Unfinished Business An Angela Panther Novel (A Chick-lit Paranormal book) (The Angela Panther Series) (7 page)

“It would be your only option. No one touches the cups but us. It is an unwritten law.”

She put a bag down on the counter, and snipped at me. “Do not touch the merchandise. Get the coffee and I’ll get out the yummies.”

“Yes, ma’am." I filled the coffee cups.

Mel spread out an assortment of fattening, heart-stopping, sugary bliss, puffed out her chest and smiled her best,
am I the greatest friend ever or what
smile. “I brought the good stuff. I figured this calls for some serious sugar.” Four extra large confetti cupcakes – Mel’s favorite – two monstrously huge red velvet, and two vanilla with cream cheese frosting cupcakes, both tied for number one on my list of diet-destroying luxuries, sat on my kitchen table, and I already felt my butt growing. Next to them was a Cheesecake Factory variety cheesecake with extra huge slices of turtle and chocolate chip. We each took a cupcake and piece of cheesecake. I chewed quietly, but Mel made orgasmic-like sounds with each forkful.

“Hmm, delish,” she moaned “So good. This is so good. I think I’m having a sugar-gasm.”

Mel had a lot of food-oriented orgasms, and felt the urge to describe them all in detail. Thankfully she’d never done that with any other kind of orgasms. Yet. “Yesterday you had an Oreo-gasm,” I reminded her. “Pretty soon you’re going to be ’gasmed out.”

“One can never have too many gasms." Her mouth was full and a little cupcake shot out. "Oh, sorry."

“Oh geez.”

She made more obnoxious moaning sounds. “I bet Nick loves it when you eat something you like.”

She stared at me. “Um, are you referencing sugar laden yummies or something sexual?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“On how much TMI is involved in the sexual one.”

“A lot.”

“Ew. Then sugar laden yummies, definitely.”

She took a bite out of a confetti cupcake and let out an over the top moan, just to gross me out.

“Stop it. I don’t need the visual.”

We both laughed, and stuffed our faces with more sugary goodness, then chased it all down with warm, soothing coffee. There was nothing better than a sugar and caffeine high with your best friend. Not even sex. Yes, I really did say that, hard not to when you’ve just eaten a little bit of Heaven. “I so needed this.”

Mel was serious. “So how are you, really? I barely heard from you the whole time you were gone.”

“Yeah, I know. I figured it wasn’t appropriate to text during the memorial service. People might find that rude.”

“People are so sensitive.”

“I know. It’s annoying.”

“Seriously though, how are you? You put on a good game face, but I know you. Are you sleeping?” She took a hair band from her wrist and pulled her long, black hair into a ponytail.

“I’m fine, really.” I filled my mouth with a big bite of vanilla cupcake and looked out the kitchen window. “I’ve seen her, you know.”

Mel’s forkful of turtle cheesecake stopped in midair, and her mouth dropped open. She turned and peered out the kitchen window, too. “Whaaat?” She put the bite of cheesecake in her mouth, and talked while she chewed. “What do you mean, you’ve seen her? Like in a dream?”

“Nope. Like floating next to me when I’m wide awake.”

She shook her head. “You have not.”

“Yup. I have.”

“Stop messing with me, Ang.”

“Not messing with you, Mel. I’ve seen her. Blue robe and all.” I took a forkful of her cheesecake and moaned as I chewed it, just to distract her. It didn’t work.

“Holy shit.”

I scraped the last bite of cheesecake off of her plate and licked the fork. “Pretty much how I feel, too.”

“Well.” She gulped down her coffee. “Wow.”

“That’s all you’ve got to say about it? ‘Well, wow?’ Seriously?”

“I know. I’m a little surprised that I’m speechless, too, actually.” She wiped her mouth with a napkin, then ran her finger through the crumbs on her plate. “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Are you going to tell me about it?”

“Do you believe me?”

“You did not seriously just ask me that.”

I smiled at my friend. “I love you.”

“Who doesn’t? Now tell me everything.”

So I did. I filled her in on my Ma sightings, but didn’t really go into the conversations we had because only one friend in this relationship could lose their mind at a time, and since I’d already been awarded that honor, I didn’t want to push the limit with her sanity.

“Wow...wow. That’s amazing, and scary at the same time.”

“It’s not like I’m being haunted by Drew Peterson or something.”

“Drew Peterson isn’t dead.”

“He’s not?”

“Nope. But Jeffrey Dahmer is.”

“Oh, yikes. Definitely don’t want to be haunted by him.”

“Probably nobody would."

“It’s just strange. I mean, it’s my mom, and she’s dead, but she’s here.”

Mel surveyed the kitchen. “Is she here now?”

I laughed. “No. At least I don’t think so. It’s not like she comes around every day for coffee. Sometimes I can see her out of the corner of my eye, but when I turn to look at her, she’s gone. Sometimes we talk or actually, we bicker, like we did when she was alive. Between us, I’m not sure which is more alarming.”

“Probably the part where she’s lurking in the corner of your eye. Bickering was the norm for you two.”

“You really do believe me, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. And don’t worry, when Jake has you institutionalized, I promise to visit you and bring cheesecake and cupcakes.”

She took a drink of coffee. “So she actually talks to you?”

“Yup.”

“What does she say? Did she tell you there’s a Heaven? Has she been there?” She paused, and took a deep breath. “This is amazing, Ang.”

“I know. It’s unbelievable, really. She told me there is a light, and she went to it but she came back.”

“She came back? Why?”

“She said she has unfinished business.”

“What unfinished business?”

“Beats me. She sort of left that part out.”

“Well, cripes. What else did she say? Tell me everything.”

So I did. I also filled her in on Josh and his ability to see Ma, too. She asked if Jake knows. “I told him about the first time, and Josh told us both about her coming to him, but he thinks it’s our grief. You know Jake. He doesn’t really believe in things he can’t touch or feel.”

Mel rolled her eyes. “Men. They’re so closed minded. You’d think with two heads they’d have enough brain matter to see things differently.”

“I think their one head takes up so much of their thought processes it restricts the other one from proper blood flow.”

We both laughed and took another cupcake. I was pretty sure I’d throw up later, but I didn’t really care.

We finished off another piece of cheesecake and headed down to the basement to go through my mother’s things.

“Is she here? You need to tell me if she shows up."

I made a big deal of checking under my mother’s bed and behind her dresser. “Well, she’s not under the bed and I don’t see her...oh, wait. She’s here. There she is, right behind you. Hi, Ma." I waved my arms like an idiot.

Mel turned her head and checked behind her, then turned back and smacked my arm. “That’s cruel. Just tell me if she shows up, okay? I just want to know.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She laughed and then surveyed the room full of Ma’s stuff. “So what do you plan to do with all of this?”

“I don’t know. Give most of it to Goodwill, I guess.”

We sat on the floor and stared at what little was left of Ma’s things. A queen-sized bed, a dresser, chest of drawers and two matching nightstands, two TVs, six or seven large moving boxes, and maybe ten hatboxes full of stuff was all that was left of my mother. Almost eighty years reduced to a room full of stuff. I made a decision to work hard to let her memory live on then. It wasn’t right to leave this world with just stuff. Memories were far more valuable.

“I was sort of hoping we could keep the furniture down here and make this another guest room, but I don’t know now. What do you think?”

Mel studied the size of the room. “I don’t think so. This is your kids’ space, and you already have a guest room upstairs. Maybe Goodwill is the way to go.”

I knew she was right, but there was a part of me that didn’t want to get rid of any of Ma’s stuff. “Maybe I should see if my niece wants the furniture? She could use it for her new place.”

“That’s a good idea." She surveyed the stuff again.. “But what if your mother is here because she’s attached to her stuff? What if you give it to your niece and your mother goes with it?”

Just then Ma floated into the room. I had to admit, it was sort of cool, really, to watch her float like that. “I’m not attached to my stuff. I don’t just stay here, you know. Tell her I go to your brothers’ houses too. And anyway, I’m dead, what do I need all that crap for?"

“Mel, she’s here.” I whispered.

She didn’t even flinch. “Not falling for it, Ang.”

“No, I’m serious. She’s here. Floating on the right side of her bed. Look, do you see her?” I pointed to the right side of the bed, and then felt like an idiot for doing so.

Mel stared at the bed, squinted her eyes and stuck her neck out, as if that would help her see something impossible for her. “Oh my God. There she is. Holy crap, Ang, I can see her, right there.” She pointed in the wrong direction.

“Nice try, loser, but she’s here, I swear." I crossed my heart for good measure.

She focused on the bed again. Ma shook her hips and stuck out her tongue. I bit back a giggle.

“Stop messing with me." She hugged herself. “I’m freezing, Ang. What do you have the AC set on, negative 70?”

I laughed. “I told you, she’s here. It always gets cold when she comes around.”

Mel gave me her "
that's B.S
." look.

“Mel, I. Am. Serious. She. Is. Here.” I said it like a parent talking to a toddler in time out. “Ma, move something. Show her you’re here.”

Ma threw her hands up in the air. “Ah, Madone. What’s she think? I’m a magician or something? You know I can’t move things on purpose. Yesterday I was at your brother Paul’s house and I accidently touched the counter and knocked a dish over. Faith was there and when your brother came in, she got blamed for it. Poor bambina. Faith told him it was Grandma Fran, but that just got her in more trouble. I told her that seeing me is a secret, and not to tell her dad anymore, that we’d just keep it between us.”

Well, that added another layer to the taco dip, didn’t it? Selfishly, I couldn’t help but feel slightly perturbed that my mother showed herself to whoever could see her. I gave myself a face palm. A therapist would have a field day with that one.

“I’ll talk to Faith, Ma. Eventually. I’ll figure out a way to explain all of this.”

Mel looked and me and then back toward the bed again. “She’s really here, isn’t she? I can tell. You look like you’re really listening to her. Plus, that whole face palm thing sort of gave you away. You always did that when she frustrated you. Plus, I think you’re crazy but not crazy enough to talk to yourself like that. Yet. What’s she saying?”

I realized I was staring at my mother, and switched back to Mel. “She’s telling me she got my niece Faith in trouble because she accidently knocked a plate off the counter, but my brother didn’t believe Faith when she said it was Grandma’s fault.”

Mel got up and took my mother’s throw off of her bed and wrapped it around her. “Seriously Ang, it’s cold down here.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Not my fault. Blame Fran, Mel. I’m telling you, it’s her. You know how the mediums always say it gets cold when a ghost is around? Well, it does. Every time I’ve seen my mother, I’ve felt a chill. There’s your proof, Mel. She’s really here.”

“I believe you, Ang." She glanced toward the bed. “Um, hi, Fran,” she yelled to my mother, then whispered to me, “What does she want?”

“Oh, for the love of God, I’m dead. I’m not deaf. She doesn't have to yell."

I giggled. “Mel, Ma said she’s dead, not deaf, and I don’t know what she wants. You two have been so busy talking, I haven’t had a chance to ask.” I asked Ma what she wanted. She told me she had some things in her hatboxes and she wanted to make sure I gave them to her granddaughters, so Mel and I found them and put them aside. Mel was shocked and awed that my dead mother was here telling me what to do with her stuff. I was shocked and awed that she didn’t, for one tiny second, question my sanity anymore than normal, that is. They’re few and far between, friends like that. She so deserved another cupcake.

“I’m researching this tonight."

“Researching what?” Ma and I asked, in unison. We shot each other a quick look, and I felt good knowing that mother-daughter connection was still there.

“This...your mother being here, and not going to the light. I mean, seriously, there’s got to be a reason she’s here, you know? Something’s got to be keeping her here.”

“She’s a smart one, that Mel."

“Well, Ma. It’s not like I haven’t said that very same thing.”

Mel’s head jerked back and forth as she tried to catch a glimpse of my mother. “What’s she saying? Is she talking about me?”

I nodded. “She said you’re smart.”

Mel flipped her hair with her hand, and smiled seductively. “Well, duh. I’m the complete package. Smart and beautiful.”

“Of course you are. I wouldn’t hang out with you if you weren’t.”

My mother stuck her tongue out, put her finger in her mouth and made a gagging sound. I laughed out loud.

Mel was befuddled. “This isn’t fair. I feel like the odd woman out. You get to see both your mother and me, and I’m stuck with just you and only getting half of the conversation. Nothing personal, Ang, but I’d much rather see your mom right now.”

I gave her my sad face.

Ma floated over to Mel and tried to give her a hug, but her arms went right through my friend. “What a load of crap.” She grunted in frustration.

Mel shuddered. “Oh, wow. I just had a massive chill.”

Yeah, I bet you did.

I directed the conversation back to Mel’s earlier comment about Ma being here for a reason, because I knew if I mentioned the hug attempt, Mel would be freaked. “You know, I’ve been trying to figure out what’s keeping Ma here, too. I’ve asked her, but she avoids the issue.” I glanced at Ma, but she pretended not to notice, and stared at the wall. She’d become really good at avoiding issues since she died.