Chapter 18 #2
“Right. So, the book says a spirit of exceptional power can pass through space—and time, under the optimal conditions.”
“And the optimal conditions would be . . . ?” Dell asked.
“A mix of strong emotion, determination, and a critical need.”
The door one floor below them banged open. They both jumped.
“This need feels pretty critical,” Dell said.
“Yes, it does, but just to be sure, we’re going to make the situation even more dire,” Cole said. He gripped her hand and
pulled her through the door in front of them. Instead of another hallway, they tumbled through it and landed outside. Wind
whipped the crisp air, sending Dell’s hair flying. It felt thinner, the sky much closer.
“Are we on the roof?!” she shouted at Cole.
“Yes!” he shouted back. “The fall will leave us with no choice but to escape!” He’d started jogging, still pulling her along,
straight toward the building’s edge.
“What do you mean the fall?!” she screamed in fear. Sure, they were dead, but they weren’t really going to—
“We have to jump!” Cole called. He dodged a ventilation pipe sticking up out of the roof. The gritty flooring scraped beneath
their shoes.
“You can’t be serious!” Dell wailed when they got to the wall. She didn’t dare look down. “I thought you were afraid of heights!”
Cole turned to her, gripping her hands. “I am, but I’m more afraid of what will happen if we don’t try.
I’m in love with you, Dell. I fell for you that day on the slopes.
I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. I looked at you, and had this feeling of Oh, it’s you, as if I’d been wandering around looking for you.
I remember it now, because it’s the same feeling I got on your doorstep
the other day. But that day on the slopes, all I could think of was how much it would hurt if you didn’t feel the same. If
I let myself give in to the vulnerability of that feeling only to lose you. That’s why I let you go and didn’t try harder.
I’ve spent too long avoiding risks and not going for what I want in life. And death,” he added with a small chuckle. “We are
total opposites, and I think that’s what makes us perfect. You are the biggest risk of my life, but I’ve never wanted anything
more. I’ve messed up over and over, but I’m not going to mess up another chance at being with you.” He stared at her with
his soul-searching eyes, baring his own soul. Dell could see the depths of it. His regrets, his hopes. His feelings for her
burning like the sun.
If she could feel her heart, it would have been pounding.
Not only because they were standing on a very high ledge considering hurling themselves over the side, but also because it was telling her something.
Her heart was the thing Dell had followed all her life.
It was how she ended up a chef and not a real estate mogul, like the rest of her family.
How she ended up back in San Francisco, where she’d grown up, to open her restaurant.
How she poured herself into serving others and spreading joy.
How she knew, deep down, Tommy was never the one for her.
And how she knew Cole was. And she knew if she didn’t try to be with him now, she would carry on feeling like half her heart was missing because this man—this clumsy, adorable, bumbling, secretly hot-as-hell man who’d tried to save her life and, in a way, did—would vanish back into a world she hadn’t even known existed.
Staring down that possibility made the soul-deep knowing they were meant for each other fizz in her veins.
“Okay,” she told him with a nod. “I’ve got the strong emotion.”
He smiled at her, doing his best to shield his nerves. He glanced over the building’s edge right as someone burst through
the rooftop door. “Great. Do you trust me?”
She gripped his hands tighter. “With my life.”
“Stop right there!” the security guard who’d burst through the door shouted.
Cole stepped up onto the ledge and pulled Dell up with him. Her skirt whipped in the wind. They were so high up she couldn’t
even see the street below—which was probably a good thing.
“Ready?” Cole said.
She couldn’t form words to speak, so she simply nodded.
“I am warning you!” the security guard shouted. He’d been joined by another.
“Good,” Cole said to Dell. “Hold on tight and think of the first time we met.” Then he wrapped his arms around her and stepped
over the edge.
Dell instantly snapped her eyes shut. Wind screamed past her ears as they plummeted. Apparently, gravity worked the same in
the afterlife, because where she might have expected them to float, or even fall slowly, they were speeding like dropped bricks.
She wasn’t sure what would happen if they hit the ground, but in a desperate effort to avoid that scenario, she clung to Cole
and thought as hard as she could about that day on the ski slopes. She forced her mind to see it: snow, crystal-blue sky.
The smell of fresh pine and the purest air.
At the same time, she let the biggest emotion she’d ever felt expand to the edges of her mind.
I love you. I love you. I love you.
She knew it was true with every fiber of her being, and she could only hope this plan worked so she could spend the rest of
her life discovering just how deep those feelings went.
Her hope faded as they continued to drop like stones. She was sure they were falling with enough force to do some serious
damage, already dead or not.
But then, in their panicking spiral, Dell remembered the instructions for teleporting: physical contact. They were already
hugging, but maybe they needed more. Maybe they needed a big jolt to send them back to earth.
“Kiss me!” she shouted over the deafening wind.
Cole didn’t hesitate. They were seconds from the ground rushing up at them like a concrete sea. He turned his head and sealed
his mouth over hers. It was . . . everything. The beginning and the end. The sun and the moon. The answer to every question she’d ever asked. Cole pulled her tighter,
and the kiss reached down into her, filling her whole body with a golden warmth. It was the best kiss of her life—and death.
All she could do was let herself fall into it as they fell toward the ground.