Chapter 5

• Emma was mad as hell when she wiped the tears from her cheeks. Kicking the blankets off, she sat on the edge of the bed. Even in her sleep Allen was getting to her. It wasn’t fair that he could creep into her dreams and irk her with his lying, conniving way.
• Emma paced around the small space; she was too upset for tea and calming thoughts. This constantly reliving what she had seen when she’d walked in on Allen and Cindy was too much, she couldn’t do it anymore. It was three o’clock in the morning and it was taking all she had not to drop to the floor crying and screaming. It didn’t get much more pathetic than this, she thought to herself.
• Opening the fridge, she eyed up the bottle of wine. What the hell, if it gave her an hour of peace and then she passed out—that was just fine with her!
• Trying to focus on the clock, she almost did a face plant. Chuckling, she shook her head. Silly clock is just playing with me. It can’t be four in the morning. It was only three a few seconds ago. Rolling her eyes she lifted the glass to her mouth, only to find out it was empty again. Small glass, she thought with another laugh as she topped it off. Getting up, she grabbed her glass and the bottle and wobbled towards the door. Emma hadn’t felt this lighthearted in a long time; actually she wasn’t sure she ever had.
• After two tries she managed to get out the door and onto the small deck. It was beautiful out here. Looking up, she steadied herself from tipping and studied the night sky. The stars were actually twinkling—didn’t see something like that in the city—ever. Looking every way she could without feeling dizzy she decided they weren’t kidding when they said millions of stars, there were and she could see them all.
• Without over thinking it, as if she could at this point, she stepped off the stairs and headed straight for the dock. The stars would probably look even better from there. As she stepped onto it, she swayed with the movement of it. Three more steps and she gave up and sat in the middle of it. Leaning back, she dropped right over onto her back and looked up at the sky. “They’re so bright.”
• Lifting her head, she ignored the dizzy feeling and tried to take a sip from her glass. Realizing she wouldn’t be able to, she pushed herself back upright and sat there until the dock stopped spinning. As she sipped the wine, she watched the same man walk towards her that she’d seen the morning before. “Well, if it isn’t my invisible man.” Refilling the glass, she studied him. “I know why you’re here and I fully admit I’m only seeing you because my heart is crushed because of a man.”
• The fact that her out of date imaginary man sat right down beside her wasn’t lost on her. Clearly he couldn’t be dismissed any more than she could wish Allen away, typical man she supposed. Looking back out over the lake she started to babble about all the reasons he was here and how she didn’t need him as any sort of reminder that she had been an idiot and too blind to see the truth of what her relationship had been. Allen had only needed her to further his bank account, she was damn good—no, the best rep out there and he knew it enough to hook her by thinking they would live happily ever after. That didn’t even exist in fairy tales now, so what had made her think it did in real life? In her life?
• ~
• Bryce sat there, still a little taken back that she could again see him. Not just see him but she was rattling on and on about her life. She was completely sloshed, but he wasn’t one to judge, from the sounds of things she needed a good out for a while. He hadn’t been that much different than her—well other than her man had been cheating and recording the acts, which just left him with no comment to make that wasn’t going to sound wrong, so he made none.
• “Listen.” She leaned close enough that for a moment he thought he may be able to touch her, but that wasn’t something he was ready to try just yet. “I’m over it, okay? You can just move along and be someone else’s imaginary friend.” She chuckled softly when she stumbled over the words.
• Impatience filled him; he just had to know if she could hear him. “And if I told you I wasn’t imaginary?” To his ears his own voice sounded odd, having not heard it in a long time. He’d given up talking to himself years before.
• The woman sat there and looked at him, an odd look on her face. “Great. So you talk too? That’s just what I need.” She took a sip of the wine, right from the bottle this time. “So, what are you then a ghost?”
• In all the years he had been wandering, he had considered that but at no point did he remember dying. “No, not exactly.”
• “Then what are you? And why are you dressed like that?”
• Bryce looked down at his clothes and realized explaining the details was going to be a little complicated, especially to someone as inebriated as she was. “This is what I was wearing when it happened. What date is it?”
• “What happened?” She leaned back on one hand and wobbled slightly. “The date? It’s I dunno, Wednesday—no must be Thursday by now.” She closed her eyes. “Uh, it’s September twenty-third, I think.”
• “And the year?”
• She giggled. “I’m the drunk one and you don’t know what year it is?” Looking at him, she squinted. “You’re serious?” He nodded. “It’s 2011, silly.”
• The number hit him harder than he had expected. 2011, could that be right? Thirty-eight years had passed.
• “What year is it in your time?” She snorted.
• “1973,” his voice was shaky.
• “What? Really?” Sitting up straight quickly, she righted herself when she almost tipped over. “How can you think its 1973?”
• “I don’t think its 1973—I know it’s not. That’s when this happened to me. Believe me I know many years have gone by. I just didn’t think it had been that many.”
• “So. . .” She tipped the bottle back and took another drink. After swallowing she continued. “You’re not haunting me?”
• “Not yet.” He mumbled. “You are the first person in thirty-eight years to even see me.”
• “Wow, lucky me.” She giggled.
• As dazed as he felt right now, he couldn’t help smile each time she laughed. It was that infectious. “Indeed, lucky you. What’s your name?” He couldn’t keep thinking of her as the woman.
• “Oh. I’m Emma Gallin.” She held out her hand.
• Looking at her hand, he hesitated. Would he be able to touch her? If he could then he’d have to think he was dreaming. “Bryce.” Slowly he reached for her hand, not even sure if he wanted to know. When his fingers brushed hers, he sucked in a breath and held it as he grasped her hand gently. What was going on? Could it be over? He was afraid to let his mind even think that.
• Before he could say anything else, she pulled her hand from his. He had to stop from reaching out and grabbing it again. “I think, Emma, we have a puzzle to figure out.”
• “I’m good at puzzles.”
• Noting the way her words were slurring, he sat down beside her. If he couldn’t hold her hand, he could at least sit near her and feel the warmth coming from her body. Just feeling, actually feeling anything after such a long time was good enough for now. “Yes I caught a bit of that when you were discussing how well you did your job.”
• “Hey—if you’re from 1973 how come you don’t talk all weird with man and peace and all that?”
• He laughed. “A throw back to my upbringing I’m sure or maybe I’ve had more than thirty years to get over it.”
• “Yeah. That’s gotta suck, Bryce, just sort of being but not this long.” She turned and he was taken aback by how pretty she was. How had he thought her average?
• “You have no idea.”
• “It’s true what I said, you know. I am?”
• Blinking he wondered what she was talking about. “Are what?”
• “The best PR rep on the planet.”
• He smiled at the way she said it, like a proud child. “And what does the best PR rep on the planet do exactly?”
• “Uh!” Emma glanced at him and then shook her head. “I take all the secrets and mistakes in the celebrities’ lives and spin them into something the public will love.”
• “Sounds like lying.”
• Even offended she had this pretty quality about her. “It is not. It’s brilliant is what it is.”
• “Says the spider spinning the web,” he replied drily.
• When she threw her head back and laughed, she leaned right back until she was sprawled on the dock. “That’s funny. You get quirky, I like that.”
• Bryce wasn’t even sure what quirky was or what she meant but considering how wasted she was, he was content with knowing she could see, hear and feel him he supposed conversation could wait. “I’m glad you find me entertaining, but what I’d really like to . . .” He paused when she started humming. Looking down at her lolling across the dock he realized logical conversation wasn’t going to happen tonight. “I think, Emma I should help you back to the cabin.” She made no sign letting him know she was even listening. “We can’t have you passing out on the dock.”
• Emma continued to hum as he stood up and pulled her to her feet. He wanted to hug her and just hold her against him, feel her body in his arms, but as she was the only person he had spoken to in all these years he didn’t want to do anything to offend her and screw up his one chance of being here. That was a lesson well learned.
• Getting her up the lawn was like a wandering dance, she wasn’t at all focused on getting to the cabin as she hummed a tune that really had no tune to it, just noises being mumbled would be the best way to describe it.
• Once he got her to the door, he paused not wanting to go inside. When she pushed away and went through the door, he stood and watched as she navigated the furniture and headed to the bedroom. When he heard the sound of a body hitting the mattress, he stepped back outside and closed the door.
• For several minutes he stood on the deck looking out over the lake. How was any of this happening? Grasping the railing, he leaned down and took a deep breath—realizing he was feeling the air go into his body. Was this it? Did he get to just walk away after all these years of wondering what had happened?
• So why wasn’t he running as fast as he could in the opposite direction of the lake? Maybe all the years had made him more careful and that’s why he stood there. Whatever the reason, he really didn’t know but his plans were to see what happened after dawn and then take it from there. No more jumping in without thinking, this was the only thing he knew for sure.