Chapter 25 #2
“You’re warm,” I said, eyes darting up and down, taking him in as fast as I could. He hadn’t been cold before, but he hadn’t been exactly warm, either. Now, though… Now, he felt alive.
“You’re warm,” I repeated, my mouth lagging behind my racing thoughts.
Tears spilled down his cheeks. “Yeah. I’m… here, Reece. I don’t understand how.” He lowered his voice, looking toward the door. I realized Tate had stepped out to give us privacy. “But I’m alive. Like, alive, alive.”
I gaped at him. “You mean—wait. What do you mean?”
He laughed, and I brushed my thumb over the tear that settled in one of his dimples.
“I mean, I have a heartbeat. My lungs work like they’re thirty years old, not almost seventy.
The doctors didn’t look at me like I was a talking corpse when they hooked me up to all those machines.
The paperwork was a nightmare. I’m not sure what Tate and that FBI guy said to convince them everything was above board, but Reece. I’m alive.”
“You’re… alive?”
He beamed, nodding. “Uh-huh.”
I blinked. “You’re alive.”
“Yes, and if you clarify it one more time, I’ll start doubting whether or not you’re happy about it.”
I yanked him down by the collar and slammed our mouths together. I pulled back quickly, though, when I remembered I’d been asleep for days and didn’t even want to know what sort of morning breath situation that created.
“I’m happy about it,” I whispered. “I just… Did all of it really happen? Did we really come back?”
Resting a hand on my chest, he brushed his fingers over the ghost of a gunshot wound.
“The very first time I saw you through the window, you were bright—like the sunset. You were scowling,” he said with a tear-soaked laugh, “but so full of color and life. You yanked me out of that gray world I was in for so long. And then you closed the window.”
He paused with a hand gently pressed over my heart. “When you opened it back up, all I could think was I didn’t want to be lost in the dark anymore. I wanted to follow you out, follow you anywhere. I didn’t want you to shut me inside again.”
Charlie leaned down and brushed a wet kiss on my forehead.
“I told you, I think we were always meant to meet, Reece. I had no idea I was using your energy to gain strength—all I knew was with every day that passed, I wanted to live more and more. Not for some ambiguous future, but for you. With you. I don’t know how we did it.
I don’t know how we’re alive. All I know is if there was anyone in the world who could stubbornly will it to be so, it’s you. ”
I knocked my forehead into his. “I’ve hoped for the impossible for so long, it’s just hard to let myself believe it. I feel like you’re going to disappear again, or I’m going to wake up and this has all been a dream.”
He cupped my face between his hands. “Believe it. I’m really here, Reece. We’re here, together. For as long as you still want me.”
I hugged him again. “I’ll always want you,” I growled.
“Good,” he said, voice turned playful. “It would be terrible to find out you were only attracted to me because you have some weird ghost thing. I’m fully flesh and blood now, baby.”
A laugh rumbled up from my chest. “First, you say I snore, which I don’t, and now, I have a ghost fetish? What else are you going to falsely accuse me of? Smelly farts?”
“Well, I can confirm that one.”
I quickly looked toward the door, again so caught up in Charlie I hadn’t realized someone else had entered the room.
Bobby stood there, shuffling from foot to foot, holding a bag of Reese’s Pieces.
He tentatively offered up the candy, as if unsure of whether or not I’d accept.
“I, uh,” he cleared his throat. “I brought you these. I knew flowers would irritate you. What the fuck am I meant to do with a fern? This needs to be planted in at least a fifteen-inch pot. It’s a chore, not a gift,” he said, imitating my voice. “So, ya know. Something to snack on.”
I stared at the bag of candy. My parents had called me Reese’s Pieces since I was a child, because of the obvious shared name, but also because I’d have eaten them by the fistful if they’d let me.
And while he hadn’t used the nickname in many, many years, there was a time growing up that Bobby called me Reese’s Pieces, too.
The dark circles under his eyes were much deeper than they were the last time we spoke, and there was a cautious brokenness in the way he carried himself I’d never seen before. He looked like he’d aged ten years in just a few days.
“Bobby,” I said gruffly. “I’m so sorry.”
He dropped the bag onto the side table and strode forward, leaning down to hug me just like Charlie had. “I didn’t know,” he said, voice choked with tears. “I swear, I didn’t know. I’m so, so sorry, Reece.”
I shook my head, gripping him tight in return. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”
He pulled away. Over his shoulder, Charlie gave me a soft smile and joined Tate in the hallway.
“I understand if you’d prefer I go,” Bobby said, avoiding eye contact. “I mainly just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing. I get it, if it’s too hard to talk to me right now.”
I shook my head hard enough to make it throb again. “No. Stay. I want you here. You’re my best friend. He can’t—he can’t have that, too. He can’t take that away.”
Bobby finally looked at me, a swirling mix of grief, betrayal, and devastation in his eyes I understood all too well.
“I really didn’t know,” he repeated quietly.
“He’s been weird and distant lately, but I thought it was the divorce.
Or work. I honestly never questioned his absences.
He argued with Mom a lot over who got the cars, the house, the land, everything.
Lawyers were involved. It was exhausting. ”
He shook his head. “When he’d ask to borrow the truck to get away, I didn’t think twice.
Not until you said you’d seen it out on the park road.
I didn’t understand why he’d take a personal vehicle out there when he has his work truck for that.
But then the FBI showed up, and shit hit the fan so fast.”
“You can say that,” I replied darkly. “How are you, though?” The image of Leonard’s lifeless body falling backwards into the water flashed through my mind. “I mean, with… Everything?”
Bobby looked at his feet, stoic. “I don’t think I’ll be okay for a long while,” he said gruffly.
“I don’t know what to do with any of it.
How am I supposed to grieve my dad and be glad he was killed before he could do the same to my best friend?
How are Jade and I meant to raise Molly in a town that mourns people her grandfather murdered?
How do I separate who he was to me from the monster he was to everyone else? ”
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I haven’t really thought about any of it, either. Or what comes next. It’s easier not to.”
Bobby nodded. “Probably going to be messy, once we do.”
I looked over at where Charlie stood in the hall, still within sight of me. “Yeah, it will be. But we don’t have to do it alone. And you don’t have to do it without me.”
“Now who’s the Hallmark card?”
I huffed a laugh. “C’mon, there’s someone I want you to meet.”
Introductions were awkward as fuck, but Bobby and Charlie did their best.
“Hi,” Charlie said with a small wave. “Nice to finally meet you. Reece talks about you all the time. I’m Charlie.” He stuck out his hand, which Bobby shook.
Shoulders tense, Bobby ignored Tate’s greeting, but flashed Charlie a weak smile. “Yeah, uh, nice to meet you, too. I mean, I’ve heard of you, but…” he trailed off.
I felt awful for them all. What was Bobby meant to say? “So sorry my dad killed you, but glad you’re alive again. By the way, thanks for also saving my friend from my dad!”
And that wasn’t even considering the elephant in the room that Tate may have been the one to kill Leonard.
They were trying, though. Hopefully, once we all had a chance to process the unconventional circumstances of, well, everything, they’d get to know each other better. Bobby clearly wasn’t ready to discuss details, though, and he excused himself shortly after, never once looking at Tate.
“He’s going to have a hard road,” Tate murmured once he’d left.
Yeah, he would. But I wouldn’t let him go it alone.
I cleared my throat. “So, how did you find Tate?” I asked Charlie. “I thought you could only appear wherever I was or at the lookout.”
He shrugged. “Same way I found you. I thought about him, concentrated, and” he snapped his fingers, “there I was.”
“Scared the absolute shit out of me,” Tate grumbled. “I was driving, for fuck’s sake. On my way to find you, because you were a stubborn idiot, again, and left my grandmother’s house even though you were already knocking on death’s door. And then he popped up in the passenger seat next to me!”
“You still handled it better than Reece the first few times,” Charlie said. “I know I was a few close calls away from getting bear-sprayed in the face.”
I scowled. “I thought I was the only one you could find.”
Tate raised an eyebrow. “Please don’t tell me you’re jealous?”
“I’m not jealous,” I said, willing my face to go back to normal.
Charlie sat back down on the bed, scooting in close. “Aw, baby, don’t be jealous. You know you’re the only one I want to haunt.”
Tate made a face. “You know he saved your life, right? If he hadn’t found me when he did, I wouldn’t have known to intercept your Dad on his way home. We would’ve lost a lot of time trying to figure out what happened and where to find you.”
That sobered me. I’d be at the bottom of a lake by now, had Charlie not reacted immediately.
“How did you know something was wrong?” I asked quietly.
As if haunted by the memory, he looked away. “I didn’t. You came to me. You walked right through the lookout door.”
By his expression, I knew he wasn’t talking about our lookout, but the one we’d left behind when we chose life with each other.
I squeezed his hand.
“I can’t figure out why he’d try to kill me at Dad’s, and not the lookout,” I said.
Tate sighed. “He got away with framing someone else once; he may have been trying to do the same to you, or your Dad. I think that’s why he left Janine somewhere she was so easy to find. That, or he didn’t want to dump her body on the side of the lake you could see from the lookout, just in case.”
“Why kill Janine, though?” Charlie asked. “If he wouldn’t be able to hide her body like the rest of us? And why go after Reece?”
“Maybe he thought you saw something,” Tate said. At Charlie’s furrowed brow, he continued, “He was spiraling. I don’t think he was in control anymore. He wanted the thrill of the kill as many times as he could before getting caught. These kinds of people can’t hide who they are forever.”
Like a cornered and wounded animal, I thought again.
“Right. Waters and I have a truckload of paperwork to finish, so I’m gonna head out,” Tate said with a yawn.
“Are you gonna fill him in once you get there?”
He pointed a finger at me. “No one will notice if I add another black eye to your already fucked-up face, West. Watch it.”
I grinned before growing serious again. “Thank you,” I said, looking at my hands. “For helping Charlie find me. For saving us both. I’m glad to have you as a friend.”
Tate blinked and shuffled on his feet. “You’re welcome. Me too.” The room was quiet for a beat before he continued, “That was weird, right?”
I sighed. “Thank God. Yes. Can we never do it again?”
He chuckled on his way out the door. “Sounds good to me. Oh, I almost forgot.” Pulling a small square of paper out of his back pocket, he handed it to Charlie. “For you. Once you get a phone, I’ll text it to you.”
Charlie flipped the paper over, revealing a photograph of me and Sunshine, Viola’s hairless cat, sitting on that horrible mustard brown couch. Grinning, he looked back at Tate. “This is awesome. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Tate said with a smile, and left.
Eyeing the picture, I said, “You can’t hang that up.”
“Oh, I can, and I will. It’ll be the focal point on our picture wall.”
Our picture wall.
The words tucked into my chest, warm and cozy. “Lie down with me?” I asked, shifting over to give him room.
With a smile, he joined me, wrapping one arm around my middle and scooting in close.
“Where have you been staying?” I asked, fingers carding through his soft hair. It was a rich brown, even darker than before, with a subtle hint of auburn. I couldn’t wait to see it catch in the sun.
“I’ve only been out since yesterday. Your Mom let me sleep in their hotel room for a few hours earlier, but I mostly just wanted to be here.”
I pressed a kiss into his hair. We’d have to think about where to stay once I was discharged. Could we go back to the lookout? Who was in charge now that Leonard was dead? Was I even strong enough to do all of those stairs on crutches?
For now, I was content to hold Charlie until one of us had to move.
I opened my mouth to ask if he’d given any thought to what he wanted to do with the future spread out before us, only to be jostled when he sprang up next to me, as if startled.
“Oh, no! I have to pee!” he exclaimed, scurrying out of bed and making for the door.
I laughed so hard my whole body hurt, and it was the most wonderful thing in the world.