Kiss And Dwell (6 page)
She lifted the envelope marked with her name, then held it to her nose and
inhaled her grandmother
’
s favorite scent, magnolias. Monique wished this part of
the whole spirit-helping business didn
’
t excite her, but it did. Not that she
’
d
ever admit that to
’
d told Nanette the truth; she didn
’
t like the way
her medium status controlled her life. It was a pain—literally—when she had to
stop what she was doing and heed the summons. Still, she
’
d be lying if she said
this part of her family duty didn
’
t excite her, wondering whose information was
on the pages within and how she would influence their passage to the other side
.
However, Monique also knew that she was better off not caring too much about the
individual. She
’
d complete her task then she
’
d move on. Getting attached to
spirits wasn
’
t part of her plan. Too much opportunity to get hurt, and Monique
didn
’
t plan on getting burned by a spirit. Burned by a spirit—a funny way of
looking at it, given she burned every time one called.
“
Here you go.
”
Jenee
wedged past
Dax
and Nanette to hand Monique a big glass of
lemonade filled with ice and a round slice of lemon nestled in the middle.
“
That looks wonderful,
”
Monique said, accepting the glass, while the wind beat
in a maddening rush against the side of the house and the walls creaked in
immediate response to the onslaught.
“
You sure that tarp will hold?
”
Dax
.
“
Man, I hope so,
”
he answered.
“
But it probably wouldn
’
t hurt for us to keep an
eye on it.
”
“
I agree,
”
she said.
“
If we see it start to give, maybe we can climb up there
and keep it tethered long enough for the storm to pass.
”
Jenee
’
s
nose wrinkled as she shook her head.
“
No way can I climb a ladder in the
middle of a storm. I do good enough to stay on one that
’
s stable, and in broad
daylight.
”
She grinned, then added,
“
But I
’
ll hold it while you do.
”
“
Gee, thanks.
”
Dax
turned toward Monique before the three of them left to witness how his tarp
was weathering the storm.
“
You all set?
”
“
I
’
m fine,
”
she said, waving them on. And she was. Now that the burning had
stopped and she had the letter in hand, she was all set to take on this
assignment, help some ghost find his or her way home, then return to her life in
progress. And if she was lucky, return to Pierre
Comeaux
sometime in the not too
distant future.
She ran her finger beneath the edge of the envelope and listened to the soft
crack of the paper giving way as it opened. Then she withdrew three pages from
inside. The first was her grandmother
’
s letter on her usual pale purple
stationery. Placing the two plain white sheets in her lap, Monique unfolded
Adeline
’
s request. A cut lace border created a scalloped edge around the page
and instantly reminded Monique that this piece of paper had somehow traversed
the boundary between the living and the dead and, in the process, provided her
another chance to communicate with her feisty grandmother.
“
Hello, Granny,
”
she
whispered, then laughed when she saw the big blank space in the center of the
page.
Adeline
Vicknair
had passed on when Monique was ten. During the decade when
they
’
d both lived on this side, Monique had made it no secret that she wasn
’
t
enamored with the family duty of helping spirits. She
’
d told her grandmother on
plenty of occasions that she
’
d do it if she had to, but she wouldn
’
t like it,
and she wanted to know as little as possible about the ghosts that she helped
.
Thankfully,
GrandmaAdeline
had taken her granddaughter
’
s comments to heart, as
evidenced by the empty
‘
Reason for Death
’
section on the page. She knew Monique
didn
’
t want to know how the ghost died. She simply wanted to get the job done
and get back to her life.
Taking a deep breath, Monique read the information at the top of the page.
Name of Deceased—Ryan
Chappelle
.
Monique had a female customer at her salon whose name was Ryan; she also had two
male customers with the same name. She wondered whether this ghost was male, as
she
’
d suspected earlier. Not that it mattered. She
’
d do her job, either way, and
then she
’
d hope she wouldn
’
t be summoned for, oh, a good year. In her dreams
.
She
’
d never gone more than three weeks without Grandma Adeline
“
doing her
thing.
”
Monique let her eyes roam to the remaining information, written in her
grandmother
’
s swirling script, at the bottom of the page.
Requirement for Passage—Learning to Love.
Monique blinked, squinted at the words, then frowned. Learning to love? What did
that mean? Her previous assignments had been basically the same. They were all
relationship problems and typically involved the same directive. Forgive spouse
.
Hug mother. Tell a child that he or she was loved. Tell a parent that he or she
was loved. Something along those lines. But learning to love? And did that mean
that the ghost Monique was about to be saddled with for however long it took for
her to sort the problem out, usually a couple of days, was some kind of
non-loving, uncaring weirdo?
“
Come on, Granny, what were you thinking?
”
she asked, as a loose shutter flapped
smartly against the side of the house. Monique turned to stare at the window
generating the noise and wondered if her grandmother was able to do that from up
there.
Probably.
“
Okay,
”
Monique said with a sigh,
“
I didn
’
t say I wouldn
’
t do it. I
’
m just a
little surprised you sent this one my way.
”
Twisting back around on the settee, she flipped the purple page over, placed it
on the armrest, then moved to the second sheet. As usual, it listed rules for
dealing with the spirits. Monique could recite them by heart, but she was
required to read the pages in their entirety before her assignment officially
began.
She paused when she got to the no-touching rule. When had it been added? The
first few guidelines seemed extremely professional, then the last one appeared
to have been tacked on at some point over the years. She wondered which of her
ancestors had caused the modification. Whoever it was, she
’
d bet that she
’
d
inherited a good portion of those genes.
“
I
’
m not the first rebel
Vicknair
.
”
A loud clatter caused her to jerk her head toward the window once more. That
loose shutter had to be fixed, and soon. The thing was going to drive her over
the edge. It was bad enough that she was wet and cold, not to mention starving,
since she
’
d never got to taste the first bite of
s crawfish
étouffée
, but
now her nerves were frazzled too, courtesy of a rattling shutter.
When the thing finally banged its way back into place, she scanned the room once
more and determined that her ghost was evidently taking his or her sweet time
.
If she had known, she
’
d have gotten in at least one encounter with
again, if she had waited any longer, her body would have flat-out burst into
flames, no doubt about it. Nope, she
’
d returned home, like Adeline
Vicknair
wanted, so that damn ghost had better show up and let her get started.
Monique placed the sheet of rules on top of Grandma Adeline
’
s letter so she
could view the final page, the official document directing her grandmother to
assign Ryan
Chappelle
to one of her grandchildren. It amazed Monique that the
powers that be on the other side distributed their assignments as though sending
a modern e-mail.
To: Adeline
Vicknair
, Grand Matriarch of
Vicknair
Mediums
From:
Lionelle
Dewberry, Gatekeeper First Class
Cc: Board of Directors, Realm Entrance Governing Squadron
Subject: Case # 19-01-6418—Ryan
Chappelle
Current Status—Access Denied.
Required Rectification—Proof that claimant can achieve emotional love.
Time Allotted for Rectification—Nine days.
Monique
’
s jaw dropped. Nine days? No way was she hanging out with a ghost for
over a week. The longest assignment she
’
d ever had was three days. Nine. Days.
No way. Wasn
’
t happening.
She
’
d simply waste no time taking care of business, which, in Ryan
Chappelle
’
s
case, was teaching him how to love, as if Monique knew the first thing about it.
“
Damnation.
”
She shook her head at the irony. She
’
d never been in love, and she
was pretty pleased at making it to twenty-four without having it happen. Sure,
lots of
Vicknairs
before her had managed to handle the emotion and their family
obligations. But Monique had never quite gotten close enough to a guy to tell
him that she happened to spend a large portion of her life communing with the
dead. Somehow, it rarely came up in conversation.
Go figure.
Today was Friday, so nine days would have this ghost
’
s deadline…a week from
Sunday. Why so long? Was this spirit that big a challenge?
Super.
She bit her lower lip and concentrated on the task at hand. She could do it; she
had to, because she was not going to live with a ghost as her shadow for nine
days. She wasn
’
t. She couldn
’
t. Because that would obviously mean that she
’
d
have to go another week without sex, and
dammit
, she
’
d waited long enough.
Speaking of which, she
’
d forgotten to buy a supply of batteries today at
Wal-Mart, and from the look of the storm brewing outside her window, she
wouldn
’
t be able to swipe any from the flashlights without them being missed.
“
Where are you, ghost? The quicker you get here, the quicker you leave.
”
She
squinted at the remaining information, the standard
this-is-why-we-won
’
t-let-them-in spiel, and recited aloud,
“
Regarding Case
19-01-6418, aka Ryan
Chappelle
, based on the unanimous recommendation of the
Board of Directors, the aforementioned has been denied access beyond the realm
due to his inability to achieve love throughout twenty-eight years of earth
inhabitation.
”
Monique glared at the page, swallowed hard, and then continued,
“
While claimant
has experienced his share (and then some) of physical bonding, he refused to
open his heart to love. Thereby, the Board sees no reason to grant access to a
spirit who cannot love. The Board has generously provided an adequate span of
time for claimant to attempt to rectify the reason for denial. We believe this
period, nine days, to be sufficient; however, if the assigned medium feels this
calculation to be in error, a standard Form 489-074320-78X, Request for
Modification of Rectification Period, may be submitted to the Medium Grievance
Counsel for review. As with all assignments, should the claimant refuse or be
unable to complete the assigned task within the rectification period, that
individual
’
s ability to gain access beyond the realm will be irrevocably
denied.
”