“And how will that work?”
Bianca dug into her purse and pulled out one of her lists. “I worked it out this morning. Thanks to you, I won’t have to pay rent, so every penny I earn, after food and gas, will go into restoring Vive la Reine. Paint, brushes, and steam cleaning won’t cost much. I’ll do all of the painting on my own.”
“Paint? You?” Julia looked dubious. “I was with you, right up until you said you were going to paint.”
“I do know how to use a paint brush, and I’ll just have to do what has to be done. Can I trade on sisterhood for any spare furniture you have?”
“For the condo and the store? Sure.” Impressed, Julia nodded.
“I don’t have a figure yet for the insurance payoff,” Bianca continued. “I’ve already contacted vendors for credit extensions, but there’s one other thing I didn’t plan for—water and electrical damage. I can’t open until that’s taken care of.”
“I could loan…” Julia stopped when Bianca raised a hand and shook her head.
“You’ve done enough. I can’t ask you for more.”
The look in her sister’s eyes warned Julia away from the offer, but failed to diminish her desire to help. “I have an idea. There are a couple of guys who contract with me; I pay them quarterly to work on my properties. I could add your water and electrical damage to my list. It wouldn’t cost you anything, supplies included. I mean, I’ve paid for it already. You’re not asking; I’m offering.”
“If everything works out and your guys can do the work, I can be open in two weeks.” Bianca looked hopeful. It felt kind of nice to have someone care, and keeping her promise to Martin would be a bonus. “Okay. Thanks.”
Fueled by enthusiasm, Julia bounced a little in her seat, reminding Bianca that this was indeed her younger sister. She cleared her throat and shuffled her notes, waiting for the quick wash of sentiment to pass.
“I think that limiting business hours to Thursday through Sunday, will keep operating costs low, and let me work on generating the money I need to get back on my feet. I need to replace stock and get the new shirt done for Neiman’s. It’s risky, because I won’t be insured for almost anything this time, but I have to take the chance.”
“Am I included in this conversation or not?”
“What?” Looking up, seeing Julia sitting with an arm propped in the car’s open window gave her a start. She folded her notes and pushed them back into her purse. “Sorry, I got carried away.”
“I was just wondering how you planned to build stock with no money. I mean, ‘goodwill’ will only go so far.”
Bianca tapped the dashboard. “I’ve thought about that. I thought I would add an ‘invitation-only’ consignment area. The pieces would come from celebrity and society customers who are already personally insured. That way, Vive la Reine will be stocked, and the inventory insured.”
Julia wrinkled her nose. “Used clothes, Bianca?”
“Everybody is not as finicky as you, and when the items are new and nearly new top-of-the-line designers, who’ll care? Vive la Reine will be open, the shelves will be stocked, and I can live without spa manicures and hot-stone massages for a few months. I can already see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Julia was impressed. “You would put off your own shopping and little spa indulgences?”
Feigning frost, Bianca made a face. “There are no ‘little spa indulgences.’ In my heart, I already miss deep-tissue and hot-stone massages. Oh, well…”
“You’ve figured out where you’ll get stock, but where will you find your customers?”
“Thanks to KPayne, I’ve met a lot of celebrities. I can call on a few sports figures…”
“Who buys ladies’ jeans?” Julia crossed her legs and looked unconvinced.
“I’ll be carrying more than ladies’ jeans, but yes. Heck, you sell real estate, so you already know there are plenty of women with their own money living here. There are women in entertainment and women in sports living in Atlanta, there are several world-class runners, and even women like Marlea Kellogg Yarborough.”
“AJ Yarborough’s wife? Didn’t you have some kind of beef with her? Before they got married?” Julia eyebrows rose, and she brushed imaginary spots from the car’s dashboard.
Eyes narrowed, Bianca went mute.
“I’m just repeating a little cocktail gossip I heard in passing,” Julia said quickly. “What makes you think she would help you—with anything?”
“Take it from your big sister, you shouldn’t listen to gossip.” Bianca’s hand went to her wrist and she missed the watch she’d worn there for so long. “He wouldn’t have married her and been with her this long if she didn’t have a good heart. If I can swallow my pride, maybe apologize for the arrogant fool I once was, I think she’ll help me out—maybe.”
“Saru mo ki kara ochiru. Even monkeys fall from trees, and everyone makes mistakes.” Sipping coffee, Julia shrugged. “So you make nice, hook this woman up, and that will solve your problems?”
“No. First, I have to get that job.”
“Can the job search wait until you get moved?”
“I guess.”
“Then we’ll meet tomorrow at Museum Tower. I’ll get the truck loaded with some stuff to get you started, and we’ll move you into your new home.”
Relief surged and Bianca wondered whether she should chance giving her sister a hug. Better not take the chance of offending her. They were both still new to this sister thing.
“Hey, Bianca?” Julia was focused on the world outside her car when her sister turned and looked at her. “Do you ever wonder what your life would be like if you’d done things differently?”
“All the time. You?”
“All the time.” She bit at her bottom lip when Bianca smiled. “His name was Morris, and he was about the smartest man I ever met. You know how sexy smart can be?” Julia’s face glowed. “Mo had it in spades, and on top of that, he was sensitive and devoted. And did I say he was articulate and sexy? He wanted to get married. He wanted children, a dog, a house with a white picket fence, and me. He wanted neighborhood cookouts, kids in little league; he wanted to go to PTA meetings.” She snorted lightly. “Can you picture me at PTA meetings?”
“Maybe…” Bianca wrinkled her nose. “What happened?”
“I got the Inoue Fellowship. The University of Tokyo, a chance to leave my troubles behind and study in Japan—you remember. It was two years anybody would have killed for. Finishing at the top of my class got me the Inoue award—the money I used to get my business started. But he said he couldn’t wait that long.”
“It was for two years.”
“That’s what I said when he showed me that little ring,” Julia said bitterly. “He said the little ring was only a promise, that he would get me a bigger one for our fifth anniversary.”
“But you needed Japan…”
“I thought of him constantly, from the moment I first entered the Nippon Budokan right up until my final exams. Then I stayed another year, and by the time I got back, he’d found someone else, and she was wearing that little ring.”
“Are they still married?”
Julia nodded miserably. “I don’t regret what I did.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Not really. I wouldn’t have been able to do a lot of the things I’ve done without the background and contacts from that fellowship. I’ve done a lot of good with my business, made a lot of money, but I can’t help wondering what if?” Her smile held a moment, but then faded.
“I never told anybody about him. I never told anybody about the ring I gave back or the babies that never were. I even miss the damned dog we never got. Knowing him, it would have been some kind of mutt.” Leaning, she bumped Bianca’s shoulder with her own, and her fingers moved, needing to touch her sister’s. “We’re a pair, aren’t we?”
“I guess that just proves we’re really sisters.” Bianca opened her arms and her sister moved into her embrace. They sat that way
for a long while, Julia letting herself be soothed.
“You still haven’t told me about you.”
“Damn it.” Bianca’s arms dropped. “I knew this was coming. All of that sister stuff.” Bianca fell back in her seat. “There’s nothing to tell.”
Drawing away from her sister, Julia crossed her arms and pouted. “You haven’t changed, you know that? You still keep yourself to yourself. I sit here and pour my heart out to you, tell you everything and you give nothing back. That’s selfish, and it says you still don’t trust me.”
“I trust you.” Bianca’s pout matched Julia’s. “It’s me I’m not sure of.”
“He really hurt you, didn’t he?
Bianca moved an eyebrow. “How do you say that monkey falling out of trees thing?”
“Saru mo ki kara ochiru. Maybe we need to find someone to help you get over him.”
“Please, I’ve fallen out of enough trees to last me for a lifetime.” Bianca made a rude sound with her mouth and turned her eyes to the passenger-side window. “I need a man like I need a hole in my head.”
Julia couldn’t take it. “You really don’t want to talk about it?”
“I really don’t.”
“Bianca…”
“Give it a rest, Julia. I was wrong about him. I’ve been wrong before.” Bianca wrenched the car door open and stepped out. Hefting her purse, she walked purposefully back into the dim confines of Vive la Reine.
“Then we’ll have to see what we can do to get it right next time,” Julia promised softly, following her sister back into the shop.
CHAPTER 5
“April showers may bring May flowers, but they’re bringing nothing but aggravation this morning,” Bianca fussed, easing the Jaguar past a large UPS truck. Oblivious to blocked traffic, the driver swung down from the truck and raised the rear door. Climbing in, he ignored the honking horns and shouts from other drivers, as well as Bianca’s narrow swerve around the truck.
“Praise Jesus,” she muttered when she found the parking lot on her left. Pulling into a parking slot, she cut the ignition, and fell back in her seat, trying to relax. “I’m going to have to add the frustration of this traffic to the cost of my free rent, and…” The tap at her window cut off the thought.
A man dressed head to toe in rain gear stared through the window. He made a cranking motion with his hand. “Five,” he said, when she eased the window open. “Five to park here.”
Lord, please let monthly parking be included in my free rent. Bianca reluctantly extracted a five from her purse and passed it to the man. He gave her a soggy ticket, and she dropped it on the dashboard before turning to pull her rain hat and raincoat from the backseat, glad they had not been left in storage with the rest of her belongings.
Digging deeper into the contents of her back seat, she found a ruffled pink umbrella. Pulling it free, she opened her car door and opened it into a gust of wind that caught it and flipped it inside out, before snatching it from her hand. A second blast of wind sent it sailing into the street and beneath the wheels of a passing car.
Praying her hat wouldn’t meet a similar fate, she clamped a hand down on it as she climbed out of the car and started walking. Half a block away, her cellphone rang. Digging it out of her purse, she nearly fell over a crack in the sidewalk as she answered.
“It’s me, Julia. I’m caught in traffic, ten minutes away, fifteen at the most.”
“Well, I’m here now.” Bianca crossed the street and looked up at the sign on the building in front of her. “I’m at the Children’s Museum.”
“Yeah, that’s downstairs. Wait inside, out of the rain, and I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
Stepping through the building’s tall glass doors, Bianca was a little surprised to find she really was in a children’s museum. Looking around, seeing the scaled-down exhibits, the brightly colored walls, and the excited little people, she couldn’t help smiling.
The tug at her raincoat made her look down to find a child watching her. Small, round, and brown, the little girl didn’t look as though she planned to let go of the coat, even when the woman in charge of the children called to her.
“I can’t get the ducks,” she said. “My teacher, Miss Janice, is busy. Can you help me?”
“Oh, Ella, don’t bother the lady.” The slender woman walked closer and reached for the hand of another little girl.
“It’s not a bother,” Bianca said, pleasantly surprised to find that she meant it.
“If you’re sure…” Miss Janice didn’t look totally convinced.
“Really, I don’t mind.”
“You’ll help me get a duck?” The little girl looked over her shoulder at her teacher, then back up at Bianca, her quick motion setting her pink-and-white barrettes swinging.
“I can help her. I don’t mind.”
Pointing back at the children laughing around a small pond, the little girl’s expression was urgent. “I know how to count, but I can’t get the duck by myself.”
“Where are the ducks?”
“Over here.” The child pulled at the raincoat again. When Bianca was slow to move, the little girl loosened her grip. “Oh,” she said, “are you not supposed to talk to strangers? Miss Janice says talking to strangers is dangerous. I’m not dangerous. My name is Ella. What’s your name?”
“Bianca.”
“Binaca. That’s pretty. Now you’re not a stranger. You can help me get the duck, okay?”
Not bothering to correct her, Bianca followed Ella across the high-ceilinged room. Still holding onto Bianca’s raincoat, Ella marched over to a wall of yellow plastic raincoats and selected one.
She pulled the slicker over her pink blouse and pants, and looked up. “You have to wear this, because it gets wet when you get the ducks.” She eyed Bianca’s coat and decided that it would serve. Reaching up, she took Bianca’s hand and towed her over to a rack filled with tiny fishing rods. She took one and looked up at Bianca again, measuring.
“Are you a mommy or a kid?”
“Not quite either.” Bianca grinned and lifted a reassuring hand when the teacher drifted close again.
“Miss Janice says these are only for kids.” Unwilling to break or bend the rules, Ella looked concerned, then brightened. “I know. I’ll get a duck for you.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Ella explained the game quickly: Each child selected a fishing pole with a number on it, and then had to catch that many ducks. When the number of ducks caught matched the number on the pole, the child got a prize. Five minutes later, she was on her knees helping the little girl to cast her line into the floating raft of plastic ducks.
Six was the number on Ella’s pole, and Ella really wanted a prize, so she fished while Bianca cheered her on and held the captured ducks.
“Six,” Ella screamed, throwing her chubby arms around Bianca’s neck. On her knees, Bianca hugged back and enjoyed the warm little girl scent of candy and something else sweet until Ella squirmed free and ran across the floor cradling all six ducks to show her teacher.
“Having fun, little girl?”
Recognizing Julia’s voice, Bianca reached out for an assist. On her feet, she nodded and adjusted her coat. “You were late and I had to find a way to occupy myself.”
“Aw, you know you liked it.”
“Yeah, I did.” Across the room, Ella danced from foot to foot as she received her prize. “She caught six ducks,” Bianca said.
“She looks happy. So do you.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Bianca offered her sister a sidelong glance that suggested caution. “I’m about to move into a great condo in a beautiful building.”
“Bye, Binaca,” Ella called. Raising her hand to wave back, Bianca thought her name had never sounded sweeter.
Julia held her tongue until they were standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the elevator. “Looks like you made a new friend—Binaca.”
Eyes straight ahead, Bianca couldn’t stop smiling. “She had a littl
e problem pronouncing my name, but she was cute, wasn’t she?”
“Adorable.” Julia scanned her sister’s attire. “And I see you’re dressed for playtime.”
Pulling her raincoat open, Bianca looked down at her jeans and Atlanta Falcons shirt. “I’m dressed for moving. I didn’t know I would wind up in the Children’s Museum.” Julia just smiled.
The elevator opened on the eighth floor, and Julia led the way out into the hall. Stopping in front of a unit six doors away from the elevator, she slipped the key into the door. When the door swung open, she handed the key to her sister, and stepped inside. “What do you think?”
Polished hardwood floors, subdued overhead lighting, spacious rooms opening off the entry, a kitchen big enough to eat in. What was there not to like, Bianca thought, touching the marble counters. No way was this place a step down from anything, one bedroom though it was. Facing east, from where she stood in the living room, she could see Stone Mountain, a view not unlike the one from KPayne’s living room and bedrooms.
This view is better, and I’m glad to have it. Julia promised that nobody was going to dump me out of here and I believe her. Why did it take so long for me to work up the nerve to call her? Why did it take so long for me to trust her? I trusted KPayne almost immediately—for all the good it did me.
She continued down the hall, going from the living room to the bedroom. Opening closet doors, she was pleased to find deep walk-in closets, and a shiver of delight coursed down her spine. Walking back to the living room, Bianca turned thumbs-up to her sister. “I’m going to be paying you rent for a long time. I love this place.”
Julia looked up from where she sat on the floor in front of the windows with her cellphone in her hand. “You really like it?”
Spreading her arms, Bianca dropped to the floor beside her. “Love it.”
“Then why do you sound like that? A little…I don’t know…sad.”
“I’m not sad.” Her stomach growled and she dug deep into her purse to find a candy bar and offered half to Julia, who eagerly seized it. Munching chocolate in companionable silence, they sat on the floor watching the rain. “You know that monkey quote you like so much? The one about monkeys falling out of trees?”
Wayward Dreams Page 7
