Page 36 of One Last Touch

Chapter Fourteen

There was something different in the way Sage looked at me now after what had happened between us. There was a shared sense of intimacy that only came from knowing exactly what someone looked like naked, and maybe knowing what lay beneath the surface too.

We’d stayed up chatting for hours until he had chastised me, practically bullied me, into getting some sleep and I’d reluctantly closed my eyes and been glad to see him when I opened them again in the late morning.

I’d packed a flask full of tea and allowed him to drag me outside into the weak sunshine early this morning. The smell of damp earth and water from the lake had become a familiar comfort, slowing my pulse as I breathed it in. I’d never been in a boat before, but Sage thought the lull of the water would ease our minds as we tried to think of a way to get rid of Jared without causing my death or risking the others. It was hard, there wasn’t exactly a handbook that we could refer to and despite the fact that I maybe loved one, I didn’t consider myself an expert by any means.

“What about the bible?” Sage suggested, keeping his eye on the paddles I’d balanced precariously across my legs as the soft current in the lake let us drift.

“You want to pray? Now?”

He rolled his eyes, the shade from the weeping willow making them look darker than usual. “No. I mean, what if we performed like, an exorcism or something.”

“He’s not a demon.”

“Close enough,” Sage muttered and I had to agree.

“Even if that was possible, I wouldn’t want to exorcise you all. It feels like it's more of a blanket attack then a targeted approach,” I reasoned and Sage blinked at me. “What?”

“I don’t know, it’s just kind of hot when you talk about strategy.”

My laughter echoed around us and several ducks swam hastily in the opposite direction to our small boat. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

Sage shrugged but a smirk curled the edges of his mouth. “Okay, so you don’t think scripture would help. So maybe we need to force him to move on somehow, fight him.”

“He’s incorporeal,” I pointed out and Sage grinned, opening his mouth and I waved my hand at him, knowing he had been about to say something inappropriate. “Get your mind out of the gutter, we’re supposed to be concentrating.”

He leaned back against the other end of the boat with a sigh. “I know, I’m just… I don’t want to miss a single moment or wish I’d said something when I could have.”

I frowned. He was acting like he had already left me. I knew it was a foregone conclusion, he was a ghost and I was very much alive, eventually he would have to leave me and go wherever it was spirits were supposed to. It didn’t mean I wanted to focus on that though, I would rather just enjoy the time we had.

“Maybe we just need to salt and burn his bones,” I teased, trying to lighten the suddenly heavy mood and Sage cocked his head.

“Why would that help?”

“I–” I coughed. “Oh my god. You died in what, 2000?”

“Yep.”

“You never got to see Supernatural.”

“Oh. Is it a ghost hunting show?”

I stared at him. “Kind of.”

“Well, I don’t think that would necessarily do anything to him. Plus, I have no idea where he was buried, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t put in the Alswell plot unlike the rest of us.”

I nodded absently, letting the sound of the water wash over me. It was surprisingly soothing out here, quiet, but completely alive. The ducks splashed errantly and I dipped my fingers into the water every now and then, loving the way it felt like silk slipping through my fingers.

“We’ll work it out. We have time.”

I wasn’t so sure about that but I nodded anyway. Suddenly, the ducks lifted out of the water, flapping their wings as they coasted along the top of the lake and Sage glanced up at the sky when the boat rocked.

“We should probably head back, it looks like the weather’s turning.”

It did that a lot up here, something about the fact that we were higher up than the town made the weather more unpredictable. I didn’t fully understand it, but it sure kept me on my toes. I picked up the paddles and tried to move them as Sage instructed me until soon we were sailing somewhat clumsily back toward the short wooden dock and pier.

I stood slowly as the boat bumped into the pole and I tied it off as I tried not to fall. The current had definitely picked up and the water turned black as the clouds sunk from light grey to charcoal. Sage moved out of the boat and onto dry land, reaching his hand back for me and I accepted it only out of sheer necessity—there was no way I’d be getting out of this boat by myself.