Page 10 of Ghost Town Boogie

He shouldn’t see Anna as anything other than a reminder of the past back in town for a brief time before leaving for good, but he was beginning to feel close to her. Bad idea. The sooner she was gone the better, for so many reasons.

“What about your job in Nashville? Won’t they miss you?”

“I have a good bit of vacation saved up, and the record company I work for has more than one bean counter. If this goes on too long I might ask if I can do some remote work. They like everyone to be in the office, but I can do most of my work from anywhere.”

“You know where the antiques store is, right? It’s next to…”

“Would you mind going with me?” She interrupted. “I can wait until you’re free. You obviously know this Nicole, and… I’ll be honest. I can use all the help I can get. If I take Mom with me she’ll probably end up just buying more crap.” She laughed, but it was a tired laugh.

Maybe what he’d seen in her was simple exhaustion. He knew the feeling…

“Why couldn’t you sleep last night?” he asked, knowing as the words came out of his mouth it was a mistake to ask. He didn’t want to know. Didn’t need to know. He definitely shouldn’t care.

Anna looked him in the eye. “You’ll think I’m crazy.”

“Probably not.”

Maude was near the checkout counter, dancing again. She moved her hips with vigor. Occasionally she glanced his way and waggled her eyebrows. Crazy? Hold my beer…

The record that had been playing ended. Maude stopped dancing. She sighed, twirled around twice, then shouted out, asking Colt to look for her pearl earrings while he was in the antique store. He ignored her.

The expression on Anna’s face was one of uncertainty. Dread, even. She took another sip of coffee before looking him in the eye again.

“Do you believe in ghosts?”

CHAPTER 4

Judging by the look on Colt’s face, he did think she was crazy. Not what she’d been going for…

“Sorry, sorry, I’m so exhausted, my mind has been playing tricks on me. I can find the antiques store without help. I’ll swing by there on my way home. Is it still down from the good bakery?”

There were three bakeries in the small town. Each business had different hours and a varying quality of baked goods. Each sold a specialty item or two, which were well advertised in window displays. Tourists provided business for all of them, but locals knew what was what.

“It is. New owner, but the cinnamon rolls are just as good. Same old recipe, as far as I can tell.”

“That’s what I need.” There was comfort in a good cinnamon roll, making it a small price to pay for the two pounds that would appear around her middle overnight. “Listen, about that question I asked…”

“What if I said yes?” Colt said quickly, as if he took too much time to answer he’d change his mind halfway through the sentence.

“To a cinnamon roll or the ghost thing?”

He did have a devastating smile, even after all this time. In spite of the years, the pain, the loss…

“Maybe both. I’m curious about the question you took back so quickly. Something must’ve happened.”

Anna hesitated. She was already doubting what she’d experienced last night. It was easy enough to write off what she’d seen, or thought she’d seen, as a byproduct of exhaustion. People did see things that weren’t there, right? She read about it all the time. Hallucinations brought on by drugs or stress or… Had she lost her mind? Might as well keep it simple. “I saw a couple of things move last night. At least, I think I did. Maybe my dad came back to, I don’t know, keep Mom from moving out of the house? Say hello? Scare the bejesus out of me for no good reason?”

In spite of what she’d said Colt looked calm, steady, not at all alarmed.

“I believe there’s more going on in the universe than we know or can explain,” he said. “Sometimes it’s better to accept what seems impossible than to drive yourself crazy trying to make sense of it all.”

“Easier said than done,” she mumbled. Before he could continue the conversation she’d foolishly started, she asked, “Have you had breakfast? If you have, how about a cinnamon roll for lunch?” As a change of subject it was quick and not at all smooth. She glanced around the neatly arranged, empty store. “I mean, you’re not busy. Can you tape a back in an hour sign on the door and walk down the road with me? It won’t take long to speak with the woman at the antiques store, and it’s not like we’ll have to wait for the baker to make cinnamon rolls. I doubt it would even take an hour…”

“Sure,” Colt said, mid-ramble. “I need to be here this afternoon. Business picks up after school lets out, and I’m expecting a delivery that should be here sometime after two.” He grabbed a plastic sign with a little clock on it, set the time with one finger, and replaced the OPEN sign on the door. As he locked the door behind them, she noticed he’d given them a little more than an hour.

He didn’t seem to think she was crazy, but Anna wished she hadn’t asked about ghosts. His answer had been comforting, even though it was basically a way of saying who knows?, or shit happens.

As they walked down the street on a pleasant September morning, she took a moment to enjoy the beauty of her home town. The beauty and the quiet. It was a nice change of pace from the chaos in her mother’s house. The town wouldn’t be quiet this weekend, and it was never peaceful during the summertime, but even on the busiest day it wasn’t anything like Nashville. Still, this once sleepy town had become a vacation spot, like the rest of the Mississippi coast.