Ghostly Touch (5 page)

             
After three massages and one body wrap, Zula’s day was finished. She pulled the door shut and checked the handle to make sure it was locked, then hurried up the walk to her house. Thaddeus greeted her with a loud meow as he wound his way between her legs.

“Are you a hungry kitty?
” Zula asked, lifting him to her shoulder and carrying him into the kitchen. He leaped from her arms to the counter, while Zula selected a can of tuna and opened it for him. “There you go, lover boy. Bon appetit! Now let’s see what I want for supper.”

She opened the refrigerator and frowned. She hadn’t been to the market in nearly two weeks and there was little food left to choose from. “Yogurt it is,
” she said and turned to get a spoon just as the phone rang.

             
“Hello,” she said, lifting the lid from the yogurt container and dipping the spoon into the creamy contents.

             
“Hi, this is Connor, how was your day?”

             
Zula chuckled to herself at the way butterflies suddenly fluttered in her stomach. “It was great, Connor. How was yours?”

             
“Not bad, but I was just looking in the fridge and decided I could either eat a cold meatloaf sandwich for supper, or, I could call you and see how you feel about pizza?”

             
“Hmm, I feel pretty good about pizza,” she replied with a laugh.

             
“Everything on it?”

             
“As long as it doesn’t include anchovies.”

             
“Not a problem,” Connor said. “How’s an hour sound?”

             
“I’ll see you then.” Zula hung up the phone. She finished the yogurt, rinsed the container and lid and dropped both in the recycling bin. “All right, Thad, you behave while I get ready. Mommy has company coming.”

             
After a quick shower and fresh clothing, Zula blow dried her hair and went back downstairs. She made a salad with vegetables she had grown in the greenhouse and mixed up a vinaigrette dressing. She sliced a couple of homegrown beefsteak tomatoes onto a plate and drizzled olive oil and balsamic vinegar over them, and added a sprinkle of freshly cut basil. She set the table for two, finishing just as the doorbell sounded.

             
“Connor, come in.”

             
“I have one large pizza with everything and a six-pack of beer,” he said, entering the foyer.

             
“I’ll take the beer,” she offered, and led him into the dining room.

             
“Hey, looks great,” he said, setting the pizza down.

             
“Thanks. Do you want a glass for the beer or…?”

             
“I’m a straight from the bottle kinda guy.” He grinned and Zula handed him a bottle.

             
“Make yourself comfortable and I’ll put the rest of these in the refrigerator.” She smiled and disappeared into the kitchen.

             
Connor pulled out a chair and sat down, helping himself to a sliced tomato. “These are fresh,” he said through a mouthful when Zula came back to the table with a beer for herself.

             
“I grow them,” she said and twisted off the bottle cap. She looked at the label on the bottle. “Where did you get this beer? I’ve never seen it here in town.”

             
“I have a cousin in Northern California who works at a microbrewery out there. This is one of their specialties.”

             
Zula tipped the bottle up and took a drink. The beer had a nice oat flavor to it, soft and mellow on the palette, with no after bite. “Mmm, this is really good. And for me to say that, you know it’s good because I’m not much of a beer drinker.”

             
“Maybe that’s because you’ve never had real beer before,” Connor said with a crooked grin.

             
“You may be right,” she agreed with a laugh. “Well, don’t just sit there, eat.” They laughed and talked as they ate and when they were finished, went into the living room.

             
“I like the way this house feels,” Connor commented as he propped his feet up on the worn footstool. “It’s old and homey. Reminds me of my grandmother’s house.”

             
“Thank you. Most of the furniture belonged to my grandmother. My mother did replace a few things over the years and added to what was here. I’ve left it basically the way it was while I was growing up.”

Connor tipped the beer bottle to his lips and swallowed the last of the liquid. “Would you like another one?
” Zula offered.

             
“I’ll get it,” Connor said, coming to his feet. “No need for you to wait on me. You want another?”

             
“Sure.” Zula nodded, and watched Connor push the swinging door open to the dining room. He seemed so relaxed and Zula liked that a lot. He was easy going and appeared to have a great sense of humor and healthy outlook on life, from what she could tell about him in the short time she’d known him, he was nearly perfect.

             
“Here you go,” Connor said as he entered the room with two beers in one hand and another slice of pizza in the other.

             
“Thank you.” Zula accepted the beer.

             
“I would’ve brought you some pizza too, but you didn’t even finish your second slice so I figured you’re full.” He dropped onto the sofa and set his beer on a coaster on the coffee table. He took a large bite of pizza and washed it down with a drink of beer.

             
“No, I’m full. Pizza is kind of heavy and I don’t eat heavy foods very often. I prefer to stick with lighter meals. Salads, grilled chicken, seafood, that sort of thing.”

             
Connor nodded as he took another bite. “That all sounds good,” he paused and looked at Zula, “for an appetizer.”

             
Zula couldn’t help but chuckle. “I think our habits are just a little different.”

             
“They sure are. I’ve wanted to ask you something, so I hope I don’t offend you.”

             
“I’m sure you won’t, but I reserve the right to refuse to answer.” Zula smiled.

             
“Deal.” Connor sipped his beer. “I’ve heard all the stories about your grandmother and her mother before her, and I was wondering if there’s any truth to it?”

             
Zula nodded her head slowly and took a drink of beer. “I was wondering how long it would take before you asked. And no, it doesn’t bother me at all to talk about them. I had nothing to do with any of it and what happened isn’t any more my fault than it is yours.”

             
“I read the town history book down at the library. They really did hang, drown, and burn your great-grandmother at the stake, didn’t they?”

             
Zula nodded. “They did. But there is more to the story. She was madly in love with this man, but he was much older and not exactly the type of man her parents wanted for her. Her father ran him off and found a different, more suitable man for my grandmother to wed. It wasn’t love, but she said he took good care of her.”

             
Connor looked at her, and then laughed. “What do you mean ‘she said’?”

             
Zula glanced away and took a breath. Then she tipped up her beer and took a long drink.
Oops
, she thought. “I just meant that it’s the story that’s been handed down in my family. Her father told her that the man had taken a hundred dollars in exchange for leaving for good. He was actually trying to sneak my great-grandmother away when her father and the local sheriff caught and killed him, and then dumped his body in the old mining shaft.”

             
“That wasn’t in the book,” Connor said.

             
“No, it wouldn’t be.” Zula took a deep breath and wondered if she should go ahead and tell him about his great-grandfather. On one hand, if she told him now he might get upset enough to leave. But if she told him at some future date, he might be even more upset and leave. She blew out another breath and turned toward Connor. “The story goes that the man who was in love with my great-grandmother was named Connor.”

             
Connor laughed out loud. “That’s funny.”

             
Zula smiled. “It gets funnier.

             
“Really? I can’t wait to hear it.”

             
Zula took a deep breath and told him the story her great-grandmother told her. She left out the part about him being her soul mate.
A little at a time
, Zula thought.

             
Connor stared at her for a few moments when she finished the tale. He took a long pull off the beer in his hand, then said, “I’ll be damned. That’s a pretty wild story, isn’t it?”

             
“Pretty wild,” Zula agreed.

             
Connor checked his watch, and swallowed the last of his beer. “I’ve got an early morning, so I’ll say goodnight.”

             
Zula stood with him and followed him to the front door. “Thank you for the pizza and the company.”

             
“No problem,” he said. “I’ll talk to you later.” He left her standing in the doorway without trying to kiss her goodnight.

             
“What do you make of that, Thad?” The cat rubbed his head against Zula’s face as she carried him up the stairs to her room and dropped him on the bed. Zula went into the bathroom, washed her face and brushed her teeth, then climbed into bed. “Goodnight, Thad.”

~ * ~

             
His hands slid slowly up her legs, his thumbs massaging her as he went. When he reached the top of her thighs, his fingers splayed wide, his thumbs moving in small, slow circles coming ever closer to her pussy. Stopping just at the outside of her opening, massaging her in the most private of places in the most sensual way. Her hips began to move in rhythm with his hands.

             
Her hands moved over her own body, slowly moving across her stomach, over her breasts and back down. Slowly massaging her stomach, moving lower to her thighs until her hands met his. Spreading her hands over his, she let the sensations wash through her like warm oil. Every nerve ending attune to his movements, reaching out to him, calling to him from some secret place yet unexplored.

             
His thumbs continued to move in slow, sensuous circles coming closer to dipping inside of her with each motion. His forefingers moved to either side of her clit, not touching her there, yet moving her closer and closer to orgasm. Then he added his breath, a simple, cool breath blown over her clit. She felt the electricity gather from the souls of her feet, travel up her legs, pooled in her belly, and then she exploded.

              Zula sat upright in bed, breathless, her body still vibrating from the orgasm. She wiped her face with her hands and blew out a breath.

             
“What was that?” She shook her head, threw back the blankets and slid out of bed.  “Whew! If Connor is anything like his grandfather…”

             
In the bathroom, Zula splashed cool water on her face, grabbed a hand towel and dried. She went back into her room, glanced at the clock, and saw that it was nearly six. “May as well get ready for the day. Come on Thad, time to get up.”

                                                           ~ * ~

              Connor came awake, confused by the dream he’d just had. Was it a dream? He wondered. Or was it something more? This wasn’t the first time he’d woken up from an all-too-real-dream about Zula.

             
He flung the covers back and looked down, his boxers showing the evidence of just how real the dream was. Muttering under his breath, Connor went to the bathroom and took a shower.

             
The dream flashed through his mind as the water poured over him. He just couldn’t figure out how a dream could seem so real, could
feel
so real that he actually ejaculated in his sleep. That hadn’t happened since he was a teen.

But here he was, a grown man having wet dreams.

              Zula’s story about her ancestor and his knowing one another was definitely strange, but his ancestor Connor was completely unknown to him. He didn’t believe in reincarnation any more than he believed in witches, ghosts and goblins.

             
The story was simply a local legend and had nothing to do with him today, or with his nighttime dreams and emissions.

             
Connor toweled off, put on deodorant and got dressed. He had a septic tank to dig up in less than thirty minutes.

~ *~

              Or was it Connor and not his great-grandfather? Zula wondered. Was it possible that the two of them were so connected that they were actually making love to one another? But how could she broach the subject with Connor? It wasn’t like she could say,
Hey Connor, any sex dreams about me recently?
She chuckled and shook her head at the thought.

             
“Come on, Thad. Let’s get some breakfast. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.” She carried the cat downstairs to the kitchen and he sat on the counter watching Zula scramble eggs with fresh sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and cheese. When finished, she put a portion on a plate and blew on it until it was cooled, then set it on the counter next to Thad.

             
Pulling up a stool, Zula ate her breakfast but didn’t really taste it. Her mind was on the dreams, and as great as they were lately, and she knew the man in her dreams was Connor, she didn’t understand why he hadn’t even tried to kiss her, much less attempt to have sexual relations with her. Was he having the dreams too? Were they just dreams brought on by a lack of sex? It had been quite a long time since Zula had a man in her bed, maybe they were something more, like transcendental dreams perhaps? Maybe the two of them really were soul mates and in their sleep-state, they connected on a transcendental plain? If that was the case, then Connor would be having the same dreams as she. Now, just how would she go about asking him if he is having the same dreams?

             
“So, what do you think, Thad? Should I just say,
Hi Connor, had any sex dreams about me lately?
I’m sure that would work.” Zula laughed and took her plate to the sink, washed it, and put it in the wooden rack to dry. “I have a few things to tend to in the back yard, Thad. I need to deadhead the roses, pull a few weeds, and get the flower beds ready for winter planting. I’ve got some new bulbs I’m going to put in for spring.”

She grabbed her things from the back porch and opened the screen door. Thad followed her outside and found a warm, sunny patch to make himself comfortable. While Thad stretched and laid down, Zula knelt on her knee pad and began sipping the dead heads from the rose bushes. Suddenly, she began to feel woozy, like she had drunk one too many cocktails, or stood up too fast. The world around her began to spin.

“Grandma Zula, is that you?” Zula said, barely able to speak at all. “What is going on?” She felt the world spiraling out of control, as if she was falling, spinning, being stretched in every direction.

Then everything appeared to turn white. So bright she couldn’t keep her eyes open against the intrusion. And the roaring in her ears sounded like a thousand oceans crashing against the cliffs. But just as suddenly, the sound was gone, and the eerie silence was more frightening than the sound had been. And then she was flat of her back and every sensation she had felt was gone.

~ * ~

             
Connor sat up in bed, feeling as if he just had a bad dream, although he couldn’t remember dreaming. He swung his feet out of bed and as he stood, he grabbed a robe and put it on while walking down the hallway to the kitchen. Pouring a glass of water, he drank it down, then poured another, still feeling very thirsty. The strange feeling of having a dream bothered him but he still couldn’t remember dreaming, and after another glass of water, he went back to bed.

             
Barely having shut his eyes, Connor felt his stomach lurch, as if he was about to vomit. He sat up suddenly, feeling dizzy and out of place. He threw back the covers and started to get out of bed but he couldn’t get his legs to obey. His head began to spin, or maybe the room around him was spinning instead. Trying as hard as he could to keep his head straight, he looked for something to focus on. Suddenly, he couldn’t hear anything. It sounded as if the wind had picked up and was blowing through his room, and then everything appeared to be bright white and he raised a hand to shield his eyes. Then, just as suddenly, the world faded into total darkness and he fell with a loud thump. His breath was knocked from his lungs, and he slowly opened his eyes while gasping for breath.