He Followed Me Home

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

"Francine I..."

"Don't talk to me," Francine snapped as they walked down the quiet street. "We have a very long walk and I am very very angry at you and I would rather not be walking down the streets screaming at someone that everyone else can't see."

"Why are you angry at me?" Wyatt demanded. "All I did was...."

"All you did was follow me around all night, criticize my choice in boyfriends and then throw it in my face that you and Janice have been right and I have been wrong and that Gregory is a loser! To top it off he's been cheating on me. No, that's not right he's been cheating with me." She paled. "Oh my God, I'm the other woman."

"I didn't rub anything in your face, Franny. I know that wasn't the best way to let you know he wasn't being faithful but I didn't want you going out with him and having him take advantage of you anymore."

"And the kitchen? What happened in the kitchen?"

"I was just having a bit of fun," he replied with a shrug. "I didn't hurt him," he added as if that fact should clear him of any fault.

"I feel like such a fool," Francine admitted with a sigh. "I guess I knew that something wasn't right long before today."

"Then why did you stay?"

"It was comfortable. I still had my freedom and independence but had a boyfriend at the same time. And like I said, he wasn't always that distant and rude to me. In the beginning he was perfectly charming."

"Never trust a man who is perfectly charming."

"Why?" Francine asked with a raise of her brow.

Wyatt shrugged, "Because a regular man is going to fumble over words now and then, say things he shouldn't and get a little nervous around you as he hopes he says the right things. If a man doesn't do any of those things then you probably aren't the first woman he's wooed."

"You say some of the funniest things," Francine said with a smile. How did this man manage to do this to her? One minute she was heartbroken, the next she was angry and now she was smiling and hanging on his every word just waiting to see what he would say next.

"Like what?" he asked, feeling prouder than a rooster strutting in a henhouse knowing that he had made her smile.

"Like that Gregory wanted to bed me. Or that men woo women... No man woos a woman anymore."

"Well they should," Wyatt replied with a grin that melted Francine's heart.

She quickly looked away from him. This was crazy. She was not falling in love with a ghost. Why did she always seem to fall for men that were completely unavailable? There had been several before Gregory and now there was the ultimate unavailable man. A civil war ghost whose touch she would never be able to feel no matter how sweet and caring he was.

"I should warn you that I have a history of falling for losers," she said softly.

Wyatt longed to reach out and wrap his arm around her sagging shoulders, pull her body tight against him and heal the hurt that Gregory had caused. He wanted to protect her from ever being hurt again. God knew he would never hurt her even if he could.

"Let me pick the next one," he offered.

She laughed, "Did you have someone in mind?"

Wyatt wanted to say yes but that wouldn't be fair to her. How did you ask a woman to love you when you couldn't give her a real relationship, "Not yet. Give me some time. I've only been back among the living for a couple of days."