What the Heart Knows (12 page)

“And you
,
sir?” the waitress asked.

“I’ll have the Philly Cheese Steak with fries, and a cola.”

“I’ll have that right out for you guys,” the waitress said as she turned on her heel and disappeared behind the partition that held the register.

“Where’s Juniper?”
he asked.

“Aaah, so you’re going to take the direct approach?”  The smirk she wore twisted the face of his loved one beyond recognition.

“Who, or what are you?”

“I think it’d be more fun if you guessed
.
”

“Then give me a clue.”

“You wound me
,
Oli…
”

The use of his nickname made his hackles rise. This was no random spirit.

“Do I know you?”

“Once.”

“Why are you here?”

“Hmm, now that’s the million dollar question
,
isn’t it?” She laughed as she shook her head. “Let’s stick with who I am for now.”

He choked back the rude comment that popped into his head. For now he was forced to play under someone else’s rules.

“I’ll give you three questions
,
Oli. I suggest you take your time and consider each one carefully. It’s been some time since I’ve been inside a living body,
and I’m enjoying my time. You picked a pretty one, I’ll give you that.”

“This has nothing to do with looks.”

“No, she’s also as a sweet as pie, and equally damaged. I understand why the two of you work; it just makes me sick to my stomach.”

“You can leave at any time.”

“You’d love that
,
wouldn’t you?” she asked.

The venom in her words took him back. What had he done to this person?  “It took me a
while to find my way back here, but now that I have I plan on staying for a long time.”

Could she do that? Completely take over Juni’s body and refuse to leave? Her boldness spoke of cockiness or certainty. He was hoping it was the first option. It’d work to their advantage.

“Why Juni?”

“Because there’s something very specia
l about that lady love of yours
.
I couldn’t be here if things hadn’t lined up just right,
so really I should thank her.” 

The words from the psychic echoed in his mind.
You have a very special heart.
  They needed to figure out who she’d received her transplant from.

“Why me?”

“You owe me a debt, and I plan on collecting.”

“I’ve never wronged someone so badly they’d come back from the grave.”

“That’s not a question, and you’re not thinking hard enough.”

“Why are you allowing me to ask
you things
?”

“Because I want you to know who I am
,
Oliver
.
T
hat’s a part of the fun.”

They both went silent as the waitress returned and set their food on the table before moving away.

“Now that you’re all out of questions
,
it’s time to listen. With every day that passes I gain
more strength. Soon
I’ll be able to take over for longer periods of time until eventually there is no Juniper Bloom.  I’m going to enjoy watching you try to save her
,
Oliver.
Especially since
I know in the end you’ll fail.”

Oliver leaned forward to whisper over the table.

“Listen to me
,
you evil bitch. I
will
find a way to send you back to wherever you came from.”

“You always were
a
determined
man
when you had your mind set on something.” 

She reached out a hand to caress his face, and he clenched his jaw
as his skin crawled
.  It felt wrong to feel so much disgust when it was technically Juniper touching him.

“Oooh. All that anger could be channeled in a much more constructive way.”

He grabbed her wrist and forced her hand back on to the table.

“Don’t.”

“Careful
,
you might
hurt me, and you wouldn’t want to do that to Juni
,
would you?”

 
Frustrated
,
he released her hand and leaned back in his chair. There was no way in hell he could just sit here and eat like all was well. She beamed up at him and batted her lashes as she picked up her cheeseburger and moaned.

“This is delicious. I’ve missed food.”

She peered at him and took a long drink of her
root beer
.

“You should eat
.
P
eople will start to worry that something’s wrong.”

Oliver forced himself to eat as the
pseudo-
Juni continued to make tiresome conversation. Her biting comments and vague hints at her identity coupled with his concern for Juniper had him close to the edge.

Her talking trailed off
suddenly
,
and she went completely s
till. He held his breath as he viewed her transformation
. The cocky air dis
sipated, her body relaxed, and bewilderment
flooded her eyes.

“Oliver?”

“Juni?
”
           
“What just happened?”

“I think you were possessed by a ghost.”

“
What
!”

            
“Shh.” 

             
He leaned forward and grabbed her hand. “I swear to you
,
Juniper, we’ll get to the bottom of this. She’s made her plans clear, and I’m not about to lose you.” 

           
“She?”

           
“It was too feminine to be a male.”

            
“What did this ghost say?
”
she asked.

            
“She said I knew her once.”

          
“
Wow, what did you do to piss someone off enough to
haunt you?”

He shrugged and shook his head.
“I don’t know. She said that there was something special about you that allowed her to take over. I think it has to do with your heart.”

“Because of what Madeline said?”

“Yes.”
          
“Tell me everything.”

*
***

She felt violated. Like all of her basic human rights had been tossed aside. It was rape of the soul.
Numbness settled over her body.
How did something like this happen
in real life
?
S
he rubbed her arms, and waited for Oliver to return from paying the bill. The thought of her being guided around like
a puppet on strings scared the piss out of her
.  This time the ghost had chosen to taunt Oliver, but what would she choose to do next time?

“You ready to go?” Oliver asked. She nodded
, stood f
r
o
m
the table and followed him out of the building. She operated on autopilot as her mind ran through a dozen chilling scenarios. 
When did her life become so close to fiction it was unbelievable?
The moment you met Oliver.
The thought was a sobering one.

“What are we going to do?”
she asked.

“See what we can find out about the transplant donor
. All roads seem to lead back to that.
”

“It’s not public record. I can send a message via the hospital that did the procedure, and they’ll forward it to the family. W
he
ther or not they respond to me at all is up to them entirely.”

“You’ve looked into this?”

“Yes, I just never followed through because it seemed … intrusive.  I was lucky enough to ha
ve them donate the organ and have it be
my
match. The last thing I want to do is repay them by
dred
ging
up
painful
memories.”

“I think it’d make them feel good to know that a part of their love
d
one lives on
in a person gracious and kind enough to pen them a letter
.”

“I
hope so,
”
she whispered.
Regardless of her personal feelings, the
decision ha
d
been taken out of her h
ands.

Right now
the bottom had dropped out from the world she’d created for herself.  Oliver had always claimed she was his anchor, keeping him in the light and chasing away the shadows and negativity. Now that role
was
reversed. She had always faced things head on, but this was a mystery she
wasn’t sure
how to solve. Her body felt heavy and her mind taxed
as they stopped in front of his black sedan
.
She smiled her thanks at him
when he opened her car door, and realize
d the fatigue was probably a result of
the body high-jack she’d just experienced.
The bitch is even stealing my energy.

  Annoyance and anger replaced fear as she forced herself to sit up straight in the seat, and dig into her reserves for energy. This was combat, and des
pite having lost
the first battle
she’d
be damn sure she won the war.   It wasn’t in her to lie down and take what she was given. It had to be another aftereffect of possession.
My life has become a fucking horror movie!

“What the hell?” he whispered.

Oliver was perplexed when
he pulled an
all too familiar envelope out of the mailbox. Why did he have this? Had they confused the paperwork and mixed up the address the inquiry was sent from with the address it was
meant to go to?  He
opened the envelope and froze
as the words registered
. His hand
s
shook as he re
-
read the information typed out on the hospital letterhead.  Oliver wanted to believe it wasn’t true, but the time for denial as over. He should’ve seen this coming.  It all lined up.  The ghost was Hannah.

   Hannah’s actions
made his blood run cold. This was
n’t
the woman he married. She’d always had a bleeding heart. It’d been her best quality and her worst fault.
How had she grown so bitter and angry? Why had she stayed? How the fuck was he going to tell Juni?
The letter fluttered to the ground as it slipped from his fingers and he dashed toward the restroom.  His knees protested the harsh treatment as he fell onto the hard ground
in front of the porcelain toilet
.
Oliver’s body shook as
his lunch made a re-appearance. 
Was everything he had with Juni a lie? Had Hannah led him to that café and made them drop their inhibitions
?
The thought made his head spin and his heart fracture.
A resurgence of bile made i
t
s way up his throat as he pictured Juniper’s face. This would devastate her.  The last thing he’d ever wanted to do was hurt her. Yet, this whole thing was his fault.

A selfish part of him wante
d to keep the secret to himself. It would be the best of both worlds. The two women he loved in one body. Except, every
day he’d noticed a bit l
ess of Juniper
was present.
  The fact that he’d entertained the
thought
for even a second sickened him.  H
e choked back down the bile that threatened to rise
as his stomach protested
once more. Oliver closed the
lid,
pulled d
own the silver handle to flush, and
rested his heated face against the cool marble of the sink beside him. Shame washed over him as
a new comprehension dawned. H
is nightmares had nothing to do with his subconscious. Hannah blamed him for her death and wanted him to suffer.

Tears filled his eyes as his heart
ached for the love had turned sour
, and the sweet woman caught in the crossfire. He couldn’t imagine life without Juniper. Oliver closed his eyes as the salty liquid spilled over and
trailed
down his
heated
face. The black hole that Juniper had managed to pull him
from threatened to open
and swallow him whole. There was no way to recover from this gracefully. Hell, he’d be lucky to come out of this with her not hating his guts. He wiped his face with the back of his hand and stood on shaky feet. He turned on the water, rinsed out his mouth, splashed his face, and sl
icked his hair back from his f
orehead
.
God, he
looked pale, haggard, and worn as if he’d aged years in a matter of minutes.