“Mad Dog will kill me if anything happens to her.” And I was worried about her too, but I didn’t want to say that.
Hesitantly he touched the back of my hand with the tips of his fingers. The touch was both an assurance and a question, and it felt incredibly bold.
Strangely, I didn’t mind.
Not at all.
“Hey,” he said, looking down at me, “if you want some help checking in on Velvet, I’m off work. I know you don’t need rescuing, or anything. But my Jeep is parked up here. I can drive you guys back.”
I wavered. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
“Easier when I’m not?”
“Sort of, yeah,” I said, smiling a little.
He smiled back and scratched the back of his neck. “Icouldbe a dick and ruin both our afternoons if that would help. Just let me know. I can be Monster Fen.”
“Or you could be like this a little longer and maybe we could figure out how to help each other out. You know. With exorcising our shared ghosts, and whatnot.”
“Earworm, ‘If You Have Ghosts’ by Roky Erickson.”
“Perfect song is perfect,” I said appreciatively.
He held out his hand as a peace offering. “Fellow ghost hunters? And maybe friends?”
I accepted his hand, and long fingers clasped mine, warm and gentle. We shook slowly, not taking our eyes off each other, for far too long. I forgot about the bands and the mission bell and Velvet. For a moment, I forgot about everything but the delicate electricity we were generating in that handshake.
It felt as if I was agreeing to much more than friendship.
Maybe to something I hadn’t intended.
Or to something I secretly wanted but couldn’t admit.
Fen Sarafian:
Checking to make sure you and Velvet survived Mad Dog
This is Fen, in case you didn’t save me in your contacts
Jane Marlow:
We did, and I did. Thanks for offering to drive, btw
Fen Sarafian:
It was probably best that you didn’t ride in the Jeep
V was kind of sloppy
Jane Marlow:
BTW, when you took off…
Didn’t want you to think I was avoiding you meeting my dad
Let’s just say he’s not fond of Eddie
Fen Sarafian:
