by Judy Baer
Or, I mused, as I threw the last of the bedding into the dryer, maybe the video game meant nothing. Maybe it was Bryce I should be thinking about.
And the proverbial lightbulb came on in my head.
Although Nick hadn’t gotten back to me yet on Bryce’s legal status, that didn’t stop me from walking to the Toy Store.
Bryce was alone in the back room playing, what else? a video game.
“Your mom or dad around?”
“Dad will be back in a minute. He went to get a haircut at Belles & Beaus.” The boy looked at me curiously. He’s an odd combination of vulnerable and tough, rude and thoughtful. “Do you want something?”
“Actually, I want to talk to you. You’ve been working at the store a lot lately.”
“Kept under my parents’ thumbs, you mean?” A flash of anger sparked in his eyes. “I didn’t do anything. I didn’t mess with the mail or the garbage or any of that stuff, but no one will believe me.”
I felt a flicker of sympathy for him. We’re in similar situations, Bryce and I. I didn’t mess with Connor but nobody believes me, either.
“Auntie Lou has faith in you. I told her what happened and she says she doesn’t think you’d do that kind of thing.”
“Really? She’s a cool old lady.”
“That she is. She seems to like you.” Cool old lady is high praise from a boy wearing more chains than a prison gang.
“She lets me play her pinball machine. I wish her store wasn’t closed. Is she going to open it again soon?”
“She’d like to get downstairs for a couple hours every day, but I don’t want her hiking up and down the stairs from her apartment to the store. I’ve got an idea that might work, but I’ll need your help.”
“Mine?”
“There’s an old freight elevator in the building. If Auntie Lou could ride up and down stairs in that, she could at least sit in a rocker and mind the store awhile. If you’d help me, we can make it happen.”
He looked disbelieving.
I was skeptical myself. Today his hair was tipped a magenta color that matched a fire-breathing transformer-type creature on his T-shirt.
“I can’t work the elevator alone,” I continued. “I’m not strong enough. Besides, I can’t run back and forth all day making sure she’s okay. I thought perhaps I could hire you to put her in the elevator, take her down to the shop and play pinball for a couple hours while she visits with customers. Then you could take her upstairs again. She can’t pay you much, but…”
“Play pinball and hang out with Lou?” There was genuine excitement in the boy’s voice. “You don’t have to pay me to do that!”
And that was how a potential juvenile delinquent, a lady so old she insists that her first church was in the catacombs and I came to be working the freight elevator at Auntie Lou’s Antiques.
Lou clapped her hands together as Bryce and I wrestled the elevator to a stop and opened the door. Then she grabbed my hands and held them so tightly that I made a note to tell the physical therapist that Lou had gotten her strength back.
“Norah, you don’t know what this means to me.”
“I’m sure it feels good to be back here. Look, Silas is happy, too.” The big cat shot out of the elevator and headed for his favorite rocker.
“Without you, Norah, I might never have seen my shop again.”
“I don’t think…”
“Child, you were the one who kept my hopes up. You were the one who promised to help me. God sent you to me. You’re my angel. I’ll never forget this.” Emotion crackled in her voice. Then she turned to Bryce. “And you’re helping her. You’re a good boy, aren’t you?”
Bryce looked as if that were a new concept for him. He likely hadn’t heard that said about himself for some time. I wonder how long it’s actually been since anyone truly trusted him. Maybe Lou and I are the naive ones and he’ll disappoint us, as well, but I don’t think so. Not after that crazy dream and all.
Friday night. Not long ago this would have been girls’ night out for Lilly and me. A movie, concert, play or sometimes shopping and a leisurely dinner. It never mattered because the point of the evening was to spend time together. Now Friday night is a long, torturous evening of popcorn, bad television and trimming Bentley’s toenails. How had I come to this?
I nearly jumped out of my chair when the doorbell rang and Bentley dived for the underside of the coffee table. Hoping against hope that Lilly had softened, I hurried to the door.
It wasn’t Lilly on the other side, but Connor, and he was carrying a dozen long-stemmed red roses.
“You shouldn’t have.” You really, really shouldn’t have.
“I wanted to.” Connor peered over my shoulder into my living room. “Is this a bad time?”
A terrible time, I wanted to scream, but my good Christian upbringing kicked in and I stepped aside. “It’s just me and the pets.”
He gave me that glazed look he does when I start to talk about my animals. I noticed it the first time he entered my shop and it’s never changed. He doesn’t seem to know what to do or say in the presence of all my critters. But he’s a sailor. Maybe he prefers fish.
I led the way to my kitchen where I put the roses in water. I buried my nose in one fragrant bloom and breathed deeply.
Connor, who’d taken the stool on the other side of the counter, smiled. “I’m glad you enjoy them.”
“I love them, but you can’t keep sending me things, Connor. It’s too much.”
“Nothing’s too much for you. I’d like to be able to give you everything.”
“Connor, we hardly know each other.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here tonight. I suggest we remedy that.”
My warning antennae set up a ruckus but I kept my mouth shut.
“I’m going to be going to Hawaii in a week or two.”
“How nice for you.”
“Have you ever been to Hawaii, Norah?”
“No. It’s on my to-do-someday list, though. Right up there with skiing in Switzerland.”
“Maybe you’d like to come with me.”
I stared at him bug-eyed. “With you? To Hawaii? I don’t do that sort of thing, Connor.”
“Not with me exactly, but as my guest. I know you better than that. My family has a hotel on the big island. You could stay there. The penthouse is at your disposal, the food is wonderful and the beaches are beyond belief. No strings attached.”
Oh no? There’s one huge string in here somewhere.
“We could sightsee and have dinner together when I’m not working and really get to know each other.”
There it was, that big string I was looking for.
“It doesn’t seem to be happening here, getting to know you, I mean. You’re always working or with your friends and now that the lady from the antique store has been ill, I’ve hardly seen you around.”
Good. My invisibility cloak has been working.
“I’m a straightforward, go-after-what-I-want kind of guy, Norah. And I want to get to know you better.”
“It’s a very flattering offer, Connor, but I can’t.” I felt Bentley scoot close to my feet, something he does when he needs reassurance—or when I do.
“Don’t answer yet. Give the idea a few days to digest.” He glanced at his watch. “I’m meeting some people for dinner in a half hour at Ziga’s, so I don’t have time to stay any longer, but I want you to give the idea some serious consideration.”
“I don’t accept huge gifts like that. I don’t leave my responsibilities like Lou, the store and my pets for long periods of time. I don’t travel with men across oceans—not usually even across town—and I don’t…”
He held up a hand and put his index finger to my lips. “I understand all that. It’s what I find so intriguing about you. You aren’t like the other women I know. I know there are women who’d probably say yes without even thinking it through. That’s not the kind of woman I’m interested in. Besides, as I’ve told you before, y
ou’re a challenge and I love a challenge.”
He shook his head when I tried to speak. “Think about it,” he said and he showed himself out the door.
It only took a millisecond to do that, of course. The worst part of this whole thing is that the more I say no, the more interesting I am to Connor. If I’d fallen at his feet the first time we met, we could probably have become friends. Because I don’t fall at anyone’s feet, except God’s, of course, I wasn’t all that eager to impress him. That, apparently, has made the chase all the more fun for Connor.
“Maybe I’m not giving him enough credit, Bentley,” I said. Someday I’m going to get a best friend with only two feet. “Maybe he really is interested in me, but I have a hunch that I’m more attractive to him because he’s not accustomed to being ignored by women. I’m probably the exception rather that the rule. He’s just like Lilly….”
Bentley whined and rolled to his side.
“That’s it, Bent, they’re two of a kind. He wants me because I’m not interested in him and Lilly wants him because he’s not interested in her. And somehow I got to be the third point on this ridiculous love triangle. Well, I wish they’d leave me out of it.”
Funny, I thought as I got ready for bed, all this had likely come about because Connor and Lilly couldn’t bear to fail at making a conquest. They were cut of the same cloth. No wonder they’d never get together. It would be far too much competition for one household to take.
Still, that didn’t help me figure out how to get out of this mess I found myself in.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nick walked into the Ark the following Friday in casual clothing and doing that habitual thing he does, jingling the change in his pocket. Although he tried to be discreet, I saw his eyes scan the kennels for canine inhabitants. The two tiny Yorkie puppies in the window apparently weren’t enough to keep him away. Dogs that grow up to weigh less than seven pounds soaking wet are, if not embraced, at least tolerated.
To my surprise, I felt tears forming in my eyes. Quickly, I swiped them away with the sleeve of my sweatshirt. His reaction to Bentley had put up a wall between us that seemed to be getting thicker—for me, at least. Ironic, isn’t it? I’ve always known I wouldn’t become involved with a man who didn’t share my faith. Never once did I think that it would be a dog that kept me from allowing myself to fall in love with Nick.
In love?
“Is something wrong? You just got really pale?” Nick put a hand out to me. “Do you need to sit down?”
That would be because I just saw Nick and thought “love” at the same moment.
“Norah?”
“No. I’m fine. Thanks.” Fine as one can be when one’s perspective on the world has just tilted onto its head.
He gazed down at his shoes. When he spoke again, his voice was so soft that I could barely hear him. “We didn’t part on very good terms the night I was at your house. I was hoping that we could talk about it.”
“Is there something to discuss?” Be still my heart. Just because he’s asking doesn’t mean we can come to terms. My terms include Bentley.
“Maybe not,” he admitted, “but it’s worth a shot.”
“My house?” I asked, knowing I was being nasty.
Now he paled. “No, mine would be fine. I’m off today. I’m going riding and then I’ll buy some seafood and make lobster quesadillas.”
“Tempting, but I think my place would be better.”
“Norah, I won’t…I can’t.”
“Then there isn’t much to discuss, is there?” I felt as though I were dissolving as I spoke.
Nick…me…Bentley. Another ridiculous love triangle.
He turned as if to leave, hesitated and swung back. “You’re being difficult about this.”
“No more so than you.”
“I told you I don’t like that dog….”
“And I told you that I love him. Besides, you don’t even know him.”
“I know the breed.”
“Bentley is no breed! He’s got more ingredients than a church casserole!”
“His body is pure pit bull.”
“And his face?” Bentley’s body and head have always looked as though they belonged to two different dogs
“Don’t do this, Norah.”
“Do what? Invite you to my home? Ask you to like the animals I like? Look at me, Nick? Where do I work?” I gestured around the room filled with birdcages, travel kennels, leashes, collars and food for every creature imaginable. “Have you considered that you might be the one being difficult?”
His jaw tightened, his eyes went blank and I saw something in him that made me realize why he’d been able to work in narcotics for all those years. If I’d been intent on doing something illegal, I’d want him working for, not against me. Then he lowered his head and when he lifted it again, the softness was back. Softness and sadness.
“We’ll eat outside.”
“I’ll set the table.”
“I’ll bring food.”
“I’ll make dessert.”
“Six o’clock?”
“Seven.”
When he left I wasn’t sure if we’d set up a date for dinner or a duel at dawn.
Annie walked into the shop at that moment carrying a flat, foil-wrapped box. The grin on her face was wide as a slice of watermelon.
“What have you got there? Something from your new boyfriend?”
“Something from somebody’s boyfriend.” She held the package out in front of her. “Chocolates! I’ve never seen a box so big. A delivery boy just brought them. Read the card, see who they’re from.”
“I have a bad feeling about this.” I tore open the small envelope.
Sweets for the sweet. Think seriously about Hawaii.
I crumpled the paper in my fist. “Take them, they’re yours.”
“Mine? I don’t think…” Then her eyes grew wise. “Connor again?”
“Who else?”
“I’m sorry, Norah, I figured Joe sent them.”
“It’s okay. Just get them out of here.”
“Can I share them?”
“Whatever. Just don’t let me see them.” Two months ago I would have given my eyeteeth for a beautiful box like that. I would have delighted in the fun of it. I would have been flattered. Today, I felt only annoyed with Connor’s persistence and exasperated with Lilly’s obtuseness and mistrust. What should have been harmless fun was now this event of huge significance, a phase I thought we’d all grown out of in high school.
I slapped the blank order I’d been vainly attempting to fill out onto the counter. “I’m going to see how Auntie Lou is doing. I’ll be back after a bit.” And I made the jump out of the frying pan into what was, hopefully, not the fire.
I heard the whooping and thumping long before I got to the open front door of the store.
“Get in there. Come on, baby, make it happen. Oh no!”
“Auntie Lou?”
She was off her rocker—literally, not figuratively—and standing in front of the pinball machine. Bryce was beside her, patting her on the back.
“You did really well for the first time. I can’t believe you’ve had this thing in here and never played it until now.” Bryce’s eyes were shining and there was so much of the eager little boy in his face that my heart melted.
“I never knew how much fun it was.” Lou patted his shoulder. “You keep playing. I’ll talk to Norah.”
We moved away from the clanging sound of the machine.
“Looks like you two are getting along.” Lou’s face was relaxed and happy. Even some of her wrinkles seemed softer.
“He makes me feel young again, that boy. Why, I’m not a day over sixty-five when I’m with him. It was a fine idea you had, asking him to help me.”
“He seemed to think so, too.”
“Whatever you’re paying him, you should give him a raise.”
“I agree. Especially since I’m not paying him anything.”
Lo
u’s eyebrow arched. “What?”
“He won’t take it. He says being here is fun and that he likes it better than being watched by his parents all the time. I’m thinking about putting money into a savings bond so at least he’ll have something later.”
“I can’t figure out why those parents of his fuss at him so much.” Lou scowled, a rather ferocious expression on her lined face.
“There’s been trouble….”
“He told me. I believe him. I don’t think he did anything wrong.”
“What about the stuff in your jewelry case?”
“If he’d wanted things from here, he could have been taking something home every day. I wouldn’t have noticed.”
She has a point but there’s still no getting around the vandalism that had occurred. I only hope I haven’t brought that vandal into Lou’s life.
Then I looked at Bryce. He is a different kid here, playful and childlike. It is as though he and Lou are healing each other somehow. Far be it from me to stop the only positive thing I’d seen happening lately on Pond Street.
I walked back to the store to find Lilly coming at me, eyes blazing. “‘I’m not interested in Connor. There’s nothing between us.’ Isn’t that what you told me? Hah!”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why is he sending you a huge box of candy if there’s not something between you?”
Annie. I’d sent Annie off with the candy and no instruction not to tell anyone from where it had come.
Now what, Lord? I petitioned silently. That’s been my frequent prayer of late. I’m walking in the dark with every step I take and pleading that He’ll shine a light on enough of my path so I don’t trip and fall on my face.
Lilly stood there glaring at me. I knew with certainty that our friendship, fragile as glass right now, was either going to be shattered or strengthened by what I said and did next.
As I watched her the scales fell from my eyes. I saw not the stylish, worldly wise woman I knew Lilly to be, but the little girl she’d once been—unsure, eager to please, hungry for affirmation. There, I realized, was my answer, and there was no way to handle this but with the difficult truth.
