If I said it right, I wouldn’t need to elaborate. She wouldn’t cover up talking about the stupid dating period they had. She’d know that I know.... It would be out in the open. We could work it out together. We could work him out of our lives. All I needed to do was say it. Say it.Say it.“I know-” I managed before my nerves acted up. Shit. Almost had it. On the inside, I could feel myself trembling, and my throat closed up. So close yet so fucking far.Nicole chuckled. “No, trust me, squirt. You. Though she planned not to drink, needing a clear ahead for the morning, the prate persisted and she allowed warm rum to coat her lips. Even that taste sent warmth flooding through her body. The pirate's free hand crept around her waist and pulled her close. She felt his insistent erection pressing through their clothes."Ever tasted a wee seaman, love?" he asked. Johanna struggled free and scooted across to a couch where she thought she recognized the nerdy frat treasurer, a studious classmate. “Emily, Emily, are you there?”There was no reply.As my senses retuned to the corporeal world, I noticed that dawn had broken. Perhaps Emily could only make her presence felt at night; I’d encountered far stranger constraints on the spirit world, such as a tortoise that could only move a wheelbarrow when nobody was watching.While listening to the dawn chorus, surprisingly less loud than in town where the birds have to compete against traffic noise, I drew up a plan to find out more about Emily. But it’s for charity.” The dress blew up around my ears. My legs. Did I mention my legs? Sometimes I think my legs have a life of their own. Sometimes I eat a lot of cake to see if they’ll notice me. It doesn’t work. My legs go on doing their own beautifully defined thing. I beat the dress down with my hands. “I like your shoes,” he admired. “You like my shoes?” I asked, bewildered. “That’s it? My shoes?” I tell you, that’s the first man who’s ever liked me for my shoes. And they weren’t.