“Looks like my time is up. I’ll see you soon, husband.”
Hannah flickered once more, and disappeared. Oliver slid down to the floor, drained. His body shook like a junkie’s in the midst of with
drawal. It was fitting seeing as how his brain felt scrambled like an egg. He knew he needed to call Juni, and he would. As soon as he peeled himself off the floor, and wrapped his head around the fact that the ghost of his dead wife was trying to take over his new girlfriend’s body. Oh, and that his girlfriend happened to receive his wife’s heart in a transplant on the night that she’d died. One in a million odds had never made a man unluckier.
One hour, and half a case of beer later, Juni was on her way over to his house. There was really no way to break it to her gently so he opted to go with the straightforward method. He finished off the last of his beer, stood from the table and tossed the bottle into the trash when headlights shone through the front window. Time to finish destroying what’s left of the new life I’ve created.
****
Juni glanced up as the door opened and gave Oliver a tentative smile. His voice had sounded off on the phone.
“Hey, you okay?”
“No. I’m really not,” he said
He shook his head as he stepped back, and waved her inside.
“We should have this talk in the kitchen. I need something harder than beer, and I think you should have a drink.”
“Okay.”
Juni arched an eyebrow as she followed him into the kitchen. She hadn’t seen him in a mood like this in a long time. Whatever he wanted to tell her was not good news. A lump settled in her throat as she sat down at the kitchen table. He poured himself a shot glass of whiskey, grabbed a beer from the fridge, and came to sit across from her. She popped the top off the beer he handed her and took a long draw as he tossed back his whiskey and refilled the glass.
Juni set the brown bottle on the table and spoke.
“Are you ready to tell me what’s going on?”
“I know who the spirit is.”
“What? How?”
“I came home today and found your letter—”
“Wait, what letter?” She shook her head, lost. His words were running together, and he wasn’t making any sense.
“The one we sent out to thank your donor.”
“Why would you get that? Did they mix up the sender’s address with the recipient’s?”
“No.”
Oliver shook his head from side to side and cleared his throat.
“Hannah was your donor, Juniper.”
“Hannah, your wife?”
He nodded once again, and her draw dropped as her heart began to race.
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“I’d never joke about something like this.”
Logically it all made sense. Of course Hannah would be angry with Oliver and determined to ruin their relationship. God, I feel like a fucking thief! She’d taken her heart and her husband. What woman wouldn’t turn vengeful after that? Her stomach plummeted as she glanced at Oliver. Was that why they had done everything backwards? The almost sex up against the building the night they met, and the instant kinship? Had Hannah been possessing her even then, or was there some part of Hannah left inside her heart that remembered her soul mate? Either way made their relationship seemed based on a lie. Her face heated as she recalled the dream about Oliver on the beach. That was a memory! How deep did Hannah’s interference run? Would their feelings change once they got rid of her? Did Oliver still want her now that he had the option of his wife returning to him?
Her face heated as questions she didn’t want to ask swirled around in her head.
“I want to see a picture of her.”