AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He let out a subtle laugh. “I guess I’ll have to accept that answer for now. So… it’s a date then. Tonight? I’ll get here at… say… seven?”
“Seven it is.”
The word date rolled around in my mind. Before I had the chance to ask him what exactly he meant by that, because he certainly couldn’t have meant date the conventional way, Jamie had already disappeared.
As I sat back up, I let what’d just happened sink in.
Tonight, I had a date with a dead man.
And no other sentence probably could’ve sounded any weirder.
Chapter Forty
The Date
“He said date, Jemma,” I reminded myself as I finished pulling the yellow dress over my head. Part of me worried that wearing a dress would be going overboard. After all, I usually didn’t wear anything even remotely fancy. Pretty much, if I wasn’t in my sweatpants, I had on a pair of jeans and a large, oversized sweater.
Having the dress ondidremind me of one thing.
At least Dave hadn’t gotten my clothing, too.
I smirked at that thought.
The fabric fit my form, slightly loose around the hip and bust areas, with short sleeves that draped off each shoulder. I twirled once, gazing at myself in the bathroom mirror. As an afterthought, I pulled off the scrunchie holding my hair together, and my pony tail fell, mousy-brown strands hanging around my face. Beneath the lights—one of them still burnt out—I tried to smile. A broken woman gazed back at me.
How pathetic was it that, at thirty-two, a date with a spirit was the most eventful thing I’d done in years?
“You live a sad, sad life,” I said to the woman in the mirror. The one with the puffy cheeks and distant eyes. It had been a long time since I’d recognized myself through the reflection.
On the counter, my phone buzzed, lighting up with the calendar event I’d created—simply Jamie’s name. A calendar event I created in case I’d gotten caught up in my writing, too distracted to realize the time. Of course, this hadn’t been the case at all. If anything, Jamie had more of my attention than the novel I so desperately needed to complete. Even though I’d managed to reach a total of around 10,000 words this afternoon.
After all, how could I be so dedicated to a book when my agent was asking me to forego my vision?
Figuring Jamie would be waiting for me downstairs, and that he’d expect me to be prompt, I made my way out of the room and toward the steps. Clasping my fingers around the banister, I slipped downward.
I hadn’t bothered to turn on any lights, though it was getting to be that twilight hour, and I darkness surrounded me predominantly. Nearing the kitchen, a faint glow seeped out into the hallway. My forehead crinkled. I stepped a little more slowly.
“Jamie?” I asked, reaching the doorway leading into the kitchen area.
I turned the corner, and my eyes widened. In the middle of the space, an illumination of a white table cloth lay on the floor, flickering like it were a hologram being projected. On the surface of the cloth, there was an entire set of equally “projected” objects—one metallic red candelabra reflecting the light of the three lit candles.
Projected rose petals had been spread all over the cloth in little clumps.
I leaned down, resting against the faux table cloth. My bare legs felt the cool coming from the wooden floor. I swept a hand through the objects. My fingers crossed through the candelabra, and a red color covered my knuckles. The energy from the light of the objects tickled my skin, and I pulled back.
“What is all this?” I asked, voice barely more than a whisper.
A swoosh of energy entered the room, landing behind me. Jamie’s arms materialized around mine, warming my flesh with the tingling vibration I’d grown accustomed to. His arms were bare, and his fingers linked around mine. I shut my eyes, relaxing into the soothing feeling his presence provided.Like the waves rocking against the shore…
“Do you like the candles?” Jamie whispered. “I wasn’t sure if it was too much... I…”
“Of course, I like them. This… this is some set-up, Jamie. I guess I just don’t understand how you’re going to actually eat here with me. How you’d be able to cook for me.”
“Okay so, I’ll show you when we get back,” he said. “First… let’s do something else.”
“What the hell do you mean by that?”
“Let me take you somewhere,” he murmured in my ear. We stood, and he brought me around to face him. This time, he’d slicked back his hair and wore a short-sleeved dress shirt with black pants.
