Read Meet Me in Manhattan (True Vows) for Free Online

brothers and sister had grown up learning how to deal with dry rot, how
to unclog pipes, how to change a fuse and rewire a light switch
without electrocuting themselves. When his parents asked for
assistance from their children, they received it. Sometimes eagerly,
sometimes begrudgingly, but Ted's parents worked damned hard
and they deserved whatever assistance they asked for.

    He could have thought of a dozen things he'd rather be doing
that day than smearing white paste around the tiles edging the
bathtub. Sleeping until noon would have made his short list.
Meeting his friends and driving somewhere. Taking in a movie,
maybe, or heading down to the shore, even though it was off season. Especially because it was off season and the beach would be
empty, the boardwalk shuttered and peaceful. Or just going to
someone's house, listening to tunes, playing Ghouls 'N Ghosts.
Or driving west into Pennsylvania and catching a wrestling meet
at Lehigh University. That school was a wrestling powerhouse;
Ted and his teammates could probably learn a hell of a lot just by
watching the Lehigh boys do their thing on the mat.
    But when his dad said he needed help, Ted helped. With his
older brothers one foot into adulthood and independence, he
helped even more. His parents were getting older, and the house
was already too old.
    "The problem with the grouting," he told Erika before drinking a little more beer, "is that the ghosts eat it."
    "What ghosts?"
    "The ghosts that live in my house."
    "Oh. Right." She rolled her eyes and laughed.
    "You think I'm kidding? The place is haunted."
    "I'm sure it is." She wiggled her fingers in the air, as if conjur ing a spirit from the beyond, and attempted a spooky moan,
although it didn't sound the least bit scary. She was probably the
kind of girl who used to dress as a fairy princess or a ballerina on
Halloween, not realizing that the whole idea of the holiday was to
frighten people. Fairy princesses and ballerinas were about as
frightening as Ba Ba and Bunky.

    "My house sits on what used to be a cemetery," he explained.
"Pleasant Hill Road. You know the Pleasant Hill Cemetery?"
    She nodded, still obviously amused and skeptical.
    "The original location of the cemetery is where my house sits.
The bodies were moved down the street to where the cemetery is
now, and my house was built on the land where their graves used
to be."
    She took a minute to digest this. "So the bodies were moved
down the street, but their souls remained behind?"
    "I don't know if they remained behind or they just wander
back down the street to visit their old home."
    "Their old haunt, you mean?" Her eyes glinted with suppressed laughter.
    Bad pun, but he appreciated it anyway. "Exactly. You should
come to my house sometime, Erika. Just sit on the stairs and turn
off the lights. You'll hear them moving around. You'll feel them."
    "Just what I want to do," she said. "Sit on a stairway in the dark
and listen for ghosts."
    "You don't have to listen for them. You'll hear them."
    "What do they sound like?"
    He leaned toward her, hoping he looked somber and just a
little bit spooky. "They sneak up behind you and whisper. You feel
their icy breath on the back of your neck. They say, `Eh-eh-eh-ehrik-ah-ah-ah."' He murmured her name long and low and realized he probably sounded more like a dog on the prowl than a ghost. When Spot, his golden retriever, the one animal allowed to
live in the house rather than the barn, sensed a dog in heat within
a three-mile radius, he made a deep, groaning sound like Ted's
throaty wail.

    "These ghosts would know my name?"
    "Sure. They're from the beyond. They know everything." He
reached behind her and ran his fingers lightly over the nape of
her neck. "It feels like this," he whispered. "You feel their nearness
right here."
    She held her breath for a moment, then laughed and leaned
away from him. "If this is supposed to be scary, it's not working."
    "Of course it's