Haunted Ever After Read online

  ‘Don’t worry, hun,’ said Mel. ‘What happens in Barron Springs…’

  ‘Stays in Barron Springs!’ we chorused, then collapsed into a group embrace on the couch with a glossy-eyed Lorena.

  * * *

  ‘Okay, enough, girls, I believe we have some truth or dares to get through?’ Lorena ushered us away and we each took a seat, me next to Lorena on the velvet couch, Mel sprawled on the rug, and Georgie in the armchair.

  ‘You go first, Mel,’ I said. ‘Truth or dare?’

  ‘Well it looks like I have to do both anyway, but let’s get the ball rolling with a dare.’

  Mel and I were opposites; I’d rather start with truth. I’m an honest person, so that wouldn’t be a problem. Except for the little white lie about what the palm reader told me. Oh, and if they asked me if I’d ever seen a ghost, I was screwed.

  I racked my brain for a suitable dare, one that would be a bit challenging, or embarrassing even, but not in a totally life-ruining way. I considered telling her to put a cushion down her top and walk down the street and pretend she was pregnant, then go into fake labour in front of people, but that could be tricky if someone called an ambulance. Then again, being a nurse, I could always say I’d take her to hospital and assist her on the way, or deliver the baby myself. Nah, better to do something here, something we didn’t have to leave the house for. There’d been enough public excitement for one day.

  The pink voucher lying on the floor next to Mel caught my eye, and my mouth curled up at the corner. I whipped out my phone and typed in the website of the adult store. Aha! Perfect.

  Mel eyed me curiously. ‘Do you want me to order something with my discount voucher now, is that it? Because I can do that, no problem.’

  ‘Not exactly. I want you to call customer service and ask them to explain the difference between some of the products so they can help you select the um, toy, or whatever those things are, that’s right for you.’ I nodded in satisfaction and handed her my phone. Then I pulled it back. ‘Actually, better use your own phone, in case they track phone numbers or something and try to call me with special offers.’

  Mel took a deep breath and Lorena and Georgie egged her on, chanting, ‘Do it, do it, do it!’ with Red joining in too, as though she thought she was one of the girls. I was even starting to get used to having her around, and she was behaving a little better at the moment.

  ‘But it’s Saturday, they’re probably closed.’

  I shook my head. ‘Customer service open nine to five, seven days a week.’ I handed her my phone so she could see the website.

  ‘Okay, I can do this. Sure thing.’ But she looked a little nervous and scrolled through the website on my phone so she could prepare herself. Every now and again she’d chuckle, or gasp, or laugh out loud at whatever she was coming across on the site. She rested my phone on one of her crossed legs as she sat on the floor, and held her phone to her ear. She cleared her throat and dialled the number.

  ‘Ah, yes, good morning. I mean good afternoon,’ she said, and I wished I’d asked her to put it on speakerphone so we could hear the other side of the conversation. ‘Yes I would like some help actually. I’m trying to um, choose a…product. Could you let me know what the difference is between The Enhancer and The Illuminator?’ She held back a grin as she listened to the voice on the other end. ‘Oh, I see. So The Illuminator is an advanced version of The Enhancer?’ She waited. ‘It has what?’ Mel’s eyes bulged and she covered her mouth with one hand to restrain a laugh. ‘So it actually lights up and plays music when it detects heightened sensitivity?’

  My jaw dropped open and Lorena was silent-laughing and slapping her thigh.

  Mel cleared her throat again. ‘And it glows in the dark? Wow, so that’s how it gets its name then.’ She smirked. ‘But the cost, I mean, it’s not exactly cheap, how do I know I’m getting my money’s worth?’ Georgie clapped her hands towards Mel, quietly, applauding her inquisition. ‘I take it you can’t exchange it for something else?’ More waiting. ‘Oh, so you do have a satisfaction guarantee? How does that work?’

  My torso trembled in giggles as she spoke, it was as though we were teenagers and she was making a prank call to a boy she liked.

  ‘So you refund my money within fourteen days if I’m…unsatisfied. What happens to the item?’ We perched forwards, waiting for each development in the conversation. ‘Melted down, sanitised, and recycled? Wow. Talk about environmentally friendly.’ Mel was enjoying this now; she’d relaxed back on one hand. ‘Is that so?’ she continued. ‘A bonus instructional DVD? That is a good deal.’ She glanced at us and smiled. ‘Um, well I’m not one hundred percent sure I want to order yet, I may need to do some more research… What’s that? Put me through to a recording of testimonials from satisfied customers?’

  No way. Who would be prepared to do such a thing? The company must have paid them big bucks.

  ‘Okay then, sure. Go ahead.’ Mel pressed speakerphone and we listened as a woman’s voice talked about her experience and mentioned things like ‘most prized possession’, ‘better than having a husband’, and ‘my inner goddess has been illuminated’. Her tone was like a normal, everyday, super-happy woman, like those cheesy ones on TV commercials for laundry detergent where they smile and glow as though their life’s purpose has been fulfilled because their whites are whiter than ever.

  After listening to a couple more testimonials, I couldn’t bear to hear the words ‘inner goddess’ or ‘illuminate’ again, and Mel ended the call and collapsed in hysterics. ‘Oh Sal, that was a blast!’ She slapped her thigh. ‘You should have heard her explaining the science and mechanics behind it, as though she was telling me how a new vacuum cleaner worked. To be honest, she spoke so methodically I can’t even be sure she was human.’ She laughed and snorted. ‘Maybe she’s really a robot, made of the same technology and recycled plastic and metal. Probably has her own in-built Illuminator!’

  Lorena’s laughs were audible now, as were all of ours, and as laughter filled the room, tears ran down our faces, and I reached out and high-fived Mel for her efforts. Red raised her hand for a high-five too, and I went to reciprocate. Lorena furrowed her brow between laughs.

  ‘Oh, I thought you were about to put your hand up,’ I falsely confessed. ‘My bad.’

  ‘Here, hun,’ she said, holding up her hand. I high-fived it and snuck another warning glance at Red. She knew how to catch me off guard and I couldn’t let her get in the way of my hen’s weekend with my wonderful, supportive, comfort-zone-busting friends.

  ‘Great dare, Sal, how about yours now?’ Georgie asked, having recovered from laughing and now digging in to the antipasto.

  Damn, with all the laughs I’d forgotten I hadn’t had my turn yet. ‘I think I’ll go for a truth first,’ I said, though I was only delaying the inevitable.

  ‘Okay, okay, time to think,’ Mel said, wiping tears of laughter from her red face and shuffling on the floor to get comfortable. ‘Truth time, baby.’

  I raised my eyebrows in waiting.

  ‘Rightio, got one.’ She cleared her throat. ‘Have you ever felt unprofessionally attracted to a male patient in your care?’

  I thought for a millisecond and shook my head. ‘No.’ Gee, that was easy.

  ‘C’mon, Sal, think carefully. You’ve seen hundreds of patients, done countless examinations, administered tons of treatments, there has to have been the odd good-looker. Think!’

  I thought. After years of nursing, everything sort of blurs together — time, experiences, and patients. It’s hard to remember exact details. Sometimes I see people in the street who look vaguely familiar and I wonder if I’ve nursed them and forgotten. Had I been doing this too long, become too detached, that I was starting to forget people and see them as just another patient? I hoped not. I liked to treat each as an individual and get to know them a little, so I could help them feel at ease and recover as quickly as possible. Like that forty-year-old man I nursed back to health after he’d broken bo
nes in a motorbike accident. He was in top form, and I could still remember the firmness of his muscles as I tried to find good veins on his tattooed arms. Oh, and there was that nice young swimmer in for an infection who required IV antibiotics back when I’d started nursing. He was always smiling despite the fact he must have felt like death warmed up, and he always had a compliment for me. Oh yes, him. Him with his soft, green eyes, his gentle smile, his…

  ‘Sally?’ Mel tapped my leg.

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘You’ve remembered someone haven’t you?’

  ‘What? No. I’ve never fallen for a patient. It’s unprofessional.’ His strong, sculpted arms, shaven of course to allow for smoother gliding through water, and that six-pack…it was hard to stay focused on palpating his abdomen when the muscles were so hard I could barely feel any internal organs underneath.

  ‘Sally!’ Mel said. ‘Earth to Sally.’

  ‘Oh alright! I do remember feeling…attracted to a guy, slightly younger than me, as he recovered from an infection. I was young, a new nurse, I was just getting used to the whole getting close to patients thing.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘And?’ I echoed.

  ‘Tell us more.’

  I tightened my ponytail and adjusted my position on the couch. ‘He was hot, alright. That’s it. It was nothing but hormones.’

  ‘Did you get to know him?’

  ‘Of course. He told me about his swimming training, and how he had come over to Australia from France when he was a teenager.’

  ‘He had a French accent?’

  I nodded.

  ‘Swoon,’ Mel said, holding a hand to her head.

  ‘He taught me some French, but I’ve forgotten now. It was too long ago.’

  ‘And did you ever think of asking him out, you know, when he was ready to get out of hospital?’

  ‘No, definitely not. As I said, I was young and new. I had to remain professional and didn’t want to risk my reputation or job.’

  ‘Oh Sally, there wouldn’t have been a problem once he was discharged. You would have had his contact details on file, why not call him afterwards?’

  ‘No, that would have been way too embarrassing! You know me; I’ve never been one to take any sort of initiative. Lucky Greg made the first move, otherwise I’d probably still be admiring him through the window of the cafe on my way to work!’

  ‘You need to learn to take a few risks, girl,’ said Mel.

  ‘Why? I have Greg now, I don’t need to worry about all that awkward dating stuff anymore.’

  ‘I don’t mean with that, although it could have been good for you to take some risks back then, but I mean generally, in other areas of your life. Be spontaneous, adventurous, try new things every now and again.’

  ‘I tried that Pin the Tail game, that was new.’ I crossed my arms.

  ‘Hey, don’t badger the poor woman,’ said Georgie. ‘She just likes to do things in her own way, isn’t that right Sal?’ Georgie sat on the edge of the couch next to me and draped a friendly arm around my shoulders.

  ‘Yes, not everyone needs to be outgoing and adventurous to live a fulfilling life.’

  ‘Don’t you ever wonder, though, what could have been? Like what if you’d asked that patient out? You may have had an amazing, unforgettable love affair.’

  ‘But in the end it doesn’t matter, because I’m obviously meant to be with Greg, so it would have led here anyway.’

  ‘True, but it’s sort of intriguing to think about things that could have been, that’s all.’

  ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘I think it’s your time for truth.’

  ‘Fire away,’ Mel said, opening her arms to the side.

  Forget about waiting till after the wedding, now was as good a time as any. ‘Do you ever regret getting married to Michael?’

  There, I’d said it. Asked the difficult question that was playing on my mind for some reason.

  ‘What?’ Mel flicked her hand. ‘Why would I regret that?’

  ‘Have you ever?’

  She clicked her tongue as though it was a stupid question, but kept evading it.

  ‘Mel?’ Lorena probed.

  She lowered her head and fiddled with the hem of her t-shirt. ‘I love Michael, I do.’ She took a deep breath. ‘But lately, things have been…bland, is the only way I can think to describe it. I’m not talking about the bedroom so much as the overall feeling of our relationship. Maybe it’s just the hard work of the kids, I don’t know.’ She blew air up past her top lip and her wispy dark brown fringe flapped against her forehead. ‘But,’ she said, then an expression I hadn’t seen in a long time creased her face, not since she’d lost her pet dog of fifteen years. Her eyes became shiny and her usual nonchalant confidence disappeared. ‘Someone at work, a woman, wants him for herself. She hit on him after work one day.’

  ‘What happened, Mel?’ Georgie sat on the floor next to her and touched her forearm.

  ‘They kissed. That’s all. Just a kiss. I shouldn’t be that upset, I mean he was honest about it and…’

  ‘He confessed straight away?’ Lorena asked.

  She nodded. ‘But I should clarify, it was her that kissed him. He pulled back as soon as it happened and told her it wasn’t on. At least, that’s what he told me.’

  ‘Bitch.’ Lorena shook her head. ‘Do you trust him?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes, of course, I mean, he’s my husband, he’s, he’s… Oh God, I feel sick at the thought of someone else with their lips on my husband.’ A tear dripped down her cheek and I leaned forward and wiped it away, then rested my hand on her leg. ‘Every time we get close now, I keep thinking of her and him, and then I lose all interest.’

  ‘Oh hun, why didn’t you tell us before?’ Lorena patted Mel’s back.

  ‘I didn’t want to bother you guys with my domestic dilemmas, you’ve got a baby coming,’ she gestured to Lorena, ‘and you’re about to be married,’ she touched my hand. ‘I didn’t want to worry you or spoil your special time.’

  ‘Mel, we’ve been friends forever, you can tell us anything, at any time. Promise me,’ she glanced around, ‘all of you, promise me we won’t keep secrets from each other if something’s bothering us. We need to be there for each other, help each other make sense of things when problems arise. Deal?’

  ‘Deal,’ we all said, though I whispered my response. I was all for it, but there was one thing I wasn’t prepared to share. I glanced at Red who sat on the dining table, looking strangely distant.

  ‘Give it time, Mel, I’m sure things will get back to normal,’ Georgie said. ‘If he was honest and told you what happened right away, then that is what a good man does. He’s a good man. He just got caught out in a situation he probably didn’t see coming. If you believe his side of the story, that he backed away and then told you, then he did the right thing. Don’t let some bimbo ruin things for you.’

  ‘You’re right,’ Mel straightened. ‘This is exactly what she’d want. But she’s not going to get it. As soon as I get home I’m going to sit down and talk it all out with Michael. We need to work out a solution, a way that they don’t have to interact at work. He’s in a higher position than she is, I’m sure he can arrange something.’

  ‘That sounds like a plan.’ Georgie reached over to the coffee table and plucked a piece of bread and handed it to Mel. ‘And don’t let her spoil your weekend either. Eat up and enjoy yourself while you’re kid-free.’

  Mel smiled and accepted the food offering. ‘You guys are the best, you know that?’

  ‘Yeah, we know,’ Lorena said, then pulled Mel to standing and hugged her.

  ‘Anyway, enough of this truth stuff, it’s time for Sally’s dare!’ Mel’s expression brightened, while mine probably darkened in fear. I gulped.

  ‘We can finish up now if you want. After all this deep and meaningful stuff, why don’t we go for a nice walk?’ I suggested.

  ‘Not so fast, girly.’ Mel grasped my arm. ‘I called that company about their products,
and you can do something challenging too.’

  My chest tightened and my heartbeat intensified. There’s no way I could have done what she did, so hopefully they wouldn’t make me do anything similar.

  Mel glanced around the room and her gaze rested on the bookcase with the games. She walked over to it and pulled out a game. Twister.

  ‘I want you to call Ty and ask him to come over for a game of Twister.’

  ‘Twister? But that’s a game for flexible young kids who don’t mind clambering over each other.’

  ‘Ty is flexible.’

  ‘I’m not! And I’m engaged, it wouldn’t be right to get that close to another guy. You’ll have to give me another dare.’

  ‘Okay, I dare you to walk down the main street and sing Tomorrow from Annie at the top of your lungs, and hug random people as you go by.’

  I had visions of being captured on video and going viral on YouTube. ‘No, no way.’ I shook my head vigorously.

  ‘Then call Ty.’ Mel handed me back my phone. ‘Twister or Tomorrow. What’ll it be?’

  I ran a hand over my head. No way could I sing in public, especially after my dance incident. Singing was a completely different thing, and my voice could barely crank out a simple Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in tune.

  ‘So I just have to call him and ask, it doesn’t matter if he says no, right?’

  ‘If he says yes, you have to play Twister with him, but if he says no, well, I guess there’s nothing you can do about that. But you have to at least ask him.’ She shoved the phone into my hand and it shook in my grasp. It was only a simple phone call, but something about being around him made me nervous. Maybe it was his superhuman physique, or the fact that he seemed like some super-caring, kind, too-good-to-be-true angel from heaven sent down to earth to make women swoon and look after those who needed a little extra support. He came from a completely different world to mine, and it felt like I was about to call my teenage celebrity crush.

  ‘Here’s his number,’ Lorena said, showing me her phone.

  I added him as a contact and my finger hovered over his number.

  ‘Press it, Sally! I want to see this!’ Red was back to her usual self at the prospect of another embarrassing moment for me.