t remember anything and everything will happen again. So it’s vital that you keep your mind focused on holding onto the wormhole and removing those keys as quickly as possible.”

Claire paused for a moment, but continued pacing around. “Now, Jemma. You should try and stay with Susie so you actually see her disappear. Then you must come and find me here as quickly as possible, because we need to get you away before Max finds out that Tom’s gone. You need to think about what you’re going to do to stop the accident from happening again.”

Jemma had already though of this. “I have to make sure that I don’t get my ciggies out, because it was on my way out for a quick smoke that I slipped. I thought that maybe I can distract myself before the wormhole collapses so that I forget about the ciggies.”

“
How?” asked Claire. “What will you do to cause that distraction? Remember you will only have a fraction of a second.”

“
The girl sitting next to me, Kirsten I think, had just bought a large glass of coke. I thought I’d knock the glass over so it spills everywhere. That’s quick and it should distract me enough to forget about the ciggies, as I’ll be too busy helping Kirsten clean the mess up.

“
Alright. As long as you’re both absolutely sure about what you need to do, then I suppose that’s it. Come early, Tom, before Susie starts to wander off. I’ll see you in the morning. Good night.”

Tom and Jemma had their orders, and knew they’d been dismissed. But Jemma felt bad about leaving Claire on her own after her gruesome discovery. “Claire?” she asked, gently. “Would you like me to stay with you tonight? You know, to keep you company if you get too upset about Robert?”

“
No thank you, dear. I’ve got a lot to think about and I need to work through it by myself. You go and enjoy your last night together.”

Tom and Jemma reluctantly left Claire alone and made their way to the beach in Norfolk. “I can’t believe what that Robert did to Claire,” said Jemma, angrily, as they walked along the sandy beach, the sound of the waves lapping gently in the dark. “And what about Max? Who would have thought he would have won Claire’s trust like that?” They walked along the beach for about a mile or so and back again, talking about Claire, Max, Susie, Alice; everything except what lay ahead the next day. Eventually they found their favourite sand dune and sat down, ready to spend their last night in the privacy of their beautiful sanctuary.

The next morning was crisp, bright and sunny. Tom and Jemma had spent the night talking, kissing, talking some more and making love. They had savoured their time together and were both dreading the moment they would have to part forever. Just as Tom was working himself up to saying his final goodbye, Sandy came bounding along the beach, out on his early morning walk with his owners, who had now got used to their dog acting so strangely by the same sand dune nearly every day. He was a welcome distraction from the inevitable, but, eventually, his owners dragged him away, and Jemma reluctantly turned to Tom to say her goodbyes.

They stood facing each other, suddenly feeling awkward and unsure of what to say. “Goodbye, my beautiful ghost,” whispered Tom, his voice threatening to betray his distress.

“
I’m going to miss you so much,” cried Jemma, and threw her arms around him. “I love you.” She was clinging to him, desperate to hold on to him for as long as possible, but eventually he pulled away, kissed her and said his final goodbye. “Go to Susie now and remember, as soon as she disappears, go straight to Claire. I’ll always be with you, my love. Good bye.” And without another word, he vanished out of her life forever.

She was alone and, for a while, she just stood still, trying to hold on to the feeling of Tom’s last kiss. She was devastated, and suddenly she knew that she could never have stayed here without him, the pain would have been unbearable. Brushing away her tears, Jemma remembered that she had a job to, and returned to the house to find Susie, who was watching Jack’s small television in the kitchen, as Alice and Jack were busily getting ready to go to Oscar and Dean’s. “Hi,” she mumbled to Susie, who barely acknowledged her. She felt numb. She couldn’t quite believe that she would never see Tom again, and another wave of despair washed over her. More tears welled in her eyes and she quickly turned away from Susie so she wouldn’t see, the last thing she needed now was Susie demanding to know why she was crying.

“
How was Christmas Day at your parents’ house?” she asked, putting on a bright voice, a little too bright it seemed, as Susie swung around to look at her.

“
Okay. What’s with you?”

“
Nothing.” What else could she say?

“
Where’s Tom?”

“
I don’t know. Maybe he’s at his dad’s grave.”

“
Uh huh.” She had lost Susie’s interest again. Jemma glared resentfully at the young girl and thought, ‘you have no idea what I’ve just given up for you’. But Susie remained silent and Jemma sat down on one of the chairs to wait for her to vanish.

“
What?” asked Susie, looking up from the television again.

“
Huh? Oh, nothing.” Shit, how come Susie was so bloody intuitive? She didn’t think she was looking or acting any differently than normal.

“
Jemma! You’re sitting in the kitchen and staring silently into space. You don’t do silent, Jemma, so tell me what’s up. Have you and Tom been arguing again?”

“
Something like that.”

That got Susie’s attention. “Okay, tell Aunty Susie what’s wrong! What’s he done?”

“
It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t concern you.” Yes it does, actually, but I can’t tell you.

“
Well, now that you’re here and I’ve got you to myself, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.” Susie’s voice was serious again.

“
Oh?”

“
You know you said that you would try and talk to Tom about him leaving so I can go home? Well, I was thinking yesterday, while I was at my mum’s, that I really want to go back now. I know of a way, I’ve been talking to a few people I know, and they said it’s not as hard as we thought. All you need to do is find a wormhole...”

“
There are big risks using wormholes, it’s not as simple as it sounds.”

“
I know that, but I’m prepared to take that risk. I just want to go home, Jemma. Please.”

“
Susie, can we please talk about this another time? I’m feeling really shitty right now...”

“
It’s always about you, isn’t it? Now that you and Tom are an item, you don’t give a shit about me. You promised you would talk to him, Jemma. You promised!” Susie was shouting now as hot, angry tears ran down her face.

“
Susie...”

“
Go away, Jemma. You’re not my friend at all, are you?” Susie jumped up from the chair as her pent up emotions reached boiling point.

“
Susie, please. I do care about you, and so does Tom.”

“
Oh yeah,” said Susie, scornfully, “you really care don’t you? That’s why Tom’s never here anymore and you won’t talk to me.” Susie was pacing the room now and Jemma was following her, but Susie had had enough and stormed through the wall to get away from Jemma. Jemma quickly followed, determined that their last words wouldn’t be ones of such anger. She felt so frustrated, Susie couldn’t be more wrong. If only she could make Susie realise that she hadn’t let her down, that she had kept her promise.

“
Susie!” she shouted. “If we don’t care about you, then why is Tom about to go back through a wormhole any minute now?” She was so upset now, that she didn’t care any longer if Susie found out. She was about to go anyway, so what did it matter? Susie stopped in her tracks and turned back to Jemma with an astonished look on her face, but as she did so, she vanished in front of her. It had worked, Tom had been successful and Jemma was left alone in the living room.

But she wasn’t alone. She had forgotten, when she had rushed after Susie, that Max was also in the living room
, and she was suddenly filled with a chilling dread as she turned around and found Max glaring at her, with an expression that told her that he had heard every word of what she had just said.

Alice and Jack had decided to walk to Glitz. It was Boxing Day and a fine dusting of snow had settled over London. This was Alice’s favourite kind of weather, crisply cold with a cloudless blue sky and bright sunshine reflecting on the fresh white snow. She’d rather have a day like this
, any day, than a hot, stuffy heatwave. Taking in a lungful of the crisp fresh air, she smiled happily to herself. Her and Jack had had the most wonderful Christmas together. Maggie had stayed for lunch yesterday, which Jack had cooked. He’d gone to so much trouble making sure everything was perfect, and it was. There had been everything you could imagine on that table, which had been decorated beautifully with holly, red berries and candles.

After dinner Maggie had said her goodbyes, after arranging to meet them at Glitz for the Boxing Day party, and she and Jack had fallen asleep on the sofa, with full stomachs and happy smiles on their faces. When they woke a couple of hours later, they had made love, and afterwards they opened their presents. Jack had gone mad, buying more presents for her than she had for him, which had made her feel a bit guilty, but very touched at the trouble he had gone to for her. She had bought him a watch, a book on the paranormal and some expensive fragrance, but he had bought her at least twice as many presents, including the most beautiful amethyst and crystal necklace. He had proudly told her that amethyst was her birthstone for February, and that he had had the necklace specially made for her. She loved it and had put it on straight away.

When it grew dark, they lit the candles in the living room and snuggled up again on the sofa, with a bottle of Baileys, and watched ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ on TV. Casper was purring softly on Jack’s lap, his belly full of turkey, and the three of them felt warm, happy and content as they had drifted off to sleep.

“
What time did you tell Maggie to get here?” asked Alice, as they approached the entrance to the restaurant.

“
I told her to come at eleven o’clock.”

“
But that’s nearly an hour ago, they’re not expecting us until twelve.”

“
Exactly. I’ve known Maggie for long enough to know that if I tell her to be here for eleven, then she’ll be here for twelve.”

“
Oh, right,” laughed Alice, and pushed open the door. “Oh, wow, doesn’t it look amazing?” she exclaimed, as they entered. Oscar and Dean had moved all the tables to one end of the restaurant, and had put up a huge dining table in the middle. It was laid for about twelve people with a large selection of plates, cutlery and glasses at each place setting. The table, which looked stunning, had been decorated with natural green pine, gold stars and little red hearts, all wound around thick, tall silver candlesticks. It all looked a bit like something out of one of those posh lifestyle magazines, thought Alice.