“Mmm,” I hummed, happily.
And so, ten minutes later, I was freshly showered and dressed. I wasn’t up for uncomfortable clothes, so I was in my joggers and one of Jackson’s long-sleeved T-shirts. The others were already waiting for us in Jackson’s office and it seemed they agreed with me on the comfy clothes option this morning. Kyle looked sleep mussed, hishair sticking up in odd angles. Rino was freshly showered and put together, but that didn’t surprise me.
“Morning,” Rino greeted us, and we said good morning back. Sitting down, I grabbed my plate and filled it with strawberries and two pancakes. Benjamin made three different kinds. One plain. One with blueberries. And one with chocolate chips. I preferred the others over the plain ones, but Jackson preferred plain, so he took three of those, then doused them in syrup.
“So,” Rino began. “We had fun last night.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. I knew it would be awkward to talk about it, but Rino starting out like that was too comical. Kyle joined in on my laughter, and soon Rino and Jackson did too. It helped ease the awkwardness and soon we were all eating and drinking warm coffee. Or the others were. I had my special iced coffee that Benji made for me the mornings he worked. It was with caramel syrup and whipped cream on top. I was slightly addicted to the stuff.
“So… Do you want to, maybe, do it again?” Kyle asked, and he looked between me and Jackson with a mix of worry and excitement. Jackson and I hadn’t had a chance before meeting up with them to discuss if we wanted a repeat or not. But I simply nodded. I definitely wanted more of whatever last night was.
“We would want to do it again, too,” Rino said, and I figured verbal agreement would be best.
“I do too,” I looked at Jackson and waited for his answer.
“Me too,” he said. “But we should all talk about what we each want out of this arrangement.”
And so, we did. Sex talk over pancakes was definitely new to me. But I found I liked it. There were many things I was learning that I liked. And so much more I wanted to try out, both with Jackson, and with Rino and Kyle.
Epilogue
Pete
A year later.
“He’s proposing!” Nic jumped into the living room, startling the shit out of me and Biscuit, who’d been napping on my stomach while I read on the couch. Nic had scared him so he’d dashed out of the room in a hurry. I had to act puzzled over his reaction, and I felt grateful I could blame my startlement over him running away and not Nic scaring me when he….
Wait?!Proposing?
“What?!” Mitch squealed. “How do you know?!” Mitch had watched TV while I read. I liked to leave it on with subtitles sothey could watch it whenever they got bored. I’d told Jackson I liked having it on for sound, even if I turned it almost all the way down.
“Jackson is painting, like he always does, but he’s working on one with two men standing under an arch, holding hands, with the words ‘be forever mine?’over them!”
OMG! Jackson was really gonna propose?! And now I had to act all surprised, and also wait until he was ready to ask. It was going to be pure torture! Jackson wanted to marry me!ME. I was glad I was already sitting down. I forced myself to pretend I was still reading, even if it was hard not to stand up and celebrate with Mitch and Nic, who were jumping in place together. It was heartwarming that they cared about us this much.
“He’s so romantic!” Mitch gushed. “I wonder when he’ll ask him.”
“I think it’ll take a while. He still has a lot of work left on the painting,” Nic replied.
“I can’t wait that long!” Mitch complained.
Like I could?!
I was saved by my phone ringing. It was Mike. I walked out of the room, not wanting the ghosts to overhear. “Hey, big bro,” I greeted.
“Hey,” he greeted, sounding awfully tired.
“Something wrong?” I asked, immediately alarmed.
“Not wrong, exactly… I, um… I got my ability.”
Fuck…. “And you’re still in Africa?” I had no idea if anyone was close enough to help him out. It was so draining gaining the ability later on in life. Ida was proof of that.
“I am, and that’s not all.”
“Are you hurt?” Sometimes old ghosts could feel the mediums’ powers and were attracted to them, like we were some kind of beacon for them. That was why Mom kept bringing ghosts back home. And why she instilled the only ten ghosts rule, even if she was still on eleven.
“Cursed object,” he replied. “The ghost escaped, but is now latched onto me, instead.”
