Chapter 12
Theresa had a little time to kill before her next class, so she figured she’d drop by The Regimental Quartermasterreenactor store to see if either Joel or Jesse was working.
Specifically Joel.
She didn’t even know why she was doing it. She had a boyfriend whom she was fairly serious about. They’d been together for three months, which was a long time for her. Besides, Joel was a young widower, and Theresa knew she shouldn’t be pouncing on the poor guy. Not that she would.
Would she?
Theresa reasoned there wasn’t any harm in just stopping by the store. She hoped Lucy wouldn’t be upset, but Theresa doubted she would be. Lucy was quite taken with Jesse, so she likely wouldn’t care what Theresa did with Joel.
And there were a lot of things Theresa would love to do with Joel. To him. With him. On him. Under him.
Theresa shook her head as if to shake off those naughty thoughts. Steven, Steven. I have a boyfriend named Steven.
Nervous excitement fizzled in her stomach as she opened the door to The Regimental Quartermaster.She tried not to think about the fact that Steven never made her stomach fizzle.
Theresa walked in and scanned the room, looking for one or both sexy men in Civil War uniforms. There was an older man behind the counter who looked like General Robert E. Lee. She was more disappointed to see him than George Meade must have been when he saw the real General.
“Excuse me? Could you tell me if Joel is working today?”
General Lee looked up at Theresa. “Who?”
“Joel Casey. About yay-high,” Theresa said, holding up her right hand to show how tall Joel was. “Dresses in a Union soldier outfit. Has blond hair, blue eyes, looks like sex on a stick?” It occurred to Theresa that, for all she knew, Joel was hiding somewhere in the store and could have overheard her. The thought thrilled her rather than making her feel ashamed. She’d tell him he was gorgeous right to his face.
The general glanced around the store, his gaze landing on an employee who was organizing soldiers’ forage caps on the shelf. The guy was super skinny with bad acne. The general shook his head. “Don’t have anybody like that working here.”
Theresa stared at him. “You don’t have a guy named Joel Casey working here?”
General Lee shook his head.
“Has he ever worked here?
“Nope. Not to my knowledge, and I been here five years. “
A small knot of fear replaced the fizzle in Theresa’s stomach. “What about a guy named Jesse? Jesse…Jesse I-Don’t-Know-His-Last-Name?” Dammit. Lucy would know his last name. The way she looked at him, she probably wanted to share it one day.
“Nobody named Jesse,” General Lee said, looking bored with this conversation that clearly was not going to end with his making any money.
“Wears a gray Confederate uniform?”
Lee didn’t even look up. He just shook his head again.
The knot in her stomach grew bigger. Both Theresa and Lucy liked Joel and Jesse, but how much did they really know about them? This was a little scary. Why would they lie? Theresa thought of all those serial killers with dashing good looks she’d heard about. Though she knew she was probably overreacting, she figured she’d better give Lucy a heads up.
Theresa left the store and headed back to school. She tried calling Lucy, but she didn’t answer her cell phone. Theresa would have felt better if she could go see Lucy and warn her, but she really had to get to class. Theresa left her a voicemail message and also texted her.
Turns out Joel and Jesse don’t work at the reenactor store. Never did. Don’t know what it means. I’ll demand an explanation the next time I see Joel. Or Jesse. In the meantime, you know, just be careful. We really don’t know much about these guys…
* * *
Jesse strodewith purpose through the streets of Gettysburg. He remained fully visible as he walked, taking care that none of the tourists and barhopping college students got close enough to touch him. It was after eleven, and there weren’t too many people out on the streets. Most of the bars closed at eleven, including Meade’s Tavern, which was where he was headed. He was determined to spend a little quality time with Lucy without Joel hanging around. And this time, Lucy would be aware they were spending time together.
Lucy would be closing up the restaurant, and Jesse wanted to play the hero. He would finally walk her to her car.
To keep her safe from ghosts…
Jesse smiled to himself, both excited and nervous. He was always nervous when he first started a conversation with Lucy, but her gentle nature always calmed him and he felt more at ease.
When he reached the tavern, he paused a moment, gathering his nerve. Suddenly, the door swung open and Lucy emerged. Jesse was startled at first, both at the noise and at the surprise of seeing her before he was ready.
Calm down. Don’t say anything stupid. This is your one shot without Bluebelly around.
Lucy’s face broke into a warm smile when she saw him. She started closing the large umbrellas on the outdoor tables.
“Well, if it isn’t my lovely yellow rose,” Jesse said. Lucy bit her lip and seemed to be charmed by his words.
“Hello there, Rebel-of-my-heart.”
Jesse was surprised and thrilled by her words, but she seemed nervous, like she regretted saying something so brazen. She averted her eyes and blushed.
“Y-y-you’re out late.”
Jesse had already thought about what to say when she asked why he was out and about at this hour. “Just decided to grab a drink after work.” That explained both why he was out and why he was still in his “uniform.”
Lucy nodded. She took her time with the umbrellas.
“I don’t know if I like seeing you out here late at night,” Jesse said with genuine concern. Gettysburg was generally a safe place, but he still didn’t like the thought of Lucy being out on the street alone at night, even if it was just for a minute to put the umbrellas away. He also knew how much she hated Gettysburg after dark. On the weekends, there were lots of people around. On weeknights, it was fairly quiet. He knew the silence upset her. “Isn’t there somebody else who could do that?”
Lucy shrugged, then shot an annoyed glance toward the tavern. There was no reason why Craig couldn’t do it, but he never volunteered. “I don’t mind.” She made her way slowly back toward the front door. “Well, I guess I better go in and finish up for the night.”
“Want some company?” Jesse ventured hopefully.
Her tender, grateful smile melted his heart. “I would love it.”
“Not without me, you don’t!” Joel’s obnoxious voice boomed. Jesse’s whole spirit “body” jumped.
“You okay?” Lucy asked.
Joel’s image was faint, and Jesse knew he was invisible to the living.
“I’m fine,” Jesse said, doing his best to hide his disappointment and disgust at Joel’s presence. He forced a smile, then started toward the steps. Lucy opened the door, and Jesse quickly followed behind before the door swung shut.
Joel floated through the door and planted himself right in the center of the room. “Trying to get a leg up on the competition, eh?” He deliberately spoke much louder than necessary, trying to rattle Jesse.
Lucy shyly went about her work. She topped off the salt and pepper shakers and filled the ketchup bottles, acutely aware that Jesse was watching her.
“It’s nice having company here. I don’t like working by myself late at night. I know it’s silly, but I just find it kind of creepy,” Lucy said.
I know you do, my darling.
“Well, I’m happy to keep you company,” Jesse said.
“Oh, I bet you’d love to keep her company all night long. Look at those luscious curves of hers. She does have some beautiful breasts,” Joel taunted. “And those lovely legs of hers. You’d love those legs wrapped around you, now wouldn’t you?”
Jesse’s expression grew tight. Joel”s strategy was working. Jesse had an old-fashioned reverence for women and he simply could not abide disrespect for them, especially a girl like Lucy. His instinct was to vehemently defend her honor, but he couldn’t protect her from insults she couldn’t hear.
Jesse struggled to keep his face even. He didn’t want Joel to see that his words were getting to him, and the last thing he wanted was for Lucy to think he was scowling at her. He did his best to pretend that Joel wasn’t there, but it was hard to tune him out. His disrespectful words about Lucy angered him, yet they reminded him of his own fantasies about having sex with her. Quite distracting in either regard.
“I know it’s dumb,” Lucy said as she added sweetener packets to the tables. “But all those ghost stories around here really get to me, you know? And my coworkers love to play tricks on me because of it.”
“Those jackanapes!” Jesse said with a grin.
Lucy laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear. She looked over at him with amusement.
“You love those old-fashioned terms, don’t you?” Jesse said.
“I do! I feel like I’m talking to a real Civil War soldier.”
“Well, I got all kinds of fun terms for ya,” Jesse said. He walked over toward the bar. “Lots of good ones for alcohol. Tar water, Nokum Stiff, How Come You So…”
“How Come You So. That’s a good one!” Lucy said.
“Oh, Jesse likes that one, too,” Joel said loudly. “I bet he’d love to make you come so.”
Jesse couldn’t help it. Joel’s words conjured up the familiar fantasy of Lucy on her back, long brown hair splayed out, moaning. Oh, Jesse…
Damn Joel for getting into his head! Jesse continued, “And there’s lots of great Civil War insults. If I was fightin’ with someone, say, I don’t know, Joel for example…” Lucy giggled softly. Turning to face Joel, Jesse said, “I’d say something like ‘Go boil your shirt!’ or ‘I’ll knock you into an ugly cocked hat!’”
“And if I wanted to insult someone,” Joel boomed, glaring at Jesse. “I’d just say FUCK YOU!”
Jesse blinked. It drove him half mad that Joel used that kind of language in front of Lucy—never mind that she couldn’t hear it. It was a struggle to keep his cool, but he knew he had to stay calm. Even if they weren’t alone, Lucy thought they were. Jesse needed to make the best of it and enjoy the fact that she was there talking to him, and only him.
“Sparking,” Jesse said. “Now there’s a wunnerful old-fashioned term. It means courting a girl.”
Lucy looked up from her sweeping to give him a shy smile. Hope surged inside Jesse when she looked at him like that. Was it possible that she was interested in him?
Jesse shot her a meaningful look. “Sparkin’ also means kissin’”
Lucy glanced at his lips before going back to her sweeping. Naturally, she blushed.
“Don’t do that,” Joel said sharply. “Don’t say shit like that to her. You can’t kiss her, so stop acting like you’re going to. She’ll feel rejected when you don’t make a move.”
Jesse’s heart sank. He nodded, almost imperceptibly, acknowledging Joel’s words. He was right. Even if Lucy did have feelings for him, the situation was hopeless. It wasn’t humanly possible for them to ever be together, and he was wrong to lead her on just because it felt so good to be with her.
“So!” Jesse said, forcing himself to change the subject. “You got people ’round here botherin’ ya, do ya?” He looked toward the kitchen door, knowing damn well who was doing the bothering.
“Yep. Sometimes,” Lucy said. “I guess I’m just an easy target since I’m such a scaredy-cat.”
“Tell me who they are and I’ll beat ’em up for ya! I’ll make short work of those little gallinippers!”
Without warning, Lucy reached over to swat Jesse playfully on the shoulder, “Oh, you!”
Whooosh! Lucy”s hand sliced right through his transparent form.
“Oh, shit…” Joel said, horrified, as he watched it happen.
Lucy stood still, stunned. She glanced down at her hand, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
“L-L-Lucy…” Jesse stammered.
Lucy drew in a sharp, shaky breath and staggered backward toward the bar. Jesse stared at her, afraid to move. No matter what he did, he was sure to terrify her further.
“I’m so sorry,” Jesse whispered softly.
Lucy’s face went frighteningly pale. She looked more dead than the two dearly departed soldiers. She gripped the bar with her hand in an effort to steady herself. After swaying back and forth for a second or two, she fainted. There was a horrible crack when her head hit a table as she fell to the floor.