“Don’t you think I know that? But the last two days she had on this earth…all she wanted was…. After Mom died, she gave up her whole life to come take care of me and Zeke. If it wasn’t for her, who knows where we would have ended up? And the one little thing she wanted from me I couldn’t give her because I was so fucking selfish. All I could think about was myself.”
His voice cracked. “We were kids, Allie. You couldn’t have known what was going to happen. You thought you’d have more time with her.”
“Yeah, well, life sucks. Tell me something I don’t know.”
“You blame me, don’t you?” he said quietly.
“No, Tom, I don’t blame you. I blame me. But, somehow you’re tied into it. At least…into that version of me. So, yeah, you’ve been terrific these past few days, and yeah, the sex was fantastic. I admit it. It was best sex of my life, too. But you and I are never going to be together because you’re always going to be a reminder of the biggest regret of my life.”
He flinched. But she wasn’t trying to hurt him. She was only trying to be honest.
“So that’s it. No second chances. No nothing? Is that what you want?” He sounded bitter, and a part of her wanted to tell him…what? That they could start over? Zeke was right. Tom wasn’t the guy for her.
“What I want is, for you to take me home.”
Allie crept through the kitchen door. She was surprised to find Mimi sitting at the table, drinking what looked like a cup of hot cocoa. Mimi put her hands up as if to surrender. “I tried to stop the girls, I really did. But you know the Babes. Toss in some margaritas and the instant they heard about the séance there was no stopping them.”
“Don’t worry about the séance. It’s not your fault.” Allie glanced at the clock above the stove. It was a little after six. “Why are you up so early? Or haven’t you gone to bed yet?”
“I’ve been waiting up for you.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. I want to hear all about it. Including where you’ve been all night.” She made a smirky face, then paused. “What’s wrong?”
“The right question would be, what isn’t wrong?”
Allie sank into the chair next to her sister-in-law. Mimi slid the cocoa across the table in silent offering. Allie picked up the mug and took a deep sip. Marshmallows with a hint of cinnamon. It would figure that Mimi made the best cocoa, too. Too bad chocolate couldn’t cure the mess that was her life.
Mimi fidgeted with the edge of a napkin. “So I take it the ghost didn’t show up?”
“The only thing that showed up was your Bunco group.”
“Ouch.” Mimi reached to get her cocoa back but Allie held onto the mug.
“I need this more than you do. As a matter of fact,” All
ie said, glancing around the kitchen counter, “do you have some more of that stuff you laced my coffee with the other night?”
“That bad, huh?” Mimi took a bottle of whiskey from the pantry and sloshed a little into the cocoa.
“Let’s just say the night was a disaster, all the way around.”
Mimi looked like she wanted a detailed explanation, but she must have sensed Allie’s weariness because she didn’t press her. “So what happens next?”
“The senior center comes down in a couple of hours.”
“Will you be there?”
“I almost feel like I should be. Who knows? Maybe something will still happen.” Ever the optimist, Allie. Maybe it was the pessimists of the world who won at the end. At least they didn’t get their hopes up. “But I’m not fighting it any more. I can’t justify trying to keep the building intact when it seems pretty obvious that there’s no ghost. Or at least, not one that makes sense.”
She told Mimi all about the music she and Tom had been hearing in their heads, starting with the Beatles Ob-La- Di, Ob-La- Da and finishing with last night’s Light My Fire. The only part she omitted was the crazy feeling that somehow Buela was tied into all this. She wanted to share it with Mimi but it all seemed so—
“Do you think I’m crazy? Oh, God. This is like the eighteenth time I’ve asked myself that same question, which means that yes, I probably am.”
Mimi smiled patiently. “And Tom heard it, too? If he heard it, then no, you can’t be crazy, unless the two of you are doing some kind of special drugs together?”
“He only experienced it the one time, although he knew the song in my head last night.”