Even though Leo arrived within ten minutes of hanging up, Emily was near frozen, sitting on the front porch step in the dark. According to her phone, it was 27 degrees and flurries were expected in a few hours. Not a very good night to lock herself outside on purpose.
Plus, the Ambien was kicking in and she was having a difficult time staying awake. That was bad. If she fell asleep in the cold, she might suffer hypothermia or frostbite. As far as plans went, it was not good. But it did get her away from the ghosts.
Leo was understandably upset when he arrived. She had clearly gotten him out of bed—he'd been tossing and turning like her, judging from the sweatpants tucked into his boots and the crazy bed head hair. But he lost most of that anger when he got close enough to see the slack expression on her face.
"What are you doing out here?" He reached out to help her up. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I locked myself out again." She could barely lift her eyelids, so she tilted her head backward to look at him. But the back of her head was so heavy she almost fell over backward. "Stupid door."
"Whoa, hey. Hey." He caught her before she could go over and examined her face. "How long have you been out here in the cold? You need to stay awake."
He thought she had hypothermia. How cute. She leaned forward and her forehead bonked him in the chest.
"Hey Emily, come on now." He wrapped his arms around her and stood her up. "Have you been drinking?"
She shook her head, grinding her nose into his coat. "Sleeping pill."
"Pills? How many?" His voice took on an urgency. "What kind? Stay with me, Emily."
"No, no." She smiled. "One. I took one. Ambien. To sleep."
He said nothing, just supported her in his arms as he unlocked the door. Then he tried helping her in, but her legs weren't working very well. Finally, he just picked her up and carried her in like a bag of groceries.
"Well, that's not very romantic," she thought. Or maybe she said it out loud. The Ambien was really kicking in now. "Supposed to carry me like in the movies."
"It was more of a practical solution," he grunted as he carried her to the bedroom and flopped her onto the bed.
"Oh." So she had said it out loud. That was unfortunate. She struggled to come up on her elbows. "I've got to watch what I'm thinking."
He gave her a pretty thorough visual inspection. She tried to smile for it. "You're sure you just took one?"
"Yeah. One." She licked her lips. They were so dry. Why was her mouth so dry? "They really work."
"What were you doing outside at one o'clock in the morning?" He leaned her forward, supporting her back with his left hand as he helped her out of her coat with his right.
"Just..." She sighed. "I locked myself out."
"Yeah. I get that." He lay her back down gently and turned to her boots. "You shouldn't be outside. Especially if you've taken Ambien. It's a pretty strong drug. People do all kinds of crazy things on it."
"Like lock themselves outside." She kicked at him a little as he wrestled with her boot. "You're tickling me."
"Yeah. Like lock themselves outside in the middle of December," he said. Then, he held onto her ankle and tickled the sole of her foot. "And that's tickling, by the way."
She squirmed and half sat up, resting on her elbows again. "I'm sorry. I keep calling you."
"Don't be sorry for calling me." He gave her a half frown. "Be sorry for not understanding how a door lock works."
"Ha. Ha." She sighed. "It's malfunctioning."
"It's not." He nodded and gave her a playful look. "You just aren't clever enough to work it."
She fake frowned. He was playing with her. He was joking around and sitting on her bed with his hand on her ankle. She looked down at his hand and he pulled it away self-consciously.
"Sorry." He stood. "I should go now that you're okay."
"Yeah," she said, although she didn't want him to. It was selfish and she felt guilty about being so selfish, but she felt safe with Leo here.
"Well, that's good. You are safe with me," he said. "But you should feel safe here anyway."
Damn it. Was she thinking out loud again? Stupid Ambien.
He laughed. "Yeah. Thinking out loud. It's called talking."
"It never affects me this way," she said.
"Maybe it does. How do you know?" He was starting toward the door. She had to think of something to keep him from leaving.
She sat up quickly—or maybe it was slowly, she couldn't tell anymore. She could hear the desperation in her voice, though. "Hey, can you check the shower while you're here?"
He stopped. "What's wrong with the shower?"
"Doesn't get hot," she said the first thing she could think of.
He frowned and moved to the bathroom. She could hear him move the makeup on the floor to the side. He called out, "What happened here?"
She sighed. "I dropped it."
He wasn't buying it. "All of it?"
"Yes?" What other explanation? Your dead grandma scared the life out of me, and I knocked it all off the counter in my terror?
She heard him turn on the shower. It ran for about 30 seconds, and he turned it off. He motioned toward the door and steamed mirror. "Pretty sure you could boil lobster in there. How hot do you need it?"
She had to think of something else. "How about the dishwasher?"
"There is no dishwasher." He frowned. "Are you sure you're okay?"
She laughed, and hoped it sounded self-deprecating and not deranged. "I meant the garbage disposal."
He sighed and disappeared out of the room. In a minute, she could hear the grinding of the disposal in the kitchen sink. Then he was back.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "Garbage disposal seems fine."
"Oh," she said. She had to think of something else to make him stay.
"Why?" He sat down on the edge of the bed again. "Why do you need me to stay? What's going on?"
Damn it, she was talking again instead of thinking. She was never taking Ambien again.
"Probably a good idea," he laughed. "What's going on?"
She struggled into a sitting position, hoping that would help her stay awake. "Have any other tenants ever heard things in this house?"
"Heard things?" he repeated. "Like geese on the roof?"
She frowned. "Like footsteps."
He raised his eyebrows. "On the roof? Geese?"
She shook her head. "In the room when I'm trying to sleep."
"Ah. Okay," he brushed back the hair that shaking her head had caused to fall across her eyes.
She couldn't tell if he believed her or not, but she liked him being so close and touching her face.
"Yeah, it's nice," he chuckled.
She really should be concerned with this lack of control over her thoughts and mouth. But she kept talking anyway. "Footsteps and voices."
"You're hearing voices?" His eyebrows raised slightly. "Before or after the Ambien?"
She had to think about it for a moment. "Both."
He nodded and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "And are the voices telling you to do things?"
"Yeah, but not bad things." She smiled. He was still touching her.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't right now." He dropped his hand away and scooted back a few inches. "What kinds of things are the voices telling you to do?"
She blushed. "I think I must have been dreaming."
"Probably," He smiled. "Probably don't take the Ambien again."
She sighed and lay back on the bed. She was so tired. "It's funny how your dreams can be so real."
"Yeah," he said. "They can."
"I mean, I was obviously influenced by talking with Madison tonight, right?" She watched him through slitted eyes.
"Yeah, I saw that you two were hanging out," he smiled. "Good for you, making friends and all."
She sighed. "It's because we were talking about you that I dreamed that,"
He sat up a little straighter. "You were talking about me?"
"Mr. Statton and you," she was having a lot of difficulty staying awake. "Your grandpa, right?"
"Yeah, what were you talking about me with Madison?" He leaned in a little closer.
"And your grandma and grandpa lived here, right?" She had to remain focused on what she was saying and not how extremely cute Leo was right now.
"Thanks," he smirked. "What did she tell you about me? It was good, right?"
It all made sense now. "And so yeah, I dreamed about talking to Mr. Statton and Rose and—"
"You dreamed you were talking to my grandparents?" That seemed to confuse him.
"It must have been a dream." She struggled to keep her eyes open. "Although, I don't know how I know your grandma. I don't remember ever seeing her. But I must have. How did I know what she looked like or what her name was?"
"Wait a second." He pulled out his wallet and opened it up. He showed her a photo. "You saw these two?"
She could only look with one eye. The other was too heavy to lift. "They won't leave me alone."
"Emily, hold on. Don't fall asleep." He gave her shoulder a shake to wake her up a little. "You're saying my dead grandparents are haunting you?"
She tried to nod, but her head was so heavy. "She wants me to call you."
Leo leaned closer still. "Who?"
He was so close to her. It would have been nice in any other circumstance, but she was falling—plummeting—to sleep. She could only sigh, "Rose."
"My Grandma Rose wants you to call me?" He patted her hand to keep her awake a little longer. "Why?"
"She says you're a good man," she mumbled, then everything went black.
**
She awoke to the worst noise possible. It was some horrible buzzing noise. It was familiar and yet alien. She thought, at first, a bee had gotten into her bedroom and was hovering around her face. Never mind that it was December and bees were dormant in the Midwest. She thought she might be dreaming it, but it just kept going until she opened her eyes.
Her phone's screen lit up with the name Leo Kendrick. She grabbed it and answered. She was not happy with how froggy her voice sounded. "Hello?"
"Okay. Good. You're finally up," he said. "Those Ambiens really work, don't they? I tried to call you earlier."
"Yeah." She sat up in bed and blinked a few times. Her head was still fuzzy, stuck in the hangover stage of the drug. "I only take it if I absolutely can't sleep."
"Maybe you should try something else? Warm milk? Counting sheep? Reading?" He laughed, but he seemed serious at the same time. "I worry about you being by yourself and taking those. I've heard of people getting pretty badly hurt sleepwalking while taking them."
"I don't usually have a problem." She stretched and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "I'm usually just asleep for eight hours. I don't even have any dreams."
He laughed, though there didn't seem to be much humor behind it. "That was not the case last night."
"Yeah. Thanks for coming over and unlocking the door. I don't know how that keeps happening." She blushed at her boldfaced lie.
"Well, you're clearly in need of some door lessons," he said.
She laughed and stood. She needed to get up, get some coffee in her, take a shower. "Maybe you're right."
Leo was quiet for a moment. Then he spoke cautiously, "You said some stuff last night."
"Oh no." She blushed furiously, though she wasn't yet sure why. "Well, those sleeping pills really take you somewhere else. I don't remember what I said to you. I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay." He paused. "You said you saw my grandparents."
She froze in place. Had she said that? Why would she say that? That would be so disturbing for someone to say about your dead grandparents. What was wrong with her?
He said, "You still there?"
"Yeah," she croaked. She attempted a laugh. "Well, like I said. The sleeping pill makes you—"
"You called my grandma Rose," he said. "How did you know her name?"
"I'm sorry, Leo." She tried to deflect his curiosity. "I had hung out with Madison and we were talking about school days. And of course, your name came up because you're the only other person I know in town."
"Yeah," he said. "You told me that."
"I'm sorry. I don't remember you from back then. Madison was trying to refresh my memory," she said. "She mentioned that Mr. Statton was your grandfather. I guess that's why I dreamed about him."
"Okay. I get that," he mused. "But how did you know about my Grandma Rose?"
"I don't know," she practically whispered. There was really only one explanation, and she couldn't bring herself to say it to him.
He said it. "Are you saying my grandparents' ghosts are haunting your house?"
She chewed her lip. "That would be crazy to say."
He was very serious. "It was their house, you know."
"You told me," she said quietly. "They didn't...?"
"My grandpa had a heart attack on the golf course and my grandma died two years later," he explained. "The house has been empty for six months. You're the first renter."
"And you never saw—" She couldn't even say it.
"I never saw the ghosts of my dead grandparents in the house, no," he said. "Did Madison maybe tell you my grandma's name?"
"No. We didn't talk about that." She could finally move, though her legs were rubbery and weak. She moved to the kitchen. "We didn't even talk about your grandpa. It was mostly..."
She sighed and trailed off. She started filling the coffeepot.
"Mostly me," he finished. She couldn't tell if he was relieved, amused, or annoyed. "What did she say about me?"
"Nothing." Emily could hear Madison's accusation, you and Leo, in her mind's ear and she was grateful he couldn't see her blush over the phone. "Nothing, really. She was going to see if she could find her yearbook."
"You're looking me up?" He laughed.
"Among other people." She forced the smile off her lips. "It's not just you."
"Right," he said. "You were singing a different tune last night under the influence of that Ambien."
"Ugh. You can't hold that against me," she couldn't keep from smiling. "I have no idea what I said."
"Oh, you don't?" he chuckled. "You don't remember anything about how cute I am? Or how you like me touching your hair?"
Thank you, Universe for that. How could she ever face him now? She cleared her throat. "We were just going to look up your old pictures in the yearbook so I could remember. You know, people change how they look in ten years."
"I'll save you the trouble," he said. "I'll just bring you mine."
"You don't have to," she said quickly. "I can just—"
"Oh, so you only want me to come over when you get locked out of the house?" He laughed. "I feel used."
"No, that's not it," she said. "I just don't want you to go to any trouble."
"No trouble," he said. "And I can have another look at that malfunctioning door lock."
"I think the door is okay now," she said. She bit her lip. What was wrong with her? This was what she wanted, for Leo to come over. Why was she making up excuses not to see him now?
"I'll check it anyway. I don't want you to get locked out sometime when I'm not available to come let you in," he said. "I've got rehearsals tonight until about nine, but then I'll head over."
She let a small smile quirk her lips. "Okay."
"I'll bring pizza," he said. "And my yearbook. So you can laugh at what a weirdo I was."
"I won't laugh," she promised. Her heart was starting to race with the idea of Leo coming over to see her on purpose.
"And maybe we'll tell Grandma Rose to leave you alone, eh?" He laughed.
But that wasn't funny.