Page 180 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
“Pay attention to what?”
“Nothing,” she sighed in exasperation and wiggled her fingers at the small radio beside the fridge. The thing popped on with a click, cycling through static and fuzz until it landed on something they both instantly recognized.
Their song.
The one they were supposed to dance to on their wedding day.
“Dance with me?”
Could he dance with a figment of his imagination? He figured why not and set the beer aside to take her in his arms. “I’ll never pass up a chance to dance with you.”
“I’m the only one you better be dancing with,” she said, trying to be serious as her cold arms wrapped around his neck. “I would hate to haunt some poor innocent woman you might try to date.”
He smiled bigger than he had in years. The idea of being with someone else was ludicrous, and as they swayed, Laura Jean felt a little more solid, and so—on impulse—he dipped her low in a sweeping motion. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Don’t test me, Benjamin.” She nuzzled his nose with hers. “I will scare—”
He kissed her.
Insanity and cheap beer had dragged him to the brink, and tumbling off the cliff sounded like a great idea. She was here. The woman he would love for all eternity was in his arms exactly where she belonged. He wasn’t about to waste a second of it.
And of all the torturous things, she kissed him back. Burying her fingers in his hair, she didn’t feel quite so cold anymore. The touch broke his heart, but it also multiplied his desperation by a thousand. With every stroke of her tongue and every tiny moan that escaped her, he allowed himself to believe.
“Stay with me.” This begging was getting old, but he sure as hell would keep doing it if it meant keeping her near. “I know I’m crazy. Iknowit, and I don’t care. I’m not strong. I’m not okay. Please don’t take these visions of you from me.”
“I will never leave you,” she whispered, breathless from their kiss. He recognized it was an odd state for a hallucination to be in, but he wasn’t about to argue. Having her like this, with her lips swollen and her face flushed, reminded him of their first kiss in the middle of a hurricane. “Remember, we have a deal. You stay, and I wait. It sucks for both of us, but the years will become nothing, and then we’ll be together.”
She was growing entirely too serious, and he couldn’t stand it. He needed to see her smile again. “Why in the hell would you think I’d ever want to dance with someone else?” He tickled her ribs, holding on tight as she squealed and squirmed in his arms. “I’m offended.”
“Because women throw themselves at you, and some are very pretty!” She popped up on her toes, trying to meet him face-to-face. “I can’t blame them. You are the most beautiful man to walk the earth—”
“Oh, you are so full of shit.”
“For certain, but I can still have that opinion.”
He chuckled and continued their dance. Whatever beer he’d been drinking, he was going to bring home cases of it. “I’m doing better, but you know I’ll have to tell that doctor about this.”
“I’m so proud of your progress.” She leaned her cheek against his chest. “And yes, tell him. It’s okay to talk to people, Ben.”
“People are overrated.”
She poked a finger in his side. “What I’m trying to say is that it’s okay to talk about me.”
“I do talk about you. I talk about you all the time with Jamison. I tell her stories so she knows her mother. I do it with Evie, too, so she won’t forget, but I include Albie.”
“Don’t let anyone make you think you’re not a good man, Benjamin Fairweather. You’re the best man. And I can’t thank you enough for caring for my girls.”
“Our girls.” He rested his chin on the top of her head. “If Evie weren’t an adult, I’d change her name to Fairweather. I should have done it already, but I’ve just been so…lost.”
“Don’t worry. She’ll be a Fairweather one day.”
“Dad!” Jamison shouted from the living room. “I’m off the phone. Is the popcorn ready?”
He dropped a kiss on Laura Jean’s head before turning just enough to yell over his shoulder. He wanted to make sure Jamison could hear him or else she might come running in to investigate what was taking so long. “Almost. Two more seconds.”
But when he turned back, his arms were empty. The dark kitchen, with its beautiful floral tiles and white curtains dancing in the night wind, sat completely vacant. Laura Jean was gone once more, leaving him alone to deal with this long life without her.
He knew none of it was real. It never was. His brain might have faulty wiring after losing so much, but he at least could keep a level head. He understood that these ghostly visits were his way of coping. They felt good. They allowed him to breathe again.
