“What did he say? And why can you see and hear him but I can only see him?”
I repeated what he had asked. Thinking about her second question, I looked down at my hand. The Power Ring. Was that allowing Sam to see, or kind of see, what I could? I pulled my hand back and took the ring off.
“Here, try this on and see what happens.”
To her credit, she only hesitated a moment before sliding it on. It was big on her slender finger. She looked back toward Rand, then back at me, shaking her head. “Nothing. Can you still see him?”
I started to frown, barely catching myself. It was another habit I was trying to break. No frowning, no wrinkles, right? “Yes, he’s still right where he was a moment ago.” So it wasn’t the ring. Was it me?
Sam slid the ring back off and set it on the small table between us. She reached out and took my hand in hers again. “I can kind of see something there, but not like before. What if you put the ring back on?”
As soon as the ring was back on, Sam’s hand back in mine, she could see him again. My mind was spinning by now so I could imagine what was going through her head. At least I’d had some time to adjust by now.
I leaned back, gently taking my hand back from hers.
“You’ve been living with this, all by yourself now, for weeks, Roxie?”
I just nodded. After everything that had happened today, I was almost at the end of my emotional limit.
“What were you thinking? How could you not tell me any of this? How could you not tell me I have ghosts living in my house, Roxanne?” She was using my formal name again, which meant she was genuinely upset.
“Think about it, Sam. I didn’t have any way to prove any of it. Just fifteen minutes ago, you were ready to call Leo and find out where the nearest five-star institution was,” I said quietly. By her guilty expression, I knew it was true. “I tried to figure out a way almost every day to tell you, I really did. And Elmer is gone now, so you really only have a ghost dog and Rand, if you say he can stay.”
She was speechless, I think. I sat back and closed my eyes, letting her work through all of it in her head.
“I–” she started. Clearing her throat, she tried again. “I need to think about it. This is a lot to take in. That a whole other world exists all around us that we don’t even know about. Ghosts, ghost dogs, crossing over, magick jewelry? It all sounds . . .”
“Crazy?” I sighed out, suddenly exhausted. “Yeah, it does.”
Opening my eyes, I looked over at Rand. He had looked worried before, but now he looked even more so, if that was possible.
Sam must have noticed how tired I was. I knew she saw me look over at Rand, even though she couldn’t see him any more.
“What if . . . ” she began thoughtfully, “what if we give it a trial run. No pun intended.” Ah, lawyer jokes. This was a good thing. “How about we give it a couple of weeks and see how we all–adapt, I guess, and go from there?”
“Only if you’re sure. If it makes you uncomfortable, I’ll start looking around for a house.” Too bad Sam couldn’t see the relief on Rand’s face.
She shrugged a shoulder. “I’ve had ghosts for this long, apparently. What difference will a little longer make? If I’d known, I probably would have been charging them rent.” She laughed wryly. “Besides, I already told you, I like having you here.”
We both chuckled at that. Which reminded me . . .
“Have you ever been up in your attic?”
“No, I never really needed the space for anything, I guess. Why?”
“Elmer’s family left a lot of things behind after he passed. He doesn’t know why they didn’t want any of it. He said it’s yours now, technically. I, uh, I snooped through some of it on my own after Elmer showed me it was there. Some of the things are valuable, I think. There’s depression glass, pyrex, books, oh, and Elmer wanted you to have the handmade quilt in his memory chest.”
“That was . . . thoughtful of him.” Toby, who had been patiently sitting at her side through all of this, nudged her hand to pet him again. She obliged, without even looking at him. “Maybe we’ll take a day over the weekend and go through it. I don’t have any need for the glassware but I would like to take a look at the books.”
“Oh, I didn’t make anything for dinner with, you know, everything going on. Sorry.” I hadn’t even thought about dinner. I didn’t think I would be up to eating tonight anyway. “If you don’t mind, I think I need to turn in early tonight. It’s been a really long day.”
“No problem, Rox. I’m still trying to absorb all of this. There’s enough in the fridge, I can just put something easy together. Go to bed and we’ll figure this out tomorrow.” She paused. “What about your birthday this weekend?”
She’d told me last week that she wanted to have a party for me. It was going to be a combined divorce/birthday party. Was I up for that?
“Let me think about it. Maybe we can just do something on a smaller scale. You’re sure you’re good on your own for dinner?”
She nodded, already lost in thought, still petting Toby whose eyes were half closed, he was so relaxed. I noticed he was leaning against her leg and her slacks were already covered in dog hair. Yeah, that might be a problem. Annie, Sam’s housekeeper and friend to us both, was going to have something to say about that I was sure. If only that were the least of my worries.
“I’m heading up to bed, then. Come on, Toby.” He stood up as I did, grumbling a little.
“I’m okay with him, if you want. He’ll need to go back out again, anyway, right?”
Surprised, I agreed. Huh. Looks like Sam had taken quite a liking to Toby. “Sure. I’ll leave the door open and he can come in when you go to bed. I picked up a dog bed for him earlier when I got everything else.”
“What about your ghost friend?” she asked, looking around the room. “Where does he sleep? Wait, does he sleep? Hold it. He’s not sleeping with you, is he?”
“He goes off into what he calls a gray space. He’ll just disappear until, well, I don’t know how this is going to work, actually. I don’t think he sleeps like we do, though. And I’m not dignifying that last question with an answer!”
“I don’t. But I do rest, I guess you could say, while I recover my energy,” Rand said. “And thank you for that. I think.”
Sam considered this, then in a whisper, asked, “He won’t spy on us or anything, right? In the bedroom or the shower or anything?”
“She knows I can hear her, doesn’t she?” Rand smirked, looking slightly affronted. “And I would never do that. I was raised better than that. Besides, if I so much as thought about it, I’m sure Elmer would find a way to come back and tan my hide.”
Sheesh. “No, he would never do that,” I reassured her. “Sam, I really need to go to bed or I’m going to pass out right here.”
“Fine. Go. I’ll bring Toby up when I go to bed. Goodnight.”
With a wave, I headed up the stairs. As I glanced back at Rand, I saw him look at Toby and then blink out. This day had been a wild one and my emotions had completely sapped me. I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Chapter 2
When I woke the next morning, Toby was still snoring away on the bed I had bought him. Sitting up, I realized I hadn’t even heard Sam come up to her room last night. Heck, I hadn’t even gotten up during the night for potty breaks, as my bladder was urgently reminding me now. Yesterday had taken more out of me than I realized, if I’d slept that heavily.
Practically crossing my legs as I fast-walked to the bathroom, I almost moaned with relief when I got there. I was going to be forty-one this Saturday and my bladder liked to remind me I was getting older daily. As I washed my hands and face, I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were still a little puffy from crying. I wasn’t normally much of a cryer - mostly just when I was angry, but I had cried pretty hard when Elmer crossed. He was where he wanted to be now, I knew, but I still missed him. I slathered on moisturizer and something to help take s
ome of the puffiness away from around my eyes. Ignoring the big streak of grey in my hair–I still needed to get that taken care of–I pulled my hair back into its usual pony and headed downstairs, Toby practically glued to my side.
By the time I’d fed Toby and let him out to do his business, Rand still hadn’t made an appearance. Weird. Sam came in from her morning run just as the coffee I had put on finished brewing.
“Hey, Sam? Instead of doing a birthday party, how would you feel about me making up a few pizzas and inviting Annie and Tess over as a thank you for all the help they gave me getting ready to move, since they won’t let me pay them or anything?” I asked.
“Don’t you want us to take you out for your birthday, like we usually do, Rox? I mean, if you’d rather stay in, we can do that instead. When did you have in mind?” I noticed her glancing around the room, trying not to be obvious. It took me a moment to realize she was looking for Rand.
“Well, I suppose that would depend on your social calendar with Dr. Hottie now, wouldn’t it?” I teased. Sam was still seeing the doctor I’d had during my stay at the hospital, courtesy of Steven’s fist.
“Psh. As of right now, there are no plans written in stone. Pick your own punishment, girlfriend. I’d rather have your pizza than a man, anyway!”
“How about this Friday night? Seven o’clock? Why don’t you invite Leo?”
“I’ll let the girls know. I’ll talk to Leo and see if he’s free. Where’s your . . . friend? Is he here?” she asked, trying to sound casual.
“No clue. I haven’t seen him at all this morning. He might have overdone it yesterday.” I shrugged, not worried yet. “Elmer was the same way. Sometimes it would be a couple days before he would show up.”
“Mmm. Okay, then.” She visibly relaxed as she started for the stairs. “I’ve got to get ready for work. It’s so weird seeing you this early in the morning.”
Laughing at that, I pointed at the sliding glass door, just as Toby came up onto the deck. “I’ve got responsibilities now.”
***
Friday arrived like a blur. Jake had finally reappeared two days ago. He and Toby played like fiends in the yard and at the park. Whenever Jake was present, the two dogs were inseparable. Jake disappeared most afternoons just before Sam got home, which made me wonder if that was a habit from before. Thinking that, I missed Elmer again. I kept reminding myself he was exactly where he wanted to be now and that made it easier.
Rand had only made a couple of brief appearances, mostly for Toby’s sake, I think. Once, he’d popped in just as I was heading out to take Toby to the dog park. When I asked him if everything was all right, he assured me he had just needed more time to recover than he’d thought. The next time he showed up, I was out on the deck, studying a few of Elmer’s journals, Toby content at my feet. He had tried to read over my shoulder at first, but said the writing didn’t make much sense to him. After a few minutes of this, he sat in one of the deck chairs and kept me company while I continued to look through the journals, trying to find anything that might be useful to my situation.
That had answered one of my questions, though. The last time I’d called Grandmam and Rosemary back, they could read the journals without the help of the Decoder Ring I had to wear to read them. I had been wondering exactly how close a ghost’s ability to See was to mine. Some of the things Elmer and Rand had described about their encounters with Others differed from each other's experiences. And, thinking back to my encounter with the witch when I had been pulled into a journal entry, what I saw didn’t jive with either of their descriptions, either. Something about all of that didn’t sit right in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why.
Most of my afternoon was spent preparing pizzas. Cheating with the salad, I had driven down to VG’s in Fenton and picked up one of their family size caesar salads. The pizza sauce had already simmered for hours, the dough had been kneaded, allowed to rise, kneaded again, and was now rolled and pushed out onto the pans. The toppings were all organized and just needed to be layered on. Three large pizzas plus the salad should be enough for the five of us–Sam had invited Leo after all. Looking around, I finally felt in control of everything for the moment. No ghosts, no magick stuff–just the comfort of losing myself to the familiarity of this.
Everyone would be arriving in about an hour, so I started layering the toppings on. One Hawaian style, one heavy on the meats, and one Mexican. Popping two of them in the oven, I got to work on cleaning up the mess. By the time Sam walked in the door, I was just putting the last pizza in the oven and setting the table.
“That smells unbelievable, Roxie. I’ve been thinking about this all day. Tess and Annie should be here soon so I’m going to run up and change, real quick.”
Over the last few days, Sam had relaxed quite a bit, once she realized Rand wasn’t hovering around everywhere we were, all of the time. Now that I thought about it, maybe that’s precisely why he hadn’t been around so much—he knew I wouldn’t deliberately lie to her if I didn’t have to. Her trial agreement had made him nervous enough that he was probably going out of his way to make sure she felt more at ease. Shaking my head, I realized how much sense that made now.
I went upstairs to change my own flour covered clothes and freshen up before everyone got here. Toby followed me but stopped at the door when I told him to stay. He gave me what had become his usual growly grumble and settled down on the threshold when I shut the door. As foolish as it seemed, I just couldn’t bring myself to change clothes in front of him. Heck, I had rarely changed clothes in front of Steven, especially after he started sniping about my weight.
Sighing at that unpleasant memory, I examined myself in the full length mirror. At forty-one, well, tomorrow, anyway, I didn’t think I looked bad. The twenty pounds I had lost while my jaw had been wired shut were still gone. The walks to the park and the daily half a dozen trips up and down Sam’s stairs had started toning my muscles a little. My clothes draped nicely on my figure now and the slight belly I had before was nearly gone–I actually had a waistline again. Seeing some of my hair pulling loose from my hair tie, I pulled the tie out and ran my fingers through to give my hair a little volume. Except for the gray stripe from my head injury and a few stray grays creeping in at my temples, my auburn hair was thick, with lots of natural wave. Sam thought the odd patch made me look like a badass. Now that I had gotten sort of used to it, I thought maybe she was right. I moved my part a bit so that the grey framed each side of my face. I could live with it, I decided.
Sam’s door across the hall opened and I heard her talking to Toby. I hurried over to the door, opened it and told Toby he was ‘free’, so he would head downstairs with Sam.
“I can’t believe how well trained he is,” she marveled for about the tenth time since I had brought him home. “That woman who left you at the park was an idiot, wasn’t she, you good boy?” Toby cocked his head to one side at her baby talk, his tail wagging hard enough to thump the wall.
Oh my god, I needed to record this some time. “I’m just going to touch up my makeup really quick and I’ll be down. The last pizza should be ready in seven or eight minutes, if you don’t mind taking it out if I’m not down by then.”
“No problem. Come on Tobes, let's go get you a treat.”
“He’s not a baby, Sam, he’s a dog. And lay off the treats already, he’s starting to beg for them every time I go near that cupboard,” I yelled after her. She had gone out on her lunch and bought about five different kinds of treats and biscuits for him, the day after I’d brought him home.
My makeup wasn’t that bad, so it didn’t need too much touch up. Powder, mascara, a little blush and lip gloss, and I was back in the kitchen just as the oven beeped. I pulled it out and set it in the warmer with the other two. Yes, Sam’s kitchen would have made any professional chef drool.
Tess was the first to arrive, hugging me as she walked in, with Leo only minutes behind her. We went through the ‘friend’ routine
with Toby, Sam showing him off as if she had trained him herself. While she kept them entertained, I pulled the pizzas out and set them on the huge farmhouse table, along with the salad. By that time, Annie was just walking in.
“Sorry I’m late, guys, but my mom got stuck in traffic,” she apologized, coming straight into the kitchen, and giving me a hug. Her shirt today read ‘I do this thing called whatever I want’. “Cammie was so excited her grandma was coming over to stay with her, she practically shoved me out the door. But I’m free for the whole night, so there better be wine.” Annie was a single mother of a special needs child and her mother was the only one she trusted with her daughter for any extended length of time.
“It’s okay, I’m only just finishing up here. They’re all in the other room, mooning over the dog.”
“Sam got a dog? When did that happen?” Annie’s surprise was almost comical. She had known Sam just as long as I had.
“Long story, but he’s not hers. He’s, well, he’s mine.” It still felt weird saying that. In my mind, Toby still belonged to Rand. He was just my responsibility. “I’ll explain over dinner.”
Her eyes lit up as she looked at the pizzas laid out on the table. “Is that a Mexican pizza? With jalapeños? You’d better tell them to get their butts in here so we can eat!”
“How about you tell them that? Let me introduce you to Toby, first, though.” I called for him and he came right to me, sitting almost close enough to be touching my leg and looking up at me expectantly. “Toby, friend.” I touched Annie’s arm as I said this. He woofed and looked at Annie, tail wagging.
“Um, wow. I was expecting, I don’t know, like, a little dog. Maybe one of those fancy kinds that like to be carried around in a purse or something, not a dog that looks like he would take my arm off if you told him to!”
“Toby ‘free.’ Go meet Annie.” I watched as Annie stiffened at the big dog’s approach. He sat at her feet and put his large paw on her foot, the same way he had when he first met Sam. I would have to ask Rand about that.
Seeing Witchy Things Page 2
