Page 9 of Paper Ghosts

She turned to him. “I don’t mean prom. She’s offered you money. I’m sure of it.”

He paused. “She offered. I didn’t take it.”

Of course he didn’t. Why did he have to be so good? “You have a business degree. Why settle here? With me? Why not find someone you love and live the life you want to live?”

“This is the life I want to live, Wills,” he said. “My whole being quiets down the moment I drive into town. I think it’s because the fewer people I have around me, the fewer people I’ll let down.”

“A place you can breathe,” she said, repeating what he’d said to her about finding the dead zones in town.

“Yes. But I won’t let you down, Wills. I can promise you that. And I won’t ever ask for more than you want to give.”

She turned her head back to look out her window. “What if I don’t want to marry you?” she asked, so quietly she wondered if he could hear. Maybe she didn’t want him to hear.

“Then I’ll accept that. You don’t believe it, because your grandmother has never let you, but it’s always been your choice.”

She didn’t correct him. He wouldn’t understand. Selecting a path may look like free will, but she knew all too well that decisions weren’t the same thing as choices.

The flash of Jani’s Polaroid coincided with the DJ starting “Turn the Beat Around” as they entered the gym.

“Come get a drink,” Jani said, pulling Wills away to the punch table while fanning the photo to get it to develop. She was a column of simple yellow satin, the fabric sewn so well there was no puckering at the seams, as if the dress had been poured on her.

Wills looked to Terrence.

“Go ahead,” Terrence said as he got their table assignment. “I’ll be fine.”

“Here,” Jani said, handing him the photo. “Put it on our table with the rest. I’m leaving them there for people to take whatever they want.”

Terrence took it and walked to their table, where Dorothy was already sitting with her fiancé, Dean. They had the ease of two people who had known each other all their lives. They didn’t appear to be in love. They rarely touched. But they seemed content in a way that came from each thinking one was getting more out of the deal than the other. When Dean took over his grandparents’ farm in Georgia, he was going to need a wife. Dorothy was happy to oblige, because a farm life was all she’d ever wanted. She had three older brothers, so her family farm here was never going to be hers.

Jani had come to prom with them. She’d dropped hints for months for Buck Pringle to take her, but he’d asked Velma Doughty instead, which Wills could tell devastated her. Jani had loved him from afar for years. In lieu of not going at all, Jani had accepted Dorothy’s offer, even though Wills had asked first if she wanted to go with her and Terrence. She was trying a little too hard to seem jovial about being solo, proclaiming herself a photographer of candid photos as if that alone gave her a reason for coming.

“Are you okay?” Wills asked gently.

“I don’t need your sympathy, Wills.”

“I miss you.” Gram wouldn’t let her go over to Jani’s house anymore, not after her brother died, but Jani had made excuses every time Wills asked her over to the Wester House.

“What are you talking about?” Jani said. “I’m right here. Or can you only see things that aren’t there, like your grandmother?”

“I’m not like her. You know that.”

Wills had just taken a cup from the refreshment table when there was a stir in the air, making the balloons and crepe paper decorations flutter. She didn’t even have to turn around to know what caused it. Jack had been here for weeks now, but his presence still caused a ripple of excitement.

“What is he doing here?” she asked in a low voice. She wasn’t sure why she was panicking. Maybe it was the ridiculous costume she was in. Or maybe it was Terrence. Whatever the reason, she didn’t want Jack to see her here, not like this.

“Principal Penwell asked him to play a song tonight, to add a little flair,” Jani said. “Why do you sound so offended?”

“I’m not offended,” Wills said. “This just doesn’t seem like his thing.”

“Penwell is volunteering him for a lot of things, showing off the shiny new toy he stole from Andy Smooth. He’s playing for the VFW next week.” Jani loved when she knew things Wills didn’t. Wills had never actually felt a need to know everything, not like Gram. But, as often happened, she and her grandmother were lumped into the same entity. So getting something over on Wills wasn’t totally about Wills. It was about sticking it to the Witch of Wester House, too.

“He’s not even getting paid for it?”

“Free room and board apparently means he does Principal Penwell’s bidding. Someone like him isn’t going to put up with it for much longer. He’ll be gone like a puff of smoke soon. Poor Wills.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Wills asked.

“No chance of guitar lessons.” Jani made an exaggerated frown face.