Reading through so many documents had left my eyes dry and gritty, and I wanted to splash a little cold water on my face. I leaned back, rubbed my eyes, and stretched until my back popped. “Where’s the bathroom?” I asked Val.
Val looked up from a box full of ski bibs and motioned in the general direction I needed to go. “Use the one in the back of the storage room.”
I hopped from my stool and headed through a set of swinging doors into a storeroom littered with boxes. Merchandise spilled off the shelves. I lurched over and around the disorder, an inventory obstacle course, until I reached the bathroom in the back corner. On my return trip, I kicked over a box of D-rings and spilled them across the floor. I cursed and knelt to gather them up.
At my family’s bakery, we kept our storerooms and kitchen immaculate. Our sanitation grade depended on our efforts. The Thorin Adventure Outfitters’ stockroom defiled every one of my sensibilities about storage and orderliness. I peeked through the swinging doors; a couple of customers interested in climbing harnesses had occupied Val’s attention. I glanced over at the counter where my computer waited and blanched at the thought of reading more documents. My brain felt overloaded and ready to blow. I needed to process, and organizing the stockroom would keep my hands busy while my brain digested the glut of information I had stuffed in it.
In one hour, I made more progress organizing the store’s inventory than I had made in getting rid of Mani’s things over the past couple of days. Making decisions about water bottles and dehydrated meals presented far less trouble than decisions about my brother’s collection of British punk rock vinyl. I lost myself in the work and didn’t notice anyone had come into the room until he spoke.
“Miss Mundy, I’d ask what you thought you were doing, but I think it’s apparent.”
I sprang up from where I knelt among a pile of mismatched thermal underwear and spun around to find Aleksander Thorin smirking at me. “I’m organizing,” I said.
“Obviously.” Thorin’s eyes skimmed over the shelves and growing floor space, and then he looked at me. “Did Val put you up to this?”
I blew several loose hairs out of my eyes. “Hardly. I came back here to use the bathroom and almost killed myself trying to get past this stuff. I hope you don’t mind.”
Thorin shook his head. “I’ve been trying to get the staff to do this for months.”
“I thought you were the big bad Boss Man.” Thorin’s presence roused my defense mechanisms, and sarcasm was one of my standard shields. “Don’t they bow at your feet?”
He ignored my derision and stepped further into the room. “Why are you here, exactly?”
I shrugged. “Val asked me to keep him company, and I was happy to get away from Mani’s place for a while.”
“Are you looking for a job, Miss Mundy?”
His non sequitur knocked me off guard. “What?”
“Most people don’t clean stockrooms for the fun of it.”
I shook my head and waved him off. “I have plenty of work waiting for me back home.”
“Which you’ll be going back to… when?”
I squinted at him, trying to decide whether he did the condescending thing on purpose. “Four more days. Can’t wait to get rid of me, huh?”
Thorin put his hands out at his sides, open, apologetic. “We keep getting off to a bad start, Miss Mundy.”
“It would help if you didn’t keep calling me ‘Miss Mundy.’”
Thorin grinned like a cat grins at a mouse. “I’m only trying to be polite.”
“Really?” I said. “Maybe you should try harder.”
Thorin’s smile broadened, showing genuine humor for the first time. “If you change your mind about the job offer, let me know. I think you’d fit in around here.”
I rolled my eyes but smiled back at him. “I wouldn’t hold my breath.”
The door swung open, and Val stepped into the stockroom. He stopped short upon finding me organizing inventory in the presence of his employer. “Uh, hey, Thorin, what’s up?”
“I was complimenting Miss Mundy’s initiative. She’s done a great job organizing our mess.”
Val’s gaze roamed around the room before settling on me. “I was wondering what happened to you.”
I shrugged. “I needed a distraction.”
“What about those police files?”
I looked at Thorin, who showed interest, but I didn’t want to discuss my activities with either of them, so I changed the subject. “Is your shift over yet? I’m hungry.”
Val chuckled. “Sure, Skyla just showed up. We can go over to The Pits.”
I wrinkled my nose. “We can?”
“What’s wrong with Pits?”
Before I could form a defense, Thorin pulled out his wallet and handed a crisp bill to Val. I couldn’t tell what denomination. “Take her somewhere nice,” Thorin said. “She’s too good for Pits.”
I could have taken that so many ways, but it didn’t sound as though Thorin meant his comment as a slight against my character. I preferred not to take his money, though, compliment or not. “No, The Pits is fine. I don’t want your money.”
“Be quiet,” Val said. “I want his money, and I’m not too proud to take it.” He slipped the bill into his pocket and held his hand out for me.
“What about this stuff?” I asked, motioning to the stockroom.
“Come back and finish it tomorrow,” Thorin said. “Whether you want my money or not, I’ll pay you for your time. It would be a favor to me.”
“A favor?”
He raised his hands in mock surrender. “Really. I mean it.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t strike me as the kind of guy who needs a lot of favors.”
Thorin chuckled, but said nothing else as Val took my hand and tugged me out of the storage room and back into the store. Skyla stood behind the counter, thumbing through a magazine. She looked up and winked at me. “Hey, Mundy.”
“Hey, Skyla,” I said, studying her through the filter of information I had learned about her in Mani’s journal. He was right—she did have a nice smile. “You working late tonight?”
She shrugged. “Store closes at 9:00. That’s not so late. Sun’s barely setting by then.”
“Do you usually work the closing shift?”
Her brows furrowed, and she probably wondered about my sudden interest in her work schedule. “Just tonight. Tomorrow I have the afternoon shift.”
I started to say something else, but Val tugged on my hand. “Sorry to interrupt, but my stomach’s growling.” He patted his stomach for emphasis.
Skyla motioned to Val. “Look, Mundy, you be careful with him. He’s a heartbreaker.”
“Hey,” Val objected. “Just because I’ve never asked you out.”
“Puh-leeze,” Skyla said. “Like you would ever have the balls.” Skyla leveled her gaze at him. “Be good to her, Wotan. I know where you sleep at night.”
Val’s lips split into a suggestive grin. “Who says I’ll be sleeping?”
Chapter Six
After dinner, Val drove me to the apartment and walked me to the door. As I slid my key into the lock, I debated whether to invite him in. I was in the mood for conversation and companionship, but Val might have interpreted it as an invitation for something more. I turned to say something that would clarify my intentions, but then I caught sight of a pair of yellow eyes gleaming in the woods at the parking lot’s opposite edge.
“What is it?” Val asked when he noticed that something had stolen my attention from him.
“Look over there,” I whispered, motioning with my eyes.
“What? I don’t see anything.”
“I think it’s a dog.”
Val stepped closer, putting himself between me and the parking lot. “Seems kind of big for a dog. Looks more like a wolf.”
“Mani was trying to make friends with a skittish dog right before, well, you know. I think that might be it.”
“Why wou
ld he still be coming around here? Mani’s been gone for a while.”
“I don’t know.” I took a step back. The dog noticed my movement and hunkered low in the shadows. He was bigger than I expected. Much bigger. My heart thudded, bass drum beats, an animal fear response to something my higher brain wanted to dismiss as improbable.
“Don’t mess with it, Solina.” Val stepped closer, trapping me between his big frame and the doorway. “It might have rabies or something.”
“I’m not going to mess with him. He seriously freaks me out.”
“Don’t worry,” Val said, grinning. “I’ll protect you. Don’t you know I’m an expert at defense against wild animals?”
“Did you bring your big gun?” I said and immediately regretted it. A statement like that provided too much opportunity for Val to think of creative innuendo. I changed the subject before he could say anything to make the moment awkward or uncomfortable. “Thanks for dinner, Val, or maybe I should thank Thorin.”
Val pouted. “Is it more important who paid for it, or who provided the company?”
“The company was superb.”
“Was? Is it over already? Don’t I at least get a goodnight kiss?”
Some of the greatest tragedies have started with a kiss. Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Christ and Judas. Okay, maybe that last one was a stretch. I reminded myself I was supposed to be taking some chances, engaging in the world. “A kiss,” I said. “Then you’re going home, and I’m going to bed.”
A low growl rumbled in Val’s chest, and it sent my heart racing. “Dream of me?”
I didn’t get a chance to answer before Val pulled me in and pressed his lips over mine. A twinge of heat shot through me, but as I gave myself over to pleasure, a brief image seared across the backs of my eyes. I yelped and stumbled away.
“Solina?” Val reached for me, but I was unable to make sense of him. I saw the wolf in my dreams, snapping and growling as he tore into flesh. Val took me by the shoulders, giving me a gentle shake, and the vision faded. “What happened?”
“I-I don’t—a headache.”
“A headache?” Val sounded doubtful. “Come on, let’s get you inside, and I’ll get something to make you feel better.”
Val played doctor, doling out aspirin, making a cool compress for my forehead, and tucking blankets around me on the couch. “I don’t feel good about leaving you,” he said.
“And I don’t feel like having company.”
Val narrowed his eyes and shot me a dark look. “I’m not just company.”
“Don’t be so sensitive.”
Val crossed his arms over his chest. “Solina.”
I could play that game, too. “Val.”
He exhaled and shook his head. “You and Mani might not look a thing alike, but you two sure were made from the same stubborn genes.”
I closed my eyes and relaxed against the pile of pillows. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Good night, Val. Call me in the morning, okay?”
Val grumbled something, and the rustle of his footsteps signaled his approach. His scent, earthy and warm, filled my nose as he leaned toward me. Val’s lips brushed over my forehead, leaving behind a tingle like Tiger Balm. The door clicked softly behind him as he let himself out.
This time my subconscious gave me a reprieve from the usual nightmare. Instead of snarling beasts, my imagination constructed a lovely world of light and warmth.
In my dream, a tendril of sweat trickled from my hairline, down my neck, and traveled the gully of my spine while a tepid breeze blew across my damp skin. Growing up in the south, I developed an affinity for heat and sunlight, a narcotic-like dependence, really. Sunshine is my drug of choice.
Mani merely tolerated the summer and wilted like spring lettuce the moment he stepped out-of-doors. He thrived on snow and blustery winter days. Mani and I grew up in the Appalachian foot hills. We knew about snow, but we knew a lot more about ice, and it was nothing like the Great White North. Alaska had proved Mani’s ideal environment.
I drifted for a long time in the dream, content to idle in hazy comfort, but a distant clatter of hooves called me from my trance. A shadow on the horizon grew as it neared and took on shape and color. A familiar man—someone whose name I should have known—stood at the helm of a chariot, clutching the reins in his fists. As he approached, he called out to me: “Hurry, Sol. We must run or he will catch you.”
When the chariot was almost upon me, the driver tugged on the reins and ordered the horses to a halt. The horses’ muscles flexed, their sides bulged, and they heaved explosive breaths as they struggled to stop their forward momentum. Their delicate golden hooves stabbed the ground, fighting for traction. The driver leaned down and threw his hand out to me. “Come with me.”
“Who’s chasing us?” I asked, looking around for signs of a predator.
He stretched closer, urgency radiating from him. “Please, we must go.”
I took his hand, and he pulled me into the chariot beside him. He flicked the reins, and the horses strained against their harness. We leapt forward, racing faster and faster until the world dropped away beneath us. We roared across the expanse of outer space, and Earth and the moon spun as the axis of our orbit.
And then I woke up.
Chapter Seven
Nisha Hemmings had offered to show me the places in town that might take some of Mani’s things, and I planned to ask her to uphold that offer if she had the time to spare. Her puffy eyes and rumpled pajamas hinted she had been asleep when I first knocked on her door, but when I told her why I’d come, she smiled and bounced on her toes. “Just let me throw something on,” she said before meeting me a few minutes later in the parking lot.
Nisha helped me load several boxes and garbage bags into the back of Mani’s 4Runner, and then she pointed the way toward our first stop. I fiddled with the stereo system, pushing buttons to turn off the radio and bring up the CD player. Stevie Ray Vaughn’s guitar twanged over the speakers, and I realized the last thing Mani had listened to was “Say What!” A bubble of grief stuck in my throat. The strangest and smallest things extracted the strongest emotional responses.
Nisha must have sensed my distress; she sat quietly in the passenger seat until we approached an intersection. “Take a right here,” she said. “It’s about a block down. You’ll have to pull into the parking lot in the back.” I followed her directions, and she pointed out the consignment shop.
“Thanks for coming with me,” I said after I found my voice again.
“It’s no biggie. I was just going to sit around in my PJs, eat some Captain Crunch, and play video games until it was time to go to work.”
Nisha helped me lug in boxes of jeans, sweaters, suits, and coats. After we carried in the last load, the stylish saleslady came over to greet us. “Oooh,” she said and clasped her hands together over her heart. Her eyes widened as she surveyed our abundant offering. “What did you bring me?” She reached in a box, pulled out a heavy parka, and turned it around, inspecting it for wear and tear.
I explained the situation, and she patted my hand. “I understand, move out and move on. Did you want to consign them or sell them flat out? You might get more if you consign them, but I think you probably want to just be finished with it.”
“I’m not really here for the money,” I said. “I just want to get rid of a few things.”
“Don’t say that,” Nisha hissed, and she tugged me aside, out of the sales clerk’s hearing.
“Say what?”
“Don’t say you don’t need the money. You’ve got to wheel and deal in these places.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think I have the energy for all of that.”
“Well, I do. Leave it to me. You go sit, or shop, or whatever. I’ll go through this stuff and get you the best price.”
After successful sales at the consignment store and a nearby used-book dealer who drooled over Mani’s music collection, I treated Nisha to lunch and then dropped her off at he
r apartment.
“You’re not coming in?” she asked when I pulled to the curb instead of stopping in a parking place.
“No, I started on a project yesterday I need to finish.”
“Well, call me if you need more help or want to hang out.”
“Thanks, Nisha. I’ll see you later.”
“Later!” Nisha twiddled her fingers at me before jogging to her apartment. Before I pulled away, I noticed a familiar pair of amber eyes peering at me from the stairwell beyond Nisha’s apartment. The hairs pricked on the back of my neck. Why had Mani ever thought of befriending such a creature?
“Hey, Mundy,” Skyla said when I came through the front door of Thorin Adventure Outfitters. She stood on a ladder, hanging sale signs on a rack of kayaks. “Val left about an hour ago.”
I blushed. “I’m not here for him.”
“Oh yeah?” She posted her last sign in place and then shimmied down the ladder. “You shopping?”
“No. I came to finish the stockroom.” I actually didn’t give a flip about finishing the stockroom except that the chore gave me an excuse to spend time with Skyla. After reading Mani’s thoughts and feelings about her in his journal, I wondered how I was going to find an opportunity to break the ice with her, get to know her. I sent out a silent prayer of thanks for the good fortune that had landed the stockroom excuse in my lap.
Skyla’s eyes went wide and round. “That was you? I thought one of the guys had manifested a sudden case of OCD.”
Midnight Burning Page 5
