Page 38 of Master of Pleasure (Lessons From the Rack 3)

The woman nodded. “Interesting. And yet you can still see me. That’s good to know.”

Whether Veronica wanted to know the answer or not, this time she had to ask. “Why wouldn’t I be able to see you?”

“Because I’m dead.”

Those three words were spoken so matter-of-factly it took Veronica a second to realize their meaning. “You’re dead? As in dead, dead?”

“Yup.” The woman nodded. “I’m as dead as they come—but don’t worry, you aren’t. At least, I don’t think you are.”

Veronica didn’t like the way the woman frowned after she spoke, like it was a possibility they were both dead. She couldn’t be dead. Wouldn’t she have remembered dying? She didn’t feel dead, and surely she’d feelsomethingif she was dead. Not wanting to dwell on the subject anymore, she recalled something the woman said earlier. “I’m in your house? Are you Winnie?”

“Yes,” the other woman replied, and in that instant Veronica realized she was in a dream. There was no other conceivable option.

Besides, she had a strange feeling of déjà vu. She was certain she’d been in this particular forest before. As a whole, the surroundings felt comfortable and familiar, or at least her dream self found them to be that way. It was only when she looked at the details that everything became more questionable and strange.

“Is this heaven?” Veronica asked. It certainly didn’t look anything at all the way she thought heaven would look, but dreams could be funny like that.

“How can this be heaven if we’ve already established that you aren’t dead?” Winnie asked.

“I don’t remember us deciding with certainty that I wasn’t dead.” Veronica couldn’t believe she was arguing in her dream with a dead woman. “We just said we didn’t think it was likely I was dead.”

“Okay, then.” Winnie crossed her arms in front of her. “If you want to get all technical, does this look like heaven?”

Veronica took another look around. “It’s not the way I pictured heaven looking, but I suppose it might look how some people imagine it to look.”

“If you thought it was heaven, why would your first thought be to figure out the quickest way to the beach?”

It wasn’t odd Winnie knew what she’d been thinking, Veronica told herself. This was her dream; of course the people in it would know what was in her head. “How —”

“Stop.” Winnie held her hand up. “Seriously, you alive people are all the same. Where am I? How do I get back?” She put her hands on her hips. “For once I’d like to be asked a question that made sense like, why am I here?”

“I actually did have that as a question,” Veronica said. “It was actually one of my first ones, but then I came up with so many additional questions, I forgot to ask that one.”

Nothing from Winnie.

Veronica tried again. “Why am I here?”

“It doesn’t count if I have to give you the question.”

“I don’t remember people in my dreams being so difficult before.”

“What is it with the dream thing?” Winnie asked. “Just because you’re sleeping, it has to be a dream?”

“That’s typically the way it works.”

“But that doesn’t mean ithasto work that way.”

Winnie had a point, but Veronica wasn’t going to tell her as much. She wondered idly if she could make herself wake up? If so, she’d vow to never again spend the night in Winnie’s house.

“Anyway,” Winnie said. “Enough of the small talk. I have a few things I need to tell you before you leave and your time here becomes nothing but a vague memory with uncertain validity. I need you to cooperate by listening and not talking.”

Veronica opened her mouth to say something, but Winnie shook her head. “Nope. I meant it. No more talking from you. It’s your time to listen. Now you’ve made some major changes in your life over the past five years. For the most part, they were good changes that needed to happen. You’ve become stronger and more independent. But the truth is you need to learn to allow others to help you and to look for answers in places you typically wouldn’t. Because before too long, you’re going to be confronted with new information, and how you handle it will determine your future.”

“Are you trying to be a fortune-teller with that speech?” Veronica lifted an eyebrow at Winnie. “Because that’s vague enough to fit into just about anyone’s life. I mean, made major changes, became stronger and more independent, how I handle new information will determine my future? Please.”

“Are you implying that I’m making this up?”

“I’m saying it doesn’t mean anything because I could repeat the same phrases to random people on the street and it’d make sense in the lives of 95 percent of them.”

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