Chapter 1 #2
Though Avery had died in 1863 just as Jesse had, he had vanished for most of that time.
Vanishing was different than simply being invisible.
Being invisible meant you were still hanging around, but only other dead people could see you.
Vanishing meant you weren’t really conscious; you were still an earthbound spirit, but it was like being asleep.
You could vanish for months, years, even centuries.
But when you came back, your problems were still there.
You couldn’t cross over until you came to terms with whatever was holding you back.
Avery had been gone for most of the time since he’d died, and had returned to consciousness just a few months ago.
The poor guy had been completely overwhelmed.
It was like falling asleep in a time machine and waking up more than a century and a half later.
What had been a horrific, bloody battleground was now filled with restaurants, shops, tour buses, and, most confusing, Civil War reenactors.
Avery had been lost and terrified upon his return.
Remy seemed to have radar for lost souls, usually tourists, and she had approached him with concern.
She was the first person to speak to him in more than one hundred and fifty years.
He’d stumbled out some story about meeting friends at a restaurant, and she’d cheerfully given him directions.
Avery hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her since then. Not that Jesse could blame him. Remy was a lovely girl.
“She’s doin’ much better,” Jesse reassured Avery. Remy had been sick recently. It was nothing major, just a bad cold, but she had lost her voice and had to miss a few days of work. Avery had been worried about her.
“Good, good,” Avery said.
Jesse regarded Avery as he watched Remy.
His heart went out to him. Jesse understood exactly how it felt to be in love with a woman who didn’t even know you existed.
Unlike Avery, Jesse had been conscious for much of the time since his death in 1863.
He’d witnessed the changing times over the course of decades, but he had never known a girl as incredible as Lucy.
He used to watch her work as a waitress in a local tavern.
He would sit in the restaurant for hours, invisibly, falling more in love every day.
Remy walked past where Jesse and Avery were sitting.
She smiled at them as she led the tourists over to the memorial of the 44th New York Infantry, which was a huge stone structure that resembled a small castle.
Tourists liked to climb up to the top and look out over the battlefields.
Remy obviously didn’t remember speaking to Avery that one time, but then again she spoke to hundreds of tourists every week.
“Follow me. The staircase is in the back. You won’t believe the view from up there!” Remy told her guests.
Avery watched longingly as Remy disappeared around the back of the monument. He looked up when he heard her voice coming from above. Remy stood at the top of the stone monument with several of the tourists from her group.
“Isn’t it just breathtaking?” Remy said, as she looked out at the expansive view of blue sky and open fields all around.
Avery looked up at her and murmured, “My thoughts exactly.”
Jesse chuckled softly. “She is beautiful.”
Remy was a wonderful girl, generous and kind. Jesse considered her one of his closest friends, and he understood why Avery had fallen in love with her.
Avery continued looking up at her. “I feel like I’m lookin’ at Juliet up in her balcony.”
Jesse laughed again. “When are you at least gonna let me introduce her to you?”
“What would be the point?” Avery asked sadly.
“I dunno. Would be nice if you could at least talk to her. What’s the harm in that?” Jesse asked. When Jesse was dead, he never thought he would get the chance to even speak with Lucy, yet here he was. Alive. And Lucy was in love with him.
“She might try to touch me,” Avery said.
Jesse nodded. Avery knew all about Lucy and how she had come to know Jesse while he was still dead.
His rival, the Union soldier who had killed him with the flagpole, had made a bet with Jesse that any random tourist woman would pick him if given a choice between the two.
Joel Casey was dashingly handsome, and Jesse wasn’t at all confident that he could win the bet, but he seized the opportunity to talk to his beloved Lucy.
She became friends with them, but it hadn’t gone over too well when she discovered the two were no longer alive.
She’d accidentally touched Jesse, and her hand went right through his ghostly form. Terrified, she’d fainted.
“I can’t stand the idea of frightenin’ her,” Avery said.
“I know,” Jesse said. “Lucy was scared to death of me for a while, and it broke my heart. But she got over it.”
Avery laughed. “Aye, that she did.”
“Lucy was already terrified of ghosts when she met me. Believe me, that made it worse for her.”
Avery nodded. “Yes, I suppose that’s true.”
They both knew Remy wasn’t afraid of ghosts because she didn’t believe in them.
In addition to daytime tours, she moonlighted by giving ghost tours.
She humored her guests when they claimed to see, feel, or smell something strange.
She knew many of them were eager for ghost encounters, so she encouraged their stories and told many of her own.
She didn’t believe any of them, but she was happy to pretend she did.
“It would be wonderful to be her friend,” Avery said. “I worry that’s she lonely. She’s got no family around here. I’m so glad you and Lucy are such good friends to her.”
“I think it would be great if you and Remy could get to know each other. But, I gotta tell ya, Lucy doesn’t want me to introduce Remy to you.”
“Really? Why is that?” Avery asked, surprised.
“She adores Remy, and she worries about her. I know what it’s like to be a lonely ghost, but Lucy knows what it feels like to be in love with one.
She remembers how much it hurt when she couldn’t touch me and how hard it was knowin’ I could cross over any time and be gone forever.
It was a miracle when I came back, but it ain’t too likely that would happen again.
Lucy doesn’t want Remy goin’ through all that. ”
Avery nodded, understanding. “That’s awfully kind of her to be lookin’ after Remy like that.”
Jesse nodded and smiled. “Yeah. That’s my Lucy.”
“But, Jaysus, it’s not like Remy’s gonna fall in love with me. She doesn’t even know me!”
Remy suddenly appeared from around the corner of the monument. Avery looked horrified. If he had breath, he would have been holding it. Remy was still talking with her tourists and walked right past Jesse and Avery.
“That was close,” Avery said.
Jesse let out the breath that he had been holding and nodded.
“Is that Devil’s Den down there?” a guest in his forties asked Remy.
“Yes!” Remy responded. “Exactly, that’s where we just came from. Where poor Jesse died.” Remy gestured toward Jesse and laughed.
Avery and Jesse exchanged amused looks. They had discussed their deaths at length, swapping war stories, and had realized it was likely they had died around the same time on the second day of battle.
Remy walked off with her guests in tow, and Avery watched her every move. Jesse knew his longing for her was growing stronger every day.
“Maybe she and I could be friends someday. Maybe soon I’ll be ready to try to talk with her,” Avery said.
“You just name the time, Avery, and I’ll make it happen. You know, provided I can get permission from my girlfriend,” Jesse said with a grin.