Page 40 of Ghost Town Boogie

He didn’t seem to be at all bothered by the icy reception. There were other things on his mind. As he made breakfast Colt occasionally glanced around the kitchen and into the living room. He even stepped away a couple of times to look down the hall. After a while his easy expression changed, tightened. Her mother didn’t notice, but Anna did.

As they sat at the table to eat, Nina looked at her daughter, ignoring the cook. “Emily will be here around three this afternoon. I suppose I’ll pack up and get out of your hair.” Her tone was snippy. She was definitely unhappy with this turn of events.

“Maybe she’d like to stay the night,” Colt suggested. “After being on the road all day she’d probably enjoy a good meal at one of the restaurants nearby, a chance to catch her breath before getting back on the road.”

“Emily might have to get back to work,” Nina said. “I really don’t know that she’s interested in prolonging her trip.” She huffed. “If she didn’t want to make the trip down to see Sally, Anna could’ve taken me. I suppose I could’ve driven myself…”

Anna snorted. “Mom! Not only was your car, a vehicle you’ve probably driven three times in the past five years, damaged in the fire, you’re the worst driver I know. You’d be a menace on the interstate.”

Nina’s response was a roll of her eyes, but she didn’t deny it.

Anna didn’t know why Colt had invited Emily to stay overnight, but there must be a reason. He didn’t do anything without a reason. “I’d love to visit with her. We can always ask if she’d like to stay over,” she suggested.

“I suppose,” Nina conceded, then she dug into her eggs, bacon, and grits.

With her mom’s head down and attention on her food, Anna caught Colt’s eye. Jack? she mouthed.

There was that concerned look again. Colt shook his head slightly.

Nina’s head snapped up and she glared at her daughter. “Why on earth are you wearing a Metallica t-shirt?” That question was followed by a disgusted harrumph. “That’s not your style at all. Maybe we should head over to Dawn’s Radiance when it opens.”

Heaven help us…

Nina glared at Colt. “I imagine you need to get back to your little record store before it’s time to open.” The we won’t miss you was unspoken, but clear.

“I called Helen before we headed this way and asked her to fill in today,” he said, without giving any of the attitude he received.

“How nice for you, Coltrane,” Nina said. “To have so many people at your beck and call.”

He didn’t respond. Anything he had to say would’ve been a waste of breath and he likely knew that.

“I’m sure there will be nothing at Dawn’s Radiance to interest you, so you can head on back to your little store and relieve Helen at any time.” Nina Miller was in a snit, and she didn’t care who knew it.

“I…” Colt began, but Anna interrupted him.

“There’s nothing at the boutique I want or need. I’m really much more a Walmart person.”

“Yes, your taste is often lacking, in many areas.”

Colt took his plate to the sink, deposited it there with a clatter, and walked past them and out the front door. She might’ve worried that he’d had enough of her mom and was headed back to the depot, as Nina had suggested. But through the front window she saw him take a seat in one of the rocking chairs.

Anna glared at a smug Nina. “Mother…”

Jack had either moved on or he was hiding. Not that there was anyone to hide from but Colt. Could the ghosts hide from him, or was Jack simply elsewhere? Did the ghost watch or had realizing he’d done something very bad sent him… where? To another place, good or bad. Onward, backward, into the ether in some way Colt didn’t understand.

He hadn’t tried to understand, hadn’t asked the ghosts around him questions that might explain the workings of the universe. Honestly, he hadn’t thought he’d need to know.

Colt had retired to the front porch, leaving Anna and her mother to their conversations about fashion, traveling, and him. He was certainly a topic of interest. Nina had probably continued her tirade after he was out of the house. He’d hoped if he was alone Jack would appear, but it had been at least half an hour and that hadn’t happened. Not a sight, not a shimmer. All was quiet.

It was possible Jack’s spirit had moved on, or was haunting the burned site of his childhood home. Then again, maybe he’d found a dark place to sit and ruminate on recently recovered memories of his own mistakes.

Colt looked back on his own faded memories, as he’d done often in recent days. The last time he’d seen Jack, years after the accident but well before his disappearance, his old friend had presented him with a “great opportunity” to invest in a new restaurant. A New Orleans chef, he’d said, wanted to open a place in Biloxi. It was guaranteed to succeed. He’d made it sound promising, but Colt wasn’t interested and let his friend know that. Jack hadn’t pressed. If anything, he’d seemed relieved. Anna’s brother hadn’t been a completely horrible person. He’d had more than his share of flaws, but could they have been friends if there wasn’t some redeeming value in the boy, in the man he’d become? Twenty years dulled the memories.

Was that the last time he’d seen Jack? Had his old friend decided if he couldn’t get money out of Colt, he had no need for him? What a sad way to live.

As far as he knew, that restaurant had never materialized. The plans could’ve fallen through for a million reasons, but also… maybe it was a scam, one of Jack’s get rich quick schemes that didn’t make anyone rich but himself.

Again he asked himself, had Jack conned the wrong person?