“Me too,” I said, handing her some tissues from the coffee table. “But I promise it’ll get easier with time.”
“How long did it take you?” she asked, wiping her nose and eyes.
“Well, I’m a born medium, so I’ve always been able to see and hear ghosts, but it wasn’t until I was ten that I could comfortably ignore them when I didn’t have the time to deal with ghost business.”
“Damn, I hope I won’t have to wait ten years.” She was smiling, and that helped ease my worries a bit. “Fuck, I can’t believe Jackson ended up dating a medium. That’s like, too funny.”
I laughed and she joined in. “So, you know about his fears?” It seemed like she did. But her reason for not wanting him to know could be that she was worried he would react like her mom had.
“I do. He told me when I was eleven. He’d taken me to the park, something he liked to do when we were younger. ‘Brother sister bonding time’, he’d called it. I was terrified of the birds, and cried after one chased me. He told me it was okay to be scared. I’d apologized several times for my reaction. I felt so stupid and like I was making it a big deal when it wasjustbirds. That was when he told me about his fear of ghosts. And I remember thinking, if my strong big brother could fear something and not be embarrassed about it, then so could I.” I fell even harder for Jackson hearing that. How that man could continue to grow on me was a surprise. I thought he’d already reached the top of how perfect a man could possibly be, but he’d yet again topped the scale.
“I’m glad he told you. I just hate that we can’t talk freely about it with him here, especially now that you need it.”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t a total lie about my mother, she was angry at me, but not about the money. She knew I wouldn’t get anything, so at least I didn’t have to lie too much.”
“I still can’t believe she would treat you like that,” I muttered. I’d been lucky growing up with an understanding family. It was normal in my household. I couldn’t fathom how hard it must’ve been for Ida, carrying that fear around alone, feeling drained and then being harassed by unfriendly ghosts.
“I can’t either. It doesn’t seem like her at all. But perhaps she fears ghosts too, but instead of being like Jackson and dealing with it, she lashes out and blames me for her unease.”
“You sound like a person who’s gone through therapy and is very much in touch with herself. Not at all like a sixteen-year-old,” I teased, but still meaning every word.
“I have gone to therapy, actually.”
“You have?”
“Yes. For two years. My father paid. Funnily enough, he was the reason I needed the therapy.”
“Oh.”
“He wanted less and less to do with me, and his relationship with my mom was horrible too. So, I needed to deal with the fact that my own father didn’t want me. Therapy helped me work through that.”
“No child should ever feel unwanted.”
“No,I agree. But he wasn’t a very caring man. He only wanted me in his life to punish my mom. I know that for a fact, because he told me when I was twelve. That was the last time I saw him. I didn’t want to see him after hearing that. My mom demanded he pay for therapy for me, and since Jackson had been to therapy too, she used that as another reason I was owed the same treatment.”
Fuck, Ida had been through a lot of shit. And she was only two years younger than me. “I think you being here is the best solution. You can even start training, if you want to work as a medium.”
“Is it a good job? I know it sounds silly, but I can’t imagine what I would actually do.”
“Oh, you’d go to haunted houses and speak to the ghosts. Often, we get called because the house owners are afraid of the ghosts, or the ghosts are actually dangerous and we need to deal with them. No job we take is the same, and that’s what I love about it. Never boring doing what we do.”
“I think, I’ll start with just learning what I am, and what I can do.”
“That sounds smart. I’ll text my mom and ask if she can help you out.”
“Thank you. Do you mind if I close my eyes a little? It’s just all so overwhelming, and I really need some rest.”
“I don’t mind. I’ll wake you up when Jackson returns.”
She fell asleep almost instantly, so I quickly texted my mom and explained the situation. She replied almost immediately that she would come and pick up Ida tomorrow. I knew Ida would be in good hands. Sharing one last look with Berlina and Sven, they nodded and left the apartment, knowing Ida needed some time without ghosts around her. I appreciated that they respected her needs.
Now I just had to wait for my man to get home. Myboyfriend.
Chapter 16
Jackson
Even though I wanted Pete to stay here with me, it wasn’t possible with him returning to work. His words, not mine. What was even stranger was the fact that Ida got along so well with Linda. Pete had told me Ida needed a mom figure in her life now that she and her mom were arguing. Something I could understand, but the fact that Ida had moved in with Linda was a little weird.“I have Mike’s old room, Jackson. And your apartment is for you and Mike, and Pete now too. Ida needs a space she can feel at home. Don’t be disappointed in her for choosing this for herself.”That was what Linda had said when I voiced my confusion. Why wouldn’t Ida choose her big brother over a stranger? But I could see it now. The gleam in Ida’s eyes was back, her skin healthy looking again, not the pale, tired girl she’d been whenshe came to us a month ago. Whatever Linda was feeding her had helped. I couldn’t ignore that.
