Lola Sandburg married singer Paul Hopper in a marriage to help his status. The musician has wanted nothing to do with her since he said "I do". After 2 years of marriage can a injury bring them closer.
Chapter 1 Beginning
Lola Sandburn was doing what she loved. After working hard she lived and worked in a historic inn that also offer regular and ghost tours. Yes Good Old Manassas Virginia.
The house was a 15 bedroom plantation house that part was of a grand estate. It had been in her bosses family since it was built in 1738. She was paid a handsome salary with full benefits. She splurged secretly twice a year when her husband Paul went to the Arts Center the next county over. She hid her transactions by having her boss Rachel who was her friend and fellow historian order the tickets.
Suffice it to say her and her husband didn't live together even though they had been married two years and 3 months ago. He ordered her out when he was on his first tour and hadn't reached out since. His tours were relatively shorter than most.
Her days were busy though. Between the living and the departed. Yup that's right she could see, sense and communicate with the dead. She also knew anything and everything about the civil war... but the history society was constantly learning new information.
She liked the small town it was situated in too. But she liked she people. No one judged her because her parents abandoned her at 3 days old. She had been through the foster care system until she turned 18. Her last home had adopted her informally. They had no legal papers but treated her as their own.
Rachel had been a college roommate, and both had done their college thesis's on the civil war and done a fair share of work at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. They still took a yearly trip there to see the new things. And Lola always ordered more books on the civil war.
She was reading the most current one on the battle of little round top when the her cell phone rung. Seeing a Tennessee number didn't surprise her. Thats where she grew up. The voice on the other end did though.
It was none other than Paul.
"Lola it's Paul. Look I need a place to recuperate after an accident. Manager wants me out of the Nashville area. I wouldn't call otherwise bit where are you? Is it possible for me to come there?" He took a shark intake of breath.
"I have been in Manassas for the last 2 years. Working at The Old Manassas Plantation. I have no issues with that. You want to live in my apartment or do you require a separate ground floor accommodation?" She said while typing into her computer system to see room availability.
"Needs to be kept low profile. So no booking. Guess I got lucky when we wed. Will be there Friday morning." With that he hung up.
"Of all the shit. I have 2 days to get my spare room ready?" She badly want toss her book she was reading.
A translucent figure in a pale blue dress came up. Luckily they had no guests. A ghost couldn't tell the living secrets. So she took every chance to talk to the resident ghosts.
"Dear Girl what is the worry about?" Madam Sarah Summerwood asked. She was Rachel's 3 times great grandmother.
"Sarah my estranged husband is coming Friday in search of a secluded place to heal. His fame is just so that his bosses don't want it published or known where he will be."
"In my day these separated marriages didn't occur unless there were extreme circumstances. Luckily you have that 3 bedroom apartment in the east wing. What happened anyhow? How bad is he injured?" She sat in her rocking chair that Lola went to great lengths to keep in pristine condition.
"I wasn't told. Just told he was hurt and in need of a place to heal."she said scrolling through emails and checking for potential bookings. She also shot Rachel a text about the situation asking if he had made the news.
-He was in bad bus crash. Injuries unspecified. Pretty bad crash multi car accident on interstate. Made the news. Check it out on tv news app. Make any customers booking sign that legal nondisclosure Agreement we used when that movie was made. Be there soon.-
"Rachel is on our way. Let's see how bad that crash exactly was."
"We had nothing like that moving picture panel on the wall. We had to ride far and wide for our news." Sarah said eyes lit up. She liked watching TV.
They watched countless news segments about the crash. No specifics were said about Paul.
"Sure would be nice to know if he will need any special assistance while here. I guess we're just supposed to automatically know this."
She jumped at Rachel's voice.
"Just to be safe I am going to Dobs Med Store. I recon to buy a bit of everything just in case."
"I will go with you." Rachel said
then said to Sarah "if anything happens you know the drill." The local ghosts were so close to each other they were effective at letting her know things even if the "talking line" spanned 15 ghosts.
They got ine of everything in the store that would be stored in the special storage next to the innkeepers residence.
She also made a stop at the store for provisions of all types. Best to keep ahead than be caught without things.
Sarah watched things get organized in uttear shock.
"My girls what are you preparing for the war is over." Sarah exclaimed. Which earned her laughter from them both.
"Hey Sarah. Because we're great friends and we're low on clients how about a movie night. I will even bake your favorite treats."
"That sound like fun. A nice treat from what I consider my living daughter."
Sarah might be a ghost but she was a loving motherly figure to her and Rachel. Rachel went home and they had a living and dead movie night. Over the years she made sure the good ghosts felt wanted in a warm positive light.
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