apologized. “I fell asleep early, and by the time I saw your message, it was late and I didn’t want to wake you up.” It was the truth. I had fallen asleep on the couch before eight. I slept for a couple of hours and then a nightmare woke me up. From that point on, sleep was elusive. I wasn’t interested in trying too hard out of fear I would have more nightmares.
“I see,” she said, and I could feel her hurt and anger in her voice.
“I came home,” I replied. “I wanted to check on things.”
“Oh?”
I wasn’t going to get into it over the phone. “Do you have any plans for the day?”
“Not really. I was thinking about taking a walk, but not much else.”
“Would you like to drive up the coastline a bit?”
“What does that mean?” she questioned with weariness in her voice.
“I was thinking we could find somewhere quiet and enjoy the day. Anything you want. I just want to spend some time with you.”
“I would like that, sure,” she said after several very long seconds. “I think that’s a good idea.”
“I’ll be at your place in an hour. Does that work?”
“Yes,” she said.
I was going to have to kill more time, but I wasn’t going to do it in the house. I had already showered and gotten ready for the day, hoping she would agree to spend it with me. If she would have shut me down, I would have said my goodbyes and hopped on the first flight out. I was a coward and obviously afraid of ghosts.
I left the house, a cold shiver going down my spine as I headed for my car. I didn’t know if it was mind over matter or if I was just plain crazy, but I couldn’t shake the ghost feeling.
I got to her place forty-five minutes later. She was just finishing with her makeup. The moment she opened the door, I knew she saw too much. “Are you okay?” she asked right away.
“Fine,” I replied. “Why?”
She pulled a face, gesturing for me to go inside. “You look a little rough around the edges. I take it you didn’t sleep well last night?”
There was no point lying. “No, not really. It’s tough being in that house. I know it’s dumb but it’s the way it is.”
“It is not dumb. We are all entitled to our feelings.”
I groaned, rolling my eyes. “I don’t need my head shrunk.”
She laughed softly. “I won’t try to shrink your head. That would require a professional with a lot of experience to sort through all of that.”
“You are right. I was hoping we could avoid the subject altogether. Hence my desire to do something fun and completely unrelated to the real problems I’m facing.”
“What did you have in mind?” she asked.
“Do you want to play tourist?” I asked.
“And what would that entail?”
I shrugged. “I was thinking we could go down to the boardwalk, check out the aquarium, and just hang out on the beach. Or maybe we could drive up to LA. We could visit Hollywood and really play tourist.”
“I’ve been to the boardwalk a few thousand times, but I’ve never been to Hollywood.”
“No way, really?”
“Really. It’s not exactly my dad’s thing. I have thought about going a few times but then I always feel so cheesy. Then I tell myself I don’t have the time and I end up not going.”
“Then, let’s do it,” I said with finality. “Charge your phone. We want to make sure we are ready to snap pictures of any celebs we might see.”
“They don’t actually hang out in Hollywood, do they?”
I shrugged. “I guess we’re about to find out.”
She clapped her hands together. “I’m excited. This is a first for me. Do you want me to drive?”
“I have my car,” I told her.
She raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were selling it?”
“I didn’t actually do it. Yet. I will probably store it or something. I don’t know yet.” Yes, I was indecisive. I couldn’t pull the trigger on anything. Fortunately, I didn’t have to. I could afford to let things ride for a while.
“And your house?”
“It’s still there,” I teased.
“All right, I get it. You don’t want to talk about it.”
“I’m sorry. It’s probably not the healthiest option but I need to put it all out of my mind for a while. I don’t want to think.”
She offered me a small smile and gave me a quick kiss. “Then that will be the goal for today. You will be