Page 45 of Sugar Plum Serenade

“I don’t, which is really weird. It doesn’t make sense, but I’m different here.” Bolder, braver, more open than she’d been in years. “A few weeks ago if you’d said ghost to me, I would’ve been out of here like a shot.” Love might’ve gotten the same response.

Anna was an observer. It would be tough to get anything past her. “You care about Tuck.”

“I do, but I’m afraid he doesn’t care about me at all.” As she said the words she knew they weren’t true. At least, not entirely. She’d guarded her heart for years. Tuck had all but locked his behind a brick wall. “Tell me more about Maude.”

Anna took a sip of her coffee, then said, “I only know what Colt tells me. She’s sweet, loves to dance, talks a lot, and until all this happened he had no idea why she was stuck here. Lately she’s been driving him crazy. Now that you’ve handed the earrings over to Tuck maybe she’ll move on. Or at least stop hounding Colt at all hours.”

“I can’t believe that I actually believe all of this,” Olive said, smiling.

“You know what’s weird?” Anna asked in a lowered voice.

“There’s more?”

“Since I moved in here, I find myself occasionally using an old-fashioned word. Now and then I crave banana pudding, which I really didn’t care for before a couple of months ago. I’m a songwriter, and for the past two months I’ve been obsessed with the idea of writing one about pearl earrings.”

“I’d love to hear it!”

“It’s not done, because the story isn’t over.”

She thought of Tuck and the way he’d looked at the pearls as if they were a coiled snake. When would this story be done? Another thought crept in. “So you’re telling me ghosts can affect the people around them? That even if you can’t see or hear them, they might slip into your head somehow?”

“Colt says he doesn’t know, and he’s not sure how he can research the idea. But with me and Maude…” She shrugged. “Maybe.”

Olive took another long swig of her coffee, draining the disposable cup. “Could living with a fearless pirate somehow make me more willing to take risks?” To be bold, brave, fearless.

Anna laughed a little. “Who knows?”

That was the story of this trip to Seawolf Beach. Who knows?