Love In The Wrong Dimension (Romantic Ghost Story) (29 page)

When she pushed open the front door, a short time later, she was greeted by the delicious smell of something cooking. “Hi!” she called, tentatively.

Jack appeared from the kitchen, with two glasses of wine in his hands. “Hi Beautiful,” he smiled, handing her a glass of ice cold Pinot Grigio. Alice smiled her thanks, and took a sip of the crisp cold wine. It was delicious, and she felt her tension ease away as she took another sip. She put the glass down and put her arms around him, hugging him close to her, savouring the faint smell of his aftershave, mixed with a strong smell of chopped onions. “Sorry about yesterday,” he said, softly. “I wanted to say sorry last night when I got in, but you were asleep.”

“
That’s okay. I was a bit grumpy myself,” she said. “I was worried that you were really pissed off with me, because you weren’t there this morning.”

Jack smiled, looking very pleased with himself. “I was at work. I moved tomorrow’s interview to today so that we could spend the day together tomorrow. It’s Christmas Eve, and I thought we could go shopping together. How was work?”

“
Oh,” Alice felt herself go red. Shit, he had changed his interview so that he could spend the day with her tomorrow, and she had swapped her shift, thinking that he wasn’t going to be around. “Actually, I didn’t go to work today. I swapped shifts, so I’m going in tomorrow instead, I thought you were here today and that we could go shopping together. I didn’t know where you were this morning, so I went to the flat to finish packing up. Sorry.” She watched Jack’s smile fade, and knew that he wasn’t happy. Shit, talk about crossed wires! When he didn’t say anything, she started babbling about Oscar’s silly belief about Glitz being cursed, and Dean’s plan to set their friend, Darren, up at the fake séance. The more she said, the deeper Jack’s frown became.

“
So you didn’t change your shift to be with me then. You changed it to go to this séance!”

“
No. Yes. I mean I wouldn’t have agreed to swap if I had known you were going to be here tomorrow.” She watched his face, waiting anxiously for a sign of a smile, but his expression remained stony. “I know. Why don’t you come with me? You could sit and chat to the customers, the atmosphere will be really festive, and you could drink loads of mulled wine, and then join the séance later.”

“
No thank you. I’ll have last minute shopping to do, I need to wrap presents, and will be busy preparing for Christmas Day. Basically, all the things I thought we’d be doing together.” With that he turned abruptly and headed back into the kitchen, leaving Alice alone, with the bitter smell of burnt onions hanging in the air.

“
Happy Christmas Eve,” said Alice, leaning over in the bed to give Jack a kiss. They had gone to bed in silence last night, their argument hanging over them, painfully unresolved. Any attempt by Alice to make conversation had been met with short, curt answers. It was now morning, and Alice hoped that he was in a better mood today.

“
Yeah, you too,” Jack replied, in a tone that told her that he was still pissed off. “What time are you going to work?”

“
My shift starts at eleven o’clock. Why don’t you walk me to work and we could stop off for breakfast at Belsize Park?” Take the bloody olive branch, she willed him.

“
Sorry, I won’t have time. I’ve decided to go into the West End, so I’ll need to leave early before it gets too busy.” He didn’t sound sorry, Alice thought, dejectedly. It sounded more like an excuse to get away as quickly as possible. With a sigh, and a very heavy heart, she got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. After a hurried shower, she quickly applied a touch of make-up, dried her hair and found a clean jumper from the ironing pile before making her way downstairs. She had decided in the shower that if it was that important to Jack that she didn’t go to work today, then she would ring Glitz and tell them she wasn’t coming in. They’d be furious as they were expecting to be busy today, and Alice would feel terrible about letting them down, but Jack came first.

“
Hey, I’m coming with you,” she said, cheerily, as she walked into the kitchen. But the room was empty and silent, except for the sound of Casper greedily slurping his breakfast. Alice was gutted, he hadn’t even waited for her to come down so they could say goodbye. Well fuck you, she thought, stomping back upstairs to change into her Glitz t-shirt. She was really pissed off now, why the hell was he behaving like a spoilt two year old? She was tempted to stay at Glitz overnight and gatecrash Oscar and Dean’s Christmas tomorrow. Ha, that would serve him right.

Half an hour later she arrived at Glitz. The door was locked, but that was no surprise as she was nearly an hour early. She hadn’t felt like hanging around at the house, and thought that she might as well come in early and make herself useful. She rang the bell, discreetly hidden behind a sign, and almost immediately it was opened by Dean.

“
Hello there,” he said, looking surprised to see her. “You’re early, is everything alright?”

“
Fine.”

“
Okay. Well, now you’re here, you might as well join us for a coffee.”

“
Thanks.” Alice was close to tears, but she didn’t want Dean to see her upset, so she mumbled something about needing the loo, and hurried into the Ladies. She took a deep breath and willed herself not to cry, but just as she was pulling herself together, Oscar popped his head through the door.

“
Are you alright, Petal? Dean told me that you seemed a bit down.” The genuine kindness in his voice was the last straw and Alice burst into tears. “Hey, Sweetie, what’s wrong?” Oscar came all the way in and put his arms round her, letting her cry on his shoulder.

Eventually, when she had no more tears left, she grabbed a bit of tissue and wiped her eyes. “Sorry about that,” she hiccupped.

“
That’s alright, Sweetie. I just hate to see you so upset.”

“
No, I mean about the black mascara I’ve just smudged all over your lovely white shirt,” she said, and managed a smile, albeit a wobbly one.

“
Never mind about that. So are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” asked Oscar.

“
Me and Jack had a row. He’s pissed off with me for changing my shift today because he had plans for us, but I thought he was working today. He hadn’t told me that he had changed an appointment, so how the hell was I supposed to know?” She decided not to tell him about Jack’s remark about Dean, and also that she had been about to leave them in the lurch today. Instead she splashed cold water on her face and looked up at Oscar through the mirror. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine now.”

“
Well, any time you want to talk, we’re here for you.” Oscar gave her a hug, took her hand and led her back into the restaurant where Dean was waiting with a concerned look on his face. “Alright?” he asked, handing her a freshly made latte.

“
Yes, thanks. I’m fine now. So what’s the plan for today?” she asked, eager to change to subject away from her.

“
Well, first we need an Abba fix,” grinned Oscar, and ran over to the CD player before Dean could get there first. As the first notes of Super Trouper filled the room, Oscar came back over and sat down next to Alice. “We’re fully booked today so that’ll keep you occupied,” he said. “Wow, imagine being able to say that we’re fully booked! Anyway, we’ll play lots of Christmas music and have a good laugh, just you see. We’ve decided to remain open all day and close a bit earlier than usual, we’ll play it by ear, but I’m hoping we can close by nine o’clock, which is when Darren’s coming. He really liked you by the way.” That made Alice feel even worse, Darren seemed like a really sweet guy, and her and Dean were about to set him up as a fake psychic. She glanced over at Dean who shrugged slightly, but didn’t say anything.

Oscar was right, the restaurant was packed and the atmosphere was warm, friendly and noisy. Oscar had produced a huge jug of homemade mulled wine and several platefuls of mince pies to anyone who wanted them, and some of the regular customers brought cards and little gifts for them all. There was a slight lull at around four o’clock, but by five it was busy again, and it remained busy until they closed the door to the last customer at half past nine. Darren had arrived early and had chipped in, helping to clear the tables and entertaining the customers with exaggerated ghost stories.

“
Phew, what a day,” sighed Dean as he helped himself to a large glass of wine. “Happy Christmas, guys!”

“
So, Darren, are you going to do this séance for us then?” asked Oscar, excitedly.

Darren looked thoughtful for a minute before replying. “Yes, but this isn’t the right atmosphere for a séance. There’s been so much noise and positive energy here today that I don’t think a séance would work. How about I just do a reading, you know, I walk around, listening to what the soul of the place tells me and I’ll feed it back to you.”

“
Sounds good,” said Dean, looking completely serious. “Make yourself at home.”

Alice was disappointed that Darren wasn’t going to hold a séance. Even though she knew he probably wasn’t a genuine psychic, and that the séance would most likely have been pointless, she had secretly hoped that it might have been an opportunity for other spirits to voice their presence. Spirits like Jemma, perhaps? Forcing a smile, she nodded her agreement with Oscar and Dean.

They all watched as Darren walked around quietly, every now and then closing his eyes as if he was concentrating on something specific, before continuing his walk around. He went from the restaurant, into the kitchen and even upstairs to the flat for a while. Oscar followed him
around like an eager puppy, waiting impatiently for his conviction about the curse to be confirmed. Dean and Alice watched quietly from their table, and at one point Dean winked at Alice as Darren raised his face to the ceiling, and made a strange noise, his eyes shut and arms outstretched. Alice had to admit it did look a bit comical and smiled back at Dean.

“
Right,” said Darren, eventually and headed back toward the table.

“
Here we go,” whispered Dean, quietly.

When they were all seated again, Darren looked at each one of them in turn before settling his gaze on Oscar. “I’ve been looking out for any signs of a businessman who may have been murdered here, and possibly the smell of tobacco,” Dean and Alice exchanged a quick glance, “but I’m afraid I haven’t been able to come up with anything.”

They all gasped, that was not what Dean and Alice had been expecting, and poor Oscar looked dumbstruck. Darren continued, “I have to be honest, Dean, I did overhear something you said on the phone the other day, and I was really excited by that, but I didn’t sense anything at all just now. I’m really sorry, but I couldn’t find anything to suggest that this James Salisbury ever existed. I guess I’m not as gifted as I thought I was.”

Alice looked at Dean’s shocked face and laughed. It was such a relief that Darren hadn’t fallen into their trap, and that he had been honest enough to come clean about not sensing anything. She really liked Darren, and this stupid plan of hers had long since lost its appeal. She stood up, went over to Darren and gave him a hug. “Thank you for trying,” she said, “and for being honest.”

“
Well,” said Oscar, “I wasn’t expecting that. I was so sure you would find something. But that doesn’t mean that this place isn’t haunted.”

Alice squeezed Oscar’s shoulder, and picked up her bag. “When my friend, Maggie, gets back, you know the one I told you about, I’ll ask her to come round if you like. If there’s anything here at all, she’ll find it. Now, I think I’d better get back to Jack and see if he’s talking to me yet.”

“
I’ll call you a cab,” said Dean, reaching for his phone, “I’d offer you a lift, but I’ve had too much to drink.”

“
That’s okay, I can walk.”

“
No way,” said Dean protectively. But a minute later Dean hung up with a worried frown. “Shit, there are no cabs for two hours, at least!”

Oscar jumped up and grabbed his coat, “I’ll walk you home, Petal. It’s not far, but there’s no way we’re going to let you walk back on your own.”

Both Dean and Darren got up as well, “We’re coming as well.” Alice enjoyed the walk back with her three friends, they linked arms and chatted happily about the joys of Christmas until they reached the house. “Would you like to come in for a drink?” she asked, as she reached for her key.

“
Better not,” said Oscar. “
Why don’t you and Jack come over on Boxing Day? We’re having a few friends around for drinks and a bite to eat.”

“
Thanks, I’ll let you know tomorrow. Happy Christmas, guys, and thanks for walking me back.”

As she closed the door behind her, Alice noticed the sound of quiet voices coming from the kitchen. How strange, she thought, she wasn’t aware that anyone was coming tonight. She pushed the kitchen door open, and let out a gasp of surprise. For there, sitting at the kitchen table and sharing a bottle of wine with Jack, was Maggie.

“
Maggie!” Alice dropped her bag and rushed over to hug her friend. “Where have you been?”

“
Nice to see you, too,” chuckled Maggie. “I’ve been at the most incredible retreat in Thailand, you should come with me one day. Anyway, I’m back now. Jack’s told me that you’ve been trying to get hold of me. Is everything alright?”

Alice, still with her coat on, sat down next to Maggie, barely giving Jack a glance, and told her all about her encounter with the angel. “He gave me a message to pass onto Jemma, a really important message, but I haven’t been able to give it to her yet. I realise now, that the best way is probably to hold a séance, but I don’t know what to do, so I really need your help. Would you hold a séance for me, Maggie? Please?”