Jorja & Malcolm (Toffee Kisses Book 1)

by Shelley Siddall

  ***

  “Are the numbers all crunched now?” Sasha asked sleepily. The twins had stayed up late the night before and were just now waking up.

  “Yes dear, the numbers are all crunched. And we’re going to do it! We’re going to buy the flower shop!” Amanda gushed as she hugged her little girl.

  “Maisy! Maisy get up! That blooming thing is ours!”

  Dustin looked over at Amanda. “A name change might be in order for our shop. Any ideas?”

  Amanda slowly sipped her coffee. “Re-branding is expensive; you know, the initial outlay for uniforms and signage; but I really think it’s necessary. I can’t think of a name though.”

  Maisy galloped in the kitchen. She stopped, put her hands on her hips and tilted her head toward her sister. “Is it true? She said we’re buying that blooming thing.”

  Her parents nodded. Dustin said sotto voce to Amanda, “Definitely a name change.”

  Maisy persisted. “We’re buying the flower shop? We’re going to all live there? Together? At the same time?”

  Dustin and Amanda made sad little frowny faces at one another as they thought about the past year. Amanda tried to wipe away a tear, and grimaced as she hit herself in the eye with her bandaged hand.

  “Yes darling.”

  Maisy ran into the living room, and slid down on one knee and pumped her fist in the air.

  “Yes!” she yelled victoriously. “Flower power!”

  “Flower power?” Dustin asked Amanda.

  “Flower power!” she laughed. “It’s perfect! We could have a whole vintage theme with daisy laminate for countertops and groovy daisy splattered uniforms with caps and bellbottoms… ”

  “Would that be four uniforms and a daisy covered onesie?” Dustin asked as he winked at his wife.

  As the twins ran around the living room, Amanda quietly confided in Dustin.

  “It was the lab work at the hospital last week. I had no idea. Honey, there was no way I would have ever accepted that pill from my secretary if I knew I was pregnant.”

  All the running and jumping on the furniture in Dustin’s apartment stopped.

  “We’re having a baby too?” Maisy screamed. She began practicing her parkour moves in earnest by rolling across the living room floor with sheer joy.

  “Could we have a Miss Twinkle cat instead?” Sasha asked.

  “So you’re the fake security guard? Do come in!” Mrs. Bassett said as she warmly ushered Jorja into her kitchen. “Coffee? Apple juice? Shot of whiskey?”

  “While there does seem to be a lot of early morning whiskey drinking going around today, I think I’ll have some apple juice.” Jorja grabbed the jug of juice while Mrs. Bassett grabbed some glasses.

  “How are the Grandkids in Japan doing this morning?” Jorja asked.

  Mrs. Bassett pouted. “My precious babies! They looked so cute in their school uniforms when we skyped this morning.” She then pointed to the many photos on her massive stainless steel fridge.

  “I don’t believe I have ever seen a fridge that size before,” said Jorja wondrously. She viewed the photos with interest at first, but after a few minutes of listening to Mrs. Bassett explain every little detail of each picture, Jorja had to interrupt.

  “Mrs. Bassett, do you have any hobbies?”

  “I mostly read.”

  “Oh, reading is an excellent hobby! What authors are you currently reading? ”Jorja asked.

  “Well, I look at the girls social media pages and you know, read their posts and look at their Instagram photos.”

  Jorja sighed. “Stalking your granddaughters is not the type of hobby I had in mind. What do you do, on a regular basis that brings you some enjoyment?”

  Mrs. Bassett thought for such a long time that Jorja thought she heard crickets chirping.

  “I like people watching,” Mrs. Bassett said finally. “Do you know, Jorja that I can look right into that apartment building over there and see what people are doing?”

  Jorja shifted in her seat. “No kidding?” she said quietly.

  “Yes!” Mrs. Bassett gushed. “In fact, there is a woman who lives in this apartment, she’s a mortgage broker I think, and her neighbors tell me she jumps up and down on a mini-trampoline at night, they hear it squeak and thump…”

  Suzy Rebounder! Jorja thought.

  “Anyhow, she’s a married woman, yet she goes over to that apartment building and sleeps in the nude with a man there!”

  Jorja shook her head. “Say what now?”

  “It’s true! She has two little twin girls, but she gets rid of them for the weekend and goes across the road and…”

  “Wait now, is her name Amanda Sinclair?” Jorja asked.

  “Yes, that’s her!”

  “Well I’ve met her and her children, and she’s perfectly lovely. But the burning question of my day: how do you know she sleeps in the nude?”

  Mrs. Bassett clasped both sides of her face with her hands and leaned forward on her elbows. “Well,” she said, “one morning I was up early for some weird reason, probably hot flashes, you know…”

  Jorja shook her head, “No I wouldn’t know, nor do I care too!”

  Mrs. Bassett just kept going,” And I looked over and I saw her standing there, completely naked! And he was on a mattress on the floor! Well, she shut the curtain quickly enough, but I saw enough! More than enough! Every Saturday morning now, I get up at six and look over, and sure enough, she is staring back at me. She’s completely bucked naked and she shuts the curtain right away, but really! She’s a married woman.”

  “Why do you keep looking?” Jorja asked.

  “What?”

  “If it bothers you so much, why do you keep looking out?”

  “Well, it’s like you said, it’s my hobby now.”

  Jorja smiled gently and nodded. “Oh, okay. But do you think she just does it to get your dander up? I mean, a couple sleeping on a mattress in the living room? Those are pretty nice apartments, my boyfriend Malcolm lives there…”

  Jorja stopped to replay the last sentence in her mind. It gave her a very nice feeling.

  “Anywho,” she went on, “I think someone who could afford the rent for an apartment, could afford a bed don’t you think?”

  “I suppose.” Mrs. Bassett considered Jorja’s suggestion. “I think he had just moved in when I first saw them. So you’re saying that every Saturday, she gets up early just to come to her window and flash me?”

  “I do! Say, how adventurous are you Mrs. Bassett?”

  “Not very. Why, what did you have in mind?”

  “What if, next Saturday, you get up and peek out like you usually do. But, this time, throw back the curtain and stand there buck naked!”

  Mrs. Bassett choked at the idea and spit her apple juice out all over her granite counter.

  “Perhaps just one cheek then?” Jorja suggested.

  Chapter Thirteen:

  Or, rebounding with Suzy?

  “You mean you have the money to bail yourself out? Why don’t you? Are you just stupid or what?”

  Steve Newsome shot these questions at Jesse Spelunker while they were eating lunch.

  Jesse laid down his fork. “No, I am quite intelligent, actually.”

  Steve snorted. “Sure.”

  “Look, one of my Aunts is eventually going to rescue me, as per usual, and then I don’t have to dip into my hard earned cash. What about you? Why aren’t Mommy and Daddy coming through for you?”

  Steve continued to flick his peas on the floor.

  His cell mate reached over and tapped him on the forehead.

  “Newsome! I asked you a question.”

  Steve scowled and admitted, “Apparently, I am supposed to ‘use this time to take a good long look at my life’. They contacted a lawyer…but he’s still deciding whether or not he’ll take my case. The idiot went on a holiday in the middle of the week!”

  Steve took a mouthful of mashed potato. “You know, just one ring from my Mom’s jewe
lry box would pay for my bail and then some. She doesn’t even wear half the stuff in there.”

  “Would she notice if some went missing?”

  “Doubt it. She’s so busy going goo-goo and ga-ga over my Sister’s kid, she …wait, are you planning to steal my Mom’s rings?”

  Jesse leaned back and folded his arms. “Unless your Dad has something more valuable and portable?” he asked.

  Steve scratched his chin.

  “He’s got a spoon collection from my Grandma…it’s pretty big. Dad even bought display cases, but they don’t lock, so taking them would be a slam dunk.”

  “Spoons? There’s twelve dollars I’ll pass on. What else have you got?”

  “Some rings…a Rolex or…wait a minute. What do I get out of this?” Steve whined.

  “I will use my money to bail you out; then you get the rings and watch, pawn them and bail me out. Then we fly over to Waskasoo Island and pay Malcolm a visit.”

  Steve shrunk back and flapped his hands. “It’s too complicated; my Dad would figure out in a hot second who stole his Rolexes.”

  “He has more than one Rolex?”

  Steve was distracted by dessert. He opened his fruit cup and searched through it with his fork.

  “Whoo hoo!” he hollered, “I’ve got a maraschino cherry in here!”

  Jesse pursed his lips as he realized he was going to have to do all the heavy lifting. He also began to realize that he wouldn’t really need to bail Steve out; he could easily go solo on this latest job. Mind you, he might need Steve to take the blame.

  “Newsome, I am not staying for supper. I’m already bloated from all the salt in these so-called meals. Here’s the deal: I’ll bail myself out and go to your place and pick up enough to bail you out. So give me your address and alarm codes. You do know the codes, don’t you?”

  “My Dad has a boat. Figures he’s a real ship captain. His code for everything is “not on my watch”.

  Jesse laughed. “That’s actually kind of funny. I’m going to take his watches by using his “not on my watch” code. Is it a digital lock?”

  Steve shook his head and explained, “He has a big old rotary phone on his desk. So the letters give you the numbers. His safe? The first six numbers: 66-86-66. His computer password? “notonmywatch” And even the house alarm is just 66-86. Oh, also…”

  “Yes?”

  “Are you going to eat your dessert?”

  ***

  Jorja waved at the woman running along the sea wall with her dog.

  “Can I take your picture?” she asked as the woman stopped beside her.

  The woman marched in place as she read her Fitbit. “What for?” she asked.

  “I’m an artist, and I’m taking a bunch of photos of exercisers. I’m going to do a show with the theme ‘Moving to the sound of my own drum’. Here let me show you the ones I’ve got already.”

  Jorja scrolled through her photos.

  “See,” she said, “I’m getting photos of people as they pass by this bench. These two ladies cracked up laughing and posed for me. This man wanted to know when and where the show will be held, and this dear lady was sitting on the bench when I started my project. She’s 84!”

  “Okay sure. What do you want me to do?”

  “Well, this may sound funny; but could you go back about twenty feet and run towards me? When I first saw you and your dog, your combined pace was remarkable. As you both reached forward for your next stride, it looked like all feet and paws were not touching the ground.”

  The woman smiled; went back twenty feet and ran towards Jorja.

  “Awesome!” Jorja shrieked.

  “Awe, her one front paw is touching while I’m up in the air,” the woman said sadly as she looked at the photo on Jorja’s phone.

  “No it’s perfect! I’m actually re-thinking the painting aspect and perhaps doing a photo array. It’s beautiful. Taking off for adventures unknown; full throttle! Thank you so much!”

  “You’re welcome!”

  A little family gave the woman and her dog a wide berth as they approached from the other direction. Mom held their little girl’s hand, while Dad had his arms around their sleeping baby in the snuggly on his chest.

  Jorja got up close, smiled widely and whispered, “Hi Kyle! I hope I just used your name wisely. Aren’t you looking very un-confrontational today?”

  Kyle turned red, while his girlfriend giggled.

  “He wasn’t making any money as a nutritionist at the hospital; so…”she began.

  “I gave up a salary and benefits and ventured out as an insulting waiter. I am making more money and having way more fun!” Kyle said. “And I get to spend more time with this little peanut,” he said kissing his son on the head.

  “I’m a little peanut too!” said the little girl.

  “Of course you are!” said her Mom and Dad in unison.

  Jorja dug in her knapsack for the small items she had bought earlier at the dollar store. She had quickly left Mrs. Bassett’s and headed to the store where she found a little ballerina hair clip and a small stuffed cow. Unfortunately, Amanda wasn’t home when Jorja returned to Regency Place. Jorja pulled the gifts out now and presented them to the parents.

  “You wouldn’t know a little peanut that could use these?” she asked.

  “Now Jenny,” Crawford warned as he tried to catch up with his wife, “Maybe this is one of those times we want to mind our own business!”

  “Can you see what they’re doing to the beach?” she yelled. She ran towards the man attaching cables to the huge old stumps that had washed up on the shore decades before.

  Crawford couldn’t keep up so he just yelled from the road, “Shall I just continue our leisurely stroll on my own then?”

  ***

  The three temporary roommates were having lunch.

  “What was your focus in school?” Cydney asked.

  Surinder helped herself to more salad and generously applied the Green Goddess dressing that Cydney had just made.

  “This is so good Cydney!” she said munching happily. “I was interested in fashion design and I was taking all sorts of sewing and business classes; but then…”

  She pointed to her belly. “This happened.”

  Parmella started laughing. “Sure, you were just walking along one day and BOOM you were knocked up.”

  Both Cydney and Surinder frowned at Parmella.

  Parmella winced and said, “Sorry.”

  “I just love Project Runway! “ Cydney gushed. “What sort of person do you want to design for?”

  Surinder blushed. “This is kind of extreme...”

  “Go for it!” her sister encouraged.

  “I want to design dresses for Romany weddings. You know the ones you see on TV? Some have lights and all of them are outrageously huge and so beautiful!”

  Surinder put both hands on her belly and tapped her fingers as she looked back and forth at the two women.

  Parmella choked on the piece of scone.

  “Are you serious?” Parmella asked.

  Cydney let out a loud braying laugh. “Of course she’s not serious!”

  The two older women cracked up laughing again.

  “Oh, that’s a good one, Surinder! An unwed Mother, wanting to make ten thousand dollar wedding gowns!” cackled Parmella.

  Mid-laugh, Cydney looked at Surinder’s face. “Oh my, you are serious!”

  Parmella choked again. “Sorry Sis, please, tell us all about it. I’ll try not to laugh, but…it’s going to be difficult.”

  Surinder stuck out her chin and pronounced, “My daughter is going to be called Sondra Mizrahi, after my most favorite designers ever.”

  Cydney wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said, “Now how are you planning to get from Point A to Point B? Do you have a sketch book?”

  The pregnant teenager smiled radiantly. “I do!” she said, “Do you want to see it?”

  As she left the table, Parmella and Cydney grinned as
they looked at one another.

  “She is serious!” Cydney whispered as Parmella rolled her eyes.

  “Now Cydney,” Parmella said attempting to be serious, “What is the name of this spectacular lunch you made us?”

  “That would be salad with scones,” Cydney said with feigned seriousness. She added, “Would you like the recipe Ma’am?”

  They could hear bags being unzipped in the spare room.

  “Why yes,” Parmella said, “I’ve heard that salad is quite difficult to master. What is your secret?”

  “I use lettuce,” said Cydney.

  “Lettuce? That is absolutely hilarious!” Parmella said, starting to giggle again.

  “No, no this is very serious. This is not funny in the least.”

  Parmella attempted to frown as Surinder returned to the table with a big sketchbook.

  “Is something wrong?” Surinder asked flipping open her book.

  “Not at all sweetie, now show us your dresses!” Cydney encouraged while shooting a warning glance at Parmella.

  “Now this one is more traditional styling, but notice the little blue dolphins all around the bottom? My idea is to use neon cellophane to create a 3-D effect.”

  “I think I had a shower curtain like that once,” Parmella said, “but what’s this next drawing? That isn’t a waterfall?”

  Surinder smiled even wider. “It is!” she said. “I haven’t figured it all out, but I want a real live waterfall to cascade from the Bride’s headdress and down her back! I could probably put the bulk of the pump in her skirt and run a tube up to her veil. You can see I’ve drawn three pools down her back, with glittering seashells. And here’s the big secret ingredient!”

  Surinder turned to the next page. “Ta da! I want to put real live gold fish in each pond! The only problem is, would the little boys at the wedding try to scoop them out?”

  Parmella raised her eyebrows quickly at Cydney; then nodded, “Yes that would be the only problem with that design.”

  Cydney tapped her lips with her fingers. “What if you put the fish in plastic bags, with lots of oxygen and rested them in each pool? They should be okay for the ceremony and the reception.”