Knowing how serious things have gotten to the way they were now, I couldn’t just book a ticket to London right away. I still needed to talk to Kath, give her the details as to why I’m leaving for a couple of days. She won’t have a flimsy excuse like buying more wedding gowns especially when the ones that arrived days ago haven’t even been sold yet. Besides worrying what crap I’ll be dealing with in England, the next thing that came to the list of my worries were how was I suppose to break the news to Kath. She saw David once, now she couldn’t even see him again even if he was standing an inch in front of her.
Two days ago I heard what David wanted to show me. Maybe if I showed the recording to Kath she would believe me. It was the only way. Tonight I’ve decided to tell her when she’ll be spending the night over. The two of us usually weekend ritual of spending the night over, watch some movies and have a ladies’ night. God knew I prayed hard that tonight she’d be in a good mood. If she is then it would be easy for me to tell her how the guy that came into the store known as David Carson was dead and she saw his ghost.
This afternoon, I was swamped with work. A customer came in, her name was Lynn, and she was trying almost half the gowns in the store before she got satisfied with one of the antique gowns I bought from London. Thankfully it wasn’t the dress that David seemed to attach himself to.
When Lynn decided on the dress and we did more fitting and paperwork, she left the store. Just in time too because David came in uninvited. I swear I hate it when he appears out of thin air.
“For Christ’s sake David, can’t you just once warn me or something that’s you’re going to make an apparition? You’re creeping the beliebers out of me,” I said, clutching my chest. My heart raced in hyper speed. For once I’ve been with David, I heard his laugh. It was a low chuckle but the same time, it sounded a bit distant.
“You’re a fan of Justin Bieber?” he asked. I shook my head. No way in hell I wasn’t. “Look, you need to go to England really soon. I’m afraid Veronica is going to get away with her murder if we don’t do anything soon.”
“Give me time okay. I was planning to tell Kath about you and about the plan tonight,” I said, cleaning up papers from my desk. “Now I hope you don’t make your sudden appearances. I want tonight to be strictly a girls’ night.”
It was quiet, I thought he had left. When I looked up, David was still there, gazing silently at me. I stopped doing my work and leaned on my desk. David drifted closer to me until we were two feet apart from each other.
“I want to ask you something,” David said. “Why do you love him?”
I raised both my eyebrows, obviously taken aback by his question. Why would he want to know anyway?
“I guess before he’s always been there for me and that’s what really caught my attention,” I answered.
“You said after. How about now?” David asked back. His question was like a knife. Cold as steel, hurt like hell.
“What does this have to do with you?” I glared at him. He shrugged his shoulders and then slowly disappeared. Leaving me in the store all alone. In the future I hope he wouldn’t ask any more personal questions.
I wiped the stray tear that rolled down my left cheek and continued cleaning up before closing for the day. When I locked the door of the store, the weather outside was rather gloomy and gray. It was probably going to rain soon, meaning I should go back home real quickly.
When I arrived home, I brought two bags of groceries with me. I stopped by WholeFoods to grab some last minute groceries. I knew too well Kath would ease up a little if there’s a bowl of caramel popcorn in her hands. Roro greeted me with joy, jumping up and down on my leg.
“Hey boy,” I greeted him in return, petting him on the head. “Molly is staying over tonight, you guys are going to have a great time!”
As swiftly as I could, I cooked lasagna for dinner. As I wait for it to be finished, I took a quick shower before Kath showed up in front of my doorstep. Kath came in with her flower patterned pajamas and Molly in her hands. I smiled as she came in, giving her a hug.
The whole night as we ate dinner together, Kath chatted about how her week went besides working at the boutique. Trying my hard to focus, I was unable to do just that. My mind wandered, my feeling anxious, hoping for some reason David would appear somewhere. But all through dinner he didn’t. Kath seemed to notice me being absent minded and asked about if I was okay when we did the dishes.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” I said dryly. Kath looked at me with both eyebrows raised, waiting for me to go on. “You know David Carson? The guy that came into our store weeks ago? Well, he’s dead …”
“Oh my God,” Kath whispered, her hands flew to her mouth, forgetting she was actually holding a plate in her hands. “You’ve been seeing him haven’t you? Oh my God sweetie, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you were dating him.”
It was my turn to look at her questioningly.
“First of all, what made you think I was dating him? And secondly, out of all the things you can think of, why do you have to think that?”
“So … you’re not dating him?” Kath asked, grabbing a broom to clean up the broken pieces of the plate.
“No, I’m not!” I shook my head in disgust.
“Well how did he die?”
“He was murdered,” I responded, drying my wet hands on a clean cloth. “By a woman who was supposed to be his wife.”
“That’s twisted,” Kath said, scooping up the broken china and dumping it in the garbage can. “When did he die?”
Shit. This was exactly what I’ve been trying to avoid. I grabbed the caramel popcorns from the microwave where I have left it before dinner and shoved it to Kath. Making her sit in the living room. She looked at me in confusion, but her hands never once stopped feeding her mouth with those caramel popcorns.
“He’s been dead longer than we’ve known him,” I said seriously. My best friend stopped crunching on her popcorn for a moment before she laughed.
“You shouldn’t joke about the dead Al,” Kath laughed. “But you had me for a moment there.”
I frowned.
“Why would I joke about something like that?”
Kath stopped laughing to observer the serious expression I wore on my face. Within two minutes, her face had turned white as paper, her eyes filled with disbelief.
“So how come I saw him that day?” she asked. Now to think of it I have no answer to that because I haven’t gotten around asking David about how Kath could see him when he first appeared. “He was a very stunning man. And when it comes to men who are stunning, I never forget about them.”
“I’ll ask him about that when I see him next,” I said in defeat.
“Are you saying you can see him?” Kath asked, her face looked totally horrified.
“Yes I can see him,” I replied, sitting next to her. “I’m not sure whether I should be crept out about it or think of myself as a lucky girl who can see ghosts. Well, a ghost anyway.”
The two of us sat in the living room, looking blankly into space and munching on caramel popcorns. Secretly I yearned for David to appear, soothing my dreary heart. I couldn’t stand sitting beside Kath saying absolutely nothing. After a couple of loud silence, Kath turned to me and held my hand.
“Explain it all to me from the beginning, Al,” Kath said, a small smile on her face. “I’ll try my best to be open minded and comprehend the whole thing.”
Here we go.
