Evan smirked. “I’m usually free in the afternoons for consultations.”
Evan saw the expression on Shadow’s face change from appreciation to utter disgust.
She shook her head and tried to hide the wide smile that only seemed to set in deeper every second. “I can’t believe I let you pull one over me,” she said.
Evan laughed. “But seriously, I can find someone for you who will do a better job than I can.”
“I would appreciate that.”
His eyes moved to her laptop with a pen and paper sitting beside it. “Let me guess. You brought work home with you.”
Shadow looked over her shoulder and responded, “I’m working on a nursery for a new client and the specifics are killing me.”
“What are the specifics?”
“They only want to use pearl white and gold as for their colors. So basically all the furniture is going to be white along with some other gold furnishings, like photo frames, and curtain railings. I’m thinking of a gold ceiling, which will make the room pop, and make the bottom trim gold too. It’ll be different but unique, but the main issue I’m having is creating an efficient closet. That’s what I’m stuck on right now.”
Evan crouched to eye level and examined the sketches on the screen.
“Do you mind if I move some things around here?” He looked up at Shadow for approval.
“Be my guest.”
She watched as Evan scrolled over to the closet and cleared her layout. Within minutes, she was looking at something completely different. Something even she wouldn’t have thought of. Evan placed an island in the middle of the closet because it was big enough. He removed most the shelves and replaced them with two closet rails, making more room to hang clothes. On top he placed a board for storage and added built-in drawers on the bottom that lined the entire closet.
He gazed over at her, pursing his lips. “What do you think about that?”
Shadow was left speechless. She didn’t want to admit it but Evan was a better interior designer than she. “How did you—how did you do that?”
“I just moved the mouse around and clicked here and there.”
She placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. She tried hard to muster her laugh, but failed. “You just know how to do everything, don’t you?”
He chuckled as he rose, meeting her eyes. It was at this instant when he realized he’d never seen anyone so exotic and beautiful. Her eyes twinkled as she peered into his. Then all of the sudden he forgot the English language. There was a moment of silence. What he was about to do next took him by surprise. “Would you like to grab a cup of coffee sometime—or dinner?”
Suddenly he felt his confidence shatter into pieces. The worst that could happen was she’d reject him and then he’d have to give the awkward wave and smile every time they’d run into each other. Now, he’d wished he’d just kept his mouth shut. But, he had the feeling she liked him too. Then, there was a chance that he was wrong and Shadow was just being a nice host, a good neighbor. He looked away for a second, not trying to look too desperate or eager for a response.
Then she responded. “Yeah, I would love that.”
The corners of his eyes crinkled as a smirk appeared across his face.
“How about sometime this week?”
“How about this Friday?” she said, maintaining eye contact. “I get off at 5:00.” She slid her hands in her back pocket as they started toward the front door.
“Perfect. I’ll pick you up at 5:30 then.”
He smiled and reached for the knob.
Once he opened the door, the cold air crawled in. As he walked across the lawn, he turned back and waved.
Shadow waved back and closed the door behind her, feeling ecstatic. He had the ability to make her forget all about her worries and problems. She headed back to the kitchen table, and carefully looked over at the nursery. Evan left her amazed by how quick he’d changed the closet.
Shadow stared at her computer with a grin, putting the project on the back burner as Mr. Jingles sat and watched. She bit her lip as she thought about Evan and dinner Friday night. But before she could fantasize any further about her handsome next-door neighbor, she was disrupted by a knock at the door. Without a second thought, she quickly sprinted to the door.
When she opened the door, there stood Marvin with a devious smirk appearing across his face. As always, he was dressed in a suit and a tie.
Chapter 13
Shadow,” he said with a malicious smile. Before Shadow could react, Marvin welcomed himself in, eyeing Mr. Jingles.
“What are you doing here?” She shut the door behind her, knowing she was powerless when he was around. Though she stood her ground, making sure it was obvious she was not going to take any orders from him.
“I see you’ve met your neighbor, Evan Storm.” He paused for a moment, looking around the place, as if something was missing. “How come you haven’t hung up any of our pictures, darling?”
Marvin knew exactly how to enrage Shadow and it worked.
She clenched her jaw, holding back the scream she had been wanting to let out the last time he came waltzing in.
“Why are you here?” she repeated, this time raising her voice.
Marvin ignored her question and made his way to the kitchen. The only choice Shadow had was to follow him. At this point, she wanted to strangle him. She imagined choking him until his face turned blue, but next to Marvin, she was a puny woman.
“It’s funny how both of our jobs require us to work with clients,” he said as he looked at the laptop screen. “Is your client a pain in the ass as well?”
“No. My clients are a delight to work with,” she said, pulling her hair back, feeling her anxiety rise.
Marvin examined the walls—all empty. “How come your house is so plain? There’s no personality here. It doesn’t feel like a home.”
Shadow crossed her arms at her chest, rolling her eyes.
“What do you want from me, Marvin?”
“What do I want from you,” he said, thinking out loud. “What do…I…want…from…you… Now that’s a question with a variety of answers, don’t you think?”
“You’re a very complicated person. So, yeah, I would think so.”
“You need to come back to Pool View with me,” he said, pacing back and forth, his head lowered. “We will get married. Mother will take care of all the arrangements, invitations, so on and so forth. Then we can start our family.”
She cringed. “I’m not going back!”
“What was that?” He arched his face in Shadow’s direction. His pupils dilated with rage.
“I said I’m not going back and there’s no way in hell I’m gonna get married to you.”
“Oh is that so, Shadow?”
Shadow stood with her arms crossed at her chest. She glared at Marvin with fear still instilled in her. “There’s going to be no wedding. I’m not moving to Pool View. This is my home now and I’m not leaving.”
Marvin shrugged. “Okay, if you say so. But let me make something clear,” he said, slowly walking to Shadow with his hands in his pockets. “If you continue to stay here in this dump you call your new life, you will find yourself struggling to breathe. You’re going to come crawling back to me because this place is only going to remind you of all the horrible memories. Evan, on the other hand, is going to wish he was never born.”
Shadow’s eyebrows furrowed, disgusted at hearing how pathetic Marvin was. His obsession with her had hit a new low.
“I’m not scared of your threats anymore, Marvin. You don’t scare me.”
“Well, it certainly seems like someone has been brushing up on their bravery skills.” He chuckled, scratching the tip of his nose. Marvin’s eyes lingered over to the couch, slowly bringing back his attention to Shadow. “I would rethink about getting cozy
with your new neighbor, since it will not last too long.”
Shadow marched over to Marvin, close enough to hear him exhale. “Get out of my house,” she hissed through gritted teeth.
“It will be my pleasure,” he whispered. “I hope you consider my offer, otherwise your life is going to become much more difficult, starting from this moment onward.” He glared at Shadow with sincerity and continued, “I’m the only one who can give you a peaceful life.”
Every fiber in Marvin’s body wanted to drag Shadow out by the hair. He clenched his fist and resisted the urge to hurt her. With nothing else left to say, Marvin let himself out, with pride in his walk.
Shadow was left standing in the kitchen, trying to grasp what just happened. Just a few moments ago, she was merely enjoying Evan’s company, and within moments, that memory was tarnished by Marvin’s visit.
She slowly proceeded to take a seat. Everything was starting to hit her. Marvin was right. He would do anything in his power to tear her apart. He made people want to end their own lives—this is what he did for a living. And he would make Shadow surrender, which would be a piece of cake. He had his tactics and ways of getting Shadow to fall apart.
Deep down, Shadow knew the end was near. She could choose to put up a fight, and fail in the end, or she could just pick up and move back to Pool View.
Marvin would go to great lengths to send her a message if she didn’t obey his orders, and now Evan would be caught in the middle of this.
Shadow folded her arms on the table and put her head down. Why is this happening to me? she asked herself. What did I do to deserve this?
Angry and frustrated, all she wanted to do was scream at the top of her lungs and for someone to come in and save her. Save her from the grueling living nightmare she was facing. That’s what she needed. She needed saving. But there was no one she could turn to for help. She was all alone, and the thought brought tears to her eyes.
***
Later that evening, Mr. Brar wheeled his way out onto the porch to get some fresh air. He was bundled up in a scarf and a sweater. It wasn’t as frigid as it was the day before but he didn’t want to risk catching a cold. He examined the neighborhood. He was well aware of every person who walked down Knight’s Drive, and he knew the type that sparked a red flag. Earlier, he’d seen a man driving an ice cream truck up and down the street, which he noted. It made Mr. Brar chuckle because he’d known exactly what time the ice cream truck came around the neighborhood. It certainly wasn’t around this time of the day. It was obvious an agent down at the SEA didn’t do a splendid job in hiring a second floor agent to do field work.
***
Evan walked out into his front yard with a cold beer to get some fresh air before heading back inside. He’d showered and changed into a clean pair of clothes after working on the garden for the past few hours. The only thing that was on his mind was Shadow. Her presence occupied a huge chunk of his mind. It seemed as if nothing else mattered. The essays sat in his office yet to be graded.
The cool breeze brushed against his face, making him feel refreshed. He observed, seeing no one in sight until he looked to his left and spotted Mr. Brar sitting on the porch, deep in concentration. He took a sip as he tracked across the grass. “How’s it going, Mr. Brar?”
Mr. Brar responded without breaking his focus. “I stepped out to get some fresh air, son. How was your evening?”
“Oh, it was an interesting one,” Evan replied, cracking his neck as he trudged up Mr. Brar’s porch steps. He stood in front of the porch with one foot on the step. “I met the new neighbor.”
That caught Mr. Brar’s attention. He craned his neck sideways, looking down at Evan. “You did?”
“Yup,” he said, lifting the tip of the bottle to his lips.
The conversation Mr. Brar had with Bruce lingered in the back of his mind. “What are they like?”
“She is…very unique,” he said. The corners of his mouth turned upward as he took another sip.
“Unique? How so?” he asked, scanning the streets subtly with his eyes. He noticed something particular at the corner of the street.
“I don’t think I can explain it.”
Mr. Brar did a once-over at Evan before looking out at the street again. He didn’t know the backstory of the new neighbor, but he was skeptical. “Son, is it safe to assume you’re becoming fond of this new woman?”
A corner of his mouth lifted. “I am.”
Mr. Brar pondered on Evan’s response for a bit. Something didn’t sit well with Mr. Brar. There wasn’t much he could do or prevent from happening, but he’d hoped Bruce was getting to the bottom of this. He saw Evan grow up, attended his graduations and the birthday parties Venice threw for him before he’d become too old for party hats and balloons. He couldn’t bear the thought of the SEA getting their dirty hands on Evan.
“I should get going. I need to get up early and work on the garden.”
“How’s the garden coming along, anyway?” he asked, peering up at Evan.
“Let’s just say that I’m making progress.” He chuckled.
“As long as you’re keeping yourself busy, son.”
Evan smiled. “Have a good night, Mr. Brar. You should go inside too. It’s chilly out here.”
Evan started to make his way over to his home.
Mr. Brar waved at Evan and replied, “I will, in a bit.”
Mr. Brar sat in his wheelchair and pretended he didn’t notice the man who’d been shuffling behind the trees in the corner of the street.
Mr. Brar worried about Evan just as much as Venice and Bruce did. He knew what happened to those who became an agent’s target. Some were brutally murdered while others were often left with the thoughts of suicide because it felt like the only solution.
Evan was certainly in danger.
***
The rest of the week seemed to drag by for Evan. He had a lot to think of.
Venice stopped by the following afternoon as he was working on the garden. To his surprise, she did share why she was so reluctant about Evan getting involved with Shadow. However, because Evan knew there was a chance Venice’s vision could be wrong, he didn’t take it seriously.
Venice, on the other hand, knew her vision was no mistake. What was going to take place in the near future scared her to death and Evan, who’d become optimistic, argued that nothing was going to happen. She’d given him the statistics of her visions that said so otherwise. Still, Evan blew off Venice, telling her there was a good chance she was wrong. Venice knew the only way to convince Evan was to tell him about Bruce, which she knew she couldn’t do.
A little part of him was blind to the fact that Venice’s vision could in fact be true. Evan had tunnel vision when it came to Shadow.
Evan analyzed his backyard with a beer in hand. He looked around, shaking his head. What in the world was I thinking? he thought. To think I could do this all on my own. His renovation included a bridge under a manmade stream, which flowed from a waterfall. He shook his head again in disbelief, thinking how much he’d underestimated himself. He chuckled as he stepped back into the kitchen.
He set his beer beside the gardening magazine he’d picked up before he started the entire project. He flipped through the pages wishing he hired someone to do the job. It became somewhat of a headache but kept him busy through the vacation.
The magazine made it look so easy. After digging up the place, he’d realized how big the responsibility was going to be. The maintenance to keep his garden fresh and clean was going to take a lot of work. He could hire a gardener to come in every week to cut the grass, clean the pond, and water the plants but from what he remembered, his mother did everything on her own. She took care of the garden. So why couldn’t he?
He stood and weighed out each scenario.
He sighed, realizing he had imagined something so brilliant and
peaceful but truth be told, this project wasn’t cut out for a single person. At this point, he was considering just throwing cement all over in the backyard and calling it a day. Evan was determined to finish what he started except it was going to be a lot simpler than his initial idea.
He took another sip of his beer.
The grocery list posted on the refrigerator caught his eye. He moseyed his way over, snatching the list from underneath the green round magnet.
He’d compiled a list of things he’d run out of over the past couple of days. He let out an exasperated sigh. He hated grocery shopping to say the least. The long lines, items no longer in stock, chasing down an employee to find where the eggs were, or not being able to find an employee to begin with—it became a whole ordeal.
Just the trip to the Grand Foods Market in the central business district itself was a whole other story. The city couldn’t have picked a better route to place stoplights, one after another. Every seven seconds, Evan found himself parked at another stoplight.
After changing into clean clothes and searching for his keys, he headed out of the house.
As he drove down Knight’s Drive, the black SUV followed.
***
Venice awaited Denise’s arrival at Bernie’s coffee shop. Venice insisted on going to the fine Italian restaurant, Niki’s, for dinner, but knowing how booked it would be, Denise opted for a less packed place to discuss some of the important things that were on her mind.
Venice studied the people who came in to grab a cup of coffee after work. Each and every one of them was facing some kind of problem—home, work, relationship problems, not making ends meet, late on the rent—everyone had something eating away at them. Some of them knew how to handle their issues better than most.
Not too long after, Venice spotted Denise navigating her way toward the table.
“Hello, darlin’,” she said, studying Denise’s demeanor.
“Hi, Grandma.” It almost seemed as if she was forcing the words out. “How’ve you been?” she asked as she removed her coat.
STORM: IT'S A CURSE TO REMEMBER Page 13
