Page 13 of Sweatpants & Sweet Tea

“Oh…so youdidsee Harlan.”

“Yep.”

“And…”

“And what?” I could feel myself blushing, and I was glad that the sun had set so even if she glanced over it wouldn’t be glaringly obvious.

“And what did you think?”

“He seems nice.”

“Nice? Buttercup, I could use a lot of adjectives to describe that boy, and nice is not one of them.”

“He’snotnice?” I’d known the man for all of ten minutes, but for some reason the thought of him being mean caused my heart to sink.

“Oh no, he’s nice, alright. Nice on the peepers. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice. Or are you immune to seein’ a perfect male specimen since you live in La La Land?”

I thought that was the case, but Harlan had proved me wrong. “No, I’m not immune. He’s very attractive.”

“Mmm, hmm.” She hummed as she followed a line of cars off the main road. My eyes doubled in size as we turned onto a mile-long driveway tunneled with mature oaks that were covered in twinkle lights.

“Wow, this is so…magical.”

I knew that the gala was being held at Abernathy Manor, which the town was known for, but I’d never actually visited the place as a child.

“It’s alright, I s’pose.” Aunt Rhonda did not seem impressed by the scenery.

At the end of the road sat the house proper, a palatial estate that looked worthy of royalty and dignitaries.

"Do you think this place is really haunted?” I remembered that Grammy Moore had believed that it was, which was why I was never allowed to come here, but I wasn’t sure where my aunt stood on it.

“No. I don’tthinkit is.” Aunt Rhonda shook her head. “Iknowit is.”

“You do?” Aunt Rhonda was, in most circles, considered eccentric, so it did not surprise me that she had an unfailing belief in the paranormal.

Aunt Rhonda nodded. “I saw her one day when I was on a class tour.”

“Who?”

“Lucille. I saw her.”

“Is she the ghost?”

We pulled to a stop behind a line of cars waiting for the valet that was about a dozen deep.

My aunt shifted in her seat toward me. “You don’t know the story?”

I shook my head. Grammy Moore never told me the details, just that the mansion was haunted.

Aunt Rhonda took a deep breath. “Lucille Abernathy came from old money. Back in those days, the Abernathys were in the same league as the Vanderbilts. Unfortunately for Lucille, money can’t buy love. Her fate was sealed the day she met a longshoreman named Bruce Comfort, who was beneath her station. She fell head over heels, and the two had a torrid affair that ended in a secret engagement. When her family found out that Lucille planned to marry, they told her to choose between him or her family, wealth, and inheritance. She chose wrong.”

“She chose her family?” I figured losing out on true love would make anyone want to haunt their family.

“No, she chosehimand was disowned.”

Plot twist.

“But it turned out her feelings for Bruce were not quite as reciprocated as she’d believed them to be. After she gave up everything for that man, he called off their engagement and eloped with a maid who worked for her family the same day. Well, now Lucille was heartbroken, completely devastated. So, of course, she went running back to mommy and daddy, but they told her she’d made her decision and that she was no longer their daughter.”

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