Dead and Kicking Page 2

  “Wait a second.” Dad spoke up. “You mean to tell me that this guy knows about you being able to talk to ghosts but you didn’t bother telling me or your mother?” His voice was colored with hurt.

  “Sorry. It’s not the kind of thing I felt comfortable talking to you about,” Sadie said to her father. To Zack she said, “He’s miffed that I never told him about my talking-to-the-dead thing.”

  “Hell, sometimes I wish you’d never told me,” Zack said. He slumped into an overstuffed chair. At Sadie’s angry glare, Zack cleared his throat. “I’m kidding. Really. I love everything about you. Your whole communicating-with-ghosts talent makes life, um, interesting.”

  “Huh,” Sadie said.

  “Tell him to get out of my chair,” Dad said. “I’m dead a few days and that man thinks he can just sit in my chair.”

  “That man is Zack Bowman, my boyfriend and co-worker. We live together. You don’t have to act like you’ve forgotten who he is,” Sadie retorted.

  “Your dad never did like me,” Zack said, folding his arms angrily over his chest.

  “He’s right,” Dad said.

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake, he just didn’t like the idea that we were living together without getting married,” Sadie said to Zack. “Right?” she asked her dad.

  “And I don’t like him sitting in my chair.”

  “It’s not like you’re sitting in it,” Sadie said with exasperation.

  “Oh yeah?”

  Dad walked over and sat right on top of Zack. Of course, Zack had no idea that Ron Novak was sitting sort of on him and kind of through him. Sadie looked over at her father, and through his opaque shape she could see Zack. The image gave her an immediate headache.

  “I’ve got to get out of here,” Sadie said with a sigh. “I just can’t deal with this right now. Maybe I’ll get home and find there’s a message about a simple suicide to clean up. That would be nice.”

  “But what about your mother?” Zack and Dad said simultaneously.

  “I’ll leave her a note and call her later.”

  Zack and Sadie barely spoke on the ride home, each alone with his or her own thoughts. Sadie’s thoughts were all centered on guilt. She felt bad for leaving her mom home alone with only a note to say she’d call. She also felt guilty for not dealing with her dad. She could’ve helped him go over to the next dimension, and then it would’ve been done. Now she’d have to deal with it all another time.

  Zack pulled his Mustang up their driveway and put it in park. He couldn’t put his car in the garage because Sadie’s Honda and the Scene-2-Clean company van were parked inside. A slight drizzle peppered them as they walked to the front door.

  Once in the tidy bungalow they were greeted immediately by the warning squeal of the alarm. Zack went and punched in the code, and Sadie scooped up Hairy, her pet rabbit, and stroked his long, pointy black and white ears and nuzzled him against her face. Hairy’s response was to wriggle free, hop to the floor, and scurry down the hall to the kitchen.

  Sadie followed the bunny and took a moment to fill Hairy’s bowl with his pellet food. Then she went to the fridge and reached into the bottom crisper to get him a small cabbage leaf.

  Zack reached around Sadie and grabbed a bottle from the open fridge. “Want a beer? There’s one more left.”

  “No, I’m good,” she replied.

  Sadie tossed the cabbage on top of Hairy’s kibble and watched the rabbit wiggle his nose excitedly as he gobbled up the leaf and then sniffed the kibble with disinterest.

  “You wanna talk about it?” Zack asked, twisting the cap off his beer and taking a deep drink.

  “About what?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. . . . About burying your father today and why you won’t let yourself cry. About hiding out in the back room for most of the wake so you wouldn’t have to talk with anyone. Hey, I know, maybe we could talk about your father’s ghost apparently being left behind and visiting you. Take your pick.”

  “That’s a lot of stuff. I don’t think I’m ready to talk about any of it,” she said honestly.

  “Okay.” He walked over and gave her a lopsided grin as he hooked his finger in the waistband of her black funeral skirt and pulled her close.

  “I’m not ready for that either,” she said drily.

  He bent his head and kissed her. It was tender and sweet and made Sadie ache with all the emotions she’d been pushing aside. He whispered gently against her mouth, “I love you.”

  “Yeah. Me too,” she breathed, but saying the words made her hurt more. She pulled away. “You know what? I think I’ll go back.”

  “To your mom’s?” His eyebrows rose in surprise. “Now?”

  “Yeah.” She combed her fingers through her hair. “I don’t think it’s right that she should wake up and find everyone gone. She shouldn’t be alone after she just buried her husband.”

  “Okay. Do you want me to come along?”

  She shook her head. “That’s okay.” She nibbled her lower lip thoughtfully. “You know, I think I’ll even pack a bag and stay the night with her.”

  He nodded. “That would be good. It would give you both a chance to talk. You’ve hardly said anything to each other since you had that blowup over choosing the casket.”

  “She wanted to spend over seven grand on one with fourteen-karat-gold-plated accents!” But even as she defended herself, Sadie felt bad about the fight. Hell, if a woman wanted to bury her husband with gold, she should be allowed to, right?

  “I’m not saying you were wrong.” Zack reached for a photo album on the kitchen counter and handed it to her. “Why don’t you bring this with you? You could look through it with your mom.”

  Sadie smiled and thumbed through the photos of her childhood. Zack had discovered a box of the old pictures when they were cleaning the spare room a few months before, and he’d kindly placed them into an album for Sadie. She paused when she reached a Halloween shot of her grown mother and father dressed as hippies, complete with tie-dyed shirts and peace symbols painted on their faces.

  “I don’t think Mom’s even seen this picture,” Sadie said. “Good idea. I’ll bring the album with me. She’ll get a kick out of seeing it.”

  “And maybe you can even show it to your dad,” Zack said gently.

  Sadie leaned against the kitchen counter and pursed her lips thoughtfully before blowing out a long, slow breath. “You think I should tell her, don’t you?”

  “Tell your mom that you can talk to the dead and that your dad happens to be one of them?” He shook his head. “I’m not saying that.”

  “But you think I should.”

  “I think you should only if you think you should.”

  “Stop it.”

  “What?”

  “You’ve been acting like this ever since my dad died. You’re all sweetness and understanding. It’s sickening. You’ve been backing down from every discussion like you’re pussy whipped.”

  “I am not pussy whipped,” he said emphatically, and for the first time in days Sadie heard his regular tone shine through.

  “Oh yeah? ’Cause you sound like you’ve totally lost your ability to do anything except say, ‘Yes, dear.’ ”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Meow.”

  “Forget it,” he said, walking over and tapping the tip of her nose with his finger. “I’m not falling for it.”

  “For what?” she asked innocently.

  “You want me to fight with you because you’ve got all this emotion bottled up over your dad dying and you’ve refused to even let yourself cry over it.” He shook his head. “You’d rather fight than face what’s going on in here.” He tapped her chest over her heart. “Sorry. You’re gonna have to find a different way to deal.”

  “Whatever.” She stiffened. “So-o-o, are you going to the gym later?”

  His gaze moved away. “Maybe. Why?”

  “No reason.” Her voice was calm but she wanted to throw something. Instead, she walked out of the ki
tchen and down the hall to their bedroom. She angrily stuffed a quick change of clothes into an overnight bag and then went to the bathroom to get her toothbrush.

  Zack followed a few steps behind. “You sure you don’t want me to come along?” he asked.

  Sadie shook her head sharply. “No. You’ve got the gym and all,” she said with bite.

  “Call me later then.” He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before she grabbed the keys for her Honda Accord and headed out through the garage.

  She tossed her bag onto the passenger seat and carefully backed out of the garage and around Zack’s Mustang. Soon she was ramping out of her own neighborhood and steering back toward her mother’s house. The more she thought about returning to her mother’s, the more Sadie thought about how to handle her father’s ghost. She decided to look on the bright side. This could be a good thing. A golden opportunity to spend time with Dad and say everything she never got a chance to say when he was alive. Sadie dialed her friend Maeva’s number.

  “Thanks for coming today and thank Terry for supplying all the food for the wake,” Sadie told her friend.

  “Hey, no problem,” Maeva replied. “Sorry we had to set up the food at your mom’s and leave so quickly. Terry had a wedding and I—”

  “Had a séance. Yeah, I know. Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t exactly great company.”

  “How are you holding up?” Maeva asked.

  The compassion in her friend’s voice made a lump return to Sadie’s throat. Why did every kind word make her feel like crying?

  “I need to talk to you,” Sadie said.

  “I’m glad to hear you say that. You’ve had me worried. It’s not good for you to keep all your emotions bottled up,” Maeva advised. “I know how you feel. I lost my own dad a few years ago and it was really hard, but you’ve got to let it out.”

  “It’s not that,” Sadie said, and then she quickly added, “Well, it’s not just that.” She took a breath. “My dad’s spirit didn’t go over. His ghost is in my mom’s house. I’m on my way back there right now. I guess I should try to talk to him, or something.”

  “Oh!” Maeva let out a low whistle. “Scrap what I just said. I don’t know how you feel.”

  “Didn’t you ever try to get in touch with your dad after he died?”

  “A couple times, but I had no luck so I figured it just wasn’t meant to be. I’m not like you. Once they’ve gone over, it’s up to them whether or not they want to make contact with me. I can put the invitation out there, but that doesn’t mean spirits accept it. You, on the other hand, have the ability to see and talk to them if they haven’t gone over yet.”

  “I got Zack to take me home after the wake because I just couldn’t handle seeing my dad there, but now that I’ve had a little time to think about it, I’ve decided to go back. I’m headed there now. I might even stay the night.”

  “It’s good you’re going back. Now you can say a proper good-bye to your dad and help him go over.”

  Sadie was quiet.

  “You are going to help him go over, right?” Maeva persisted. “Just like you do when any other spirit approaches you at one of your death scene cleanup situations?”

  “I don’t know,” Sadie said. “This is different.”

  “Um. No, it’s not,” Maeva said firmly. “I’m sorry that your dad’s dead, but you gotta help him go over, just like you would any other spirit.”

  “Why?”

  “What do you mean, why?” Maeva demanded, her tone becoming heated and angry. “Because he’s dead and because that’s what you do!” She blew out a huffy breath.

  “Calm down,” Sadie told her. She felt Maeva’s emotions on this were way out of whack. “It just doesn’t feel right to me. A daughter shouldn’t have to help her father to be permanently dead.”

  “It’s better that a stranger does it? Look, I know what you’re thinking, and I’ve got to tell you it is so not a good idea,” Maeva said, her tone a little softer.

  “What am I thinking?” Sadie asked.

  “You’re thinking that keeping your dad in this kind of limbo would be good because this way you could still see him, talk to him, and have a relationship with him.”

  “Just for a little while,” Sadie admitted. “How can it hurt?”

  “You’re messing with the dead, Sadie. That’s never a good idea.”

  2

  “Most people would do anything for the chance to talk with a loved one after they’re no longer among the living,” Sadie told her best friend. “When someone dies, people are always saying how they wish they could tell them all that stuff they should’ve said when they were alive.”

  “I know,” Maeva replied into the phone. “And that’s exactly why Madame Maeva’s Psychic Café makes such a killing.”

  “Right,” Sadie said. “People come to you and you help put them in touch with spirits of their loved ones, and even though you can’t see them like I can, you can still bridge the gap and help them communicate.”

  “You’re making it sound like what you want to do with your dad is the same thing,” Maeva said.

  “Isn’t it?”

  “No. It’s not. It sounds to me like you want to stop your dad from moving on just so you can benefit. The spirits I talk to have already gone over, and if they communicate with their loved ones through me, it’s because that’s what they choose to do.”

  “So if I communicate with my dad it’s bad, but if you do it after he moves on, then it’s perfectly okay?” Sadie asked, annoyed.

  “Well,” Maeva said calmly, “it’s not like you shouldn’t tell your dad how much you love him and miss him. You can have a good heart-to-heart with him and make sure he understands how much he’s meant to you. But, in the end, your goal in all this has to be the same as it’s always been. Your job is to help those spirits that have been stuck here to move on to the next dimension. That’s your calling.”

  “Yeah, well, usually they’re stuck because they have a message to pass along or some unfinished business,” Sadie reminded her friend.

  And if it takes me longer than usual to figure out what’s holding him back, then so what? Sadie reasoned to herself.

  “Okay, so after you find out why he hasn’t gone over, you’ll help him?” Maeva asked.

  “Yes.” Maybe. Eventually. Sadie was close to her mom’s house now, and she steered her car onto a tree-lined street just a block away. “I’m almost at the house now. I’ll call you later.”

  “Just one more thing,” Maeva said. “How are things between you and Zack?”

  “Fine. Why?”

  “Because you don’t act like things are fine. He’s falling all over himself to please you, and you’re pushing him away.”

  “My dad just died. Excuse me for not feeling all romantic.” And I’m not the one doing the pushing.

  “This started before your dad died. When Terry and I had you two over at our place for a barbecue a couple weeks ago, I could tell something was up.”

  “Yeah, that’s about when it started.”

  “When what started?”

  “When Zack started going to the gym with his old cop pals. At least that’s where he says he’s going.”

  “And you don’t believe him?”

  “It just feels wrong.”

  “Zack has always struck me as a tell-it-like-it-is kind of guy. He’s not the type to sneak around behind your back. He’s straight up. I can’t believe he’d lie to you or cheat.”

  Sadie’s voice grew thick with worry. “It’s just the way he can’t look me in the eye when he says he’s going to the gym, and he’s been acting, well, really weird for a while now,” Sadie said, drumming her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel while waiting at a stop sign. “In my gut, I just don’t think he’s telling the truth.”

  “So ask him about it.”

  “I’ve tried but he acts like he doesn’t know what I’m talking about.”

  Maeva’s tone softened. “I know you’ve been stresse
d because business is slow for you right now, so maybe that’s what the problem is. The two of you are together twenty-four /seven, and you’re not side by side, scrubbing blood. Instead, you’re in the same house, staring at each other because there isn’t enough death to keep you busy. Things will get better. You’ll see. Seattle can’t go too long without people dropping like flies. In the meantime, maybe this is the perfect time for the two of you to go away together. Take a short trip. Relax. Renew your relationship.”

  Sadie didn’t reply.

  “I guess we can talk about that later. First things first,” Maeva said. “Call me after you’ve dealt with your dad. I don’t care what time of day or night it is. Call me.”

  They ended the call just as Sadie pulled up in front of her mom’s house. When she went inside, she found the place was quiet as a tomb. Her mother must still be asleep. Sadie gently put down her overnight bag and it suddenly occurred to her that she’d forgotten to bring the photo album. Damn! She did a quick walk-through, and no fatherly apparitions were waiting to talk to her. Sadie turned on the television and sat through a sitcom rerun, then grew impatient. Watching bad television she could do at home. Maybe she should just drive back and get the photo album so she’d be ready when Mom finally woke up. It would be a great icebreaker for the two of them after such a trying week.

  “Dad, I’m going to leave but I’ll be back soon,” Sadie whispered to the quiet house. “I’d really like it if we could chat when I get back.”

  She left her overnight bag in the foyer. She replaced her previous note with another explaining that she’d be back soon. Then Sadie got back behind the wheel of her Honda. Zack’s suggestion of going through the photo album was a good one. Sadie knew it would be a nice way to pass the time with her mom and would give them a way to talk that didn’t lead to an argument. She’d offer to make copies of a lot of the pictures so that Mom could have a duplicate of the album for herself.

  Sadie was two blocks away from her own house and singing along with the radio when Zack’s Mustang zipped by her, going in the opposite direction. In stunned surprise, Sadie whipped her head sideways and watched his car turn the corner and drive out of sight.