The Ghosts of Your Past Haunt Me

Katie’s POV

My heart still slammed against my chest. I’m glad Hailey saw it when she did though cause I couldn’t handle being scratched again or worse. I pulled my phone out to see that Zak had texted me.

‘He’ll probably tear my head off when I see him again :\. Okay I have to go, I love you baby’

I rolled my eyes, but smiled. Just those four words calmed my heart almost instantly.

‘He will not :P . Love you too, Mr. Bagans. Be safe.

I hit send and grabbed my purse off Hailey’s bed and walked out of her room. I found her waiting downstairs by the door.

“Gracie in the backyard?” I asked looking around.

She nodded, “Yeah I didn’t want her to mess up the house.”

I nodded back her, “Understandable.”

She opened the door and we walked out. Hailey locked it behind her and we headed towards her SUV. We were meeting my dad at Spaco; a nice little restaurant on the strip. Soon we arrived and Hialey parked near the entrance and killed the engine. It was still early so traffic was fairly light. We stepped out and headed for the entrance.

“There’s my girl!” my dad exclaims.

I dash towards him and wrap my arms around him. He hugs me back just as tight. My dad is a about four inches taller than my 5’8 frame with salt and pepper hair, a well groomed mustache, and average size body. He was very handsome, probably even had the ladies swooning back in the day, I giggle and quickly push that thought from my mind. We pull apart and he looks at Hailey.

“Hey Hales,” my smiles at Hailey and gives her a gentle hug.

“Hey Mr. Wilson,” she says as she hugs him back.

They pull apart and my dad opens the door for us. We walked inside and waited for him to catch up. The hostess greeted us and grabbed three menus before asking us to follow her.

“Your waiter will be with you shortly,” she said, handing us our menus.

We all nodded at her and started looking over our menus.

“So how’ve you been dad?” I asked.

He smiled, “I’ve been good sweetheart. How about you?”

‘Oh the usual. Got scratched by a ghost, you know,’ I thought to myself.

“I’ve been wonderful, dad. We just got back from Pennsylvania. It was a cute little town. Then Zak proposed to me at the airport this morning,” I grinned at him.

He rolled his eyes, “An airport? How is that romantic?”

I swatted his hand, “Dad! Stop being so rude, it was very romantic.”

Hailey nodded her agreement, “It really was Mr. Wilson.”

“If you girls say so,” he said going back to his menu.

I sighed and continued looking over mine as well. Soon the waiter came and took our drink order as well as our food order. He scurried off to go place our orders and grab our drinks.

“So when are you getting married?” my dad asked breaking the silence.

I shrugged, “I don’t know. I haven’t got to talk anything over with Zak yet cause he left this morning and I can’t really talk to him about it while he’s filming. So hopefully he’ll have a break after he gets back from Italy.”

My dad nodded, “I see. Whatever makes you happy makes me happy.”

I smiled and grabbed my dad’s hand, “Thanks dad. That means a lot.”

He smiled and squeezed my hand back. The waiter arrived with our drinks and said our food would be out shortly. The conversation got lighter and we were all laughing and having a good time.

*****************

“Love you dad. Be careful,” I said as I hugged him goodbye.

“You too, baby girl,” he said hugging me back.

Hailey said her goodbyes and hugged him as well. As we started to walk off my phone started ringing. I started digging through my purse to find it and pulled it out when I did.

“Hello?”

“Hey baby,” Zak’s voice sound cheerful.

I smiled, “Hey baby!”

Hailey’s phone started ringing as well and she walked ahead of me to answer it. I heard noise in the background. Zak must be at an airport.

“We just got to the airport for our layover. I’ve got about an hour to kill,” Zak explained.

My smile faded as I remembered Hailey seeing the shadowy figure again at her place. I sighed.

“So what are you going to do for an hour?” I asked pushing the thoughts of the dark figure out of my mind.

There was no way I was telling him about it now; he’d worry himself to death.

He chuckled, “Go out, get drunk, and hook up with some Italian women. “

I gasped, “Zachary Alexander! You wouldn’t dare!”

He laughed; it was such a welcomed sound, “I’m joking babe. I don’t need the women, I have you, duh. However, we are going for a drink at the bar here in the airport.”
I giggled, “You better be. I hope you enjoy yourself and don’t let them get you too drunk cause you might just get swept away by an Italian woman and I’d have to fly over there and kick some ass.”

I could almost hear his smile, “I’d like to see that. Okay baby, I love you. I’m going to go get a drink with the guys and I’ll text you while I’m there. I just wanted to make my first call of the day.”

I grinned, “I bed you would and I love you too. Enjoy your drink. I’m glad you called, I miss you already.”

“I miss you too, love. I’ll call you again when we get to the hotel and I’ll text you in a bit. Bye babe,” he replied.

“Bye,” I said before hanging up.

I sighed and looked at my phone. My background was a picture of me and Zak a few months ago at a hotel we were staying at. We were laying side by side on the bed and he had taken a piece of my hair and used it as a mustache. I copied his look and we took a picture of it. I smiled. It was going to be a long four days.