Tighter by Adele Griffin

worried sick.”
    “Hey, yourself, baby,” he answered. “Glad you care.”
    I scooped a breath. “Where’ve you been?”
    His smile was deliberately mysterious. “Hanging out. With my peeps.”
    My heart raced. He wanted me to go first. To be first to say the name. “But I know who you were out with, Milo. You were out with Peter,” I whispered.
    He stepped back. “Ha. One week at Skylark, and you might have officially lost your mind.”
    “You want to tell me, but you want to keep it private, too. I get it, Milo. That other night, when you talked about being watched?” I took the last step down. “Well, now I know what you meant. Because I saw him earlier, on the lawn. And I’ve seen him twice with Jessie near the lighthouse. But this isn’t any news to you, because you’ve seen him, too, haven’t you?”
    Milo stared at me as if he was trying to decide something. “I need a hot shower,” he said. “Maybe you haven’t noticed? But it’s raining.” Then he charged past me up the stairs, swiping me on purpose with his wet clothes.
    I followed him, up the stairs and down the hall, my words aimed at his back. “Just hear me out, okay? Because I know what it feels like. I do.”
    Milo stopped. Pivoted. “What what feels like?”
    “The … pull.” Tall as I was, I’d never been so aware of the couple of inches that Milo had on me.
    “The pull,” he repeated. “The pull of what ?”
    And then, in a spinning second, it was as if I didn’t know him at all. As if Milo’s face lost focus and his features rearranged themselves to look entirely different. What was happening? Was it the side effect of a pill? When had I taken my last pill? I couldn’t remember. Blinking, I stepped to the side, my fingertips touching the wall to hold myself steady. “The pull from the other side.”
    This wasn’t coming out right. Even in my own ears, I sounded bewildered. I wobbled on, scrabbling for my truths. “But it’s a bad idea. They come to you when they sense your need. And all they want is to pull you in tighter.” Saying it, I realized that this part, at least, was true. When I needed them most, I became Uncle Jim’s and Hank’s most electric connection to the world they’d left.
    Milo shook his head hard like a dog, and in his teasing insolence, he became Milo again as the water droplets smacked across my face. I wiped them away with the back of my hand. “Okay, here’s the deal, Jamie. Maybe you didn’t mean it to be so random, but the last thing I need is some chick from New Jersey suddenly instructing me not to hang out with a guy who died last year. ”
    “No, Milo. You started this.” My blood burned beneath my skin. “ You warned me. Now I’m telling you, Peter can’t be here unless you acknowledge that he is. Don’t do it. The more you give in, the harder he’ll hold on to you; it will be impossible—”
    “And what I’m telling you ,” interrupted Milo, “is why don’t you figure out how to keep your head on straight and your eyes on my sister? At least till your time here is finished. Meantime, I’ll forget that we had this conversation. That work for ya?”
    I swallowed. Milo’s words were the hard push that shoved me outside myself.
    We stared at each other. I’d been quick with my convictions, so positive that the kids on the cliff were Jessie and Peter, so certain that Milo possessed something extra special, maybe almost prophetic. I’d been sure that he’d wanted, maybe even needed, to reach out to me that first night on the porch, when he’d warned me about being watched.
    I’d trusted my instinct, but I must have made a mistake. What did I have to go on, anyway? Isa hadn’t ever acknowledged the kids on the cliffs. Not either day. That mark on the carpet might have been there already … and these stupid pills … I rubbed my dry eyes. I hadn’t thought this out.
    Milo was waiting for my response. “Okay?”
    Retreat on this one, Jamie.
    “Fine. Just