9
Sebbie
“No, no! The little table has to be exactly against the balcony wall so that it’s clear that she was standing on it. Here, splash some more of the wine on the tabletop. Where’s the wine glass?“
Toby asked.
Dexter handed it to him, and we all flinched when he dropped it on the ground and it shattered.
“Nice! Real glass! I was hoping for that. Makes it more convincing, you know,“
Toby said. “It’s just missing something… It’s not quite tall enough, I don’t think. Hmm…”
We all stared at the table like something would come to us, some magical way to make the table taller, but our resident writer came through on that, too.
“Books! Maggie had books in her room! Let’s prop up the table! And I saw her phone sitting on the counter—grab it and bring it out here.”
We all dutifully followed Toby’s orders, propping the table up with books under each leg, and then Toby took her phone and stood on the table.
We all looked at him, pondering whether he could fall over. It seemed possible.
Maggie added, “I was drunk, and I did love to dance. Oh! Pull up my playlist—Bahama Mama—and put it on repeat shuffle.”
Toby obliged, and an electronica party song came on, but before anyone could even ask, Toby dropped the phone onto the balcony, cracking the screen and cutting off the sound.
“My phone!“
Maggie cried.
“I don’t think you’ll need it anymore,“
I reminded her.
“This way they’ll see it but won’t wonder why the music wasn’t bothering the neighbors,“
Toby told us.
Maggie huffed, but she looked generally pleased with the setup.
“Now, all we have to do is wait,“
Toby started. “Someone will surely—”
Before he could finish, there was a loud knock on the door. We all ducked, like somehow that would help things.
“Grams! Grams, are you in there? I’m going to get the steward to come unlock your door if you don’t answer right now!“
a voice called.
They knocked a few more times—they were quite persistent—before footsteps moved off.
“Go, go, go!“
Toby cried.
Like some military operation of precision, we all ran out of the room and to the elevators. Toby only tripped twice, and I started giggling, but it was a cruise boat, so anyone we passed probably just thought we’d been drinking.
By the time we made it back to my room, we’d all calmed down.
“Now what?” I asked.
Dexter and Corbin both shrugged, Lisa looked lost and devastated, but Toby had the plot all figured out. He kneeled down in front of Lisa, who was sitting on the side of the bed again.
“Listen, Lisa, and listen well. What happened was an accident. Too many drinks, too much drama, and an accident. Your story can go two ways now, and which way is up to you. This will always be a turning point in your life, but you get to decide what you turn into. You don’t have to be the villain. Grams forgives you, and you can forgive yourself. You can still have your own happily ever after—you just have to work for it.”
She nodded her head, but mainly she looked tired.
“Thank you. Thank you all for everything you’ve done. And thank you for letting me see Grams again,“
Lisa said.
She hugged us all, and when she got to me, I found myself in my pink robe with my staff. She gave me a half smile. “That’s pretty weird. Maybe I’m hallucinating all of this. Maybe it’s just a fever dream, and I’ll wake up and tell my family what a crazy dream I had of a ghost and a guy in a pink cloak.”
I smiled at her. “I want you to know something. You don’t have to let this horrible, tragic mistake be the one that defines you. We are, all of us, more than our worst mistakes. Go out in the world and balance the scales, Lisa. When it’s your time, I want you to come to my river and tell me all the amazing things you did with your life and all the people you helped, okay? I can’t wait to hear all your stories. Go out and make a life you’d be proud to tell me about.”
She sniffled, nodded, hugged me, then walked out the door, shutting it behind her. We all stared after her.
“Well, I don’t know if I’m much in the mood for partying now,“
I admitted.
Toby sighed. “Me either. Come and comfort me, Dex. I think we can call this day done and pick up tomorrow in the sunshine in the Bahamas.”
Toby and Dexter said their goodbyes and left to head to their own stateroom, and Corbin and I stared at each other. I wanted nothing more than to crawl into his arms, maybe cry a little over what had happened, because it had been tragic and sad, and I was going to worry about Lisa. But…
“Okay, I’m ready. Let’s go,“
Maggie said, clapping her ghostly hands. “Come on, white light! Let’s see it!”
Maggie looked around, but there was no white light. She looked at me. “Hello? It’s white light time, Mr. Death.”
I snorted, and Corbin answered, “That’s not his department. He does the river and the boat. White light is an upstairs thing, and I don’t even know who’s in charge of that.”
I looked at him. “Seriously?”
“Yup,“
he answered.
“Well, I guess you’re stuck with me, then. Come on, Maggie, I’ll show you my boat. I probably have some rum punch on it, and I’m sure there are other folks waiting for a ride, too.”
“Lovely! I always love a good rum punch!“
she answered.
And with that, the three of us found ourselves at the river.
Epilogue
Corbin
Sebbie pointed at a school of beautiful blue fish, making sounds to direct my attention. I reached out and squeezed his arm to let him know I saw them.
Snorkeling was amazing. I wasn’t sure how I’d lived for so damn long without ever going snorkeling. Seeing the underwater creatures and experiencing the sea was magical. I looked over and saw a piece of coral move slightly, and then I realized that it was actually a small octopus. It was then my turn to make “Mmmm mmmm mmm,“
noises at Sebbie. He looked over, squealed underwater, and had a school fish flurrying off in the opposite direction.
We stayed underwater until our fingers and toes were pruny, enjoying everything there was to see. When we finally came up for air and took our masks off, I grabbed Sebbie in my arms, and he wrapped his legs around my back.
“Mmm,“
he murmured, leaning in to give me a kiss. “I love that you’re so much bigger than me.”
He rubbed his body against mine, and I felt his hardness against my own. Luckily we had rented a cabana at an adults-only beach, because I would feel pretty awkward if some kids charged by right about now.
I kissed him, letting the water hold most of his weight as our hands and mouths explored each other. Sebbie was a gift, and I was thankful more than words could describe for him in my life.
He pulled his mouth from mine, and I chased after his lips, not wanting to give up the taste of his mouth against mine.
“Hey, doesn’t our cabana have curtains you can close all around it?” he asked.
“Perfect idea,“
I murmured, picking him up out of the water and carrying him as we walked forward.
He giggled adorably, unwrapping his legs so he could walk back. I supposed that was more appropriate for a public beach, even if it was adults only. We raced to the cabana, which was only a few yards away, and tumbled onto the giant bed that was surrounded by curtains. Sebbie giggled again as he undid the ties that held the curtains open, and before long I was lying on top of him, kissing his lips, my hips grinding against his.
“Don’t even tell me you two are going at it again. My goodness. It’s enough to make a dead woman feel jealous,“
Maggie announced.
I groaned, but Sebbie just patted my shoulder as I rolled off of him.
“Maggie, I thought you were going to spend the day with your family?“
Sebbie asked.
Because, yes, Maggie was still with us. We had taken her across the river, and she’d entertained everyone on the boat and been loads of fun, but when we’d reached the shore… She just hadn’t left. She’d gone to step onto the deck on the other side, and she simply hadn’t been able to.
Sebbie had no idea why she’d stayed behind, and I certainly couldn’t shed light on the subject. But it appeared we were stuck with her.
Or, actually, I’d thought her family was stuck with her.
“Eh,“
she answered, plopping down onto the bed next to us.
I sighed, sitting up. “Maggie, you were supposed to have the day with your family.”
“Yes, well, Lisa can still see me, and her parents keep thinking she’s talking to herself in her grief over the fact that I apparently fell off the boat. By the way, can you believe all they did was page me a few times? They didn’t even stop the ship or quarantine everyone. Rather disappointing, if I must say so.”
I shrugged, and Sebbie lay there, pondering Maggie. She really was a mystery. And if we could see ghosts, why was she the first one we’d ever seen?
“Well, if you stay here, you’re going to get an eyeful,“
I announced.
My little reaper giggled at that, and Maggie just made a face.
“Actually, I thought I heard one of the workers of the snorkeling gear area talking about a coworker not showing up today. They seem quite worried. I think perhaps we ought to look into it.”
I groaned. “Maggie, we are not a detective agency.”
“Well, whyever not? After all, between you two, my ghosthood, your tarot deck, and the crow that seems quite smart, I think we could solve quite a few mysteries. It’ll be excellent fun.”
Sebbie said, “You know, I think you better do all the recon on this one. Go visit the person’s house. Maybe they just overslept. I’m sure you can poke around and figure out where she lives.”
She smiled, slapped her hands against her thighs, and then was gone.
“Are we really looking into a snorkeling shack employee who probably overslept?” I asked.
Sebbie rolled on top of me, leaning down to kiss me. Once it had gotten quite heated, he answered, “Nope. Maggie is investigating, and we are enjoying the Bahamas.”
We started kissing again, our hands roaming, before Sebbie came up for air one more time. “Besides,“
he added, “she can do the initial work, and if there is a crime, then we can jump in!”
I heard Crow caw off in the distance, and I let my head thunk back onto the bed. Sebbie just giggled at the look on my face.
Well, I would say one thing for this cruise—it would certainly be memorable.