Dead People (39 page)

“Why? Did you think you’d be next?” She took her hands off her hips. The exhilaration was coming back, even as she told herself not to hope. But that was like telling herself not to breathe the same air as Luke, not to want to take off her clothes and warm herself against his skin, not to want to grab his face and kiss him and kiss him and kiss him—

“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t presume to know what’s in your mind.”

“You’re going to make me say it.”

Laughter bubbled up inside her, but she pressed her lips together.

“I love you, Cassie.” He looked her straight in the eyes, no hesitation, no smile on his lips. But his eyes smiled. They wooed her, they desired her, they
loved
her.
 

He
loved her.

“I don’t want you to leave,” he said.

Every cell in her body wanted to jump into his arms. She held back. Not yet. Almost, but not yet. “What about my talking to ghosts?”

“Talk away. Lately I’ve found ghosts are more pleasant than live people.”

A bubble of laughter slipped out. That was
her
line. “How can I be sure you won’t change your mind again?”

“No one can be sure of anything in this world.” He reached for her. She had time to move out of his reach, but she stayed where she was, allowing him to curve his long, guitar-playing fingers around the back of her jacket, allowing him to pull her a few inches toward him while he closed the other few inches between them. “The only thing I’m sure of is the way I feel about you.”

Then his open mouth met her open mouth, and she lifted her arms to grab him. As she did, she knew she wasn’t letting go anytime soon.

Headlights beamed at them, coming down the driveway. At the same time the front door opened, light spilling out at them.

Erin
, she thought, and let her arms drop. He kept his around her back, ignoring the two lights shining at them.

“Are you staying?” he demanded.

“Erin,” she began.

“Erin’s a child. She liked you before, she’ll like you again. Don’t hide behind her.”

She shook her head, even as she frowned. Was that what she’d been doing?

“This is about me and you. I know you’ll be a good mother.”

A car door slammed but she ignored it, staring into Luke’s eyes. “A mother to just Erin? Or does that mean you want my children?”

“Not right way.” He laughed low. “I want you for myself a little first.”

“Don’t.” Tears welled up, even as footsteps crunched on the driveway towards them. “You know what I mean. A child of mine might be...like me.”

“That’s what I’m hoping,” he said. “That a child of yours will be just like you.” His voice lowered. “Adorable.”
 

Tears slid down her face

“Still making the ladies cry,” a man’s voice said.

Through her tears, she saw Luke glance to his left and scowl. “Danny? I should’ve guessed. If you’re looking for Vanessa, she’s inside.”

“I’m right here, Danny.” The front door opened, Vanessa’s voice amused. “I’ve been watching the show, Luke being romantic.”

“Why watch them when we can put on our own private show?”

Luke snorted. Cassie turned in time to see a tall man with long hair step into the foyer, take Vanessa into his arms and kiss her passionately.

“Looks like love is in the air,” Luke muttered, holding Cassie with one arm around her shoulders. “As soon as they’re done, I’ll introduce you to the drummer from Dirty Secrets.”

“The one she...”
Had an affair with while you were married
, she finished in her mind.

“That’s him. My personal Satan.” His eyebrow cocked up, and so did one side of his mouth.

“Mommy?” Erin’s voice behind Vanessa sounded uncertain.

Cassie winced and tried to pull away, but Luke held her to his side.

Danny released Vanessa and she twirled around. “Honey, guess what?” Her thin, high voice sounded uncertain. “Danny and I are going to get married as soon as I get better.”

“I want you to marry Daddy.”

“Your daddy and I don’t love each other that way.” Vanessa scooted down, face to face with Erin. “I love you, you know that. I’ll be a better mom with Danny around. He’ll make sure I won’t get sick again. Do you understand what I mean?”

“I understand.”
 

“That’s wonderful.” Vanessa hugged her and kissed her cheek, then stood.

Cassie stared at her. Was she deaf? Couldn’t she hear the forlornness in Erin’s voice? See the abandonment and hurt in her eyes?

“I have to take your mom back to California,” Danny said. “The doc gave her until midnight or he’ll kick her out of the program.”

“I’ll call you, darling. Goodbye. You too.” Vanessa leaned toward Luke as though she wanted to kiss him, and he leaned back, his expression repulsed.

Vanessa gave a hard laugh, then Danny slid his arm around her back, nodded at Luke and hurried her away. The door remained open, and Cassie looked at Erin standing in the front doorway, just inside the house. Alone.

Giving a wordless exclamation, Cassie tore out of Luke’s grip, stepped inside and knelt down. As her arms lifted, Erin threw herself against her chest and started sobbing.

Cassie rocked her. “I know,” she said, “I know, I know.”

A noise made her look up. Luke. Tears running down his cheeks. She held out her hand and the next second he was on his knees next to her and Erin, his arms curved around both of them.

“I know,” she said to him too. “I know.”

She knew heartbreak, and she knew sorrow, and she knew that finally, everything was going to be all right in the end. The “ever after” was still a question to her, but “all right” was plenty good enough for now.

Chapter Fifty-one

Trick or treat was over for the day when the doorbell tolled. Luke was in his studio, Erin at a Halloween sleepover with her friends. Cassie put aside her laptop in the library and hurried to the front door. If any reporters had ignored the “No Trespassing” sign by the road, she was calling the Sheriff Department.

Looking out the peephole, she recognized the large shape of Darleen Windmeyer.

She stepped back. The bell tolled again. Footsteps stomped down the stairs. She looked around as Luke reached the hallway and strode toward her.
 

“If that’s the paparazzi, I’ll handle it,” he said, a hard note in his voice that she hadn’t heard since the night Tricia was taken away in the ambulance. The night their lives changed.

“It’s Tricia’s mother.”

“Fuck.”
 

“You songwriters have a way with words.”

“Just like you therapists.” His expression softened, he bent down to kiss her.

The blaring doorbell stopped him. He straightened, his scowl deepening as he pulled the door open, keeping Cassie out of sight.
 

“I’m Darleen Windmeyer, Tricia’s mother.” Darleen sounded hesitant. Cassie pictured her taking a deep breath that lifted her humongous breasts. “I’m so sorry for what she’s done.”

“Did you come to apologize for her?” Luke asked in a take-no-prisoners voice. “If that’s the reason—”

“Not you. I’m here to apologize to Mrs. Shay.”

“
Isabel?
You do know she’s dead. Murdered by your daughter.”

“I know Mrs. Shay is a ghost. I want to apologize to her for what my daughter did. It’s the least I can do.”

“You’re as crazy as—”

Cassie stepped around him, her hand on his arm stopping him from saying anything else. “Hello, Darleen. Come into the house and I’ll call Isabel.”

“Thank you so much.” She stepped up spryly for a woman of her heft, and Cassie remembered her job, cleaning the clinic, which must have kept her limber.

Twilight had fallen, giving the outside an eerie look. The perfect night for summoning ghosts, she thought as Luke pushed the door closed, shutting out the dusk and the October chill.

“Let’s go into the family room.” Cassie motioned for Darleen to precede her. Tricia had just tried to kill her two weeks ago. It was unlikely Darleen came to finish the job, but it didn’t hurt to be careful.

“How is Tricia?” Cassie gestured for Darleen to sit on the sofa.

“Her bones will heal.” Sitting, Darleen frowned. “She refuses to believe her father was a trucker from Milwaukee. He died in a pile-up when she was three. I feel bad because I let her think he was a wealthy man.” She looked down at her tree-trunk sized thighs in their black stretch slacks.

“Why didn’t you tell her the truth?” Cassie asked, sitting in the chair across from Darleen.

Luke stood to the side of her chair, his hand on her shoulder. Although Cassie didn’t look up at him, she sensed his concentration, guessing he watched Darleen to make sure she didn’t pull out a gun. Like daughter, like mother.

“If I had, she would have found out what he did.” Her voice was low, and Cassie leaned forward. “Not because he had a wife and three kids. It’s because the night he died, he was drunk and his semi struck an SUV, killing a family of five.”

Luke squeezed Cassie’s shoulder, and she put her hand over his, feeling Darleen’s pain.

“That’s not all. I lied about her father being rich because I wanted her to have something to look up to.” Darleen’s eyes pleaded for understanding. “Is that so bad?”

Isabel appeared at an eighty degree angle between the sofa and the chair. “I’m dead because of your lies.”

“I know and I’m sorry for it.” Fat tears trickled down Darleen’s cheeks. “I feel so bad for you. I wish I could make up for it. Is there any way you can forgive me?”

Isabel stared at her, her expression stony.

“Please. I’ll go down on my hands and knees and beg if that’s what it will take.”

“Do it.” Isabel’s gaze sharpened.

Darleen pushed up from the couch. Looking at her blotchy, tear-soaked cheeks, Cassie stood. “Isabel,” she said, her voice warning.

Isabel gave her a dark look and shrugged one shoulder. “Oh, all right.” Her voice was petulant. “I forgive you.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Shay, thank you.” Darleen hurried towards Isabel, her arms outstretched to hug her. “Is that okay if— Oh!” She jumped back. “You’re
cold.
”

“That’s what happens when you’re dead.”

Cassie shared a look with Luke. Trading Joe for Isabel as a ghost friend was not a good bargain. Cassie missed Joe, but understood he had his own life—or death—to lead.

Luke stepped between Isabel and Darleen. “You got what you came for. I think you can leave now.”

“I will, I will.” She reached into her coat pocket, and Cassie saw Luke tense, his gaze on her hand. When she came up with a tissue, his body relaxed slightly. He put his hand on her elbow, drawing her away.

She shuffled along with him. Cassie tagged after them. Isabel had disappeared. She was probably admiring the new furniture in her tower that she’d picked out from a JC Penney catalogue.

As Darleen walked through the front doorway, she speared Cassie with a sudden look. “Thank you for letting me talk to Mrs. Shay. Sometimes you just gotta have closure.”

Luke was closing the door on her when the phone rang.

“I’ll get that.” Cassie hurried in case it was Erin. Maybe it was too soon after Tricia’s breakdown and Vanessa’s appearance for Erin to sleep away from the house at a classmate’s birthday party. She seemed fine, but so had Tricia, and look what happened there.

It took Cassie a second to recognize the voice on the other end of the phone. “Father,” she said.

“I heard what happened to you,” he said. “It was on
Entertainment Tonight.
Why didn’t you call me?”

She resisted the urge to hang up the phone. “You’re supposed to be a smart businessman. Maybe you can guess.”

There was a silence that she didn’t break. Finally he cleared his throat. “I suppose you heard what I said to the Sheriff.”

“Yes, the Sheriff apologized to me for not investigating my poisoning further.”

“I was...wrong,” her father said.

“Yes, you were.”

He cleared his throat again. “Can you forgive me?”

“Why do you want forgiveness now? Because my name is on TV, linked with a celebrity?”

“Of course not, how can you say that?” He spoke so fast, she knew he was lying.

“You told me often enough that you’re ashamed of me. Now it’s my turn, I’m ashamed of you.” He started to object, and she talked over his sputters. “You made my mother miserable while she lived. You’ve lost the power to do that to me.”

“I’m your father! You can’t talk to me this way.”

“You’re right. I don’t have to talk to you that way—or any way. Goodbye. Don’t call again.” She hung up and turned to Luke. Without a word or a question, he pulled her against his chest.

She didn’t cry, she was all cried out on this subject. But an ache remained inside her. Darleen had talked about closure, but hanging up on her father hadn’t brought it. She still hurt inside as if hell had ripped through her. Would it ever go away?