Page 55 of Ghost Town Boogie

“Maybe she’s an unseen influence on me. Who knows?”

They walked up the stairs toward the loft, which was home for now. Maybe home for a long time. “Are you happy staying in Seawolf Beach?” he asked as they reached the door at the top of the stairs.

“Sure,” Anna answered easily. “I can write songs anywhere.”

“For now,” Colt said. “If one day you want to go back to Nashville…”

“You can’t do big cities, I get that,” she interrupted.

He took her face in his hands and looked into those clear blue eyes. “If it’s what you need, I’ll be there. I won’t let you walk away, I won’t live without you and I won’t make you give up your dream. I love you. We’re in this life together.”

“For better or for…”

“Or for worse,” he finished when she stumbled. He hadn’t asked her to marry him, but he would. One night after a quiet day, when Jack’s mess was cleared up and the Miller’s fire damaged house had been taken care of and… when life was perfect? Life was never perfect. Neither was death, apparently.

“Marry me,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “We haven’t been together long, but…”

“Yes,” she said with a smile. “We’ve been together long enough for me to know without a doubt that you’re the one for me.”

The distant sounds of a band on stage down the street drifted into the loft, a pleasant background soundtrack to their lives. They kissed again, then discussed dinner plans. They settled on raiding the fridge because neither of them wanted to go out in the crowd the festival brought in.

While he grabbed containers of leftovers and moved them to the kitchen counter, Anna went to the wine rack and perused the choices.

“This is so weird,” she mumbled.

“The wine?”

“Nothing is weird about the wine.” She grabbed a bottle and turned to him with it in her hand. “All day I’ve had lyrics for a new song in my head, but it doesn’t make any sense at all. Why on earth would I want to write a country song about pearl earrings?”

The End