"In hiding are we?"
The voice made Emma jump. She spun around and her heart stopped. "Stuart!"
"Bet you thought you would never see me again."
Emma shook her head. "No! What are you doing here?"
Stuart walked over and began studying the painting Emma had been working on before he had snuck up on her. "I missed you."
"And you can just come back like that because you miss someone?"
He smiled at her. "I don’t have much to do up there. No one to really talk to. I miss talking to you."
"I miss talking with you, too."
Stuart raised and eye brow and grinned. "Ah, but you still talk to me."
Emma blushed. "You hear me?"
"I’m always with you. I’m like a sad puppy. It’s really rather pathetic."
She laughed. "At least you are listening."
"Who are you hiding from, Emmie?"
Emma sighed. "I’m not hiding."
"It looks like you’re hiding."
"I just needed to get away. It’s hard to do that when people demand your attention every bloody second of every bloody day. This was the only way I could get away."
Stuart sat down on the couch. Emma put down her paintbrush and sat down next to him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"This is not what I thought being a painter would be like," Emma sighed.
"It’s not like this for most. You’re special, Em."
"Special? I don’t feel very special. I feel pressured to be the best all the time."
"You and the Beatles are so much the same. You both were the first at what you do, therefore expectations for you are higher than those that follow. But the reason you are out here really has nothing to do with the stresses of being a brilliant painter."
"I know."
"The reason you are up here seems to revolve around a certain ex..."
"I don’t want to talk about him. Maybe we should talk about how crazy I’ve suddenly become, talking to dead people."
Stuart smiled. "You’ve always been crazy."
Emma playfully punched him. "I don’t think any of us were ever normal, which explains why we became friends."
"The only explanation."
She smiled. "Ah, no one’s normal though, right?"
He laughed. "Right."
They sat in silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s company. At one point, Emma fell asleep and when she woke up, Stuart wasn’t sitting with her on the couch. Panicked, she sat up, her heart pounding. He wouldn’t have left without saying goodbye, would he? She thought to herself. Then she saw him, in her studio, touching the paint brushes and paint. She got up from the couch.
"Why don’t you paint something?" she asked. Her voice startled him and he dropped the paintbrush he was holding.
Emma had to laugh. "I’m scaring a ghost."
Stuart smiled. He turned his attention back to the brush he had dropped. "It’s been a long time since I held one of these in my hand."
"It doesn’t have to be the last, Stuart." Emma walked over so that she was standing right beside him and picked up the fallen paintbrush, placing it back in Stuart’s hand.
Stuart shook his head, putting down the brush. "I don’t think I can do this, Em," he whispers. Emma can’t help but give him a hug.
"It’s okay."
When she pulled away, her face was inches from his. Their eyes locked and before Emma knew what was happening they were kissing. Innocent kisses turned into passionate ones and soon Emma was leading Stuart to her bedroom.
"Can I make love to a ghost?" Emma breathlessly asked as she unbuttoned his shirt.
"I sure hope so!" Stuart replied.

And they did.

"Promise me you won't leave without saying goodbye," Emma whispered to Stuart as she started drifting off to sleep.
He tightened he grip around her waist. "I promise."
When Emma awoke, sunlight was streaming in through the window. She rolled over and saw that Stuart wasn’t in bed with her. Then she heard the sound. The sound a brush makes when it hits the canvas. Quickly, she scrambled out of bed and threw on her housecoat. When she got into the living room, her heart swelled up and her eyes filled with tears. Stuart was painting.
She walked up and stood behind him just watching. "It’s beautiful," Emma breathed.
"You have no idea how much I have missed this, Emmie," he whispered.
Emma reached over and put her arms around his waist. "I’m glad you’re doing this." Then to take some weight off the heavy feeling in the room, Emma said, "Hey, aren’t you supposed to disappear when the light comes?"
Stuart smiled. "That’s vampires, Emmie."
"Oh, right." She walked over to the window. "Thanks for last night, Stuart. I needed that."
"I know. Now, don’t you think it is time for us to discuss a certain ex of yours?"
Emma nodded her head. She knew it was coming.
"So what are you going to do?" Stuart asked.
Emma turned away from the window, shrugging her shoulders. "What can I do? He’s engaged now."
"You still have to tell him how you feel."
"I don’t know if I can. I mean, I’ve pretty much fucked up everything with him. A relationship, a friendship. Telling him that I loved him," she laughed. "That would totally seal the deal!"
Stuart shook his head in disagreement. "He needs to hear it."
"Do you know something?" Emma asked.
Stuart started mixing up some paint. "I’m not going to get involved in it, Em. But from observation, I’d say that Paul wants you to say something to him."
Emma sighed. "I love him, Stuart. I never stopped loving him. But I was just such a selfish person. I didn’t want to be hurt. I hurt too much after we broke up. I didn’t want to go through that again. So every time he tried to get close, I would push him away. When all I wanted to do was pull him into my arms."
"Emmie, you can’t beat yourself up over this. You need to talk to Paul. If you can't face him, the write him a letter. It breaks my heart to see you like this. You’re so sad."
Emma rubbed her hands over her face. "Why do you have to be right all the time?"
Stuart laughed. "Because I am so much smarter than you are."
"Yeah, whatever."
Stuart turned his attention back to his painting for a moment, made a few final brush strokes. Then he put his paintbrush down and stepped away from his work. "Finished!"
Emma came over and stood beside him. "Oh, Stuart! This is brilliant!"
Stuart put his arm around Emma’s shoulders. "Thanks for letting me do this, Emmie."
She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Thanks for being here when I needed you."
"Everything is going to turn out, Em. You just have to believe that it will."

And for the first time, she did believe that soon everything would fit into it’s right place.