Page 1 of Ghost Town I Do

GHOST TOWN I DO

The rain came down in sheets, making the world on the other side of the glass gray and distant. Colt stood at the front window of Hart’s Vinyl Depot, intensely focused as if maybe a hard stare would change the weather. It did not.

A beach wedding in mid-March had seemed like such a good idea a few months back. Temps were on a warming trend, and if a brief rain shower popped up they could easily work around that, right? All they had to do was wait a while and the rain would pass. Just a few people would be affected, since the wedding party was small and there weren’t going to be many guests.

At least, that had been the plan.

He heard Anna approach, even though her step was soft. She joined him to stand at his side, staring much as he did. Until this moment she’d been such an optimistic bride. Would she be a bride at all? Well, yes, but maybe not today.

He put his arm around her shoulder; her blond ponytail brushed his arm as she turned her head to look up at him. “We should’ve eloped,” she said wistfully.

Colt didn’t respond. He’d said all along that he didn’t care, that he’d be glad to elope any day. Any time. But Anna wanted a wedding. The white dress, the flowers, the ceremony that would mark their commitment to one another. Even though she’d been married before, this was new. It was fresh. It was a celebration of them, of the future, not the past.

Her mother wanted a real wedding even more than Anna did. Nina Miller was the reason the original small guest list had grown the way it had. Colt would’ve been happy on the beach with a preacher, a best man, a bridesmaid, and maybe three other people. He wanted to be married but the wedding…

Their simple wedding plan had gotten complicated, and now the storm was ruining even that.

“Maybe it’ll clear up before this afternoon.” Anna tried to force a hint of cheer into her voice.

“Nope,” Colt said. They had hours before the scheduled wedding start time, but he’d checked the weather radar several times and it didn’t look as if they had even a slim chance of a clear afternoon.

The location of the ceremony had been Colt’s idea, so this was entirely his fault. When he was on the beach the ghosts that were a constant part of his life left him alone. Here in this old depot that had been turned into his record store and his home, in the loft upstairs, spirits were everywhere. He saw them; they knew it. He’d managed to keep his ability a secret for years, but these days so many people knew that secret he might as well tell everyone. Maybe a new sign. Records, Coffee, and Ghosts. He wasn’t ready to go there.

Anna huffed, sighed, and screwed up her nose.

“Are you okay?” Colt asked.

She looked up at him and forced a smile. “Sure.”

“You say that but you’re not, not really. I see the truth on your beautiful face. If it’s a rainy wedding that’s bothering you we can elope. Here, now, go get it done and tell everyone else after the fact. If it’s me, if you’re not sure…”

She took his face in her hands. “You know it’s not you. I love you, so much.”

“I love you.”

Anna glanced out the window again, then turned back to him. “I do have some news. I was going to wait but I can’t.”

“Good news or bad?”

“Good. The best, although…” She hesitated and grimaced a little. “The good news is, I’m pregnant.”

He grinned. They’d talked about the possibility of having a kid or two, but when it hadn’t happened right away they’d accepted that it might not. “What’s the although part.”

His bride-to-be pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “The doctor said this is a geriatric pregnancy, because of my advanced age. Geriatric! Thirty-six isn’t all that old. Is it? Women do have healthy babies well into their forties.”

“That they do. Thirty-six isn’t old at all.”

She looked out the window again. There it was. Another sigh. “I guess we could postpone the wedding for a week or two.”

The news of a baby on the way decided it for Colt. “No. Absolutely not. We’re getting married today.” He kissed her. “I’m going to get a shower and think. We’ll come up with something.”

Before this day was over, he was going to be married. Rain or no rain.

* * *

Anna watched Colt walk up the stairs to their loft apartment. Normally she’d follow and shower with him, but she was so distracted, so discombobulated! Between the excitement of her wedding day, the crappy weather, and the baby growing inside her… it was too much. Her mind jumped from trying to figure out what to do about the wedding, to cursing the rain, to wondering if they were going to have a daughter or a son.

She turned her back on the window and sat on the old depot bench to think. Focus! The planned beach wedding was out. Wasn’t going to happen. Colt didn’t want to delay the wedding and to be honest neither did she, but it was too late to start the planning all over again. Maybe they could have a few people in her old house, which had recently been declared livable again. The repairs had taken much longer than she’d thought they would, but it was now done. Her mom and the new boyfriend were staying there at the moment. She hoped Harlan was staying in Jack’s old room, but that was probably not the case. Ewww.