Jim was sitting at the kitchen table letting everything sink in. He could not believe how much Melinda's been through. He understood how much it hurt to loose a sibling, he himself lost his own brother. But Melinda had lost the only other person that understood what she was going through. And from what he could tell her mother put all the blame on Melinda for everything, especially Jamie's death. As much as he wanted to know what is going to happen tomorrow, he knew it would be best to stay home. He knew that it would be too awkward and hard for her if he was there. This was something that she had to do alone, face her fears. And she couldn't do that if he was there to protect her, as much as he wanted to be there to protect her from anything that happens. But hopefully Melinda would tell him what they talked about and how her mother reacted, and if she doesn't he won't push her. He's done enough pushing for a while.
Jim got up and started pacing the kitchen sliding one hand on the surface of the island while running his other hand through his hair taking a big breath in and letting it out slowly. He began to walk to the stairs, but stopped himself, remembering the promise he gave her about letting her be alone for a little bit. He walked back to the kitchen table thinking how unusually quiet it was. He expected to hear crying and sobbing upstairs, but he heard nothing. When the silence was too defining for him to bear, he walked back to the stairs again and listened hard. This time he could hear voices in the bedroom, but he couldn't make out actual words.
"Maybe Jamie is with Melinda" he thought to himself.
Jim sat down on the couch taking a quick glance at the clock. 9:30.
"Wow had it really been that long?"
He decided he'd give Melinda ten more minutes and then he was going upstairs and either going straight to bed, or stay up and comfort his wife. He was ready for either turn out.
The next ten minutes was the longest ten minutes of his life. He tried channel surfing, but he got bored after 4 or 5 channels. Finally when 9:40 came along, Jim instantly got up and made his way to their bedroom. When he got to the door, he quietly opened it and walked in, just in case Melinda was asleep. Sure enough, there she was, sound asleep on the bed.
"Good," Jim smiled, "she needs to rest after what she's been through"
Jim went to the closet and pulled out a blanket and placed in on Melinda's sleeping body giving her a quick kiss on the forehead. He took off his shirt, threw it in the closet and climbed in bed, falling asleep before his head hit the pillow.
The next morning Jim woke up and looked over at the clock.
"7:20, Melinda will be waking up soon"
He turned over so that he can watch her wake up, but she wasn't there.
"Mel?" Jim called out, but he didn't get an answer. He got up and went downstairs to look for her.
Jim quickly walked into the kitchen calling out her name again.
"Right here"
Jim turned around and saw Melinda sitting at the table cradling a cup of coffee in both hands. Even though she seemed to have a good nights sleep, according to Jim, she looked exhausted.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, I just, I talked to Jamie last night"
"Oh, and what did you two talk about?" he tried to say this as casually as he could.
"A few things. Oh by the way, she really likes you. Apparently she was watching us talk, and she thinks you're a great husband. She wishes she could have met you"
"I wish I could have met her too. It would be interesting having her around. What else did you talk about?"
"Well, I asked her if she could ever forgive me, and she said of course she could because she said it wasn't my fault. She also said she was sorry she got me in trouble."
"See, Jamie never blamed you for her death"
"She didn't but like I said, my mother did. She also wanted me to tell 'her' the truth"
"Who's 'her'?"
"I don't know, that's the thing. She told me to tell 'her' the truth, and then she left. Now I have to tell my mom Jamie's here, hear what my mom has to say, and go find this mysterious someone and tell them something."
"You sure you're up for this?"
"No, but what choice do I have? She's still my sister, alive or dead, and I'd do anything for her"
"I just hate seeing you go through all this pain"
Melinda reached out and put her hand on his arm, "I know, and you have no idea how much I love you for that. But this is something I have to do"
"Okay, but promise me something"
"What?"
"When this is all over, promise me you'll tell me when a crazy family member is haunting me right away. Okay?"
Melinda laughed and held out a hand, "Deal"
"Deal," Jim replied shaking her hand.
The two of them got up and got ready to leave. Outside they gave each other a good-bye kiss and got in their cars to go their separate ways.
On the car ride to her store, Melinda promised herself she was going to see her mother after work, even if it did kill her. She was just praying there was going to be a huge disaster preventing her from going.
In no time Melinda was at work and behind the counter. She was hoping that she could see Jamie one more time before leaving, so she could hopefully learn who needs to hear the truth.
After what seemed to Melinda as 5 minutes, Andrea was asking her if they wanted to go out to lunch.
At Village Java Melinda asked, "Isn't it strange that when you want something to happen, the day goes by really slowly. But when you don't want something to happen, the day goes by really fast?"
"Mhmmm" Andrea answered staring dreamingly at the bus boy.
Melinda smiled rolling her eyes and kept eating her sandwich.
When lunch was over they walked back to the store arm in arm like two school girls heading home. They continued their work, and finally, it was closing time. Melinda was behind the counter going through some paperwork while Andrea was closing up.
"Hey," Andrea said after she flipped the OPEN sign to CLOSED, "I got an extra ticket to go see the show tonight. Would you care to join me?"
"I'd love to!" Melinda paused remembering her promise, "But I can't. I'm going to have a talk with someone"
"Ghost business?"
"Yup"
"Who do you have to see?"
"My mother"
"What ghost is interesting in seeing your mother?"
"I'll tell you about it later"
"Oh, okay then."
The two girls walked out the door, Melinda turning around to lock it behind them. They said their good-byes and Melinda drove off heading for her moms house. In less then ten minutes she was there. She could feel her heart start beating faster. She slowly got out of the car and walked to the front door. Taking a deep breath in, she rang the door bell.
Okay, I'm sorry if it started off going really slow, and then ended going really fast. But this is another one of those transition chapters. So hopefully the next one will be better!