by Dorlana Vann
After clearing her throat, she said, “I’ve decided to sell the house, so I’m doing a bit of remodeling. Neal’s helping me.”
“Is that what he’s doing?”
She inhaled, those old feelings she had for Larry starting to bubble, and she tried to keep them down. He was getting married to Haley. She was past this. She was over him. She was into Neal. She took two glasses out of the cabinet and rinsed them out before filling them with tap water. She straightened and walked back into the dining room. Larry followed.
She sat down at the table, and Larry sat in the seat next to her.
“You look great,” he said. “I like what you’ve done with your hair.”
It was just too much. Their eyes did that staring thing. Great. “Thanks. I cut it.”
“I’ve never seen you with short hair before. It suits you. Although, I really loved it long.”
“I know.”
He nodded in acknowledgement. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
She shrugged, hating that she felt so uneasy and a little stupid, then took a drink, forcing her eyes away from his.
He stood up. “I have a confession.”
No-no-no. Her heart immediately started pounding. Don’t do this Larry. Don’t even give me a second of thinking.
“I didn’t only come here for Haley’s things. She said she really didn’t even need them.”
Brenda felt her body begin a little nervous tremble.
“I needed to get away. To think. A lot has been going on.”
The same old Larry. She knew it! His commitment phobia was rising again, and she had to control her mouth; she was not going to smile.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you up there . . . with him. But it’s really good to see you. I’ve missed you.”
I’ve missed you too, she wanted to shout, but no. Hell no! She controlled her words, but all those feelings she’d been dealing with ignited all at once, and she couldn’t control the tears. She turned her head away. She couldn’t let him in. She was finally getting over him.
“I’ve missed being able to talk to you. I miss us.”
She felt the anger rise up from her stomach and couldn’t keep it from bursting out of her mouth as she stood up. “What the hell, Larry? What are you saying to me? You can’t have it both ways! Do you even realize what I’ve gone through these past months? I can’t do this again. I gave you my heart, and you stomped on it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not. You got what you wanted. You got Haley.” Brenda waved her hand at him. “Go! Just go on back to her. Get the hell out!” By this time, her angry tears were falling fast.
“I don’t know if I want to get married!”
Brenda tried to control her body by inhaling and exhaling slowly before she spoke. “Don’t do this.”
“I’m not doing anything except telling you the truth.” Larry started pacing. “I’ve been thinking about it for weeks now. You know, I don’t know if I can do marriage. I thought I could. But all these things with her family and my family and the plans and the venue and the dress and cake and . . . forever.”
“Cold feet, that’s all,” she said through clenched teeth. She hadn’t wanted to say it, but this was ridiculous. This wasn’t happening.
“At first I thought all I needed was a little break. That I needed to get away, and then . . . there you were.” He stood right in front of her now, close enough to touch her. “I hadn’t realized what was missing from my life until I saw you standing there with Neal.”
“I’m seeing him.”
Larry nodded. “I kind of figured that out. Do you love him?”
“It’s new.”
“I see.” He’d said it in a way where he seemed to write it off.
“But it’s serious enough.”
Larry reached over and wiped a tear from Brenda’s cheek. His touch sent familiar tingles up and down her spine. Was he really standing in front of her, saying what she thought he was saying? How many times had she wished for this? “What do you want?” she whispered.
“Like you always said, I always come back to you.”
Chapter 24
Zadora’s door was unlocked, and Neal normally respected her privacy. But today, without giving it much thought, he’d knocked once and then stuck his head in, calling her name. The moment had seemed so urgent, and he stood there half-inside and half-outside, feeling so many different emotions. He wasn’t sure which one was more important, or which one to think about first. He knew that being cautious about Larry had to wait though. He had to get to Zadora and ask her what was going on. He walked on in.
It didn’t look as though she was home, which was strange because she never seemed to go anywhere. She didn’t even have a car. He called her name a couple more times and went from the living room into the kitchen and then back to the living room. The only room left was the bedroom. The door was closed.
He knocked lightly. “Zadora, are you in there? It’s me, Neal.” He put his ear up to the door and didn’t hear anything, but the action made the door creak open. He felt anxious, the thought of finding her dead on the floor even making its way inside his head.
But she wasn’t dead. She stood by her bed and glanced up at him. “Hey, Neal.” Her hair was wet, like she’d freshly showered and forgotten to dry it, the beads of water dripping from her hair down into the hidden areas under her shirt. She was not wearing her glasses. She looked completely different than he had ever seen her. Not the quiet, nerdy librarian and not the glammed-up version of herself either. She seemed normal . . . pretty, not crazy. An open suitcase was on the bed already piled with clothes. She folded something and put it inside the suitcase.
Zadora acted cool, not anything like how Neal would have expected her to react after a man stepped into her bedroom uninvited.
“I need to talk to you,” he said, “and your door was unlocked. Didn’t you hear me calling for you?”
“No.” She nonchalantly took the next piece of clothing off of a hanger and folded it. “I guess I was in my head.”
“What’s going on?” Maybe she’d heard them talking in the hallway about the stuff upstairs. “You don’t have to leave. We can talk about this.”
“It’s too late. I’ve been here too long.”
“No, we can talk it out. Tell me what’s going on. I’m sure you weren’t really meaning to hurt Brenda, were you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“That voodoo stuff upstairs, isn’t that the reason you’re packing?”
She frowned. “Oh you found that stuff, did you? It’s not what it looks like.” She stopped packing for a second. “Well, it sort of is, but I’m not trying to hurt her. I was trying to help. But that doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t? Then why are you leaving?”
“I’m sorry to spring this on you like this, but I’m not who you think I am.”
At that moment, she had a confidence to her that Neal had missed before. It was weird, she was the same . . . but not.
She was saying, “I shouldn’t have gone out in public with you guys. I should have known Brenda would make me so mad that I would lose control.”
“Hmph.” Neal sat on the bed. “So you can control this ghost thing.”
“Yes and no. And I really never said I couldn’t control it. I said I was trying to hide it. You see, I can make it happen, but I can’t stop it from happening, and once it starts, I can’t stop it. Understand?”
“No. Not really. I’m confused about everything.”
“Sorry. I wouldn’t have even brought up the ghost thing when we first met, but I thought you already knew since you’re friends with Haley and Larry and Max.”
“I don’t know Max.”
“Well, I thought you did. Look, it’s not important now. I’m leaving. So now you won’t have to deal with me or my crazy ghost stuff any longer. But I can’t tell you where I’m going, just in case.”
“In case of what? Come on now. I deserve that much. I thought we were friends.”
“We are friends. That’s why I had your back. I didn’t want that bitch to throw you out.”
“Woah,” he said and snapped his full attention to her. “Is Zadora even your real name?” All of a sudden, he felt like a real chump. “Brenda said there was something not right about you.”
“I’m sure she did.””
“So why did you pretend to be, you know?”
She sat down beside him. “Shy and geeky?”
“Yeah.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I thought it would make our living arrangements less confusing. I’m not sure if you know this, but you’re a little attractive.” Zadora glanced at him with this flirty smile that made Neal wonder how the hell she’d hid this side of herself.
She licked her lips. “And another relationship or even just sex would have completely complicated things while I’m trying to figure things out.”
Neal’s head and shoulders did a quick little involuntary jerk. What? Did Zadora just say sex? He felt uncomfortable and awkwardly turned on at the same time.
She was saying, “I needed to get my shit together, you know?”
“I can understand that.”
“But when I was ready to come clean and tell you everything, you told me about you and Brenda. You were already upset, and it just didn’t seem like the right time.”
Neal studied Zadora for a second, absorbing everything she’d said until he remembered why he was in her room in the first place. “So what’s with the voodoo doll?”
“It’s more like a Scrooge doll. You see, I thought Brenda just needed a little guidance through her dreams. I tried just using her hair to summon someone from her past that would help her see reason, but that didn’t seem to work. So when I found her underwear on the floor in the laundry room, I made the doll so I could try again. But I never got a chance to use it. But believe me, I wanted to stick pins in it.”
“And so I’m guessing that was all you at the restaurant?”
“She came over here all me and Neal are not together because I have another dude, which upset me because she was playing with your head again. But I was like, fine, I’ll go to dinner for you. And then she started ‘helping’ me pick out my clothes, and the whole time she’s being a friend/bitch. You know. Saying insults disguised as compliments like, this dress will flatter your, uh, curves. That woman has a way of getting under my skin. I don’t know, I guess the real me couldn’t take it anymore. That’s why I dressed the way I did. I wanted to show her that she wasn’t the only one who could attract a man. And it was stupid. Because even though I looked hot as hell, and Brenda had another guy, you didn’t even notice me.”
“I noticed.”
She nudged him with her shoulder. “Well, you sure didn’t act like it.” She sighed dramatically. “But anyway, at the restaurant, she wouldn’t let it go. I’d had enough and so yes, I was like, forget the suggestive dreams, that woman needs some real help. Dreams are one thing, but it takes a lot to get someone who’s already stepped to the other side to manifest, and so I guess I called every soul from here to Dallas into that restaurant by accident.”
Neal rubbed his hands down his face. If he hadn’t been in that restaurant and witnessed everything firsthand, he would have thought Zadora’s explanations were crazy. “Okay, so I think I understand the how and why. Believe me, Brenda is a handful.”
“Right,” Zadora said. “A handful.”
The way she looked at him—her eyebrow arched, her smirky smile—made him feel a little ashamed of what he was about to say. “We’re back together.”
“Right. Sometimes fate and the soul mate thing can really screw you over.”
He cleared his throat and nodded. “Okay. Time to change the subject.” They smiled at one another. “So then, why are you leaving?”
“Speaking of getting screwed over. I’ve got to get out of here before Oz finds me. He’s a thief and jerk. Old story. I thought he loved me, but as it turned out he was only using me for my abilities.”
“Would that be your ghost abilities?”
She nodded, stood back up, and went to her suitcase. “I would bring them out, everyone would go crazy, like they did in the restaurant that day, and during all the chaos he would take the goods.”
“So he’s who you’ve been running from.”
“And why I didn’t want anyone to know about what I can do. Since I pulled that stunt in the restaurant, it’s only a matter of time before he tracks me down. I’ve stayed here way too long anyway.” She brought up a big sparkly object out of her bag. “He’s a little pissed about this.”
“What is that?”
“This is the Marque diamond.”
Neal felt his jaw drop before he said, “Is that real?”
“Oh yeah. He can have Pamela, and I can have this.”
“Wait a minute. Do you think he’s going to hurt you?” Neal’s face grew hot.
“Oz is a lot of things—handsome, sneaky, hateful—but he’s not violent. That’s why he used me, so he didn’t have to use force. But he wants it back, so anything other than that is fair game. He would break in here and steal it, or set me up to take the fall for another robbery, or worse, try to woo me again . . . and then I would hand it over, and I don’t want to do that. I can’t keep a straight head around that man.”
“You can’t keep running forever.”
“I can until I get a buyer, and once this beauty is gone, Oz will cry, but there will be nothing else he can do. And by that time, I think he would have learned his lesson, and I’ll send him half the money as an ending.” She put it back into the suitcase.
“What if he shows up here, asking questions about you?”
“Tell him the truth. I left.” She locked eyes with Neal. “Don’t worry. You look so worried. It’s only a game. I know Oz. Even if he doesn’t love me, he won’t hurt me. But I already have a buyer set up, so . . .”
“Wow. I don’t know you at all.”
She walked over to him. Her hair was still damp and her green eyes sparkled. She put her hands on his face. “I’m going to miss you and your food. When I come back to town, I expect to come to your restaurant.”
“You’d better. But no ghosts, okay?”
She winked. “No promises.”
“I wish you would’ve told me all this before. I would have liked to hang out with the real you.”
“Me too.” She leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips, and then said, “Goodbye, Neal. Thanks for being such a great friend.”
Chapter 25
“Well?” Brenda asked Neal as soon as he entered her apartment.
Neal figured there was no reason to tell her that Zadora had made the voodoo doll to help her. Brenda wouldn’t believe it anyway. For now, the simple solution would do. “She’s moving out today.”
“Good.”
“Where’s Larry?”
“He left.”
Neal bit back a smile and a sigh of relief. “Good.”
“I need to tell you something.”
Great. He’d noticed her moving from one foot to the other, wringing her hands, and not making eye contact. And she was being too cool about Zadora. “Okay, so tell me.”
“Can we sit down?”
“If I need to.”
They walked into the dining room, and Neal sat at the table. Brenda scooted one of the chairs closer and held his hands.
He didn’t like how this felt. Something was off, the way her eyes kind of
studied him yet her lips smiled sweetly . . . condescendingly. He’d never seen her smile sweetly. He swallowed his fear, not wanting to jump to conclusions.
“Me and Larry are getting back together,” she blurted.
The statement hit Neal in the face like a swift punch, stunning him for a moment. No, this had to be her idea of a funny joke. “You had me going there for a second,” he said flatly, watching her facial expression for any signs of ‘gotcha!’
But she didn’t flinch.
“Very fucking funny. Don’t do that.”
“I’m not joking. We had a long talk, and he regrets what he did to me and told me he wants me back.”
Neal yanked his hands from her grasp. “He’s getting married to Haley. He’s in love with Haley. Remember? You must have misunderstood. You’re delusional if you think he’s going to leave her for you. What is wrong with you? One look at the guy and you go completely insane! Get over it, Brenda. He picked Haley. Fuck!”
“Why is it so hard for you to believe that Larry would pick me over Haley?”
“Because he never has before!”
“That was before. Now he’s changed his mind.”
“I thought you and I had something. I thought we were going to give us a try. And you forget me the second you see Larry?”
She tried to get his hands back, but he crossed his arms.
“I feel awful,” Brenda whined. “I really do. But really, this . . . us . . . we would have never worked out. I’ll be going back to my real life soon.”
“What do you mean? Are you saying that you never intended for us to go beyond these walls?”
“No.” Her gaze dropped to the floor. “I mean really, Neal, you don’t even own a suit that fits you. This was all an illusion. None of it was real.”
