Love In The Wrong Dimension (Romantic Ghost Story) (32 page)

He pulled her down to sit next to him, and put his arm around her shoulder. “I’m sorry, too. I’ve been a pain in the arse, haven’t I?”

“
Let’s call it quits, shall we?” she smiled, and he smiled back, his eyes telling her that he agreed.

“
Alice, it wasn’t that I didn’t believe you. I was worried about you, because I could see the strain it was having on you. I love you so much and I was worried I was going to lose you,” he said.

“
Why would you think that?”

“
Because you became so distant with me, and then you became friends with Dean, and he was able to help you in a way that I couldn’t. I felt that I’d let you down.”

“
Is that why you don’t like him?”

“
Actually, I do like him, he’s a good guy. You were right, I was jealous of him, because he was the one who guessed the boy could be an angel. That had never occurred to me, and I suppose it made me feel a bit insecure about my own psychic skills. And when you changed your shift, I took it the wrong way and blamed it on you not wanting to spend any time with me. I was stupid, I know that now, and I’m sorry for giving you such a hard time.”

“
Jack, you will always be the most important person in my life. It’s thanks to you that I was able to get into that deep meditative state so I could talk to Jemma. Without being able to do that, the message would have been useless. I’d be lost without you, so don’t ever doubt yourself like that again. I mean it, Jack, you’ve helped me more than anyone, and I love you more than you could ever imagine.”

Jack kissed her, and Alice felt as if she was finally at home. She had Jack, she had finally talked to Jemma and she had a job she loved. She was truly happy and, for the first time since Jemma had died, she felt as if she was able to lay her grief to rest and move on with her life. “By the way,” she said, just before she fell asleep in his arms, “we’ve been invited to Glitz on Boxing Day, Maggie’s going to check the place out. Do you fancy going?”

“
Why not,” he grinned. “It could be fun seeing if we can sort that ghost out for them.”

“
I’m so glad they’ve made up,” sighed Jemma, as she and Tom watched Alice sleeping in Jack’s arms in front of the Christmas tree. “It’s so weird that we know everything about her life with Jack, but she doesn’t know anything about us.”

“
I wouldn’t say that,” grinned Tom, “she now knows that we live here with her and Jack, and that you’re in love with someone who looks like this Johnny Depp fellow.”

“
Hmm. Isn’t it funny how both me and Alice found love because of my death?”

“
Fucking sentimental shit,” growled Max from his corner. They had briefly forgotten about him, and had been enjoying the romantic atmosphere, created by the twinkling Christmas tree in the darkened room. Now the moment was ruined, and they couldn’t wait to get away.

“
Take my hand,” whispered Tom, “I want to take you somewhere special.” Jemma grabbed his hand and closed her eyes, a rush of anticipation charging through her. A second later, she opened them again and, like the first time, found herself on a beach as beautiful as the one in Norfolk.

“
Wow, this place is amazing. Where are we this time?” Like the beach in Norfolk, this one had miles of soft white sand stretching out before them. The sea was the clearest deep blue and was glistening in what was obviously very warm sunshine. The sky was as blue as the sea and completely cloudless, in fact you could barely see the horizon, where the sea ended and the sky started. Instead of the grassy sand dunes though, tall palm trees were swaying gently in a very subtle sea breeze. “Right let me guess, palm trees, warm sunshine and a clear sky,” she observed, “we’re clearly not in England. So where is this?”

“
Do you remember the first time I took you to Norfolk?” he asked, and she nodded. “Do you remember where you thought I had brought you?”

“
Oh my god, is this the Seychelles?”

“
Yep,” said Tom, looking pleased with himself. “After you said you wanted to go the Seychelles, I came straight here and have been looking for the best beach. And this is it.”

“
Wow, Christmas Day on a deserted beach in the Seychelles with you. This is perfect. When you said we would go somewhere special on Christmas Day, I thought you were going to take me to Lapland or something equally Christmassy.”

Tom laughed. “Actually, I was planning on taking you to Northern Norway later to see the Northern Lights, and then I thought we could go for a walk under the Niagara Falls.”

“
Really?”

“
Yes, if you want to. We can go anywhere we like.”

Jemma wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and pulled him as close to her as possible. “Hmm, sounds wonderful, but do you know what I’d really like?”

“
What?”

To stay here, just you and me. It’s our last day together and the only thing I want is to be alone with you.”

“
Then that’s what we’ll do. Here, take my hand.” Tom held out his hand, and she took it without hesitation. They started walking towards the water until they came to the edge. “Remember when we did this in Norfolk?” he asked, and started walking into the water. This time, instead of slightly cloudy water filled with jellyfish, the water was crystal clear with thousands of tiny colourful fish swimming around them. Jemma held onto Tom’s hand and let him lead her further into the sea. They walked until they came across some coral, dancing gently in the current, and as the water got deeper, the fish became more exotic and beautiful. When they ventured into deeper water, they even saw some sharks swimming gracefully around them, and then, as they made their way back towards the sandy beach, they were greeted by some giant turtles, lazily soaking up the sun by some shallow rocks. Jemma thought she had never seen anything so beautiful.

“
This is the most amazing place I’ve ever been to. Thank you for bringing me here,” she said, feeling happier than she had ever felt before, tomorrow’s impending departure temporarily forgotten. They made their way round to another part of the island, and strolled along the beach, hand in hand, just like the other couples, who were mostly honeymooners by the look of it, and eventually they found a quiet patch of sand under a palm tree and sat down. Jemma snuggled up to Tom, and sighed contentedly. “Tom?”

“
Hmm.”

“
Can we do that thing again? You know...”

“
Have you ever made love on a beach?” he asked, his voice sounding tantalisingly husky.

Jemma felt a thrill run through her. “No, I can’t say I have.”

“
There are huge advantages to being invisible you know,” he murmured, kissing her ear. “Like, making love on an exotic beach without anyone seeing.” Jemma closed her eyes and basked in a delicious sensation of love, mixed with equal amounts of lust and passion. They made love under the palm tree twice and afterwards lay in each others’ arms, exhausted and very happy. And just when Jemma didn’t think things could get any better, Tom told her to let her barrier down and, like before, they became a part of each other again, exploring every part of their bodies and soul. The physical sex had been amazing, but this was what Jemma really wanted. This was something so intimate and beautiful that nothing could ever compare with it.

A long time later, they went for another walk in the sea, before returning to their palm tree. Jemma lay with her head across Tom’s lap as he leant against the palm tree, gently stroking her head. “I wish we could stay here forever,” she sighed.

“
Me too. Imagine if we could manipulate time,” he mused, “I’d relive this day over and over.”

“
Can’t we? Manipulate time?” Jemma felt a rush of excitement. What if they could stall time, go back over and over and relive their time together?

“
No, I’m afraid not. I’ll be able to once I’m a free spirit, but I’m afraid it’s not possible for us here.”

“
Oh.” Jemma’s excitement vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

“
Jemma, this may be the last time we’re completely alone and I want you to know how much you mean to me.” Reality was catching up with them again, and Tom’s voice was subdued as he continued. “Susie and I had been drifting along here for twenty years, content in our complacency, and resigned to the fact that we’d be stuck here forever. And then you came along and forced me to face up to things that I had buried years ago because it was too painful. Then, despite my resistance, you helped me find peace with my mother and my greatest wish was granted; my ashes were scattered at my father’s grave. I love you, Jemma. More than I’ve ever loved anyone, and I really appreciate all you’ve done for me. I love you so much that I’d be willing to forget going back and stay here with you, so if you really want, I’ll say to hell with it and we can stay here together.”

Jemma was so moved by Tom’s words that she was speechless for a second; a rare event in Jemma’s case. Her head was spinning, he would rather stay with her than become a free spirit. Wow, this must be equivalent to a marriage proposal, and, just for a moment, she was so overwhelmed that she nearly cried yes, yes, yes. But her conscience stopped her and reminded her of Susie’s distraught tears when she had told her how much she missed her family, and how alone she had felt. She had promised Susie that she would try to make things right, and, even though they could have bought a bit more time by telling her that the plans were on hold for now, what was the point of delaying the heartbreak? If Tom stayed, Susie would remain as well, and then it would be her and Tom’s fault that she would cry every day because she was so desperate to go home. Susie wasn’t meant to die, just like herself, and keeping her here, no matter what the reason, would be wrong. So Jemma made the biggest sacrifice she would ever make, “Tom, my love, thank you. Thank you for saying that, but you know that we can’t stay. It wouldn’t be right, we’d be together at someone else’s expense, and neither of us would be able to live with that. I’d like nothing more than to stay here with you forever, but we can’t. We just can’t...” her voice trailed off into a sob. This time tomorrow she would probably be alive again and would have no idea that Tom had ever existed. Determined not to break down completely, she jumped up, reached for Tom’s hand and said, “We should go now and find Claire to make the final arrangements. We’d better not put it off any longer.”

Tom’s eyes glistened with tears as he took her hand, and together, they vanished from their private paradise and made their way back to find Claire.

A split second later they were standing by Claire’s bench in the forest. “Hi, Claire,” said Jemma, with more enthusiasm than she felt.

Claire jumped and turned around quickly. “Hello, you two,” she smiled. But the smile didn’t reach her eyes, which were red and swollen from crying, and Jemma rushed over to her and put her arms around her.

“
Claire! Are you okay? Whatever’s wrong?”

Claire sniffed and stared out over the stunning view. “It’s Max. He’s just...”

“
Max?” shouted Jemma, “What the hell has that bastard done?”

“
Jemma, let her talk,” said Tom, sitting down next to them on the bench.

“
Max hasn’t done anything, except help me. He’s talked me through some things relating to my death, and made me face up to a few home truths. He’s just helped me remember what happened when I died, and why Robert hasn’t turned up.”

“
Really?” Jemma was impressed, she had never managed to get Claire to open up very much about her death, so the fact that Max had had such a breakthrough was incredible. She found it hard to imagine being able to open up to Max, to trust him with your deepest, darkest secrets. You just never could tell. “So what happened to Robert then? Did he run off with another woman?”

“
Yes,” said Claire, in a sad voice, “just after he murdered me!”

“
What? That’s awful,” Tom’s voice reflected the shock that hit both him and Jemma. “What happened?”

“
He had been poisoning me, making me think that I was ill. It was deliberate and carefully planned. He had been seeing another woman for a while and one day I found out. By this time I was quite poorly, he’d been poisoning me for a while by then, and I was weak. Only two days before, he had told me how devastated he was by my illness and, if I was to die, he would come and find me by our special bench when his time came. It was all part of his plan to make me think I was dying of a natural illness. The day I found him with
her
, he told me that he despised me and had only married me for my money, but he wasn’t going to leave me, because he wouldn’t get any of my fortune. He then injected me with a lethal dose of whatever it was he was giving me. Max said that Robert wouldn’t have become a free spirit as he would have gone to what the living call Hell. Wherever that is.” Claire’s voice was filled with bitterness as she poured out her story. “I can’t believe I was so stupid. I always had a feeling that he didn’t truly love me, but I never thought he’d do anything like that. To think I’ve been waiting all these years for that murderous swine!” she spat.