“You could,” Reggie said. “You could change it to something easy like Kim.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I like Kinsley, but I am going to take Thorn’s last name.”
“How traditional of you,” Reggie teased.
“So?”
“It’s fine. Just having fun with you. So what are you going to do? I don’t think anyone’s going to accept that marriage license,” Reggie said.
She was right. It was completely soaked, the seal was flattened, and some of the ink was running. “I’m going to have to go over to the courthouse and grab another copy.”
“In this rain?” Reggie asked. “Even if you run, you’ll be completely soaked.”
“Well, maybe I can try a touch of magic. All I’m trying to do it dry a piece of paper. Surely, I can handle that,” I said and pressed it flat.
Spoiler alert: I could not handle that.
I waved my hand over the license and tried to use just a hint of fire and wind magic to dry it. It burst into flames and a second later, nothing was left but a small trace of ashes. Wet ashes because somehow the counter was still wet from water seeping out of the paper.
“That didn’t go well,” Reggie said.
“I would have been better off with a hair dryer,” I admitted. “I hope that at some point, I can get some magic back under control.”
“I thought you liked not having it. It’s what you always wanted,” Reggie said.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t realize that there were some parts of it that I really liked having. I miss those parts,” I said.
“At least the decrease in your magic doesn’t seem to be retroactive. Can you imagine if we had to look our age?” Reggie lamented.
I’d nearly forgotten that my family had blessed her and Viv with youthful looks and a long life. That would have sucked if those benefits went away. Not that either of us were that old, but it sure was nice looking ten years younger and knowing you would stay that way for decades.
“On that note, I’m going to brave the rain, But I’m taking this plastic bag with me to keep the new marriage certificate in,” I said as I unpacked the breakfast bag. “Will you eat and give the animals their treats?”
“I’m going with you,” Meri declared.
“Really?” I looked at him skeptically. “What do you want to do, ride in the bag?”
“Fine, I’ll stay here,” Meri relented. “I hope you don’t get into any trouble and need me.”
“I’m just going to the courthouse to get a marriage certificate. How much trouble could there be?”
When I left my shop, I ran across the street and then through the square. The Christmas décor was gone, and there were no tourists milling about, so once I turned at the statue, it was straight shot to the front steps of the courthouse.
It was a good thing I wore those boots because my feet pounded against the pavement, and I splashed through several shallow puddles. The bottoms of my pants got a little wet, but my feet stayed dry.
I couldn’t say the same thing for my hair. The pitying looks people gave me once I was inside the courthouse were enough to tell me I must have looked like a drowned rat. For a moment, I considered dipping into the bathroom and trying to use a bit of magic to dry my hair, but considering what had happened to Tangerine… and then my marriage certificate, I decided against it.
Oh, gawd. Poor Tangerine. She and I, more so she, were lucky that all I done was make her a floofball. I couldn’t have lived with myself if I’d incinerated her, and I didn’t have the powers to bring her back from the dead again.
The regular records office was on the first floor in the east side of the building. That’s where you could get any current vital records. I wouldn’t need to go down to the basement archives where my father had worked.
Inside the county clerk’s office was a long counter that stretched the length of the narrow room. It looked as though it was built for multiple employees to handle several customers at once, but I never saw more than one person in there.
There were several desks along the outside wall set up to look out the windows, but there was no one at them. There was only one employee in the clerk’s office, and I startled her when I walked through the door.
“Oh, my, you gave me a start,” she said and pressed her hand to her chest.
She was a short, full-figured gal with curly hair dressed in black slacks and a stylish blouse covered in a cherry pattern. Somehow, on her, it was not the least bit gaudy. It suited her.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Are you… real?” she asked and then chuckled nervously. “Of course you are,” she said and chuckled again. “I meant to ask if you’re alive, but I know you’re that too. Ignore me, I’m being silly.”
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said and got up from her desk. She walked over to the counter. “It’s just that… sometimes I think this place might be haunted. People tell me I’m being silly, but on days like this when it’s dark and dreary, and there’s almost no one around, I could swear.”
“That’s interesting,” I said because I could neither confirm nor deny her suspicions. I knew the place was haunted, but anything I said about it might be crossing the line. “I don’t think I’d worry about it.” That was a lie too. There was that one particular ghost, although I didn’t think it would bother this woman down on the first floor. I’d never even heard anyone talk about that ghost before. It was as if it were just me and my mother who saw it. “I think the idea is kinda cool, but don’t be scared. I guess that’s kind of hard on a spooky day like today.”
On cue, thunder crashed
