“When does it work?” he asked.
Carolina bit her lower lip as her gaze flicked toward the fireplace. Her glow intensified until she was nearly as bright as the flames that crackled in the hearth.
“I think I am able to make physical contact when I’m feeling intense emotion,” she said, finally meeting his eye. “Initially I thought it only worked when I was angry. But then I realized I could touch things when I was scared or...”
“Or what?”
Joseph moved in closer. Normally the air around Carolina was freezing cold, but in her state of golden, glowing illumination he felt no chill. She was almostwarm.
“When I’m happy,” she shrugged. “I can touch things when I feel intensely happy.”
Joseph swallowed as his eyes scanned her soft, gilded features. It was almost hard for him to believe that she wasn’t alive and breathing right next to him. She smiled at him softly, and for a brief moment, with the tree lit up behind her, the tinkle of Christmas music floating in from another room, and the flickering flames of the fire shining in her eyes, he was almost able to escape the pain of the last year. For one fleeting second, he was almost able to enjoy the holiday and feel at peace.
“Are you happy now?” he asked.
Carolina looked back at the tree.
“Christmas was always one of my favorite times of year. I know that sounds cliché, but it’s true. Yes, right now I’m very happy.”
Joseph’s breath caught in his throat. He couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer.
“Can you show me then?”
Carolina looked back at him, still aglow.
“Show you what?”
Joseph held out his hand. Carolina looked down at his palm, her brows furrowed in confusion.
“You want me to touch you?”
Joseph nodded. “Only if you want to.”
Carolina’s face was practically blinding now, her features so brilliantly beautiful that Joseph found it hard to look at her and even harder to look away. She nodded back and reached out her hand as she shone at him like the sun. Just the day before, her fingers felt like ice wrapped around his wrist. But now as her palm slid over his, a soft, warm hum flowed through him, climbing up his wrist, into his arm and his core and all the way to his toes. His heart beat faster and faster until his lungs burned and he finally remembered to breathe.
“You’re not cold,” he said, panting. He pulled his hand back, his heart still pounding away inside his chest. The soft hum ceased, and the glow of Carolina’s skin dimmed as she returned her own hand to her lap.
“Neither were you,” she whispered.
Joseph stood from the chaise lounge, his heart beating faster than ever now. It was dangerously too easy to ask to touch her again; to allow himself to get lost in that soft, hazy sensation that emanated when their fingertips met. He couldn’t though. He mustn’t.
“Well, I should get to bed,” he said, brushing his hands on his slacks. Her radiant heat still thrummed in his palm.
Carolina looked up at him and nodded, her silhouette even dimmer now.
“I’ll stay out here by the tree just a little longer, if that’s all right.”
Joseph nodded.
“Merry Christmas, Joseph.”
“Merry Christmas, Carolina.”
Joseph walked on unsteady legs out of the sitting room and looked back at Carolina one last time as she rested by the fire. The past year had left him feeling isolated. Lonely. Bitter. He had fallen into a deep, dark well of despair that made it hard to enjoy even the smallest slices of life. But now as he stared over his shoulder at the spirit who shared his home, a new and unexpected sensation began to creep into his heart. On that Christmas Eve as he stared back at the woman who had once lived in this very house, he was reminded of all that he still had to live for. He finally felt a glimmer of hope as he looked back on the glowing specter that had momentarily made his heart shine. In that moment, Joseph Moore considered the possibility of joining the living world once again.
