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She was. Opal could have the apartment. Kayla would move out. Get her own place, eventually maybe even move in with Rafe.
She’d still come up and see Aaron every day.
She’d still work at the bar, though she’d have to figure a way to keep Rafe mostly away from it.
But this could work. She wanted it to work.
Opal blew a breath out her nose and crossed her arms, before turning to Rafe. “You asked about our parents, Rafe. You didn’t know they were dead?”
Rafe’s gaze softened and settled on Kayla, but her heart was starting to race. “Opal, don’t.”
Her sister started walking out of the room, raising her voice as she went on. “We were in a car wreck about ten years ago. Our parents died on impact, and Kayla went through the windshield.”
“Jesus, Kayla,” he whispered, reaching out to touch her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
Her heart sputtered. She didn’t want to hear this. Didn’t want to think about it. She looked around, sensing a change in the air.
He was there. Aaron, snapshot still, one shoulder propped against the mantle, his eyes locked with hers through their reflection in the mirror. The air started to thin, the edges of the room going dark as the now fell away and suddenly she was back in that cold, dark, empty tunnel. Alone and lost. Terrified. And then Aaron was there, her big brother. The giant oaf she’d been so mad at mere moments before had found her, and she’d never been so grateful for anyone or anything in all of her life.
Taking her hand, he’d pulled her into his side and walked her away from the light. “We can’t leave Opal.” He’d told her. “Come on. I’ve got you.”
She’d looked around, not understanding what she was seeing. What she wasn’t seeing. And when she looked over her shoulder at that beckoning warm glow, he’d pulled her in closer. “Not yet, Kayla.”
He’d taken her back to herself, and when she blinked, a paramedic was standing over her holding paddles above her chest. Pain slammed through every cell of her being. Her head had rolled to one side, and she’d seen Aaron standing over a stretcher, motionless. He looked at her, and his voice came from within her head, rather than from his body. “Don’t worry. I’ll stay with you.”
Opal’s voice brought her back to the present, a sense of vertigo making her reach out for the dresser.
“They resuscitated Kayla at the accident site, but—”
Rafe’s eyes went wide and he looked over her like he was searching for signs of injury. “Kayla, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry about your parents, but thank God you three survived.”
Kayla searched the corners of the room through the reflection. No Aaron. What was he doing?
“We have to go,” she whispered, her panic on the rise.
“No.” Opal shook her head. “I didn’t finish.”
“Opal, stop.” This time it was Kayla’s turn to interrupt. “Enough.” This wasn’t how she wanted Rafe to find out about the insanity that was her life.
* * * * *
There was something going on, Rafe didn’t understand. Kayla was pulling him down the hall, her hand trembling so hard it shook his. She was freaking out, and he had the feeling whatever it was had to do with whatever didn’t happen last night. They should have talked more, only he’d been so relieved when the fight left her and she turned to him—he’d figured there would be time to sort everything out later.
Now though, nothing seemed right.
“Kayla, honey, wait. I’m serious. You don’t need to worry about your brother so much. I’m thirty years old, and he’s barely more than a kid. We’ll work it out.”
“You don’t understand.” She halted in her steps, looking into one of the several mirrors hung around the apartment walls. Something about the way her stare searched the reflection, never bothering to stop on herself set him on edge.
She bit into her bottom lip and let go of his hand. “Aaron’s dead.”
“Whoa.” He stalled. That wasn’t what he’d expected her to say. “What are you talking about?” His heart beat faster, and he wondered what Opal had done. His gut knotted, and his mind raced with ugly possibilities. Despite the girl’s assurances he hadn’t met Aaron, he was pretty sure he had. He’d seen him the day before. What could have happened between then and now?
He swallowed hard. “Did something happen to him? Did he…do something that made you have to fight back?”
“No, nothing like that.” Kayla vigorously shook her head. “Aaron is my older brother. But…okay, this is the part you aren’t going to believe. He and I are connected because we both died that night in the car accident. Only, he didn’t survive…the way I did. They brought me back, and he returned as a ghost who—”
Rafe stared at her, waiting for her to break into a smile or say something to justify why she thought now was the time to joke about such a bleak topic. But she didn’t clarify herself, and she didn’t grin. Instead, she simply took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
