She spent nearly three hours in the Reiki room of The Third Eye with Jay. He placed rocks around her and had her close her eyes while they meditated for long minutes, concentrating their energies on healing her spirit and helping her move forward with her life. Jay was good at what he did and she left feeling lighter, like she’d gained some insight lying on that bed. They discussed her meditation and where she would place her crystals at home. He made sure she knew she was welcome to come back anytime but they made an appointment for a few days down the road.

It was strange that she felt so comfortable with him. She hadn’t told him anything about her past but talking about what she could see made her feel free. He was right when he reminded her she’d felt relief and when he asked, she hadn’t hesitated to tell him why Dallas was seeking her out. She even told him about the dream she had with the woman and the explosion.

She called the hospital. Max had been released, so she knew Dallas wasn’t delivering bad news, but hiding and avoiding him just made him more suspicious. That’s why he was trying to find her.

She walked toward the pier and away from her usual bus stop. The beach was a part of town she avoided as it was usually crowded. With Thanksgiving quickly approaching and the cool weather, it was nearly deserted. She found a bench at the end of the pier and sat, letting the cool ocean breeze wash over her.

It was a beautiful place. Picturing what she remembered of where she grew up it was no wonder she ended up somewhere like this. There were no burned out, hulking shells of buildings. No whores on street corners or gunfire at night. Just blue ocean waves as far as her eyes could see. Seagulls floated above the water, dancing through the clouds above.

She couldn’t stay on the pier forever. Eventually, she’d have to go back to the camper and then to work. Someone would ask questions she didn’t have answers for. She sighed, desperately wanting to take Jay’s unsolicited advice and just tell them the truth.

Her heart wanted that. She wanted someone to know who she was and accept her.

But her head remembered too much and every time the urge struck, it reminded her why she couldn’t.

“Butch, she has to go! I can’t have her here when this baby’s born telling him about the dead people she sees!”

“She can’t help it.”

“Neither can we! We’ve tried everything to fix her and we can’t. It’s time to let her go.”

“I know.”

She pushed the memory from her mind. She hadn’t realized at the time, most of the adults who visited were shrinks Butch and Erin hired. She didn’t know they were trying to fix her.

She didn’t know she was broken.

Rosie sat on the pier, huddled in her sweater until the sun went down and it got too cold, even for a northerner, to sit there. She trudged to the bus stop and waited for her bus. The ride was uneventful, certainly a nice benefit of her ability being on the fritz. There were times when sitting with bus load of strangers and the spirits that surrounded them was overwhelming, like the time she’d gone to the bar to meet Wendy.

She unlocked her bike from the bench when she got to her stop and rode home. The woman in the woods was quiet. She turned down her driveway but slowed as she reached her camper.

Max was sitting in one of the chairs outside, her string lights lit up cheerfully, the dog lazing at his feet.

Rosie slid off the seat and walked closer. Hearing her approach, Max turned, his expression unreadable as he stood. He looked good and was dressed in his usual jeans and long sleeve shirt. His hair was finger combed and there was a short stubble growth on his chin.

She tentatively leaned her bike in its spot against the tree and stood in front of him.

“Are you okay?” It was all she cared about. She’d told herself all day long that she knew he was fine, but telling herself and hearing him say it were two different things.

He nodded. “I’m alive. Thanks to you.”

She shook her head and looked away.

“Where’ve you been all day? I’ve been looking for you.”

She turned to look back at him. “Why?”

He let out a laugh. “Are you kidding? Christ, Rosie, you showed up at my house in middle of the night, saved my life, and disappeared. Did you really think I wasn’t going to come looking?”

She lifted her hands and then dropped them. “I don’t know.”

“Well, you should have.”

He reached out one of his big, work-roughened hands and held it out to her. She looked from his face and then back to his hand, hesitating before extending her hand to his. He quickly wrapped his fingers around hers and pulled her to him, his arm wrapping around her shoulders and holding her close. At first, she wasn’t sure how to react, her free hand bent against his chest, not sure if she should push him away. Max pulled her hand around his body, wordlessly instructing her to wrap her arms around him. Cautiously, she did and felt the firm press of his chest against her face as he held her close.

She felt him rest his cheek against her hair.

“Thank you, Rosie.” There was no mistaking his lips against the top of her head. “Thank you.”

He held her close, not squeezing her too tightly, but not giving her any room to move either.

It had been a long time since she’d been held by anyone and just about never since she’d been held by a man. Though it was a just a thank you hug she felt something stir beneath her skin. Her heart sped up to match the rhythm she felt beating beneath her cheek. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, breathing in his fresh smell, soap and fresh air and Max all rolled into one.

“How did you know?” He asked, his cheek still resting on top of her head.

She shook her head, not wanting to think about it. All she wanted to do was catalog the moment so she could remember it forever.

He leaned back and pressed his palms to her cheeks, holding her face in his hands. His thumbs brushed gently back and forth.

It was by far, the most intimate moment of her entire life.

“How did you know, Rosie?”

She was caught in his golden gaze, her eyes unable to look away from his.

“I don’t know,” she shook her head, mumbling an excuse by rote.

“I’ll believe you,” he insisted.

She reached her hands to cover his, intending to pull them away. “I don’t know.”

“I’ll believe you,” he said again.

“I was just stopping by.”

He never looked away from her, his eyes pinning her in place and demanding the truth.

She felt something inside crack at his insistence.

“I’ll believe you, Rosie. I swear I will.”

Her hands were still on top of his as he held her face. With every word, he got closer until their noses were nearly touching, his breath on her lips when he spoke.

“I can’t,” she whispered, her eyes begging him to understand.

“You can,” he argued, the tip of his nose gently brushing the side of hers. “I’m going to believe you, Rosie. I swear. I just need to hear you say it.”

“No,” she argued, closing her eyes in a last-ditch effort to break his spell.

“Yes.” His gentle statement was followed by the barest press of his lips against hers. She kept her eyes closed, her hands instinctively tightening on his.

“I’ll believe you,” he told her again.

“No, you won’t,” she said, opening her eyes to convey her desperation.

“I will,” he continued without hesitation.

It was on the tip of her tongue to just blurt it out and let him have it, but she held back. If she was going to tell him the truth, then she wanted to enjoy having him touch her just this one time if it was all she was going to get.

“Rosie,” he started to say.

“Just wait.” Her voice came out wobbly. “I just...” she stopped before she truly embarrassed herself.

She was going to tell him.

Max’s lips brushed one cheek and then the other before he rested his forehead against hers.

That was it. The moment she’d remember when things inevitably went south.

“I saw it in a dream.” Her voice was soft. “And your dog told me.”

Rosie opened her eyes when his fingers fell from her face and his forehead lifted. He looked confused.

“My dog?” He moved his hands to her shoulders.

“It’s big and has long droopy ears? Blondish color?” She described the dog that was lazing by the door to the camper.

“Hannah?” He sounded puzzled but when he said the dog’s name, her tail thumped loudly against the ground.

“Say it again,” Rosie instructed, watching the dog.

“Hannah,” he said. The dog responded with a happy woof.

“That’s her,” Rosie agreed, her solemn eyes meeting his, knowing this could very well be the end of Max showing up on her patio and inviting her over to feed tiny, baby farm animals.

“Hannah’s here?” He asked haltingly.

“By my camper. She follows you everywhere.”

Strangely, that brought a smile to his face. “But she’s...” He shook his head. “I loved that dog. I was devastated when she died.”

Rosie said nothing.

“So, she’s like, a ghost. And you can see her?”

She swallowed nervously and nodded, ready to take a step back.

“Holy shit,” he breathed. “I knew.” His hands went back to her cheeks. “After the cove, I knew.” Out of nowhere he laid a kiss on her lips, surprising her. “That’s crazy.” When her eyes widened he was quick to correct himself. “Not crazy, crazy. Amazing crazy. You’re amazing.”

“No,” she said. “I’m not.”

“You saved my life after my dog that’s been dead for ten years...what? What did Hannah do?”

The dog’s tail thumped again.

“Showed up here barking like crazy.”

“And you just followed a ghost dog down the street in the middle of the night?”

“She was pretty insistent that I follow her.”

“Where is she?” He looked around as if he might be able to see her.

She pointed to the door of the trailer. “She’s lying right below Gizmo.” Her face screwed up in confusion as a thought hit her. “How did Gizmo get out?”

Max shrugged. “He was crying to come out when I got here, so I opened the door.”

“Wasn’t it locked?”

“I used the key I found under the fake rock.”

“Great,” she groused.

“Back to my ghost friend. She just hangs out with me?”

“Pretty much.”

“And you can see her. Like she’s really there?”

“Pretty much,” she agreed, although there were times when it was more complicated than that. She was going to take what she could get in the fact that he wasn’t running for the hills and let the technicalities go.

“Is she unhappy?” He asked. “Isn’t she supposed to, I don’t know, follow the light or something?”

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “She doesn’t seem unhappy,” Rosie offered.

He was truly concerned. He hadn’t shown any disbelief or wariness in her. Just like he said, he believed her.

“You really believe me?”

His head shifted back as he looked down at her, his brows drawn in confusion. “Of course, I do. I told you I would.”

His promise had meant nothing to her. People said things they didn’t mean all the time. They made promises they either never kept or never meant to keep in the first place.

“Did you not believe me?” He asked, sounding confused.

She shook her head. “It’s not that.” She hadn’t dared to believe him and that seemed like a totally different thing. “I just don’t tell anyone. Ever.”

“But you told me.” He sent her a half smile and reached his arm around her and pulled her into a hug. “I was hoping we could hang out. I could thank you every few seconds for saving my life.”

“That seems like it would get awkward really fast.” She joked, her cheek pressed against his chest, feeling his laugh rumble through her body.

“Now, we have something else to talk about.

Max's furnace was being replaced. It had been the cause of the carbon monoxide leak and he wasn’t in any hurry to get back there, so they decided to spend some time at the camper, hanging out.

She showed him in and went to her tiny kitchen area but Max just stood there staring at her before he closed the door behind him. Rosie looked at him in question.

"Should I hold the door open in case Hannah wants to come in?"

She rolled her eyes. "If Hannah wants to come in, she will. Believe me."

"Is that weird?"

"Every damn time," she answered without hesitating, then looked back to the kitchen. "Uh, one problem,” she winced. "I don't have much for food unless you don't mind eating granola bars and popcorn."

"Yeah, no," he shook his head and winced. "We'll go grab some takeout or something." Two seconds later he followed that with. "We'll get it delivered."

She wondered if Max wasn't feeling as well as he was letting on.

"Do you like pizza?" He asked.

"How are you feeling? Really?" She asked, ignoring his question.

He made a pained face causing her level of concern jump about ten notches. "I've got a headache like you read about but other than that, I'm good."

"Did you take something?"

"Not in a while," he admitted then tapped his phone's screen a few times and held it to his ear. "I'll take something after we eat."

He ordered pizza and salad then gave them specific directions to her camper.

She picked up some of the throw blankets and pillows from her little couch and put them off to the side. Then she setup her laptop on the table which was how she normally watched a movie or TV shows. Remembering her bag, she opened it up and placed her new crystals and stones around the camper. As instructed by Jay she placed a piece of quartz in each corner of the camper, from the far end where her small living area was to the other end, where the bed was. One went in the kitchen and one right across from that, where the little table was. She then put a stone on the first step heading out the door, tucked way in the back so she wouldn't kill herself tripping on it.

"What are you doing?" Max asked, looking on curiously.

She grabbed three more stones and turned around, kneeling at the side of her bed. She shoved the crystals between her mattress and box spring.

"I'm cleansing my energies." It sounded skeptical to her own ears. Even though she believed Jay and in what he did, it was hard to imagine anything helping her.

"Are your energies dirty?" Obviously, he didn't know any more about it than she did. "That sounded bad," he immediately corrected himself. "Are your energies in need of cleansing?"

She shrugged and smiled at him as she stood. "I'm all kinds of out of whack. This is supposed to help."

"What's that mean?"

"You want to watch a movie?"

"Sure." He followed her lead and began looking over her online movie list. "So, tell me more about your energy stuff."

"You don't want to hear that." She waved him off and threw some popcorn in the microwave.

He let out a laugh. "I'm doing my best from not sitting you down and grilling you about the whole thing. You just told me you see ghosts and what? Dream the future? If you think I don't have a million questions, then you don't know me very well."

She knew better than to believe he'd just let it go. He was a determined type of guy but also nurturing enough to not bulldoze her for information.

"Have you heard of The Third Eye?" She asked.

"Yeah, that hippie store downtown."

"That's the place. The owner, Jay, has been working with me trying to get me back to normal."

He sat and gave her his full attention. "I didn't know you weren't normal."

She laughed. "Well, if you didn't before, you do now."

"That's not what I meant. I didn't know there was something wrong."

Without realizing she was doing it she touched the side of her face where her scabs were nearly all gone.

"I've been having a few ongoing issues." She evaded his implied question.

"That have something to do with your bike accident?" At her sharp look, he explained the obvious. "You touched your face when I asked about it. I figured that was why."

She took a deep breath and came to sit next to him, looking over the movies on the computer with him.

"I've been off since then,” she agreed vaguely.

"What's that mean?"

She shrugged like it was no big deal. "Not being able to see some of the things I used to. Sleepwalking. Being stalked by a ghost in the woods."

He stilled her hand on the computer's touchpad.

"You're being stalked by a ghost?" He sounded alarmed.

With good reason, she thought.

She nodded. "That might be an exaggeration. I just see her in the woods sometimes."

"What does she want?"

Rosie couldn't remember the killer’s face but she remembered his eyes and the feeling of his hands pressing down on her throat. Her mind went to her mother and she immediately wiped both memories from her mind.

Rosie took a deep breath, looked away from him and let herself be honest with him, even if it was only a half truth.

"She wants to be found."