Epilogue
Liz’s gaze speared the other occupants of the room one by one.
While she hadn’t been sure what to expect when she and Carson accepted Clem’s invitation to join her, Maya, and Davis in the older woman’s private sitting room, this was nowhere near Liz’s radar.
“And you believe this?” she finally asked Maya.
Maya shrugged, her expression a mixture of apology and resignation. “Yeah. I do.”
Liz’s brain churned as she tried to decide if the entire room was suffering from a mass delusion, some form of group insanity, or worse—if they actually believed what they just said.
That Maya’s aunt Clem was in love with the Major, that the Major really was some form of soul mate harbinger, and that he fed off of that same energy, allowing him to grow more physical and interact with the world around him the stronger he got.
She wasn’t sure yet which option she was hoping for.
Carson squeezed her thigh. “I mean, is it really so difficult to comprehend?”
The look she gave him would’ve made a lesser man run and cover his manhood.
The Major rose from his place next to Clem and placed his hand over his heart, giving Liz a slight bow. “Believe me, I know how difficult this can be to accept.”
“Do you?” Liz very much doubted he had any clue how insane this whole discussion truly was.
The Major nodded. “When I first made my way back here, I, too, was stunned. For how could this be? My love. Here. With me. Again.”
In spite of the doubts still running rampant through her brain, Liz felt a slight thickening in her throat at the way the Major gazed at Clem. The way she gazed back. Both of them radiating as if they were fueled by love itself.
He held out a hand, and Clem took it. Curled her fingers around his and rose to her feet.
She blushed as he twirled and dipped her.
The room seemed to heat several degrees as they stared into each other’s eyes, the only thing keeping Clem from falling to floor the Major’s hand on her back.
It heated several more degrees when their lips found each other.
Clem’s hands wandered to the Major’s ass.
Maya cleared her throat, and Davis shifted on the love seat next to her.
The Major blinked, straightening when he realized what happened, while Clem shot her niece a look of disgust. “Such a prude.”
“Hey,” Maya shot back. “This prude is protecting herself and her friends from having to poke their eyes out.”
“So, how does that work?” Carson wagged a finger between the Major and Clem, who were settling back onto the sofa.
“Much better now. Things aren’t quite as satisfying when he’s mostly incorporeal,” Clem said, ignoring Maya as she pretended to groan.
“Quite right,” the Major added. “Do you know how exasperating it is to see perfect breasts and not be able to touch them?”
Carson smirked and glanced at Liz, his gaze dipping to her chest. “Yes, I do.”
Liz rolled her eyes, but gooey warmth flooded her veins at the memory of last night and what Carson’s hands had done to her breasts.
To her belly. And lower. She crossed her legs in an effort to calm herself and worked diligently to get her focus off of Carson and his skilled digits and back to whatever the hell this was.
“So, you’re what? More than a ghost? A ghost and a half?
” She gave the Major a wary look. “You’re not a zombie, are you? ”
The Major’s mouth rounded into an o, and horror washed over his nearly-normal-toned face. “Dear heavens, no. There’s no such thing as zombies. Is there?” He cast a worried look around the room.
“Well, I don’t think so,” Davis said, “but then again, I’m not the expert.”
Liz wanted to point out to the Major that she thought the ghost might be the one with expertise on the subject, but what the hell did she know?
She hadn’t even believed in ghosts until recently.
Not that she was one hundred percent convinced she actually did, but it was getting harder and harder to deny.
She could still question, though.
“Okay,” she pressed. “How about the whole becoming-more-physical thing? Is it like leveling up? Do you become more and more physical with each match you make?”
Clem’s smile rivaled that of the Chesire cat. “He’s a very quick learner.”
Liz rolled her eyes. “Not that kind of physical. I mean, will you reach a point where you won’t need matches any longer?”
The Major’s shoulders sagged with his sigh. “Sadly, no. The effects of the soul mate energy are only temporary. It seems I need to continue making matches in order to keep my form.”
“So, the soul mate energy is your human form generator,” Carson mused.
Davis pointed a finger at him. “Bingo.”
“Are there any other ghosts around here?” Carson’s head swiveled to glance around the room as if checking the corners for newcomers.
“No,” Maya answered quickly. Her eyes widened, and she focused on the Major. “Are there?”
The Major looked like he was caught in a no-win situation. “Uh…”
Davis thrust his finger into the air. “I knew it! How can this place have been a Civil War hospital and not have more than one ghost?” He looked like a kid who’d won a lifetime supply of his favorite candy. “The ghost hunters are going to freak out.”
“Ghost hunters?” Liz asked.
Davis nodded. “I’m still waiting to hear back on their exact dates, but it should be sometime later this year. Maybe early next year. Part of the marketing to get this place booked solid.”
“Speaking of marketing,” Maya said, “can you give us any more details about what you have in mind for Crawford’s?”
While her friend’s question was legit, Liz had no doubt it was partly to get off the topic of exactly how many ghosts might be inhabiting her inn.
“Well,” Carson said, “we don’t have all the details ironed out yet, but we believe the Digit Defender is a good product. It just needs a wider market.”
“Emily said she used it in the kitchen,” Liz continued, “and that got us thinking about where else a digit may need defending.”
Carson nodded. “Then I talked to Matty, and he had some practical applications from a mechanic’s view point.
He also mentioned that it might help those with tactile sensitivities—people who don’t like to get their fingers dusty from chips, or who don’t like touching things when cleaning out drains. ”
“Huh.” Davis’s head bobbed in a slow nod. “The same product, but new uses.”
“It can be used for crafting,” Liz said. “Like with hot glue guns and people who don’t like the feel of yarn on their fingers with crocheting, and home renovations, like with smoothing caulk. There are a ton of practical applications. We just have to get people to see them.”
“Thus, the marketing campaign,” Carson added.
“And that’s where the twenty-five grand is going?” Davis asked.
Carson nodded. “Yep. Minus Matty’s thousand for agreeing to our plan.” He huffed a laugh. “Although he’s already invested that back in the company. Did I tell you he’s got all the mechanics he went to school with using the Digit Defender already?”
Liz looked at him in surprise. “No. Wow. That was fast.”
“Yeah. We really need to talk about bringing him on board as a consultant.”
Liz nodded. “Definitely.”
“Speaking of consultants…” Carson nudged Liz and gave her a pointed look.
She huffed and rolled her eyes but wasn’t able to bite back her smile. “I got the gig.”
“What gig?” Maya asked.
“The En-Su, LLC gig. To be their consultant.”
“Oh, my God!” Maya squealed. “Congratulations! How? When?”
“After you all left the bonfire,” Liz said. “Do you remember that furry whale that was hanging around all weekend?”
“Kind of hard to forget,” Davis said.
“Well, turns out, it was one of the owners. He said he had a blast in Cloverfield, and the grand finale announcement about Crawford’s was exactly the kind of out-of-the-box strategy his team was looking for.”
“What!” Maya shouted.
“That’s crazy,” Davis said.
“I know.” Liz still couldn’t believe it. The amount of things she was having trouble believing was growing by the minute. If anything else was added to the list, her head might explode.
“Well, we definitely have a lot to celebrate,” Davis said. “Flurry Fest was a huge hit. I don’t know that we need that same kind of grand finale again—”
“Good. ’Cause you’re not getting it,” Liz muttered.
“—but the furries were definitely a boon.”
Carson cocked his head in thought. “Maybe next year it’ll be a Flurry Furry Fest.”
Davis shrugged. “Maybe. Just goes to show that embracing the mistakes can be part of a good business model. And please let me know how I can support Crawford’s new business. You know I’ll help however I can.”
“Me too,” added Clem, who smirked at the Major. “In fact, we should do some market research of our own tonight. See what kind of sensations the old Digit Defender might elicit.”
Maya clapped her hands to her ears while Liz did her best to keep her expression neutral. Clem and the Major wouldn’t be the first to explore that side of the product. It was very much ribbed for her pleasure.
“Well, uh, we’ll take any help we can get, so thank you.” Carson cleared his throat. “And thank you, too, for seeing through our bluster and egos and giving us the push we needed to find each other again.”
“Not that we condone the meddling,” Liz hurriedly added.
Carson draped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “Right. But I am truly grateful to each and every one of you for helping me see what is important in life. Friendships, soul mates.”
“Bro time,” the Major added solemnly.
Carson chuckled. “Yes, bro time. I know this transition will have its bumpy moments, but I cannot imagine my future any other way.”
Liz blinked back the sudden prick of tears.
Although she still wasn’t sure what, specifically, bro time entailed or that she even wanted to know, she had no doubt about the rest of it.
Would she and Carson have moments when they’d butt heads?
Undoubtedly. Was he still the most irritating man she’d ever met?
Most definitely. But was there any future she envisioned that didn’t have him in it? Absolutely not.
She wasn’t sure how she’d been lucky enough to get a second chance with him, but she couldn’t wait to never let him go.