Falling Over You, page 8
Mike smiled at that, and for a moment, there was not one word that passed between them, and Lara felt her stomach start to accumulate the butterflies she had skillfully gotten rid of beforehand.
"Right," she said curtly, abruptly dropping her hand and turning around. "I should probably check my e-mail to see if I got a job interview." Her voice wasn't as steady as she had wanted it to be, but she hoped that the increasing distance between the two was enough to mask it. She took a seat at the computer, and after waiting for it to turn on, signed into her Yahoo! account.
"So," Mike said from behind her, his warm breath dancing on the back of Lara's neck, making the hairs that occupied it stand at attention. "What's your password?" His voice had returned to normal, and she instantly realized he was teasing her.
Lara glanced back at him, a mischievous glint sparkling in her eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know?" she asked him before turning back. It took a few moments, but she managed to check everything and then found what she was looking for: an interview scheduled in two days' time.
Lara jumped up out of her seat with obvious excitement coursing through her body. In fact, she was so ecstatic that she didn't stop herself from throwing herself into Mike's arms, pulling him close to her. Mike chuckled at her antics, putting two and two together and coming up with the fact that Lara managed to get a job interview.
"Congratulations," he told her and he meant it.
Lara pulled back from him but still kept her hands on his shoulders. Mike didn't need an excuse to keep his arms wrapped around Lara's waist either. "You know what I just realized, though?" she asked, her whole face falling. "I have nothing to wear to the interview. My friend Jane, she has a power suit. It's like a lucky suit that gives her confidence, so whenever she goes to job interviews or gives presentations to potential clients, she wears it, and good things happen for her. In fact, she was wearing her power suit at her last job interview and got the job. I need one of those."
"A power suit?" Mike asked, arching a brow skeptically.
"Don't diss the power suit," Lara said, shaking her head. "Hmm. Where can I possibly get a power suit?"
"We are in New York," Mike pointed out as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "This is the shopping capital of the world, you know. After Paris, of course. We could go to the city and take a look around to see if we can find you a power suit of some kind."
Lara looked at him with questioning eyes. "You would do that?" she asked slowly, not wanting to get her hopes up but wanting more than anything to believe what he had said. "You would come shopping with me so I can get a power suit? You would keep me company?"
Mike furrowed his brow, unsure of why this was so hard to believe. "I mean, I still think you should be a writer," he told her honestly. "But if you want a power suit for this job interview then I don't see why you shouldn't get one. And about me going with you, yeah, I want to go with you. Why? Is that breaking some code or something? Would you rather I stayed?"
"No!" Lara exclaimed a little too quickly. "No. I mean, I just don't remember the last time Brett went shopping with me. He was never really into it, so I wasn't sure if you would be."
Mike opened his mouth, a glint in his black eyes that Lara immediately caught onto, and she reached up and placed her index finger over his lips. "No," she said quickly. "Don't even say what I know you were thinking about saying. Let's not ruin this with words."
Mike grinned impishly but nodded, silently promising not to say anything bad about Brett even though he was tempted to and the opportunity had presented itself with relative ease.
"Now what?" he asked her as Lara stepped back. He could tell she was thinking intently, and he wanted to know just what it was that he was thinking about. "We're getting in the car and going, right?"
"I'm trying to think about what color I should get my power suit in," Lara said, her tone serious up to the point that Mike had to press his lips together to keep from laughing. This was obviously very serious to her and he didn't want to upset her by laughing. But it wasn't really his fault though, was it, because she looked adorably amusing as she thought about it.
"Green goes with your eyes," Mike pointed out, causing Lara's thoughts to vanish.
"You noticed what color my eyes are?" she asked him softly.
The corner of Mike's lips quirked up. "I notice everything about you," he admitted, and then hastily changed the subject. "Let's think about it on the way there, okay?"
17
That weekend, Lara bid Brett goodbye and drove into the city. She was going to meet up with Jane at a mom-and-pop wedding dress shop that actually had dresses stylized after the Disney princesses. Lara, being an avid Disney fan, was giddy with excitement. Oddly enough, it really didn't factor in with the whole marriage thing; rather, she just enjoyed trying on dresses and imagining for that one moment she was a princess, marrying her prince. Although the thought of Brett as a prince was a little difficult to imagine. He had always been a jock, not a romantic warrior looking to save his damsel in distress. Which was fine for Lara at times; she was an independent warrior, and didn't want someone constantly doing things for her because he thought she was incapable of doing them herself. However, there was always that part of her that wanted Brett to do little romantic things for her, like bring her flowers or chocolates when he knew she had had a bad day, run a bath for her, or something else practical and romantic.
Mike fit the whole prince thing better than Brett did. The fact that they could fight and make up, retort things to each other, challenge each other.... Lara shook her head in hopes to rid herself of such ridiculous thoughts. The past few days, Mike had been constantly plaguing her mind, so sex with Brett was out of the question. She hoped that Mike couldn't read minds or anything like that because she'd be so screwed....
The day she and Mike had been shopping for a power suit was probably the most fun day she had had in New York ever. She wore her headset so people didn't think she was crazy and talking to herself, and no one even gave her a second glance. In fact, Lara didn't remember a time when she had laughed so hard. Mike had talked her out of a yellow power suit, and even though he thought the green one looked amazing on her, he recommended that she would be safer with neutral colors.
However, after that day, Lara felt her heart start changing, and instead of looking forward to having Brett come home, she dreaded it. Once Brett was home, it meant that she and Mike couldn't communicate unless Lara pretended to be on the phone, which was getting harder and harder to do.
She liked Mike. A lot. She could admit that now. And she understood that. What she didn't understand was if that meant she still liked Brett in the same way. Love. I mean love. Of course I love Brett. You can't be with someone for three years and not love them.
Okay, actually that wasn't true. And Lara knew that wasn't true. But it was a scary thought, falling out of love with someone and not realizing it until she was on the verge of falling in love with someone else.
Except Mike was a ghost! She had to make sure that she remembered that, but it was so hard to do so, especially when they were constantly accidentally touching, when Mike's voice still resounded throughout her mind even when he wasn't around, when his smile took her breath away. That had to be real. Ghosts were real, and the way they made people feel was real. The only difference was, instead of fear, Lara felt...elated.
Yet here she was, driving to a wedding shop to try on wedding dresses, not to get married to Mike, but because she was going to get married to Brett. It didn't matter how happy she was with Mike, or how drastically her feelings were changing; the fact of the matter was that he was dead and she wasn't. How, exactly, was that supposed to work out? She didn't know, and she was afraid of trying it out, at least now....
Jane was waiting for her because she actually lived in the city. She shot Lara a look—a smirk, really. "Don't even think about commenting on the fact that I am actually here before you," she said, causing Lara to laugh out loud. "Now, I talked with the woman who's going to help us, Sarah, and she has a room all set up for you and is ready to go whenever you're ready."
"Did you remind her of the types of dresses I wanted to see?" Lara asked, arching her brow as she followed Jane inside the small shop.
"Oh Lara, how could you think I wouldn't?" Jane teased, giving her friend a look of mock hurt. "There are actually a few dresses in your size already waiting for you."
"Jane, so good to see you again," a voice said, and after a moment, Lara could make out a short woman with beautiful brown eyes walk over to them. "My name's Sarah, and I'll be helping you today. You must be Lara Darling."
"Pleased to meet you," Lara said, shaking hands with Sarah.
"Same," Sarah said, flashing the two women a smile. "Now, Jane here tells me you love the Disney princesses. That's great, because we have a whole line inspired by them. As Jane told you, there are already a few of them hanging in your room. Those are our most popular, most requested, that kind of thing, but if you're not interested in them, not to worry, because we have lots more." She stopped at the designated dressing room and turned so she could face Lara. "Now, if you need anything to drink, eat, let me know. If you have any questions on a particular dress or need some new ones, let me know. Before I leave you to it, do you have any questions?"
"No, thank you," Lara said with a small smile. "I'm really looking forward to trying on your dresses."
Lara entered the dressing room and closed the door behind her. She took a moment to undress before turning around and trying on the dresses. It took Lara a good half hour and four dresses before trying on the fifth dress and instantly falling in love with it. It was white, with capped sleeves that fell off her shoulders. The bodice was ruched, with a slim white ribbon wrapped just underneath her breasts and tied so the design was subtle. It fit her figure quite beautifully—like a glove, as they say—and the waist was empire in design. It was floor length, and the back resembled that of a corset. It revealed a tasteful amount of cleavage, nothing too major, and the train wasn't that long. It was supposed to be from Sleeping Beauty's collection, and Lara instantly fell in love with its simplicity.
When she stepped out of the dressing room, Jane stood up as usual, but her face went slack with absolute disbelief. "Oh my gosh, Lara," she murmured under her breath. "You look absolutely...." She let her voice trail off and then curled her lips up into a teasing smirk. "Mrs. Lara Lancaster, indeed."
Lara blushed and trailed back into her dressing room, wanting to be alone for a moment. She’d found the perfect dress and she knew it, but the way Jane spoke her name, it just didn't sound right. Maybe...maybe she hadn't found the perfect man to go with the perfect dress.
Before she could think any more on the matter, she felt Mike appear behind her. Normally she would scold him for coming into a dressing room without knocking, especially if he didn't know whether or not Lara was dressed, but when she turned around, she realized that she wanted him there. She couldn't explain why, and she really didn't think about it, but she needed his eyes on her. If anyone was going to be honest with how she looked, it would be Mike.
"So?" she asked tentatively, perking her brows just slightly while subtly biting her bottom lip. "What do you think?"
Mike didn't think he could formulate words. His black eyes trailed up and down her frame then back up to her face so he could lock eyes with her. "Beautiful," he said in a soft voice, a voice that caused Lara to shiver, though she hoped Mike didn't notice. "Though, the word doesn't do you justice." Before Lara even had any time to blush, he quickly added, "Brett is a lucky man."
For whatever reason, Lara felt disappointed hearing what he had to say about her. She pressed her lips together, not noticing Mike was positioning himself beside her in order to see what it would look like if she were getting married to him. In his very humble opinion, they made quite an attractive pair, but he couldn't let his hope get the better of his logic. She was marrying Brett, and that was all there was to it.
"Do you think Brett will like it?" Lara asked, tilting her head gently to the side as she scrutinized herself in the mirror.
Now it was Mike who felt pain in his heart even though he didn't have one. Or, at least, he didn't think he did. He forced a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Yeah," he murmured, taking a step back. "I'm sure."
18
"Except for the distance between me and you."
Mike disappeared.
Lara had no idea where he had gone off to, but she knew he wasn't here with her anymore. She had bought the wedding dress but it was being kept at the shop so Brett couldn't sneak a peek at it if he wanted to. The more Lara thought about it, the more she wasn't sure Brett was even interested. In fact, she thought that Brett wasn't even excited about their marriage anymore. Was that normal? Did people lose enthusiasm about getting married? She knew that everyone experienced some kind of cold feet—that was normal—but to not even talk about the fact that they were getting married?
Brett hadn't even asked her how her day went when he knew she was going shopping for her dress.
They were growing apart.
Where was Mike anyway? She needed him right now.
But should I need him? Whenever Lara talked about Brett, Mike seemed to take offense to it. Well, maybe not offense, but he seemed to get defensive. Or was it she who got defensive?
Maybe it was jealousy...?
Yeah, right. Like Mike would be jealous of Brett. It wasn't as though he liked her in any way. Okay, so there was that one time when Mike looked at her with those dark eyes that caused something to flare inside of her that she hadn't felt before. He told her.... She didn't want to think about it, but she couldn't help herself. He promised her a night of passion and a good portion of her wanted to take him up on such an offer. But he said those things, touched her in such a way, not because he liked her, but because he had been dead for seven years and he hadn't made love in a while. That was it. That was probably the only reason. Add that to the fact that Lara was the only person he could see, hear, and feel, and bam. He saw an opportunity.
But...there was something inside of her that didn't feel that was true. Mike didn't seem to be one of those guys.
Could he possibly feel for her the same way she felt for him?
Lara sat down to her computer to check her e-mail, hoping more than anything to get her mind off of this sort of thing. Her thoughts just kept getting louder and louder, but she couldn't do anything about them and wasn't sure that she wanted to. She needed to block them out and so to do that, she decided to check her e- mail. As she clicked on her unread messages, she found that her interview had been rescheduled for next week. Lara bit her bottom lip, perking her brows, hoping that that wasn't a bad sign. If Mike did come back, a job would be the perfect excuse to not think about him.
When she finished up, she stood, running her fingers through her hair. She opened her mouth to call him, but shut it, thinking of how ridiculous it would sound. She was used to Mike's presence, knew when he was there and when he wasn't. And right now, he wasn't there. Despite a slight flutter of hope in her chest that thought that maybe if she called him he would come, she decided against it, knowing that wasn't exactly true.
Lara walked into the kitchen, and for a moment, she entertained the thought of being with Mike rather than Brett. Damn the fact that he was a ghost, damn the fact that such a relationship might not be possible. None of that mattered. She knew that if Mike were alive, things would be different. Then again, she might not have gotten as close to him as she was, especially since Brett—and those nosy neighbors—would get suspicious that a man would constantly visit Lara while Brett wasn't there.
She needed coffee.
Lara grabbed the frozen coffee beans, ground them, and placed them in an unused filter before adding water and turning on the machine.
Where was Mike? And why didn’t he tell her that he was leaving?
Not that he had to tell her every time he left and when he would be back; Lara wasn't his mother and didn't want to be. But it would have been nice to know if he was going to leave for a portion of time.
She hoped he was okay.
Was he upset with her? Lara didn't remember getting into a fight with him before he took off. In fact, if Lara was being honest, the last time she remembered seeing Mike was when he had appeared in her dressing room, when he looked at her in her wedding dress.
Why did he leave? Lara couldn't figure it out, but hoped beyond hope that somehow, he would come back to her.
Mike left because of Lara, but it wasn't her fault and he was planning on coming back. He just needed time to process everything, to get his mind off of Lara and at the same time, to figure out his feelings for the woman in hopes to stop his mind from working overtime. The best way he knew how to do that was to lose himself in the streets of New York. Yes, it seemed slightly contradictory, but Mike was full of surprises and quirks. He never felt calmer than when he was immersed in the population of New York City, on the streets. Yes, people were always bustling and stressing out, but Mike felt at peace about the situation. On the other end of the spectrum, there were times when he would be at home alone and feel incredibly antsy because no one was there and he had nothing to do.
Now, people couldn't see him, but for moments like these, Mike felt that it was better this way because now he didn't have to worry about walking into people or buildings or objects. He could truly let his mind wander, and see where it took him.
It always took him to Lara. God, she was absolutely beautiful.
And in that wedding dress? Mike had never been the type of person who would ever consider getting married. Yes, he liked being in a relationship from time to time but he also loved being alone, reveling in solitude. But just seeing her that way, he imagined being at the end of the aisle, waiting for her presence, and being completely mesmerized by the mere sight of her.
