Aftermath

Chapter 1: Kauai

It was the last week of summer and I planned on doing some serious R&R before starting my senior year. I had never really been on vacation before so Andy, my stepfather, suggested our family take one. A vacation I mean. He even let the kids pick where we would go. Now, if any of you lived in my house you would already know where we planned to jet off to. Two of my stepbrothers are true hardcore surfing Californians. This makes the vacation choice obvious; our destination was Hawaii. Doc, who has never surfed before in his life doesn't even mind because apparently there's this rare kind of bug that can only be found on Kauai, which is the island we're going to.

I agreed to this since, I mean come on, its Hawaii. Palm trees (not that California doesn't have these) gorgeous waves, miles of beach, virgin Pina Coladas…Hawaii has it all. Well, except for Jesse. That was the only problem with the vacation. It meant being away from him for a week.

But hey, this is after all the 21st century and I am an independent woman. The two of us aren't getting along that well these days anyway.

You see, a month ago, Jesse ousted himself as a mediator to the police to help with an investigation. That's right folks. He flat out told the police that he could talk to the dead. It was right after I had kind of solved a murder of my mom's best friend who was a news reporter. You may have heard about it. I was pretty famous there for a while. But those 15 minutes of fame faded, along with the grounding I had received from my overprotective mother.

Anyway, I was not too happy with Jesse when he told the police that he could see dead people. I swore to myself that they where going to lock him up for being a bunch of crazy. But to my astonishment, they didn't. They are, to this day, using him on actual cases, like on the show Medium (don't let that show fool you, that is nothing like being a mediator). And to top it off, the police are keeping the whole situation quite. They haven't told a soul (anyone that works outside of the police station atleast) that they have been working with Jesse, so I haven't had to explain it to my parents or friends yet. Which is a good thing. Since my mom is a reporter she tends to only believe in what she can see. And not everyone (excluding me, Jesse and a few others) can see the dead. I know for a fact that the police are keeping their word about keeping it quite because I've kept my eye on the situation. I mean, I'm working at a news station and I'd notice if my boyfriend had a newsreel playing on air all about his mediating abilities.

Ever since he's started working with the police he's even talked of being there full time instead of the few days and few cases he works now. He's already given up working for Andy, and I know for a fact that the Carmel Police Department doesn't pay as well.

I should be happy that he's helping people move on and solve cases at the same time, but I just can't. I know what you're thinking…I'm a disgraceful girlfriend. But I mean, what is he going to do in September when he starts medical school? It would be really difficult for him to balance school and police cases at the same time. It just annoys me that he did all this without even telling me beforehand.

It had all started when the two of us had been hauled in "to make a statement" about the murder I had solved a month ago. They didn't really care about the statement though. It turns out they had questioned us because they had some suspicion (my history with police department might have something to do with it) that one of us could communicate with the dead. Neither of us faltered when they interrogated us but afterwards, Jesse dropped me off at my house and then went back to the station. He then proceeded to tell them that he could talk to the dead. A couple of days later, he came over to my house and told me what he had done. Which makes me even angrier with myself. I mean he didn't even lie about it like I would have. Jesse told me the truth from the get go. Ever since he told me, the two of us have been on rocky waters.

I'm hoping that a week apart will help me become more considerate and patient towards the whole situation. These are two traits I wasn't exactly endowed with. So, in essence, I'm kind of glade I'm getting some alone time without Jesse. In fact, I haven't really thought about our problems ever since I stepped off the plane to Kauai and got greeted by hula girls and receive a lea around my neck.

"This is the life isn't it Susie?" My mother asked me and reached for her drink that sat next to the lounge chair.

I looked around the pool and saw beyond that the ocean. A line of palm trees separated the concrete from the sand. The Hyatt Regency had its own private part of beach, making the hotel extremely posh. If I looked out into the water, I could see Dopey, Sleepy and even Andy surfing. I watched as Andy attempted to ride a huge wave and ended up falling into the clear blue ocean.

"Yeah it is." I muttered in reply, in complete bliss and reached for my own Pina Colada (virgin of course). I slurped up the last bit and got to my feet.

"I'm going to get another drink. I'll be back." I said and slipped my feet into my flip-flops.

"Oh Susie, if you see Doc tell him to be ready for dinner at 6:00." My mom said before going back to her new James Patterson novel.

Right. As if I want to go to the foliage where Doc is looking for the bug. I have a great distaste for plant life since not to long ago I had a run in with poison oak. I'm not sure if Hawaii even has poison oak, but I didn't want to risk it. I'm just going to hope that Doc gets his butt back to the lounge chair where my mom was sitting before I had to go look for him.

I sauntered over to the bar, which was cleverly built to look like a straw hut, and plopped down onto a barstool. The bartender, whom of which I've gotten to know in the past couple of days, was not there and was instead delivering the drinks poolside. I could have opted for that instead of walking all the way over here but do you know how many calories are in those drinks? Let me tell you, it's more than the average Diet Coke that I usually drink but hey I was on vacation.

I waited for all of 5 minutes before James, the bartender, came back.

"Hey." He said. James was a tall dark and handsome island native just working for the summer before going to San Diego in the fall for college. His black hair was curly and his skin was the color of a cappuccino. Hey, so I checked him out ok? I still love Jesse and will always love him and would never do anything to hurt him.

I smiled at him and he started my drink without even bothering to ask what I wanted. That is service, I tell you.

"So I googled you when I got home last night." James shouted over the sound of the blender.

Excuse me. Googled me? That isn't awkward or stalkerish at all.

"Oh really? And what did you discover?" I retied the sarong I had on wondering if he was a stalker.

He grinned and poured the yummy coconut drink into a clear plastic cup. At that moment I decided that if he was indeed a stalker, then he could stalk me anytime.

"Well, you where in the Carmel newspaper." He added a cute hot pink tiny umbrella.

"Oh man. Which article did you look at?" I asked mortified. I wonder if he saw the big bruise on my forehead in one of the pictures.

Thanks to my fun ability, I have been known to on occasion show up in the paper.

"All of them. It's online now." He replied and crossed his arms and leaned on the counter.

I groaned.

"I hear you solved a murder?" He said ignoring my whimper.

"Oh not that crap still." A voice said behind me.

"What's a-matter Brad?" I asked taunting him. "Sad because no ones talking about how you managed to get a C in English last semester?"

"Shut up." He replied and sat down next to me, dripping water all over the counter and my flip-flops.

"Its not like you even solved it. All you did was prove that Larry did it. Yet Anna, that editor chick person, got off since there wasn't enough evidence." Dopey continued.

James raised his eyebrows.

"I can see how he got a C in English. And dude, your getting water and sand on the counter I just 409'd." He tossed him a hand towel.

Dopey rolled his eyes and whipped up the puddle he had created.

"Jeez…He's almost as bad as Dad." He muttered under his breath.

James, who also heard it, raised his eyebrows up even more.

"Andy likes a clean kitchen." I explained.

"Can I get three Cokes in a bottle?" Dopey asked and tossed the towel on the floor.

James picked the three Cokes up from a tub of ice behind the counter and handed them over.

"Thanks. Suze, take care of the bill will you?" Dopey got up and left without waiting for me to reply.

"Want me to put all of the drinks on his room bill so his dad will yell at him?" James asked.

I smiled at that. The thought of Andy freaking out over Sleepy and Dopey's room bill at the end of the vacation would just be icing on the cake of paradise that I was now eating.

Did I mention the room situation? Since we planned this vacation so late in the game no suites where available, instead Andy had to get 3 separate rooms. Sleepy and Dopey shared one, while Andy and mother (I'm glade I'm not sharing with her, she snores) had another, and Doc and I shared one. Oh come on. Its not that bad or perverted as you probably think it is. We have separate beds and Doc doesn't snore. And he doesn't leave dirty clothes around like his other brothers do. All in all, I lucked out. Except for the fact that I found a bug on my Betsy Johnson summer dress yesterday. That is about the only downside for having Doc as my roommate.

Anyway, Andy told all of us kids that we could get one movie a night and charge as many drinks as we want to our rooms. Honestly, I don't know what was wrong with Andy at the time.

But as much as I'd love to see Dopey fry under Andy's intense punishment he would receive (God only knows how many of these babies I have slurped down), I had a newfound liking for Sleepy. And since the two shared a room, they'd both share the burn.

"No. That's all right. I'll get him back some other time. Speaking of time, what time is it?" I asked.

"5:30. Why?" He asked.

I looked over at my mother and saw that Doc wasn't there. I checked the beach, where Dopey was heading and didn't see him either.

"Dinners at 6:00. I need to find Do-David." I caught my slip before it was to late.

"You know, he hasn't bought one drink from me. I'd like to see him before you leave." James said.

I assured him he would see Doc later and proceeded back to my room to pull on jeans, a sweatshirt and an old pair of Nikes. If I didn't have Doc at dinner my mom would kill me. Even on vacation, every Ackerman kid needs to be on time to his or her meals.

Even though I was dying of heat stroke in my clothes, I knew I would most likely be safe from any poison oak that may be hiding on the hiking trail the resort has.

The trail was small and only one person could walk on it at a time unless you wanted the person walking next to you to be walking in the bushes.

"Doc?" I hollered out.

Then I realized I had called him by his nickname.

"Er…David?" I corrected.

I noticed that on one part of the path the branches where broken, meaning someone had done some off trailing. I did not want to do what I was about to do.

Reluctantly, I stepped off the path into the "jungle". I was going to make Doc watch Pretty In Pink tonight, I swear to God.

"David! It's Suze. Seriously now!" I hollered again.

I watched the ground as I walked and when I finally looked up, I saw a glowy thing.

"Oh for the love of Pete! Do I have to run into dead people on my vacation?" I muttered rudely.

You would think a girl would get some form of a break.

I looked at the ghost that stood before me. He was in his mid 50's at least and had on shorts and a white t-shirt.

"Are you that rude to all the ghosts you encounter?" He asked me.

"Sorry…"

Remember Simon…We are here to learn some patience and compassion.

"My names Suze, what's yours?" I asked.

"Kirk." He replied tersely.

"Well Kirk…How can I help you?" I said in what I hoped was an un-rude voice.

As I looked at the guy he seemed more and more familiar. That's when I remembered. James had told me on my first day here that a few days ago a local had sadly died of a stroke on the resort trails that he liked to walk everyday. I guess paradise made me temporarily forget that his ghost may still be lurking around.

"Well you see, my wife and I own a knickknack shop downtown and I revised the will so she would become full owner if anything was to happen to me. I didn't get a chance to tell her where it was so can you go down there and make sure she finds it? It's in the red dresser behind the cash register in a hidden drawer. Will you do it?" He asked.

"Couldn't I just call her?" I pleaded. Going downtown on my vacation was the last thing I needed.

"No. I know my wife, she won't believe you. And if she doesn't find the new will, the half of the shop I own will go to my brother. And I don't prefer my brother that much." He replied.

"Sure…No problem. What's the name of the shop?" I yanked at my sweatshirt uncomfortably. I was going to need to shower before dinner or I was going to stink up the place.

"Kirk and Kates." He replied in a monotone voice

Oh jeez. How original.

"Suze? Who are you talking to?" Doc asked as he appeared from behind a tree.

"No one…I was looking for you. Dinners soon. And if we're late you know what that means." I replied as I watched Doc step through Kirk's ghost completely oblivious.

"Ok. Lets get a move on..." He replied. He stopped walking and took a good look at me.

"What's with the outfit? Aren't you a little warm?" He asked.

"Poison oak…" Was all I said.

.OOOOO.

After dinner I went back to the bar to talk to James.

Again, I had to wait because he was serving poolside still.

When he came back he said, "Another Pina Colada? You've had 6 already."

"No…No drinks. I came to ask for a favor." I replied and smiled in what I hoped was a sweet way.

"What do you need?" He asked.

"Well…I need a ride to downtown. My friend told me that I have to go to this place Kirk and Kates. Apparently they have really cool stuff. Do you know it?" I asked still smiling.

He whipped his hands on the towel he had next to him.

"Sure I know it. No problem. Meet me here at 10:00 AM ok? My shift here doesn't start till 2 o'clock."

I thanked him and went to go chill by the beach until I was so sleepy that I needed to turn in. I hope my mother doesn't mind if I leave the hotel for an hour (at least I hope its only an hour) before we go get our manicures.

When I got back to my room, Doc was in his pajamas and was typing away on his laptop about his finding of the day. I grabbed my boxers and t-shirt and changed in the bathroom. When I emerged he had closed the laptop, gotten into his bed and was putting in an earplug into his left ear.

"Why are you putting on ear plugs?" I asked him.

"No offense Suze…But you snore." He replied.

"No I don't!" I exclaimed completely mortified.

"Yes…Yes you do. You're almost as bad as mom. She sounds like she has a propeller stuck up her nose." He joked and started to put the other one in.

Oh my God. I'm going to just pray I die in my sleep tonight.

"Didn't Jesse ever tell you?" He asked pausing before putting in the plug.

"No…No he didn't. No one has ever told me I've snored before. Besides he wouldn't know." I said and buried my head in my pillow.

Daughter like mother I suppose. Sometimes I hate my life.

.OOOOO.

AN: This is the sequel to Good Morning Carmel. So it may be helpful if you read that first…Enjoy, Read & review if you like. And to assure some of you, this isn't a Suze cheats on Jesse just to get his attention type of story. Hope you like it!