by Rue Volley
Avery stepped back and wiped a tear from her eye. I grinned, touching her hair with my open hand. She reached up and placed her hand over mine. “Ahhh—honey,” I said quietly, and she laughed, the huge bear hug followed right after.
“I just hate saying goodbye, I love you, so much, Abi.”
I nodded and stepped back from her as we held each other’s hands. I looked down, and she shook them a couple of times.
“I’ve got a terrible case of the feels.”
I laughed. “It’s okay, I love you too.”
She let go of my hand and turned toward the bus. She picked up her suitcase and gripped it tightly in her hand. She liked taking the bus just as much as I did. It was something about the journey. If a train ran through town, I would certainly take that too. I loved travelling on both of them.
She climbed one step and turned back. I could see another tear rolling down her cheek.
She pointed at Sam who stood off to the side of me. “You take care of her, you hear me?”
He held his hands up. “Abi takes care of herself. I’m just along for the ride.”
She laughed and the doors closed. She walked down the middle aisle of the bus as I walked alongside it. She sat down in her seat, but quickly stood back up and opened the window. She yelled out to me.
“I miss you already!”
I waved and walked out into the middle of the road behind the bus as it took off. I lowered my arm as Sam stepped up next to me. He placed his arm around me and pulled me next to him. I let out a long sigh.
“How long before you ask her to work here with us?”
I hit him on the arm and laughed. “I don’t know—a week, maybe?”
He laughed along with me. “I don’t know why you didn’t just ask her.”
I turned to him and shook my head. “It’s not up to me.”
He raised his hand. “But you had no trouble asking me.”
I rolled my eyes. “You were jobless.”
I started to walk, and he caught up with me.
“Oh okay, so I was a charity case? I see how it is.”
“Sure, you are definitely a charity case, you, and your money.”
We walked down the sidewalk until we reached the building. I stopped and scanned the front of it. It rose up, three stories high. It wasn’t any wider than a half double in the city, but it made up for lack of width with the height. The outside the building was painted white, but you could still see sections of the old brick through it. It looked rustic and worn. Vintage, just as I liked it.
I leaned back and blocked the sun from my eyes, staring at the large windows on the second and third floors. They protruded outward in a curved shape from the front of the building and consisted of three large windows that appeared to go from floor to ceiling.
I had always loved this building and all of downtown when I was growing up. New Weston was what was once called home to the modern spiritualist and its original name was West Town. It sat to the west of New York State. In fact, it branched out from the Lily Dale Assembly, which based itself in different religious beliefs. Alternative ones, like healers, mediums, and spiritualists.
Some people still practiced in town, but most had scattered over the years.
I looked next door and saw the sign that read tarot card readings daily hanging in the window. I grinned. This location couldn’t be any more perfect if it tried.
I looked to the left as a woman came walking out of the building next to what I hoped would soon be home to our new business. She turned the sign from open to closed and locked up. Then she walked to the building in front of us and unlocked the door. She turned back and smiled at the two of us.
“I’m Vee Hollow.”
I extended my hand, and she took it and held on, flipping it over and running her fingers over the lines on my palm. She looked up at me.
“Oh,” she said softly.
“Oh, what?”
She grinned and tapped my hand. “That can wait, you wanted to see the property, correct?”
She let my hand go, and I rubbed my palm. Sam stepped up and smiled. “Yes, we do. I’m Sam.” He extended his hand, and she shook it, doing the same thing to his palm as she had done to my own. She winked at him and glanced at me.
“Let’s go in, shall we?”
We followed her into semi-darkness, but she quickly turned the lights on. I smiled as the room came into view. It needed some work but nothing serious. I enjoyed the feel, the vintage lights overhead and the old wood floors. The lights dimmed, and she laughed under her breath as she took a quick look around the building. “Now settle down little one.”
I narrowed my eyes. She turned and winked at me. “It’s a ghost, just a trickster. Lights flicker, things get moved from here to there, but I swear it’s not malicious. Most of the time it visits me next door, which I enjoy. It can get lonely.”
“So, you’re a Medium?” I asked.
She walked toward the large spiral staircase in the middle of the room. She started to climb up the stairs. Sam and I had no choice but to follow her.
“Yes, that and other things, but Medium is what I seem to be best at.”
I chimed in. “I always found it fascinating.”
Sam looked at me, and I looked back at her as she climbed ahead of us. I held onto the black iron railing, following it around until we reached the second floor. I stopped dead and stared at how beautiful the room was. It still had the original hardwood floors, dark with scratches here and there. I preferred it that way. Nothing is perfect without a few dents and bruises.
The walls were brick, painted white, but the paint didn’t completely cover the bricks up. I loved the way they looked.
The large windows did stretch from floor to ceiling, just as I imagined. The view across the town was stunning. I could see my mom’s house up on the hill. It made me smile.
I walked toward the window and stared out, Sam watched me, and I turned to look at him. His expression was as joyous as my own.
“One more floor,” she said as she tapped her hands on her long flowing skirt. It was sewn together with multiple cuts of fabric just like the old quilt that my mom made for the porch swing. Only her skirt was deeper in color. It had browns, blacks, and deep blue strewn throughout it. It looked handmade, just like her long flowing cream colored shirt. Her grayish blonde hair lay down the middle of her back in one thick braid. Her petite frame suited her, as did her height. She was maybe an inch taller than I was.
She walked back to the staircase and started to climb. I could see her large rings on her right hand. One silver band, one large black stone and then what looked to be a silver spoon wrapped around her middle finger. Her nails were not painted but they looked manicured with French tips. I followed her up the winding staircase with Sam following close behind me. We stepped into the room and I looked around in wonder. This floor was even better than the last. It looked like a loft. Like someone had once lived here. The ceilings were high and covered with old silver tin squares with beautiful patterns on them. Large white radiators ran the length of one wall, they rose up about four feet from the floor and added to the overall aesthetic of the room.
I looked up and saw a large black iron chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling. I touched my bottom lip with my fingertip and rubbed it. I lowered my hand as I spoke.
“Was this an apartment?” I asked.
She grinned and looked around the room. “Yes, I lived here at one time, with my lover, James. When he died, I moved out. I just couldn’t see myself staying here and thinking about him and how happy we were.”
I studied her deep brown eyes, they appeared to be sad for a moment, but it quickly passed with her. She tapped her pale hand on her stomach a couple of times as she reminisced.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said, hoping that I sounded sincere, because I was.
She chuckled and waved a hand in my direction. “Oh don’t be, he talks to me every day. In fact, he won’t shut up now.”
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I grinned. Sam stepped up to the large windows and stared out at the town. We could see it all. Every house, every street and out across the fields.
“How much?” he asked and I placed my hands in my back pockets.
“Well, rent would be—”
He interrupted her. “No, to buy it.”
She looked at me and then back at him. “What makes you think that I want to sell it?”
Sam walked toward her with confidence. I was about to witness what made him who he was. The Sam who was able to get a story, run the paper and succeed as he had in life.
“Right now the overhead on this place must be financially straining, right?”
She wrung her hands while she looked around the room.
“And it’s vacant, so you’re not making anything on this property, yet you are handling the taxes, not only for this place but next door. Do you live next door?”
She shook her head. “I own a house in town.”
“See? Three properties and no tenants, I think by selling this one you could have a nice nest egg and no more worries.”
She wagged her finger at him. “And why should I sell to you?”
He stepped up to her and smiled. “Because you know that we will love this place just as much, if not more, than you do. And you’re right next door, so it’s not like you can’t come in and visit.”
“Mmm.” Her carefully stenciled on eyebrow rose into a sharp point. She eyed me and then him.
“It won’t be cheap.”
He laughed. “I wouldn’t expect it to be.”
I walked toward the window and stared out at the town, the view was extraordinary. The location was absolutely perfect. I knew that this would be the beginning of something special. It was the road that I wanted to be on.
I spotted the cemetery off in the distance and thought about my dad. I hoped that he was proud of me and how far I had come in my life. I wished that he was still alive so that he could be here with me, but Sam comforted me in his absence. I turned to see Sam and Vee laughing behind me as the deal continued to work itself out. Solidifying our future and building it, brick by white brick.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
INVASION
__________________________
I laughed, while I took a bite of my spaghetti and meatballs. Mom had created a celebratory meal to mark our new venture together.
I lowered my fork. “Oh my God—you should have seen him, Mom. Sam was a pro, wheeling and dealing like he had been doing it forever. I still can’t believe that you own it.”
Sam chewed and then swallowed. He pointed his fork at me. “We own it, Abi. You and me. Isn’t that crazy?”
I nodded. It certainly was. Here we were, less than a week after I had mentioned it, purchasing a property for the paper. I hadn’t even thought of a name yet, and we already had a place. My head was spinning. So many things needed to be done, but I looked forward to every bit of it.
My eyes moved over and settled on my mom. “You didn’t tell me about Vee Hollow.”
She took a sip of her wine and grinned at the edge of her glass. She waved a finger. “She is a very talented medium. You should give her a try. She conducts readings and communes with the dead.”
“Communes with the dead? Seriously?” I asked, spinning my fork on my plate and gathering more spaghetti on it.
Sam took a drink of his wine and wiped his mouth with the napkin. “She did say that her lover, James, talked to her every day, remember, Abi?”
“Yeah, that’s true.” I took a bite and chewed, quickly swallowing.
Mom set her glass down on the table. “Did she mention the ghost?”
I nodded, taking a small drink of my wine. I enjoyed the sweet flavor on my tongue. “Oh yeah, the lights flickered on and off, right, Sam?”
“I guess it’s a teenager, or so she says,” Mom added. Sam leaned back in his chair. “I love the idea of a ghost, it will keep things interesting and I’m going to live there, so maybe I can set up a camera and capture something.”
I set my wine glass down and played with it for a moment. “Live there?” I asked as my eyes moved to him.
He placed his hands behind his head and interlocked his fingers together. “Oh yeah, on that third floor? Totally. I love it.”
I set my fork down and looked at my half eaten meal on my plate. “We should all get readings, tonight. Do you think that she’s open?”
My mom nodded and poured some more wine into her glass. She gently shook the bottle in Sam’s direction and he held his hand up, declining her offer to give him more. She spoke with some enthusiasm in her voice. “I think she stays open until ten, sometimes later, depending on her clientele. With the festival wrapping up she is probably getting some pretty good traffic. And, we are going into fall soon, Halloween is always busy.”
I took one more sip and then sat my glass down on the table. “Why didn’t you mention her to me before, Mom?”
Mom sighed, she leaned back in her chair. “I thought that maybe I was crazy enough for you already, tossing in my medium may have tipped the boat.”
I laughed. “You give me so little credit, I find this stuff fascinating.”
She took a large drink of her wine. She sat the glass down on the table in front of her and studied it for a quick second. “Well, let’s go then.”
I stood up, along with my mom as Sam remained seated. I looked at him and tapped the top of the table.
“Come on, it’ll be fun.”
“Nah, I’m going to skip it if that’s okay.”
I smiled, placing a hand on my hip. My head cocked to one side. It wasn’t like Sam to turn down something like this, especially when I knew that he loved anything supernatural.
“Scared?”
He stood up and stretched his arms out to his sides. “No, I have a date, on Skype.”
“Oh?” I glanced at my mom. She winked at me. “A date, huh? What is Skype?” she asked.
I reached out and grabbed the top of my chair. “I told you what it was. I wanted to talk to you like that when I went to New York, but you wanted to talk on the phone, since you seem to be on a technology strike.”
She sighed and waved a hand. “Oh, that video stuff? Yeah, I can do without it. I mean, I would have to do my hair and all of that,” she paused and looked over at Sam, “and honestly, before Abi came home this time, I never wore any clothes in the house.”
I coughed, quickly tapping my chest a couple of times. Sam lowered his arms. “Okay, that’s my cue to go.” He snapped his fingers and pointed in the direction of the front door.
I laughed while I walked with him. He stopped and turned back to face me. I reached over into the oversized red bowl that sat on the long table against the wall. I snatched up two fortune cookies and held them in my hands.
“Date, huh?”
“Yeah, kind of.”
I handed him a fortune cookie and he started to unwrap the plastic. “Mind if I ask with who?”
“Well, I took your advice and tracked Chloe down, come to find out she isn’t seeing anyone and she was genuinely apologetic. It was weird.”
I smiled, touching him on the arm. “That’s awesome.”
He cracked it open and pulled out the small piece of white paper. He popped half of the cookie into his mouth and chewed on it. “Well, don’t book the reception hall yet, I’m just talking to her. She’s in Chicago right now. She works there, campaigning ads.”
I started to unwrap my cookie. “So she does what I went to school for?”
“Sort of,” he shrugged his shoulders. “She is more of a salesman. She doesn’t deal with the promotional side. Just sales.” He held up his fortune and started to read it.
“Well, keep her in mind when we expand like the evil empire that we will become,” I said.
He gave me a once over. “I’m totally not a Sith Lord, Abi, although I have to wonder about you sometimes.” He turned his small white piece of paper toward me and I leaned in to re
ad it.
“Man!” He dodged me as I took a swipe at him. “I’m totally a Jedi, if anything, Jedi all the way.”
He nodded, taking too long to agree with me. “Don’t make me regret going into business with you, Sam.”
He laughed. “Alright, Jedi Master.”
“That’s better.”
I narrowed my eyes and read his fortune. “Love is not for the weak of heart.”
I looked up at him. “Well, that’s ominous.”
He turned it in his hand so that he could read it. He laughed and then he looked at the one in my hand. “Open it, Abi.”
I pulled the fortune out and read it. I looked back up at him and shook my head. He took it from me and read it out loud. “Life is not a mystery to be solved, but a reality to be experienced—in bed.”
“What?” I said loudly. I took it back from him and read it as I laughed.
“You have to add in bed at the end of all of them, trust me, it makes it so much better.”
I lowered the fortune in my hand and laughed at him. “Shut up, Sam.”
He lifted his fortune up and read it to me. “Like mine—Love is not for the weak of heart—in bed.” he grinned. “See? That’s dead on.”
I lightly smacked him on the arm as I continued to laugh.
He looked at the large black watch on his wrist. “Oh man, I gotta go, but have fun with the medium thing.”
“I’ll talk to you this weekend, okay? We need to plan our world domination.”
He waved back at me while he jogged down the steps and away from the house. “World domination, got it!” he yelled back to me.
I stood at the door, raising my arm above my head and tapped my fingers on the frame a few times. I turned back and yelled out with fear. My mom stood right before me. I grabbed my chest.
She laughed. “Oh, sorry. You need to stop being so jumpy, Abi.”
“You have to stop doing that ninja crap, Mom.”
She karate chopped the air in front of me. I shook my head. “No—that’s—never mind.”
We left the house to go get a tarot card reading together. It was something that I never imagined that we would do, not in a million years.
