Page 3 of Ghost Town I Do

He walked down the stairs from the loft apartment to the main floor. After going upstairs he’d called his best man, Seawolf Beach Police Chief Joseph Maxwell, Mac to his friends, who’d suggested they have the wedding at The Magnolia. Colt was pretty sure Anna didn’t want to get married under a neon beer sign, and the ghosts in that place…

There were too many sad spirits in the bar, too much negativity no one but Colt felt. He’d rejected that suggestion, at least for now. If nothing else panned out, maybe.

After talking to Mac he’d taken a long shower, hoping the spray of hot water would help his brain function. It had not. At one point Anna had briefly popped in. She’d looked as if she had something to say, but she’d taken one look at him and backed out of the room with an uncertain, “Later.”

Maybe this was what she’d come up to tell him about.

There was unexpected activity in the record store. Olive stood in the middle of the space directing the employees who should be enjoying a day off. High schoolers Benny and Christopher carefully boxed up records. Helen, approaching elderly but still full of energy, folded t-shirts and packed them in cardboard boxes. If he didn’t own the property himself, he’d think he was being evicted.

The ghosts were bemused by the activity. The spirit of a young man who was always looking around as if he’d lost something watched Helen intensely. A new spirit, that of a young woman who’d been coming and going for the past month, hovered over an unsuspecting Olive. The ghosts who usually kept their distance had come out of the woodwork, literally, to get a closer look.

Gerald, dour as always, stood alone, a distance from the others, and remained silent.

Some days Colt missed Maude. She’d been an annoying, interfering, chatty old lady ghost, but there had been no darkness in her. She’d livened up the place, during her time here. It was evident Gerald missed her, too, even if he didn’t say a word.

Anna caught Colt’s eye and scurried forward to meet him at the foot of the stairs.

“I was going to ask you about all this, but Olive just… she just got busy. She made phone calls, she issued orders, and in less than half an hour this was happening.”

Olive seemed to have gotten bossier since she’d hooked up with Tuck…

“We’re getting married here,” he said.

“Is that okay?”

Anna waited for an answer. Was it okay? He’d really wanted to get married in a place where there were no ghosts looking over his shoulder, where he was like everyone else, where he didn’t have to hide anything. The beach would be perfect, but the weather made that impossible. At least here he knew the spirits. Gerald and the others would simply be additional guests. It wasn’t like anyone but him would see them.

“I don’t care if we get married in the middle of the street in the middle of a downpour. All I care about is that at the end of the day you’re my wife.”

Her smile told him that was what she wanted, too.

Olive marched toward them, a determined expression on her face. “We’ve had to change the time of the ceremony from two to four. There’s no way I can get everything done before then. The volunteer fire department and the First Baptist Church prayer tree is getting the word out.” She looked at Colt. This sweet, normal woman he knew pretty well had turned into a determined general. “Tuck will be here shortly to pick you up. You’re going to our house. You’re to be back here at three-thirty, not a minute before.”

Colt grumbled. His wedding and his business had been taken over. “I’m just supposed to sit at your house with Tuck and wait?”

Olive gave him a sharp nod of her head. “Yes. If you’re bored you two can work on the repairs at the blue house. Don’t you have a new tenant moving in at the end of the month?”

“I do.”

“There’s plenty to do, but no painting! I won’t have Anna’s groom stand here with paint under his fingernails. A bit of handyman work will keep you occupied until it’s time to head back here. Just… no painting.”

The little woman was demanding, definitely bossy. He knew better than to accuse her of either. She and Tuck would be getting married soon, he assumed. Would she plan her own wedding with the same intensity?

Probably.

“My suit is upstairs.”

“Take it with you,” Olive raised one hand, a hand with a bossy finger extended. “No, put it in the back room. You can change there without disturbing Anna while she gets ready, and we won’t have to worry about keeping it out of the rain.”

Olive turned to the bride. “Is your wedding dress at your mom’s?”

“No. It’s upstairs.”

“That works,” Olive said. “Anna, Mac is going to pick you up in a few minutes and take you to your mom’s house. I’ve met your mom. Keep her there and occupied, otherwise she’ll decide to help and this will never get done. You’re to be back here between three and three-fifteen.”

Olive had a plan for everything. She presented him and Anna each with an umbrella. Where the hell had they come from? Didn’t matter. Their rides — their babysitters — were on the way; the rain would not be an impediment.

Several ghosts had been drawn to Olive’s high energy. Even Gerald. He peered over her shoulder and smiled, a wide smile no one but Colt could see.