No More Secrets (Book 2)

15. Back to Work

"So, did you ever figure out the wedding venue situation?"

I rolled my eyes at my step-mom's question. Thankfully she had called me, so she didn't have to see that. I didn't know how to tell her that Dylan made up a lie yesterday just to get me out of the house. We had no venue, and there definitely hadn't been a problem. "Well, Dylan and I sort of changed our minds about having a big venue. We don't really need to spend all that money for a space that's way too big anyway. We're going to look at smaller options."

"Oh." I could hear the disappointment in just that one syllable. "Okay. It's your wedding. Your choice."

I heard the bell above the front door jingle. "I gotta go. There's a customer. But I'll talk to you later, okay?"

It was my first day back at work after everything that had happened. Dylan was afraid to leave me here by myself, but I told him I'd be able to take care of myself. Besides, he was actually going to Nina's today to fill her in on everything that's been going on. It took a lot of convincing before he agreed, but I think, despite the threats of the ghost woman, the more people who know about it, the better off we are at stopping her.

I stepped out of the back office to see a middle-aged man and his daughter walking down one of the aisles. He looked bored out of his mind while she bounced along, talking a mile a minute about the book she was looking for. Her excitement reminded me of myself when I was younger.

The father and daughter turned into another aisle and I could no longer see them. But then a group of elderly women entered the store and I turned my attention to them. Looks like we've got our rush for the afternoon.

I was lucky enough to work in a small, quiet store. Not that many people came in too often, but enough to keep the business running. It definitely helped that the closest big-name bookstore was nearly an hour away. We attracted the locals, and that's really all we could ask for.

But since it's mostly locals, you tend to see the same customers over and over again. That group of women were a group that came in once a month or so. I think they were a book club, because they always bought the same book as each other every time. I hadn't seen them in a few months, so I figured I just happened to be off on the days they came in recently.

One of them spotted me behind the counter. "Oh, Travis!" she said, hurrying over to me. "I haven't seen you here in ages! How have you been?"

I shrugged. "Same old, I guess." There was no way I was telling this woman I was in the hospital a few days ago, and I definitely wasn't going to tell her the full truth. I didn't even know her name.

She looked down at my hand and gasped. "That ring! Oh my goodness. 'Same old', who are you kidding? You're getting married?"

I smiled, thinking of Dylan. "Yeah, I finally proposed to the love of my life."

She patted my hand. "She's a lucky lady, then. Congratulations."

I was about to correct her and tell her that I was marrying a man when one of the other women called her over. She hurried back over to them to look at the book they were trying to decide about.

It was hard, having people always assume I was straight. I didn't look gay. And maybe that was why they always thought I was dating a woman, instead of a man. I told myself back in high school that I wasn't going to hide who I was anymore. I knew who I was and nobody's opinion was going to change that. The only time I faltered with that was when I first started dating Dylan, but only because he wasn't out yet. Our friends knew about me, but his family didn't. So I made it a point to not tell them, not until Dylan was okay with them knowing. I knew, even back then, how much he meant to me. I would do anything for him.

Even if it meant helping out with this ghost situation.

I felt nervous even thinking about it, but I wasn't going to let Dylan die again just for these ghosts he doesn't know. I didn't exactly like it when he did it the first time, but I understood. He needed to save Jenny and his grandma.

The young girl and her dad came up to my counter. She was holding an armful of chapter books with a huge smile on her face. He just looked grumpy.

"What books did you find?" I asked the girl.

She placed them all on the counter and I could see that they were all from the same series. It was a newer series, so I never read them, but I knew a lot of kids enjoyed them.

"Good choices!" I said as I started ringing them up. Then I looked at the dad. "Anything else?"

I didn't catch his answer because I saw Jenny appear right behind him. But the guy handed me his credit card, so I figured that was it. Once I gave him back his card and he signed the receipt, they left and I could focus on Jenny.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered. I wish those women would hurry up and choose a book so that the store would be empty. "Is Dylan okay?"

She laughed, coming closer to me. "Yeah, of course. Just here to check in on you. Dyl's been having me do that every now and then for a while now."

"Can I ask you something?" I noticed the women getting closer to the counter, but still talking about different books. I picked up the phone and pretended to talk into it, but still kept my voice down. "This whole thing with Death keeping some of the ghosts, how serious is it? Like does that woman really need Dylan to die again so he can free them just for her to leave us alone?"

The smile fell off her face. "I know a way it can be done without anyone dying. But I know for a fact that Dylan's never going to agree to it."