I leaned closer and whispered, “Sex stuff, I’ll tell you later.”
He groaned. “It’s at times like these where I hate that I can’t hear him.”
We continued to eat and laugh, the conversations flowing. It was the best goodbye and ‘see you later’ I could’ve asked for, and when we went our separate ways, I looked behind me and saw the loving look they shared as they walked side by side back to the train station. Erikwas in good hands with his Marcus, and I’d managed to complete my first ever case and the one I would cherish above all others forever.
“Ready to head back and pack?” Dylan asked with a teasing tone.
“What is it with you and my packing?” He always got incredibly turned on watching it. But who was I to kink shame.
He just shrugged and laced our fingers together. It seemed the rest of our evening would be used for packing and then some fun in bed.
“It’s so cute!” I gushed as we approached our rented cabin for the week. There was a ten-minute walk to the resort where we could use their spa and restaurants if we wished. They also had a small store for those of us who wanted to cook for ourselves. The cabins werecheaper than if we stayed at the resort, but I couldn’t fathom coming here and choosing a hotel room over a cabin with the snow-covered trees surrounding it. All the cabins were placed in a crooked line, with lots of space in between. The green trees behind were nothing but endless forest. There were skiing hills close by as well, if we felt like trying that, though I highly doubted it. Dylan’s stitches were healing up nicely, but he was far from healed enough for us to go skiing. I was mostly sad about missing out on the spa, but Dylan had promised we could return next year if we liked it here. I already did, and we hadn’t even unlocked our cabin yet.
“I can’t wait to get into the heat,” Dylan grumbled as he fumbled with the key. I just grinned widely behind him, eager to relax and have some hot cocoa with my boyfriend.
“Ta-da!” he announced, stepping aside to gesture me in first even with the cold bothering him so much.
I’d managed two steps before locking eyes with an elderly man, his greying hair and frail body told me he’d likely died in his seventies. He wore a striped pajamas and gave me an odd look.
“Can you… see me?” he asked, his tone raspy.
“I can,” I replied, giving him a polite smile. I heard Dylan groan behind me. There went that vacation, unless we could ask for another cabin.
“Oh,” the ghost said, eyeing me. “I’ve never met a person who could see me before.”
“I’m a medium,” I replied patiently. “My job is to help ghosts pass on to the afterlife or help them in other ways.” My words seemed to frighten the ghost and he moved further away from me. I ignored his weird reaction and instead introduced myself. “My name is Mike, and this is my boyfriend, Dylan. What’s your name?”
“Jørgen,” he whispered, still looking frightened.
“Nice to meet you, Jørgen.” I was one hundred percent butchering his name, but I hoped the way we communicated fixed it. “We’re staying here for a week and would appreciate if you stayed out of the bedroom and bathroom to offer us some privacy.”
He blinked. “Oh, yes, of course! I wouldn’t look! I—”
I hurried to stop his protests, “Thank you, that means a lot to us.”
Jørgen just nodded and slowly sat down on a chair that faced a window overlooking the forest to the right.
“Everything okay?” Dylan asked behind me.
I turned and whispered, “Old ghost, seems harmless and a tad confused.”
He sighed. “We can’t get another cabin, they’re fully booked. We would need to get a hotel room instead.”
“Noo!” I whined. “I want a cabin.”
“Then we’ll just have to share with the ghost.”
I gave my understanding boyfriend a soft smile and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “Want me to ignore him while we’re here?” I felt awful even suggesting it. Others would’ve ignored him, too. Jørgen was the one who’d decided to remain here, alone, in this small cabin. And I was now starting to get really curious as to why.
“Come,” Dylan, grabbed my hand and dragged me into the small bedroom that was basically just a big bed with a little bit of floor space. The bed was pushed against two walls, making it cozier. I wouldn’t mind sleeping against the wall, especially not since the wall was padded. I would feel so safe and protected sleeping there.
We worked side by side, slowly unpacking our things and placing them in the small closet.
“I want hot cocoa before dinner,” I said, thinking about what our first meal here should be. We would need to do some shopping before bed, but it was still early evening so we had time to get warmed up before venturing outside again.
Back in the living room slash kitchen, I found Jørgen sitting on the same chair, staring outside the window. Because he was ignoring us, I let myself take in the small cabin. There was a bookshelf next to a huge window, and just under the window stood a comfy couch, in front of the couch, tucked into the corner, was the wood stove, already lit and warming up the space. There was a small wall mounted TV and we’d already been told it had several apps installed so we could stream on it.
The kitchen was small and all dark wood with black counter tops. There was a small platter with chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us. Some were covered with white chocolate dipped in coconut flakes, some in milk chocolate with sprinkles, and some dark chocolate with white chocolate swirls on top.
