Haunted Ever After (17 page)

He made a show of bowing.

‘So,’ I said. ‘A doctor, hey? How does Cody feel about the possibility of you being away every day learning how to save lives?’

‘He’s excited for me, thinks I’ll be able to perform surgery after my first day. But if I get in, I’ll have to arrange more help looking after him. There is some respite care available, and various support services, but that’s something I’m saving up for too. I’ll need to hire somebody to be his carer when I’m not there.’

‘Well, I’ll be sure to recommend your services to everyone I come across. Got any business cards?’

‘Why thank you, I do indeed. Always keep a few in my wallet, you never know when a promotional opportunity will present itself.’ He took his wallet from his pocket and extracted a few cards.

Ty Roxford ~ Quality adult entertainer and dancer

It showed his photo, a black and white mysterious looking shot from side on, with one of his eyebrows raised, as though his expression was asking
‘You ready for some fun?’

I popped them in my bag, and shook my head at the situation. Here I was, walking at night with a stripper, having a deep and meaningful conversation, one week before my wedding. What was Greg doing right now? My stomach churned remembering our awkward phone conversation, and I knew I’d have to find out, somehow, whether there was any truth to what Red had said, or if she was, in fact, just trying to manipulate me into leaving him for her own satisfaction.

‘Can I get you a cup of coffee, tea, or something?’ I asked as we approached the front door of the guest house.

Ty rocked forward on his feet with his hands in his pockets and looked like he was about to say yes, then turned his head to look down the driveway. ‘Thanks, but I better get back to Cody. And I take it you’ll be keen to have a nice hot shower after your altercation with the bathroom floor in the pub?’

‘Are you trying to tell me I need a wash?’ I asked with a hint of sarcasm, though I knew too well I did.

‘No, but if you carry that anti-bacterial stuff around with you I’m guessing good personal hygiene is one of your high priorities.’

I shrugged and smiled. ‘Your guess would be right.’

I unlocked the door and thanked him again for accompanying me, and we both turned away.

‘Sally?’ he asked, and I turned to face him. ‘Some men may cheat, but real men don’t.’ He grasped the side of my arm. ‘Find out the truth before the wedding. Don’t brush it aside. If you have doubts, you have to listen to them.’ He dropped his hand and turned away again, but my eyes remained on him. He must have sensed them, because he turned back for the second time. ‘And if I was with someone as kind and special as you, no way would I be stupid enough to let anything get in the way of that.’

He gave a single, gentle wave of his hand, a soft smile, and walked off down the driveway, while a part of me wanted to hear those words again.

I went straight upstairs without turning any lights on. Inside, the house had a slight moonlit wash to it. Darkness didn’t scare me, not now since the ghost that was haunting me appeared in broad daylight anyway. I took my shoes off, not worrying about putting the left one in the bin just yet, and headed for the shower.

Red stopped me at the door.

‘You can’t have a shower yet, I have to show you something.’

‘You’ve done enough for one day.’

‘But don’t you want proof? Don’t you want to know for sure if I’m telling the truth about Greg?’

Instead of pushing past — or through — her, I eyed her with curiosity.

‘Look, I know you’re the sort of person who needs to see to believe. Although,’ she chuckled, ‘even when you first saw me you didn’t believe right away. And I’ve been practising my mind power technique, you know the one, to try and imprint what I see and sense into your mind?’

‘Red, that’s all a bit beyond my scope of belief at this stage. Yes, I know you’re real, well, a real ghost, but I don’t see how — ’ I gasped. A brief, but definite image flashed in my mind. Greg’s car. ‘Whoa, what was that? How did you? Did I just…’

‘You saw his car, didn’t you?’

My guess was she already knew the answer. Red stared at me with sharp, focused eyes.

‘Hang on, how do I know you’re not putting ideas into my head? How do you — ’ A tiny jolt ran through my body as I saw it again, but this time, the image lingered, and it wasn’t just an image, it was moving, like I was watching something on a TV screen, only in my mind. Greg’s car, from the side, getting closer to the driver’s side window… Greg! I could see him in the car, driving, a faint smile on his face. And music, some rock ballad was playing through the speakers, and his fingers thrummed the steering wheel.

‘Red, what is this, what am I seeing? Is it a memory or something?’ I said when the image faded.

‘It’s happening right now. You’re seeing Greg, where he is, what he’s doing, right now.’

‘No way.’

‘Yes way.’ She gave a nod. ‘Isn’t it cool what I can do?’ She put her hands on her hips in satisfaction. ‘Anyway, back to the issue at hand.’ She resumed staring at me, and as though her glare pierced my head, a warm, tingling sensation grew around my temple.

Greg again. As clear as day, as though I was peering through his car window to kiss him goodbye on his way to work. But he wasn’t looking at me, he didn’t know I could see him. His focus was on the road but only one hand was on the steering wheel. The other…

Oh hell. Oh no. This can’t be real
.

His other hand was on top of someone else’s, his thumb rubbing their skin. The recipient of his affection had her hand on her thigh, which despite the cool night was exposed, as her long skirt had ridden up over her knee. Greg’s hand moved from the top of her hand to the top of her thigh, her bare thigh, rubbing and massaging it with his fingers. ‘Mmm,’ a soft feminine voice said over the music.

My mind tried to shake away the vision but it remained, like a piece of plastic wrapping that sticks to your finger despite all attempts to get rid of it. No, no, I didn’t want to see this. Didn’t want it to be true. How did I know if it was true, anyway? Red hadn’t exactly been my best buddy since I’d known her. She could be playing tricks on me just to break up the wedding.

The view widened and my line of sight trailed up the woman’s arm, to her shoulder, her neck, and…her face. Her eyes closed in apparent bliss, a hint of a smile on her painted lips, and her hair… I’d seen her hair before. It had one of those popular colour schemes: dark at the top and light at the ends, like her hair colour was fading but it’d been done on purpose. Light blonde wisps of hair fell around her shoulders, darkening at the top into a caramel brown shade. I’d seen her before, at one of Greg’s work functions. What was her name? Kylie? Kathy? Kitty? K something.

Get your hand off my fiancé!
I urged in silence, as she covered his hand with hers and guided it higher up her thigh.
Greg! What are you doing? I can see you! Greg!
I shook my head from side to side and clamped my eyes shut, and eventually the vision dissipated like a clearing fog.

‘I’m sorry you had to see that,’ said Red.

I kept shaking my head. ‘No, no, no. It’s not real, it isn’t.’ I held onto the doorframe for support and stared at the floor. The alternating black and white tiles in the bathroom appeared to move and switch places, their discordant repetition jarring my eyes.

I looked up when a cool, airy sensation brushed across my hand as it rested above my head on the doorframe. Red’s hand, on top of mine, in a comforting gesture. The coolness transformed to warmth the longer she left it there, and although I couldn’t feel her hand directly, I felt its effect, its energy. I looked her in the eyes.

‘It’s the truth. I swear on my grave,’ she said, then crossed her heart with her other finger. ‘I knew the only way was for you to see it, however shocking, in order to believe. I’m here to stop you making a huge mistake. Don’t marry Greg.’

‘I’m not totally convinced. I’m confused, I don’t know what to believe anymore.’ My head continued shaking side to side as though that in itself would erase what I’d seen or make it not true. ‘So if that really happened, where is he? Where are they? Right now.’

‘On the freeway heading to Pebble Creek.’

‘But Greg’s supposed to be at his buck’s party. At a golf resort.’

‘He was, but it was only for yesterday and today. The guys have gone home now, it’s just him and her for the rest of the weekend.’

‘But Pebble Creek, that’s a pretty boring place, not much to do or see, why…’

‘Exactly. Less chance of bumping into someone they know.’

‘And it’s only about a half hour from here. Do your “powers” or whatever they are tell you when they’ll get to Pebble Creek?’

She nodded. ‘In about forty-five minutes they’ll arrive at Pebble Creek Motel. I’m sorry Sally, but you had to know what he was doing behind your back.’

I turned away from her, the sight of her only bringing me pain. Even if she wasn’t lying and was only here to help me and prevent a mistake, I couldn’t hold eye contact with her. ‘This is all too much. I…I…don’t know what…’ I ran my hands over my head and down my face, then a surge of adrenaline sped up my heart rate and my shoulders straightened. ‘I have to go there. Now. I have to see for real.’

‘Sally, no, you don’t want to do that to yourself,’ she said, but I was already putting a clean pair of shoes on. ‘You’ve seen all you need to see, just trust that it’s real. Don’t go rushing off in this state.’

‘I will decide what I will and won’t do, thank you very much. I don’t need you dictating to me.’ I dashed down the stairs, then checked the little pottery bowl on the kitchen bench. Lorena’s car keys.
Yes!
I snatched them up, wrote a quick note for Lorena telling her not to worry and I’d be back in an hour or two, and headed for the front door.

‘Wait! So you’re going to drive there and wait for him? And then what? You shouldn’t drive when you’re upset, it could be dangerous!’

‘Didn’t you hear me before?’ I yelled, a bit louder than was normal for me. ‘I’m leaving now, and I don’t want you coming with me. And most of all, I don’t want you here when I get back. I can’t take it anymore!’

I locked the door behind me and got in the car, moving the driver’s seat forward a few notches, and left a flurry of dust behind me as I drove off down the road.

* * *

I checked my watch again for the fifth time that minute. The car park of the Pebble Creek Motel was quiet, only a few cars sat parked in the lot, frost forming on their windscreens. I’d parked next to another four-wheel drive, at the outer edge of the lot, where there were only the two spots, to seem less conspicuous, and to prevent him parking right next to me. And anyway, Greg probably wouldn’t recognise Lorena’s car. Thank goodness it had dark tinted windows you could barely see through, though I could see out and had a view of all the motel room doors in the plain, rectangular motel.

The vacancy sign flashed its muted neon, the last ‘C’ missing its light. If Greg was indeed bringing a woman here, I couldn’t believe it was to such a tacky place. We only ever stayed in nice hotels or B&B’s. Then again, if my fiancé was having an affair I much preferred it to be in a place like this, with rooms that probably had mould on the walls, horrible floral bedcovers, and a creaky mattress. I hoped they’d get bitten by bed bugs, or trip over a loose corner of carpet, or get poked in the ribs by a damaged mattress spring. I nibbled on my nails as I waited. I never nibbled on my nails. Terribly unhygienic.

A car drove past on the quiet country road parallel to the motel, but didn’t stop. What if they decided to go somewhere else? A few minutes later another car drove by, then swung into the parking lot, its headlights lighting up the pale oyster colour of the walls of the building. A silver Audi. Greg’s car.

God in heaven she was right
.

I sucked in air through tight gaps between my teeth and the seat underneath me felt cold and uncomfortable. His car door opened and he got out. It was dark, but when he walked in front of the headlights his profile was illuminated. It was definitely Greg. But
only
Greg. He went into the reception office and returned a few moments later, got back in the car, and moved it closer to where I was, but not close enough that he would have to look in my direction. I sunk a little lower in my seat, and kept perfectly still. He got out again and shut the door. Then the passenger door opened, and out stepped Miss I Can’t Decide What My Hair Colour Should Be. A low growl may have escaped my mouth but I barely noticed it; my eyes were glued to the sight in front of me.

They walked towards the second last room of the motel, and as Greg put the key in the door he dropped it, and laughed. The woman laughed too, and placed her hand on his back as he picked up the key. He positioned his face close to hers and ran his fingers through her hair.

How dare you
… I hoped the remnants of blonde in her hair would all fall out. Actually, I hoped all her hair would fall out as he combed it with his touch. My stomach twisted inside as he leaned in and pushed his lips against hers. Urgently. Impatiently. Aggressively. I wanted to throw up. He finally opened the door and they practically fell through it, entwined in each other.

That’s it
. I shoved the keys into my pocket and got out of the car. I marched in the direction of what I could now see as room number seven, and raised my chin in preparation. For what, I didn’t know. I had no idea what I’d say when he opened the door, no idea what I’d do, or what he’d do. I’d caught him, he couldn’t lie his way out of this one.

Oh boy, when I get in there I’m going to
… What was I going to do? What could even be done about this situation? He kissed her. He’s obviously not planning to just switch out the lights and fall straight asleep. Oh God. I stopped, my breath coming fast and shallow. My hands shook and dizziness unsteadied my legs. I gulped but it didn’t relieve the lump situation in my throat.

I can’t. I just can’t. I can’t go in there and see him again with her. Can’t see…her
. What if their clothes were off? The sight of them kissing and groping was traumatic enough, I didn’t want to add another inerasable sight to my memory. No. That was it. I’d seen enough. Going in there may stop them going ahead with whatever sick plans they had for the night, but it wouldn’t stop the damage that had been done.