Once again, Honor woke to the sound of the phone in her hotel room, but at least this time, the sound wasn’t pulling her away from a dream.
“Good morning, gorgeous” said Josh. “Are you ready for breakfast?”
“Not really. I had another of my wild dreams and truthfully, I just woke up.”
“Well then, why don’t Cody and I come up to your room and the three of us can order a room service breakfast? Cody can watch some cartoons while you fill me in on your new adventures.”
“Okay,” Honor agreed. “But you have to give me some time to get cleaned up a little bit.”
“I’ve already seen you all mussed up and you have nothing to worry about. You always look great.”
Honor laughed. “There’s a big difference between how I look when I first wake up and how I look just after having mind-blowing sex,” she teased.
Josh let out one of his low whistles. “I can’t really respond to that with a four-year old in the room, listening to every word, but I think I’m going to have to judge for myself. We’ll be right there.”
He hung up.
She yelped and leaped out of bed, racing to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash up before they arrived. She was still undressed when Josh knocked on her door, so she pulled an extra-long T-shirt over her head and let them in.
Josh licked his lips and let his eyes move over her body, obviously liking what he saw. Flustered and self-conscious, Honor reached down to pick up Cody and give him a hug before brushing Josh’s cheek with a quick kiss.
“Find a TV station for Cody while I get dressed, okay?”
Josh grinned. “Now Honor, don’t you go to any extra effort on my behalf. You look fine wearing just what you have on. Trust me.”
She set Cody down on her bed and gave Josh a dubious look. “Un-huh. Right. The TV is over here.” She smiled over her shoulder at Josh as she stepped into her walk-in closet and closed the door.
She had just pulled on her jeans when Josh opened the closet door and stepped inside, taking her into his arms. “Now how do you expect me to behave like a gentleman when you open the door wearing barely anything?”
“Cody is going to wonder what we’re doing in here,” she warned.
He smothered her protests with kisses. “Don’t worry. The gods are smiling on us this morning. Spiderman’s on TV.”
His lips felt so good, she gave up and melted against him. But when he reached around to unsnap her bra, she stopped him. “Hold that thought until later, when we’re alone. Now, let me finish getting dressed so we can order breakfast.”
Josh groaned, knowing she was right, but he held her tight and kissed her once more before pulling himself away. He started to open the closet door, but hesitated. “Honor, I want you to know that when we met, I wasn’t looking to fill a void in my life or anything. I mean, I thought I was doing just fine on my own. But now I can’t stop thinking about how right it feels to be with you.” Suddenly embarrassed, he grinned. “I hope that doesn’t freak you out.” He stepped out of the closet and closed the door behind him before she could respond.
Honor steadied herself, realizing she was holding her breath. She exhaled, wanting to rush out and tell Josh he had taken the words right out of her mouth. To think, she could have lived her whole life thinking her relationship with William was the best she would ever know. She pulled a sweatshirt over her head as her mind raced. Could Josh be the one? Her soul mate? The kind of love they write songs about? “Get a grip!” she hissed under her breath, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. “It’s just lust. No one falls in love this fast.”
In the span of a heartbeat, the closet grew frigid. Honor felt someone standing over her shoulder and heard the voice of a woman whisper, “We fell in love the first day.” Honor spun around, Goosebumps covering her body. Whatever had been there was gone. Spooked, she flung the closet door open and rushed out.
The look on Josh’s face told her that he completely misunderstood her actions. Honor stammered, “No… wait… it’s not…”
But Josh had already turned away from her, pretending to concentrate on the room service menu in his hands. “Cody here wants pancakes again, but I’m not hungry after all, so I think I’ll just have a cup of coffee.” He struggled to sound nonchalant. “What about you?”
“Josh, I need you to come over here right now!”
The urgency in her voice broke through to him. Josh tossed the menu onto the bed and walked over to her, his arms folded tightly across his chest.
“Go in the closet and tell me if you hear anything,” she pleaded.
He glanced at her curiously, but did as she asked. After a few seconds he began to examine the closet in earnest. “Honor, I don’t hear anything, but it’s a heck of a lot colder in here than it was a minute ago and there’s no air conditioning vent in here.” Perplexed, his voice trailed off. When his eyes met hers, they were filled with confusion. “Okay, what just happened in here?” he demanded.
Honor stepped back into the closet, relieved she hadn’t imagined the strange occurrence. “Congratulations, Josh. You just had your first encounter with the spirit world.”
She suppressed a giggle when his mouth dropped open.
“Josh, I have no idea why this is happening to me. I’m not psychic. In fact, I never even believed in ghosts. But ever since I arrived back in Belleair, I’ve been a magnet for weird stuff like this.” She bit her lip. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think these spirits are connected to me somehow, and they’re trying to tell me something important.”
Josh glanced down, avoiding eye contact. “When you came out of the closet looking so upset, I thought you were reacting to what I said a few minutes ago and…”
Honor moved closer to him. “No. That wasn’t it at all. I love spending time with you, too. But I do think we need to be realistic about our relationship. I mean, you live in North Carolina and I live in Illinois. I don’t want to spoil our time together worrying about what happens when it’s time to go home.”
“Me neither,” he grudgingly agreed.
Honor decided to change the subject. “If you’re game, I’d like to tell you everything I’ve experienced since I’ve been here and enlist your help figuring out what’s going on.” She crinkled her nose. “Of course, after you hear everything I have to say, you might decide you want to get as far away from me as possible and stay there!”
“Not likely.” He lifted her chin, his lips only inches from hers. “I’m pretty sure I’ll want to be with you, even if you really are being haunted.” He kissed her and then murmured, “I think my appetite returned. Can we order breakfast now?”
Honor’s laughter filled the closet.
They ordered breakfast and discussed theories at the table on her balcony; then they sat outside by the pool, watching Cody play and talking over the details of her dream visits to the past. While Cody napped between them in Josh’s suite, they wrote down all the names and places she could remember from the encounters. When they moved back to her suite, they looked up information about ghosts on the internet, and ran searches on the names, with little success.
Late in the afternoon, Honor gave up trying to read Darcy’s too-faded journal and smiled over at Josh, who was still busy looking for clues that would tie everything together.
She tried to imagine how William would have reacted if she had told him she was being haunted. She winced, visualizing his familiar look of disapproval and could almost hear him scoff at the ridiculous notion. Thinking about Darcy’s husband, Reginald Loughman, she realized, though the two men lived a century apart, they were quite similar. Intelligent, successful, and self-confident, both wore their dominant demeanor and sense of entitlement like a mantel around their shoulders. And both men had the ability to make their wives feel inferior in every way. Perhaps that was her connection to Darcy -- their mutual subjugation to powerful men.
Honor stiffened in her chair, repulsed by the thought. Defiance rising, she stood and strode purposefully to the closet. She felt Josh watching her from across the room, but she didn’t stop to explain her actions. She opened the closet door and went inside, closing it behind her.
She took a deep breath, then whispered, “Darcy Loughman, are you here?”
She paused, waiting for a response. None came.
She raised her voice slightly, in an attempt to sound authoritative. “Darcy Loughman, I summon your spirit to come forth.”
She felt ridiculous. “God, I sound like a teenager leading a slumber party séance.”
Honor wasn’t sure what she had expected to happen, but she was positive that—at least for now - she was alone in the closet, talking to her clothes.
“I don’t really know how the spirit world works, but Darcy, if you’re listening, I just wanted you to know that I will always remember the memories you shared with me. Maybe you couldn’t change your situation, but I’m sure going to try to change mine.”