Seventh Seal - Jacquelyn Faye Page 0,22

place. I understood why he hadn't changed anything, Rebecca was everywhere. For the first time, seeing her didn't hurt so much.

The house wasn't much warmer than outside.

"You cold?"

"Yeah. It's freezing in here."

Chief shrugged and handed me my beer before turning and fiddling with the thermostat. The heat came on, blowing warm air from the duct above me. "Movie?"

"Sure." I smiled at him as he took my beer back, set both of them on the small table by the door, and got me out of my jacket. Mostly. Just before I was completely free, he grabbed it and pulled me close to him, his lips meeting mine.

"What was that for?"

"No reason except I couldn't resist."

The lights around us flickered, and the lamp on the table buzzed and the bulb blew. I couldn't help it. I yelped.

"Huh. That was weird." He reached over to the switch by the door and turned the rest of the lights on in the living room. They blinked to life and held steady.

"When was the last time you changed that bulb?"

"Couple of months ago. I knew I should have gotten the LED ones. They last forever. Sit." He pushed me gently toward the couch and grabbed our beers, handing me mine as he plopped down on the couch beside me and grabbed the remote.

The DVD player and TV both flickered to life and when he hit play, the movie started. "You planned this all out, didn't you?"

He grinned.

"Better not be porn."

He hit the stop button. "Do you think I would do that to you?"

"Before dinner, I would have said no. Now, I'm not so sure??

He hit play again, and the Disney theme played loudly, filling the room. "Loser." He grinned and took a sip of his beer.

"If it's Frozen, I'm leaving. And telling all your friends."

Lucky for him, it was Maleficent.

"Oooh. I haven't seen this yet. I told Mother she should audition but she was holding out for the old hag role if they remake Snow White."

He chuckled. "Oh, shut up. You know your mom is hot."

"Should I change my name to Stacy?"

"I said she was hot, not that she had it going on."

"Should I be worried?"

"Uh. I'm the one that should be worried. I keep waiting to wake up on a platter with an apple in my mouth as she cackles maniacally and sets the oven temperature to three-fifty."

"Four-twenty-five. Otherwise the outside is crispy, but the middle is too rare."

"You're scaring me." He smiled, leaned over, and kissed me.

The rest of the lights blew.

"Okay, what the fuck is going on?" He stood up, walked over to the window, and threw open the lace drapes to look up and down the road. "I don't see any power trucks."

"Check the rest of the house?"

He walked across the room and leaned into the kitchen, flicking the lights on. "This one works. Check the others?"

I got up and moved to the hallway. "This one works!" I looked toward the kitchen, but he had headed toward the garage. Turning back, I moved to the end of the hall to the bedroom. Leaning in, I flipped the switch and screamed.

She stood there, billowing and angry as she frowned from the corner of the bedroom beside a dressmaking form next to the window. If I hadn't seen a hundred pictures of her in the living room, I probably would have been confused and angry instead of shitting kittens. It wasn't every day that you ran into your boyfriend ex. It wasn't every day you ran into her ghost, either. At least she was whole and normal looking. I don't think I could have handled burnt briquette Becca.

Chief's footfalls echoed down the hallway as he skidded to a stop behind me and gasped. "Rebecca?"

"Maybe we should go to my place??

Chapter 7

One thing was for certain, after the night I'd had, I needed some fucking pie. And some coffee. I was fucking freezing and it had nothing to do with the weather. Chief had the heat pouring into the Jeep full blast. I don't think he was all warm and squishy on the inside, either. In fact, he hadn't said a word since we ran for the Jeep.

"Want some coffee and pie? We can talk."

He turned his head and let his eyes shift from the road to my face. Forcing a little smile, he gave me a slight nod.

"You okay?"

"We'll see after the pie and coffee."

He pulled into the parking lot between the station and the diner and we walked across the street. "Chief of