Forty-Four Box Set, Books 1-10 (44) (104 page)

“I’ll keep a lookout,” he said. “How about you? Anymore visions or feelings?”

“No, nothing. It’s all quiet. I’m wondering if he’s just hanging around his brother now. It would make sense. It’s what he said. I think it’s Dr. Mortimer who is the one in danger.”

Jesse nodded.

“But remember, Craigers, that whatever happens, it’s not like before. Even if he is able to show up as a ghost, he doesn’t have the same power in your world like he used to when he was alive.”

It was comforting to hear Jesse say that, but I wasn’t completely sure if he knew what he was talking about. There had been a pretty powerful ghost in my past, one that had been extremely strong in this world.

“What about Clyde Tidwell?” I asked.

“Clyde was different,” Jesse said, tensing up a little. “He wasn’t just a ghost. He was something else, some sort of dark entity that had been growing its power for a long time. That’s not what Nathaniel is.”

I glanced over and noticed the scar on Jesse’s forearm, a reminder of how he had saved me. Jesse pulled down his sleeve and covered it when he saw that I was staring.

“I just want you to remember that even if the bad doctor has found his way back as a ghost, he has a huge disadvantage now.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s dead. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t do much here. Take me, for example. It took me forever to move and touch things in this world again. And I’m pretty gifted, you know. For whatever reason, I seem to be an exception. Most earthbound spirits can’t do what I do. But when I do those things, like play basketball with you, it takes maximum effort and I have to hibernate for a while afterwards and charge up again.”

“Ah, so that’s where you run off to,” I said. “You’re busy taking naps.”

He laughed and put his arm around my shoulder.

“Damn right, I am. It’s not so easy to move around in a world you don’t belong in.”

“That’s good to know,” I said.

“And keep doing that little ceremony you do each night. I like it.”

“Oh, great. You see that, too?”

“
Lo, there
, are you kidding?” he said. “I wouldn’t miss it for anything. It helps me fall asleep with a smile on my face. By the time you’re on the third go around, I’m out like a light.”

I jabbed him in the side with my elbow.

“Ow,” he said. “Okay, but I mean it. It’s all good if it makes you feel safer.”

“It does make me feel better. And by the way, if you’re going to be creeping around my house at night you might as well stop in and say hello.”

“I’m not in your house, Craigers. I just hear you.”

I reached up and gave him a kiss on his pale cheek.

“Now tell me some news about my dad,” he said.

“Well, he sounded good on the phone when I talked to him earlier,” I said. “I’m going out to see him soon. You should come along.”

“I’ll try,” Jesse said. “But if I don’t make it, tell him I am out there sometimes. I’m watching the progress on that rebuilt bike of his. Oh, and tell him I said to dial back on the beer a little. Moderation in all things, or something like that.”

“Will do,” I said.

“Well, Craigers, looks like it’s getting to be that time.”

I sighed. Time always went by too fast when we were together.

We turned around and walked in silence for a little while, back toward the parking lot. A brutal wind blew into me as darkness descended, the night coming on strong. I said goodbye to Jesse, my heart wobbly as he walked away.

He faded into the trees.

CHAPTER 6

It had been crowded all morning and a long line had formed, making its way to the back and butting up against the emergency exit. Lyle was the only one at the register and I was alone at the machines. Mike was in the back on the phone, ordering beans from one of the Central America co-ops he did business with.

“Abby?” a customer said as I handed him his drink.

I smiled politely, but instead of taking his Americano and moving on, he stayed near the bar staring at me. I kept working.

“It’s really you!” he said in a loud voice, cutting through the whirl of the milk frothing.

I glanced over at him again as I put a spoonful of whipped cream on a hot chocolate. Just because he knew my name didn’t really mean anything. Lyle had been calling it out all morning in the rush and sometimes customers knew you even if you didn’t remember them. He didn’t look familiar, but I nodded anyway, trying to be friendly, and went on to the next order.

This had been happening a lot lately and, as usual, all roads pointed back to David and his big mouth. I had caught him again recently telling a customer that he worked with a
ghost whisperer
and since then I had more and more people coming up to me and asking if I was the barista who talked to spirits. Just yesterday a couple of kids invited me to go with them to an old abandoned house over on Delaware.

So I was pretty sure that the skinny stranger with the probing eyes and large grin must have been looking for help with a ghost.

“Sorry for staring,” he said. “I just can’t get over it.”

He moved up against the wall, sipping his coffee as I finished making some cappuccinos. I gave them to three women wearing yoga gear under their parkas, and one of them dropped a dollar into the tip jar. When I looked back over at the man, our eyes met briefly.

“Nothing, huh?” he said, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “I know it’s been a long time, but take a good look. It’ll come to you.”

He smiled and I suddenly realized that I did know him from somewhere. He was about my age, with medium-length hair that I guessed must have been light brown.

“I’m gonna go have a seat back there,” he said a moment later, pointing to an empty table. “And try not to take this personally.”

I tried to think where I knew him from as Mike emerged from the back, pulling an apron over his head.

“It’s a zoo in here,” he said, lifting his eyebrows at the line. “Let me take over at the register, and you both tend bar. Let’s whittle this line down to something more manageable.”

We worked furiously for the next 15 minutes until the line disappeared and a calm settled over the café. It was time for my break, and time to figure out who this guy was and send him on his way. He was texting on his phone as I walked up, but put it down as soon as he saw me.

“Did we go to high school together?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “It’s probably the weight that’s throwing you. When you knew me, I was slightly pudgier.”

Suddenly I saw that moon-faced, funny 10-year-old kid that Jesse and I used to hang out with in elementary school. We were all in the fourth and fifth grade together. It was one of the best times of my life.

I smiled.

“Derek,” I said slowly. “Derek Callahan.”

CHAPTER 7

I shook my head.

“Now I’m the one who can’t believe it,” I said. “Sorry it took me so long, Derek. But it’s great to see you!”

“No worries,” he said. “I’ll take it as a compliment. Plus I’m the one who should apologize. I should have just re-introduced myself. It has been a long time. But I’m telling you, Abby, I would have known you anywhere. You look exactly the same.”

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to look like a fourth grader, but he seemed to mean it in a nice way.

“So do you have a few minutes to catch up?” he asked.

“I do. It’s my break.”

I pulled out a chair and sat down across from him. Mike changed the music and a young Tony Bennett began streaming through the café. Outside, a group of teenagers in beanies and snow gear huddled around the new fire pit that we had installed during the holidays.

It was hard not to stare at him. It was the strangest thing now that I knew who he was. I could see the child’s face in the 22-year-old man. It was the same face now that I studied it, only thinner and older. He even had the same Kirk Douglas indentation in his chin, the same Cheshire cat smile.

“Groovy,” Derek whispered as he glanced over at Lyle. “That’s some wild hair on that dude up at the bar. It’s good to know the seventies are alive and well in Oregon. I love it here.”

“So what’s your story?” I said. “Have you moved back?”

He shook his head.

“No, I’m still in L.A., working for my dad. He bought a vacation house here and sent me up to get it ready for summer.”

I thought back to his father for a moment. As a kid I remembered that he scared me. He seemed like he was always angry. He never smiled the few times I saw him picking up Derek after school. I couldn’t imagine living or working for someone like that, but maybe he had changed.

“What do you do?” I asked.

“Basically, whatever needs doing. He’s got an agency in Hollywood. He hired me after I graduated from UCLA last year. It’s not as glamorous as it sounds, but it’s a start. Pays the bills. It’s not a bad gig for now.”

UCLA. Funny, I thought. Jesse had dreamed of going to UCLA and singlehandedly reviving the once proud basketball program there.

He looked outside.

“I forgot about the weather here,” he said. “When I left home yesterday, it was 84 degrees with a hundred percent chance of smog showers all week.”

I smiled.

“Actually, winter came late this year,” I said. “The mountain didn’t open till late December. But oh, man, this month it’s been crazy, snowing all the time and really cold.”

“It’s nice,” Derek said. “I haven’t seen snow in a long time.”

I noticed that a large dog was sitting on the other side of the glass, staring in at the café like he was waiting for his owner. He sat there patiently in the snow, panting. I hadn’t ever seen a dog quite like it before.

“Hey, remember that report you did on Mt. Bachelor?” Derek said. “You made Jesse and me sit and listen to your speech like a dozen times in a row before you gave it to the class. I remember that I was going insane.”

“No way was it a dozen,” I said. “It was like once,
maybe
twice.”

“No, it was at least 10 times. Look, I can still recite your opening. ‘
Mt. Bachelor is a stratovolcano that sits atop a shield volcano in the Cascade Range in central Oregon. It was originally named Bachelor Butte. The ski area has been operating since 1958. It is 9,068 feet high.’”

I laughed.

“Well, okay, maybe it was a few more times than I recall.”

“So, do you still get up there to ski?” he said. “I remember you and Jesse loved…”

I nodded slowly as an awkward silence fell around us.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t—”

“No. It’s fine. We can talk about it.”

He dropped his eyes to the floor.

“It was awful about the accident,” he said finally. “Really, really awful.”

“It was,” I said.

“You got my flowers and cards, right? I tried calling a few times after you got home from the hospital, but your sister always said you weren’t up for talking. I’m sorry, Abby. I should have tried harder. Or maybe come to see you.”

“No, she was right,” I said. “I was a mess for a long time after it happened. And I’m the one who should be sorry. I did get your flowers, and I should have written. It’s just that it took me a while to get better. I mean, even after my injuries healed, it still took a while.”

“But you’re okay now? I mean, you look fine.”

“Yeah.”

“So…” Derek hesitated again, but then continued. “I heard that you, what, like
died
? I mean, that you had one of those near death experiences. That you drowned in a lake, but then they brought you back. Is that really true?”

“Yeah,” I said. “True story. I was dead for 44 minutes.”

“Wow. What was that like?”

“I don’t remember much really. I just woke up in the hospital. Kate was there by my side.”

I left out the part about being in total blackness, as well as the part about seeing Jesse’s ghost standing near my bed.

“Looking at you now, I’d never know you had been through something like that,” he said. “You look so normal.”

“I wouldn’t quite call myself normal, but things are pretty good.”

The dog was still there, standing now at attention like he was listening in on our conversation.

“So it sounds like you still talk to some of the kids from school,” I said, trying to switch subjects.

“Yeah, sure, some of them. You know, mostly through Facebook and Twitter,” he said, smiling. “Oh, wait, you don’t.”

“No,” I said. “I guess I like my privacy.”

“Well, how about giving me your number so it doesn’t take another 12 years to see each other?”

I gave it to him.

“What about you?” he said. “You must keep in touch with some of the kids from elementary school.”

“No, not really.”

“That’s surprising. It’s kind of a small town and I remember you were popular. How about a boyfriend? Have one of those?”

“Yeah. We’re both river guides on the Deschutes in the summer.”

“Wait. What? You almost drowned and now you’re a river guide?”

“It sounds crazy, huh? But I love it and miss it a lot during this time of year. What about you? Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Yeah. Her name’s Rachel. We met in college.”

 “Did she come up with you?”

“No, she couldn’t get away.”

“You’ve lost weight,” I said. “I mean, you’re half the man you used to be.”

“Sometimes it feels that way. But I think I weigh about the same as I did back then. I’ve just gained some years I guess.”

“Well, you’re looking good.”

The line was getting long again and Ellen wasn’t due in for another hour.

“I wish I had more time,” I said. “But I better get back to work.”

“I gotta get going too,” Derek said, standing up and putting on his coat. “But, Abby, I’m so glad I bumped into you.”

“Me too,” I said.

“It was kind of weird, actually,” he said. “I was driving to meet the decorator when I saw this coffee shop and something just told me to come in here.”

I nodded.

“So how about getting together while I’m here so we can catch up some more?” he said.