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Walker snatches the phone from my hand and I fall on my back trying to retrieve it, before quickly giving up to watch his jealousy unfold. Frown lines are present now on his brow. Half the fun has arrived, now to listen for his commentary.

‘I’m just trying to work out who it was you were trying to reach when you concocted this hagiography of yours.’

Not exactly the declaration of envy I was chasing.

‘I was trying to be more attractive!’ I defend my plagiarised bio, while his shadows lift my head to place a pillow beneath my neck.

‘To who? Mediocre anglers and twats in search of a replacement for their mothers?’

‘To anyone!’ I admit, feeling my cheeks heat. ‘Stars, I just wanted someone to like me. Is that so wrong?’

‘Yes,’ he snaps.

‘Why?’

‘Because time spent trying to be palatable for everyone else is time wasted.’

I envy his ability to look handsome even from this angle. Not a double chin in sight. ‘Is this the part where you tell me that I’m cherished and loved as I am and not to worry what other people think?’

‘No.’ He draws out his answer, before spearing me with his piercing gaze. ‘This is where I tell you the only person who has to live with you is you. So be the kind of person you like, not the kind of person everyone else likes. Fuck everyone else.’

‘Even you?’

‘Especially me.’ He nods.

‘Especially fuck you?’ I smirk.

‘Yes.’ He nods, decisively like he’s just made an executive decision.

‘How often?’

He lifts a shoulder. ‘As often as you like.’ There’s the beginnings of a smirk making its way across his lips.

‘Until we’re both ghosts?’ I taunt.

‘And after.’ He leans closer. Close enough to kiss. But his lips on mine are only an impression of what it should be. My eyes shutter and he notices. He always notices.

‘Come with me,’ he says, standing. Apparently poltergeists are dust magnets, Walker brushes down his suit, before the shadows he’s mastered heave me from the couch and to my feet.

‘Where?’ I giggle as his shadows circle my wrist and pull me along behind him.

‘Upstairs,’ he declares with a flourish and then disappears.

I stack the bubbles into twin peaks over my modest chest like road cones until the pressure building becomes too much.

I abandon my foam architecture and let my head fall back against the rim of the tub as a moan slips past my lips. Cool pressure against my scalp moves down my neck. Along with demonic delinquent and paranormal pariah, Walker has now claimed the title of mystic masseuse.

The bathroom is scented with the lavender oil he massages through my hair and the burnt-cinnamon wicker candle lit on the windowsill. The breeze that breathes through the open window is a gentle exhale from the woods, bringing with it the song of the lover birds building their nest in the rafters outside.

Little lakes of white cover the surface of the steaming water like snowdrifts at the beginning of winter.

I close my eyes, live in this moment with all of my peace held in the palm of his hands. It all feels too good to be true. It is. I know this, of course. I couldn’t have fallen for a living human, no, I had to go and catch feelings for the ghost haunting my home. What future can there be for us? What kind of half-relationship can exist between us while we’re divided by life and death? I’m optimistic, I’m not an idiot… most of the time. If me and Walker were together, there’d be things I couldn’t do – things we couldn’t have. Things I’ve never really put much thought into, but now I find myself robbed of them, I want them. I want touch. Real touch, without having to traverse the forest to feel it. I want to rest my head against his chest and hear his heartbeat. I want life. I want to grow old. And I want someone to grow old with. I want kids, a family. I want it all. And none of those things can exist with him. The only compromise is giving all of it up. Can you give something up you’ve never had? I suppose you can. I suppose I am.

I roll my shoulders and try to tamp down the emotional turmoil that comes in crashing waves while my muddled head tries to make sense of the unsensible.

I feel Walker’s movements cease, chills shiver down my neck as his lips replace his hands against my skin. ‘Let’s hear it then,’ he prompts, voice muffled.

‘What?’