Shadow of a Life (32 page)

“
Boston
who
?” Camille asked

“
Boston Bob. Everybody knows
about him,” Rita said. “He’s been a fixture here at the Logan
Airport since it was built. He just roams around messing with
people’s luggage and stuff. He’s completely harmless so don’t worry
about him. I’d ask him to keep an eye out for the Goodwins for you,
but the last time I tried to talk to him I ended up being stuck in
conversation about absolutely nothing for three hours.”

I laughed. “So that’s how all the
luggage gets lost, huh?”

“
Sometimes.” Jack laughed,
too.

We finally parted ways, with Rita
hugging each of us and Jack shaking our hands. I was nervous, but
it was time to be alert and completely aware of our surroundings. I
had to focus. If the Goodwins were following us, they weren’t
stupid enough to do it in their human form. Sophia had practiced
with me the night before and I was getting pretty good at detecting
when the air around me changed and there was a ghost present. It
took complete concentration, though, and that was kind of hard in a
busy airport where people were jostling each other and moving in
all directions.

We still had thirty minutes before we
were supposed to board so we grabbed drinks and snacks at one of
the food kiosks and found some chairs to camp out in for a while.
We didn’t talk very much. I think we were all a little anxious. It
was crazy that a couple of weeks before I was completely
comfortable to be on my own. Now, I felt like I needed a ghostly
bodyguard just to go to the bathroom.

Since I’d traveled a lot with Dad, I
felt at home in an airport. I knew that Peter had traveled quite
extensively, too. He used to miss a lot of school while he traveled
with his parents—before he got old enough for them to leave him by
himself. Camille’s family traveled, too, but they tended to drive
everywhere they went. They usually spent a month in a vacation
rental near Salem every summer. I’d gone with them a couple of
times. I went the summer after fifth grade and the summer after
seventh grade. We’d had a blast.

Finally, our seats were announced and
we were allowed to board the plane. We’d been lucky enough to get
three seats next to each other. Camille grabbed the seat by the
window and I sat in the middle between her and Peter. I took a good
look at everyone else on the plane. I didn’t know if the Goodwins
had accomplices. No one looked suspicious and it didn’t appear that
anyone watched us or even paid particular attention to us. I closed
my eyes and concentrated on the surrounding air—nothing felt out of
place.

“
Are you okay?” Peter asked
as he covered my hand with his.

I opened my eyes. “I’m fine. I’m just
trying to concentrate.”

“
Concentrate?”

“
Yeah. Last night Sophia
tried to teach me how to recognize when ghosts are around. She and
Nick would come and go to help me practice.”

“
Did it work?”

“
I could detect when they
came in the room about seventy-five percent of the
time.”

“
Do you detect anything
here?”

“
Nope.”

“
I guess that’s good—unless
now is part of the twenty-five percent that you don’t sense
someone.”

I laughed and leaned back against my
seat. He did the same thing.

“
Can’t ghosts fly?” Peter
asked, turning his head towards mine.

“
Huh?”

“
Why don’t Sophia and Nick
just fly to Virginia by themselves?”

“
I don’t think they really
fly. I think it’s more of a floating thing. I think they’re only
fast when they’re in their human form, but I’m not
sure.”

“
Hellooo. Remember me. I’m
here, too,” Camille complained.

Peter and I turned to look at
her.

“
You two are boring. I can’t
even hear your conversation.”

“
Sorry. What do
you
want to talk about?”
I asked.

“
Something besides
ghosts.”

“
Global warming?” Peter
suggested.

“
Nice try. If you weren’t
here, we’d probably be talking about boys,” Camille said
smugly.

“
Wow. I’m glad I’m here to
put a stop to that then.”

“
What time are we supposed
to—” Camille cut off in mid-sentence with a stunned look on her
face.

Alarmed, I quickly grabbed her
shoulder. “Cam, what’s wrong?”

“
I . . . uhh . . . nothing,”
she said sheepishly.

She leaned back in her seat to where
Peter could no longer see her, caught my eye, and then nodded
toward my lap. I looked down. I’d forgotten Peter’s hand was still
holding mine—it felt natural there. Embarrassed, I immediately
turned red and started to pull my hand away. Peter caught it and
entwined his fingers with mine. By that point my face was on fire.
I looked up and he smiled back with laughing eyes. Camille stayed
back against the seat and covered her mouth with her hands, trying
desperately to contain the little giggles that were
escaping.

When she finally had herself
under control she turned to me again and whispered, “How long
has
this
been
going on?”

I was still horribly embarrassed. I
wasn’t used to public displays of affection. “I don’t know. A
couple of days I guess.”

“
Are you guys, like, a
couple or something now?”

“
I don’t know. We haven’t
talked about it,” I whispered back, wishing the conversation would
just be over.

“
What are you guys
whispering about over there?” Peter asked as he leaned out from his
seat so that he could see both of us at once.

“
Boys. I told you we like to
talk about boys, remember?” Camille said, but that time she grinned
at Peter.

“
Maybe I’ll just take a nap.
That is, unless you need some input from someone who
actually
is
a
boy.”

“
Nope. We’re
good.”

The plane took off and we began our
trip to the City of Brotherly Love. I wished it was our final
destination because I loved Philadelphia. There’s so much history
there and Dad and I enjoyed visiting it. We’d usually find
ourselves there once every year or two. The flight attendant
brought around drinks and those little bags of honey mustard
pretzels. I was too anxious to eat so I gave mine to Peter, who
apparently loved them. I sipped a soda while he and Camille both
drank water.

Our plane landed in Philly without any
delays. It was a beautiful summer day and I wished I could be
outside enjoying it. Our plane taxied to the gate and we gathered
our carryon bags, listening to the Captain over the loudspeaker
thank us for choosing US Airways and blah, blah, blah, before we
exited the plane. We still had a couple of hours before our
connecting flight to Newport News was due to depart. Sophia and
Nick planned to be in Philadelphia within an hour and a half. I
hoped they hadn’t met with any unforeseen problems while going
through New York. The traffic can get kind of messy
there.

I turned my phone on and listened to
it ding, telling me I had one new voicemail. I stepped away from
the crowds of people and covered one ear with the hand not holding
the phone so I could hear.

“
Hi, Jamie. We got a little
held up in traffic, but I think we can still make the flight. If we
aren’t there in time, go without us. We’ll catch the next flight
out and meet you at the hotel later tonight. We’ve been on the road
for about three hours now and haven’t seen signs of anyone
following us. Anyway, I hope you had a good flight. Text me when
you land and get this message. I have
big
news for you.”

Big news? What could possibly have
happened in the few hours since I’d seen her? I walked back to
Peter and Camille who had staked out a spot on a row of hard
plastic chairs.

“
Anything?”

“
They think they’ll make it,
but it will be cutting it close. She said she has big news,” I said
vaguely as I texted her back.

“
What do you mean?” Camille
asked.

I shrugged. “Dunno. She didn’t
say.”

I waited for a few minutes and then
felt the familiar vibration of my phone. I turned the screen on and
looked at my messages. There were no words, but Sophia had sent a
picture—of her hand.

“
What’s that supposed to
mean?” Camille asked, looking over my shoulder.

“
I’m not sure. Is it code
for something?”

“
Let me see,” Peter said as
he reached over and took the phone from me. “Yep. It’s definitely
code for something. I could tell right away. You should be ashamed
to call yourselves girls.”

I glared at him and took the phone
back, enlarging the picture.

“
Oh my gosh. Look at her
ring finger,” Camille squealed.

Sure enough, on her long, slender
finger, below her perfectly manicured nail, was a gorgeous diamond
ring.

“
They’re engaged,” Camille
said excitedly. The people around us turned and stared.

“
Okay. The truth is, when
Nick picked me up this morning he told me he was going to
officially propose to Sophia. I promised I wouldn’t tell you guys,”
Peter said.

“
That is so sweet—it’s like
we’re living in a fairytale,” Camille said. “I wonder how Nick did
it. He better have gotten down on one knee. Do you think he got
permission from her father—I mean Jack—first? That would have been
funny. If they plan on disappearing soon, how are they going to
plan a wedding? Agghhh! Do you think we’ll get to be
bridesmaids?”

Camille finally stopped jabbering when
she realized that Peter and I were about to fall out of our chairs
from laughing so hard.

“
What?” she
whined.

“
Maybe you should ask Sophia
these questions.”

“
Congratulations. We’re
very happy for you. Camille can’t stop squealing, if you know what
I mean,
” I texted back, hiding the screen
from Camille’s view.

We figured we had a long wait so we
found a deli and ordered sandwiches. I got ham and turkey with all
the veggies—my usual. Camille skipped the bread and went for the
veggies in the form of a salad, and Peter ordered a footlong
double-meat sandwich. I could never understand how the teenage boys
at our school could stay so skinny with the way they all
ate.

The time ticked away faster than I
expected and before we knew it they were beginning to board our
flight.

Camille freaked out. “They’re not
here. What are we supposed to do?”

“
Cam, it’s okay. I have all
the hotel info with me. If they don’t get here in time, we can grab
a taxi at the airport and wait at the hotel for them. It’s not a
big deal.” I loved being able to take charge. My relationship with
Camille was finally evolving.

Sure enough, our seats were called and
there was still no sign of Sophia or Nick. The second plane was a
lot smaller than the first one had been and there were far fewer
seats. Peter and I sat in a row of two chairs and Camille sat
across the aisle from us. We watched the aisle carefully, waiting
for the newly engaged couple to rush onto the plane, but there was
no sign of them. I tried to text Sophia again, but she didn’t
respond and we were being told to turn off our phones. Finally, the
flight attendant closed the door and the plane moved away from the
gate.

“
I guess it’s just us,”
Peter said quietly.

“
Yeah. I’m sure they’ll meet
up with us soon,” I replied somberly.

I wanted to be strong for Camille’s
sake. She wasn’t happy that our carefully laid plan had failed. As
soon as we were in the air, she turned toward the window and curled
her legs up to take a nap.

Peter looked at her. “That’s a good
idea. I’m going to do the same thing.” He grabbed one of the little
airplane pillows and put it behind his head, slipped off his shoes,
and closed his eyes.

I wished I could sleep, but I felt
like one of us needed to stay awake. It was quiet around me and I
quickly became bored and found that my own eyes were starting to
droop. I tried to fight off the sleep, but it was a struggle.
Finally, I gave in and let my eyes close. I don’t know how long I’d
been like that before I felt it, but I don’t think it had been very
long. At first, I didn’t know what had happened. Something had
gotten my attention. I sat, not moving, my eyes still closed and
breathed deeply in and out.

There it was again. The air around me
had moved slightly and there was a subtle change in the
temperature. The hair on my arms began to stand up and my heart
raced. Something was definitely present—something that wasn’t
alive. I slowly reached over and squeezed Peter’s arm, still not
opening my eyes. I wished my heart would stop beating so hard. I
couldn’t hear anything over its hammering.

Peter opened his eyes and squeezed me
back. I opened my eyes and mouthed the word “ghost” toward him. He
sat forward and looked around frantically. I closed my eyes again
and felt a prodding sensation, as if someone or something had
tapped me gently. All of a sudden realization hit and relief
flooded me. I laughed out loud.