Romance Anthology

Spirited Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Entering the apartment, she threw herself down on the sofa. How was she supposed to find a man for Polly? It wasn’t like she could see ghosts herself. Except for the one hanging around her current residence.

It had been three days since she started her search. She had been to local haunted houses, ghost tours, and had even wondered about the cemetery. Nothing. Nada. Her search had been fruitless, and she was once again home empty-handed. She hadn’t seen a spirit anywhere, despite what other people were saying.

“Most haunted places in town my….”

“You’re back! Any luck?”

“Nope.”

“Maybe it’ll just take some time.”

“We don’t have time to waste on this, Polly.”

“Should we invite Cole over for dinner?”

“Are you going to try and get a kiss from him?”

“Don’t be silly.”

“Then I don’t see the point. Besides, I don’t want to risk Ida coming over.”

“Would you forget about Ida?”

“I wish you would start thinking about her.”

There had to be some way to find another ghost that she hadn’t considered yet. Was it possible to find a medium or something in town? Maybe she could enlist the help of a psychic. Any kind of psychic at this point might be an improvement to her bumbling efforts.

“I still think you should invite Cole over. He must be lonely all by himself.”

“I doubt that. I’m sure he has friends. If not, he at least has his aunt.”

“You’re not a very friendly neighbor.”

She glared at Polly. Whatever the girl was up to, she needed to stop. It wasn’t like the ghost wasn’t being obvious about it. She was scheming. If she would put in the same effort in finding someone to kiss, this could all be resolved already.

If she had given up on this silly notion of Cole liking someone already, Polly could have been on her way to the afterlife days ago. It wasn’t a bad idea though. If the ghost wouldn’t plant a smooch on their neighbor, then how about another tenant? It was a big enough building and there had to be more than one man living there. Perhaps she could read the names on the mailboxes and figure out who else lived there.

Grabbing her keys for the door, she headed for the entrance. If she couldn’t tell who they were by the names, then she would stake out her lobby to see each one in person. It wasn’t quite desperate times yet, but close enough.

“Where are you going?”

“To get the mail.” Stopping with her hand on the knob, she turned to Polly with a smile. “Want to come along?”

“Sure.”

If she found a good candidate, then Polly could just kiss the guy on the spot. Problem solved. Why hadn’t she thought of it sooner?

* * *

Staring at the name plates presented a new roadblock. Some brilliant plan. The last names of the residents were there, sure. The first names though, nothing but initials. How were they supposed to tell who was who?

“What are you looking at?”

“Nothing.”

She’d come too far to give up now. There was no other way but then to wait for every person to walk through the door. There were a couple of armchairs sitting out of the way. Not exactly hidden, but if anyone asked, she could just say she was waiting for a package or something. Yeah. That was a plausible excuse.

Taking a seat, she faced the door. Settling in to wait, she patted the other chair for Polly. Slowly the ghost cautiously sat down while staring at her with wide eyes.

“What are we doing?”

“Waiting.”

“For….?”

“A man to walk through that door.”

“Why are you waiting for a man? You have a perfectly good one living right next door to you.”

“I agree but you refuse to kiss him so now we have to find another one.”

Someone cleared their throat off to the side. Glancing over, she cringed. She had forgotten about the doorman standing behind his desk. No one came into the building without a passcode or being buzzed in by him. She would have gotten up to inquire about the other building’s occupants. Unfortunately, he was looking at her as if she had lost her mind. There was no way he would tell her anything. At this rate she’d be lucky if he didn’t call someone to drag her away.

She looked him over out of the corner of her eye. He was a man. Maybe Polly could kiss him, and she could be done with the whole mess. He was older, but it wasn’t like her invisible companion was going to marry the guy.

“Don’t even think about it. He looks older than my father. I am not kissing him.”

“Have it your way.”

For a ghost, Polly was being unnecessarily picky. She sighed and slumped back into the chair. If she wouldn’t kiss the older man, then they would have to wait for another to walk through the doors. Hopefully, it won’t take too long. She’d rather not have everyone in the building thinking she was a creeper.

It wasn’t long before the doorman was buzzing someone in. It could be a delivery person or a guest of the building. It didn’t really matter as long as they were appealing enough for Polly to make her move.

“Rose! How wonderful to see you.”

It would figure that the first person they would encounter was the one person she had been hoping to never see again. At least not until Polly was gone.

“Ida, how are you? I didn’t know Cole was home today.”

“He’s at work. I came to see you and, well….” She had left the sentence hanging as her eyes moved to the chair beside Rose. If she had any doubts about the woman being able to see Polly, she didn’t anymore. “Shall we talk upstairs dear.”

“Let’s go. Come on Rose, don’t be rude.”

“Of course.”

As they walked up the stairs Polly talked Ida’s ear off. She kept a close eye on the two of them, not trusting the older woman at all. Polly, however, was much less weary and was bursting with excitement at having another person to visit with.

Ida didn’t seem too bothered by the ghost. She was being cautious with what she said. Keeping her end of the conversation to short sentences. Perhaps she was being mindful of being seen talking to thin air. If only Rose herself had thought about doing that in the lobby earlier. It wasn’t like she had been around ghosts before though. After being around Polly in the privacy of her home, she had gotten used to openly speaking to her.

Opening the door to her apartment, she waited for both women to walk past her before entering herself. Shutting the door, she effectively closed them all inside together. Who knew where things would go from there?

* * *

“She doesn’t belong here. Nothing good ever comes from having the dead walking among the living.”

“I’m right here, you know.”

“I’m aware.”

Things were not going in a very good direction. It was all minor pleasantries at first, before Ida had started in. For the last hour the argument had been going nowhere but in circles.

“Look, I understand what you’re saying. I’m trying to help her move on, so she isn’t stuck here anymore. If you had tried that in the first place instead of trapping her, that wouldn’t be a problem.”

“You should have left well enough alone. Everything was fine until you meddled.”

“Everything was not fine. Just because you chose a solution doesn’t mean it was the right choice. Would you have wanted to be locked away forever, never being able to cross over?”

“Wait, you really were the one that did that to me?”

Poor Polly. The news seemed to break her heart as she took a step away from Ida. Her eyes filled with moisture as she shrunk in on herself a little. Rose wished she could have saved the girl the pain of the truth, but it was better that she faced it than to not see Ida for the danger she was.

“So, what did she ask you to do for her? Does she want to possess you? Use you in some other way?”

That was a little cynical of her. Could there be spirits out there like that? Sure. That didn’t mean they all were. Judging much?

“She wants to find love.”

“Right, and how does she think she’s going to accomplish that exactly?”

She wasn’t usually a violent person by nature. The more Ida opened her mouth, though, the more she pictured punching the woman. Was it right? Probably not. Did she care? Not in the slightest. It would make her feel better too. Probably.

“She just needs to have her first kiss.”

“Even if that was possible, who would volunteer to kiss a ghost?”

“You know what? I’m done. I was trying to be nice for Polly’s sake, but enough is enough. You don’t have to agree with me. You don’t even have to help us, but I am done listening to you talk to her as if she’s detestable. Get the hell out of my home.”

Storming over to the door, she slammed it open to show Ida the way out. The older woman squinted a glare her way but didn’t budge from her seat. If she thought Rose wouldn’t physically remove her, she would be dead wrong.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to touch the old woman. Ida’s eyes looked out the open door of the apartment before her features fell in fear. Glancing over her shoulder, Rose checked to see what had caught Ida’s attention.

Cole stood across the hall looking as if he had been defeated. His shoulders were slumped forward, head cast down, and grime covered him from head to toe. All was not right in his world. She watched as his aunt strode out to him, catching hold of his filthy arm. There was no time to shut her out as she had already half dragged her nephew into Rose’s apartment. The acrid smell of something burnt followed in his wake.

Ida sat him down as she looked him over. She kept moving her arm in a shooing motion at his side. She couldn’t figure out if the woman was trying to wave the smell away or something else. Polly came to stand beside Rose as she closed the door, having given up on kicking the woman out. Whatever was going on with Cole appeared to have the ghost fixated on him.

“There’s a ghost.”

“Besides you?”

“He’s right next to Cole. Can’t you see him?”

Looking over again, she double checked. Nope, she didn’t see anything at all. She would have asked Polly if she was sure, but that sounded dumb. Of course, one ghost would be able to see the other.

“I believe a solution to your problem has presented itself.”

Ida’s voice snapped Cole to the present as he glanced around him. He must have been out of it if he hadn’t noticed where his aunt had dragged him.

“Why am I here? Why are you here? What’s going on?”

How to answer him and not sound like a lunatic? Though she was assuming that he couldn’t see ghosts as well. He never reacted to Polly though, so it hadn’t even crossed her mind before.

“We need to borrow your ghost friend here. I’ll get rid of him when we’re done?”

“Ghost friend? What are you talking about?”

Well, that answered that question at least. She had no idea how to explain what was going on to Cole. First, because she wasn’t quite sure herself. Second, he was Ida’s nephew. Let her explain things.

* * *

She didn’t think the moment would be so awkward. It could have been because Ida, Cole, and Rose were watching. She had never thought this day would come. Especially since she had died. She had been resigned to being alone forever. Now, though, she was sitting next to a man, moments away from receiving her first kiss. Probably her last kiss.

“What are you two waiting for? Come on.”

Ida could be incredibly pushy. It was too much pressure. They had only just met after all. She didn’t even know his name. Was it really alright?

“I’m not sure what’s going on.”

“You don’t need to be shy here. Just kiss her already.”

“Polly? Is everything okay?”

Dear sweet Rose. She couldn’t even see the man sitting next to me. She had taken my word that he was there. She had been standing there biting her nails as she waited for something to happen. She had been trying to help her for so many days already she didn’t want to disappoint her. She didn’t want to be too forward with him. If she had to start things though, she would.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure. I can only see Polly.”

“I’m still not sure I believe any of this.”

Poor Cole. He had no idea what was going on. He was standing next to Rose on blind faith of what the two women had told him. It didn’t really matter.

The man sitting next to her chuckled a little. The sound had no joy in it. She couldn’t blame him. He had apparently died earlier that day. She wasn’t sure how, but he was in much the same state as Cole.

In fact, if she really studied Cole, she could see he wasn’t as okay as he was acting. Something bad happened today. The least she could do was verify who she thought the man might be.

“I’m sorry about all of this. We haven’t even been properly introduced yet. I’m Polly Wright, and you are?”

“Oh wow, such an i***t. I’m Seth Grey. I’m so out of it right now.”

“I understand. Believe me. It’s nice to meet you, Seth Grey.”

“She said his name was Seth Grey.”

“Seth?”

They were close then. She was afraid of that. Now she felt awful for both of them. Not that she didn’t feel bad for at least Seth before. It may not have been her fault that he had lost his life, but she still couldn’t help the guilt that was crawling inside her chest.

“So, what is this about a kiss?”

“Rose, the woman next to Cole, has been trying to help me move on to the afterlife. I’d never been in love before I died. So, she’s been trying to help me at least experience a first kiss.”

“To be able to move on.”

“That’s what we’re hoping.”

“Normally I wouldn’t do something like that. I mean randomly kissing women I don’t know. Oh man, this isn’t coming out right.”

“I think I understand what you’re trying to say.”

She hadn’t meant for the giggle to come out, but he was adorable. If they had been alive at the same time, she would have been drawn to him.

“I’ll do it.”

“You will?”

“I want to help you move on. I’m a firefighter after all. Helping those in need is sort of part of the job.”

She hadn’t expected him to agree. At least not right away. He really was an amazing man. It’s too bad his life ended so soon.

Reaching out, he took both of her hands into his. They were so large compared to hers. His skin was rough against her own, but not in an unpleasant way. He lightly tugged, turning her to face him as he did the same. This was it. She was about to experience a kiss.

Placing her hands together, he lifted them up gently. She could do nothing, say nothing as she watched him. Lowering his head, he placed the softest kiss onto her knuckles as his gaze locked with hers. If she had been able to breathe, his actions would have stolen the air from her. Her whole body warmed like she was wrapped in the coziest of blankets. He bit his bottom lip as his brows knitted in insecurity. She couldn’t help the smile that grew upon her face.

“What was that? That wasn’t a kiss. Shake the shyness kid and get on with it.”

“No. No, it was perfect.”