Page 42 of Just (Fake) Married
I wondered how their two operations were doing if tourism was at an all-time low.
The town, this place, is dying.
I tried to shake off my father’s last words, but looking at this town in the starlight, it was hard.
I didn’t want it to be dying. As a teenager, it had felt so restricting, but seeing it now through my adult eyes, I found it to be…peaceful. Charming.
I stopped walking in front of the old train depot that had been turned into the town’s municipal building. Home to our very own local historical museum which featured the rich and violent history of the Calloways and McGraws.
And there, directly in front of the old train depot, was the bronzed gallows statue just like I remembered it.
Yes. That’s right. Instead of a fountain or a gazebo – we had a statue of a gallows. It used to actually have a bronzed noose hanging from it, but at some point the town had decided that nooses weren’t welcoming to tourists or children. So, now if you didn’t know what it was, it looked like a strange bronze stage.
Around the square, there were other memorial statues commemorating the feud between our families. Of course, there was the legendary Widow Calloway and Duncan McGraw, the origin of our family feud.
As the story goes, Duncan McGraw wanted to marry the widow to claim the rest of the land he didn’t own. She wouldn’t have him, so he pushed her over a peak. However, she managed to survive, only to climb up that same peak and shove him over it instead.
She’d been hanged for murder by the town sheriff. Hence the town’s signature statue.
Next to the gallows, there was a community board filled with various flyers and announcements.
Curious, I couldn’t help myself, and walked over to get a closer look.
“What are you doing?” Harmony asked. Given her arm was linked with mine, she had to come with me.
“I just want to see what’s going on in town.”
“Your dad died,” she said softly. “Right now, that’s all anyone is talking about.”
“What the hell?” I said, stepping closer. Was that my high school graduation picture from the yearbook, blown up and plastered in the center of the board?
Underneath it was the caption:
Wanted: Information on why this man was seen kissing the neck of a Calloway!
“That literally just happened. Like an hour ago.”
“Welcome home,” Harmony said.
.
TEN
HARMONY
Sunshine: Mom just called. Is this real? You’re marrying one of those idiots?
Harmony: I’m marrying the doctor idiot.
Sunshine: Well that’s better than one of the cowboys I guess. But…really?
Harmony: Really.
Sunshine: I can get you on a flight to NYC tonight. Come here so I can talk some sense into you.
Harmony: I have to save the town.
Sunshine: You have to have your head examined. Wait, is this about that party in high school?
