The Strings That Hold Us Together

by Kendra Mase

  “For a little then,” Jack amended. He groaned as he lowered himself down next to her, but he didn’t stop until he was all the way down on the floor, his back flush with the black and white celestial tile.

  “Okay. For a little then.”

  “Then, I’ll drive you back. You shouldn’t be walking the bridge this late at night alone.”

  She stared at him for a long while, watching as he stretched his hands above his head before settling. Friends. That is what they were and for some reason, letting her heart settle back into a slow beat, Katherine could be okay with that.

  She should be grateful, even, to have a friend like Jack.

  All her life, she knew better than to believe it when people called themselves a friend. Almost always, they turned out to be more like acquaintances that stayed around a little while. They called everyone a friend.

  Just like when Jack smiled at everyone.

  But this was different.

  It had to be. “Thank you.”

  Eyes popping open, his honey-hued kaleidoscopes stared at her a long second before asking, “For what?”

  “Inviting me with you today… worrying about me walking home. It meant a lot.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “But I do,” Katherine said hastily, not letting him say anything else or change the subject. She knew it was the gin talking now, but for now, she didn’t care. “I worry all the time. I know it, and I still do it. I worry until my heart races and I let it. So, it meant a lot that you invited me along today, whether or not it was from pity—”

  “It wasn’t. Pity,” Jack said. His voice steady as he took in the many tense creases sure to be forming over her face. “Okay, maybe at first, a little. I was hasty and didn’t want to back out after I invited you, and I had no idea what today was going to be like or if it was going to be awkward.”

  His definition of awkward and hers were clearly different.

  “But Kit, today was a great day.”

  There was that smile again, this time half hidden from sucking on his cheek.

  The things he could make someone do with that smile.

  “It was,” Katherine agreed, a little choked. “A good day. It was nice to feel like I had a friend.”

  “We are friends, Kit.” He smiled wider.

  Katherine swallowed the heavy clump in her throat and nodded. “Okay.”

  “We are.”

  “I know.”

  “Good. You know, I worry too.”

  He did?

  “But, don’t Kit. You’ll get everything you deserve whether or not you think so. A nice handsome guy or girl or whatever you want in the world. Home.”

  That was what she dreamed. He remembered.

  With a decisive nod of his own, Jack hauled himself back up and dug his keys out of his pocket. “You need some water first, or are you ready to go home?”

  “We can go.”

  The ride went quickly as they went back across the bridge. He talked to Katherine about needing to download all the pictures they took together today even if the client wouldn’t want them, like she had something to do with it.

  She didn’t correct him, though.

  “I want to see them.”

  “’Course. I’ll let you know when I sort them,” he agreed as he pulled up in front of Emilie’s.

  Before she hit the sidewalk, his hand shot out, grabbing hers.

  “Kit.”

  She looked down at it before looking back up at him. “Yeah.”

  “Seriously. Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  He snorted. “For coming with me today. It was a good day.”

  Reaching over, Katherine gave the hand she held all day a gentle squeeze, though it didn’t feel perfectly the same anymore. “See you soon, okay?”

  “See you soon.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  No one called Katherine the next day, or the next week. No one called the week after either. It dawned on her that maybe she should just get up after she finished work and march her way across the river to Avril’s city-side castle, but she didn’t.

  If they wanted her there, they would say something to her. And if not...

  She’d been getting a lot of work done at the shop in the past few weeks. She had reorganized displays, created a homepage and shop page where she would eventually be able to put pictures of all the items the shop would sell online. Katherine even managed to make a corset she could lace up, even if the chest region still was constricting in the wrong direction.

  But it was there. Almost.

  She could now only think of a few things that could be causing the structural issue. She sorted through them one at a time in her mind as she took a break, walking up the back steps toward the apartment where Emilie had sequestered herself for the past two days as she overcame a nasty cold that knocked her on her back. Somehow, her aunt managed to see it as a positive thing.

  “This way I can see how you handle the shop when I eventually leave you here for a few days or so,” she said, voice as weak and as tired as her body curled under a pile of blankets.

  Katherine quietly switched out her glasses of water and teacup that finally managed to be drained since the morning. Emilie rolled over.

  “How’s the shop coming?”

  “Slow Saturday,” Katherine whispered, even though she didn’t have to.

  Emily hummed. “I had a few people that said they were going to stop for orders.”

  “They came earlier. The chiffon and—”

  “Baby pink nightdress.” Emily nodded as they both put their finger on exactly the piece they were talking about. Katherine wouldn’t be surprised though if Emilie somehow managed to remember every piece that ever went in and out of the shop by her own hands or the occasional intern she hired from the art institute.

  It was a dainty, pretty thing. Katherine wrapped it up for the customer in the morning.

  “It’s for my friend,” the customer said, eyeing the trim on the cups. “She never buys herself anything like this, but she’s getting married soon.”

  Katherine glanced up as she twisted around the package with matching string. “If she’s interested in more bridal looks, we can always find her something in white.”

  The customer only shook her head. “No, that’s exactly the opposite of what I am trying to do. You see, the bride and the groom still haven’t….”

  Eyes widened; Katherine tilted her chin down an inch. “I see.”

  “I’m hoping this, even if it isn’t the craziest of seduction nighties, will be the gentle nudge she needs just to go for it so she’s not a mess on the big day. Of course, I know that sounds like I am some sort of devil on her shoulder.”

  “We all need a little devil on our shoulder telling us to be selfish sometimes,” Katherine said easily, immediately picturing Avril.

  For some reason, as she stood in the shop, it was one of the only places that she felt she didn’t have to mince words. The right ones were right in front of her. They were the articles of flimsy hosiery she made and altered for any specifications. Or occasions.

  “Exactly. She wouldn’t expect me to get her anything less scandalous for a gift anyway.”

  Katherine gave a light smile. She wondered what the patron must’ve done to become that scandalously well-meaning friend.

  Emilie stared at her for a long moment, face drawn. “The shop suits you.”

  “Like I said, it hasn’t been that busy.”

  Scooping up the cups in her hands, Katherine moved back from the bed to the doorway.

  “Can I get you anything else?”

  “No. Thank you, lovely.”

  “Are you sure you’re alright? Can I call your friend or someone?”

  Over the past few weeks, she had noticed Emilie’s constant friend that popped in and out, stopping in more. However, she never took much time to say anything more than a hello to Katherine before the two of them scurried off to dinner or random midmorning brunch
plans.

  Taking a deep breath, Emilie nodded. “Just tired…feeling under the weather. I already called the doctor’s office and they can fit me in this afternoon. Not a big deal. Just, could you shut the shop early and run those errands for me, please?”

  “Already locked up. Anything special you want while I am out at the market?” At this point in the past few days, Katherine would be happy to pick her aunt up a whole plate of sticky buns to devour, if that was what it would take to get her to eat. Or she could buy a couple of the blueberry scones she liked from the baker with the sideburns. “No? I’ll be back in a little bit.”

  Emilie waved the back of her hand for Katherine to stop hovering all the way out the door.

  The market felt different ever since she went out with Jack. She felt like she knew Ashton more, and all those who lived in it alongside of her, especially those of Ashton’s weekly market that lined the streets of downtown east she’d been exploring on her own when Emilie didn’t feel up to going out.

  Like the other markets, the closest one nearby was stuffed with tiny vendors and tables laden with final fresh vegetables from local farmers in the surrounding area. She slowly was beginning to understand the appeal of it all after Emilie insisted, as an artist’s town, you needed to pay patronage to the people who lived there. She made sure they got most of their perishable groceries, as well as things like soap, trinkets, and perfectly swirled tower candles from local crafters.

  How else would the city maintain its core?

  Pausing over one of the last tables, Katherine sniffed more than a half dozen blocks of soap before deciding the one Emilie had always been buying. The bar, hinted with chamomile and peonies, was still her favorite. Lifting two, the owner smiled and wrapped them in a thin cloth.

  “If you put the handkerchief in your purse or closet, everything will also keep fresh,” the apothecary owner advised.

  “Thanks for the tip.”

  Exchanging cash from her hidden envelope for the bars, the woman caught her before she moved on. “How is Emilie doing, by the way? I haven’t seen her here with you.”

  “Oh.” Katherine shrugged. “She’s doing all right. A cold caught her.”

  “I see.” The woman frowned. “Let her know I asked after her.”

  “I will.”

  Katharine let the loose change fall into the pocket of one of her latest favorite skirts, simple and practical throughout the week when she was busy. Smoothing the pocket back into a hidden pleat, however—someone else’s hand was already there.

  “Hey,” Katherine spoke before she realized she had the voice to do it. Tearing back a step, she met the wide eyes of her perpetrator, mind still somewhere between shock and debating if she should reach for the loaf of bread in her bag as a weapon.

  “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” The girl, tall and skinny with a shaggy pixie cut, looked back toward her friend and then at Katherine again, who she now seemed to notice looked as if she was about to have a heart attack. “I didn’t think. I am just in love with your skirt.”

  Katherine paused. Wasn’t she just thinking the same thing?

  “I can’t believe I just woman handled you like that, but my city brain apparently has yet to kick back in after midterms. Where did you get it? It’s vintage, right? I mean, I can tell it is vintage, but it is in such good condition.”

  Watching the girl’s face stay in complete awe, slowly Katherine began to breathe, realizing she wasn’t a moment away from being pickpocketed fifty-two cents.

  The girl’s friend, dark skin illuminating under the bright sun and enhanced with a sweep of gold highlighter on either cheek, shook her head. “You’ll have to excuse her. I tried to stop her, but her legs are longer than mine.”

  Katherine started to smile. “It’s all right. No harm. The skirt belonged to my aunt in the sixties.”

  “Damn, she must’ve had some style,” the admirer said, grinning back at Katherine.

  “She still does.”

  “I always wish I could fit into those kinds of things.”

  “There are some good shops around the city,” Katherine said. Over the past few weeks in the late afternoons, Katherine started to take walks and found a few herself. “If you are willing to go hunting.”

  “Amazing,” the girl who accosted her said with another shake of her head.

  “I’m very jealous. The most my extended relatives have given me is fifty cents for gum, like, do they still think that’s the going rate for Hubba Bubba? I’m Carmen, by the way.”

  Her friend behind her in ripped jeans and thick eyeliner gave a similarly amused look. “I’m Gina. Have you come to look around the market too?”

  Katherine glanced down at her full netted bags. “Groceries and things.”

  “Wow. You go to school in the city then?”

  “Yeah, excuse us if we sat next to you in a class and never noticed before,” Gina added.

  “Though I obviously would’ve noticed that skirt.”

  Katherine let out a small laugh.

  Carmen only shrugged.

  “No.” Katherine shifted her weight to the back of her feet as she came to the realization she had never had to say aloud until then. “I live here. I’ve worked for my aunt since I graduated from school.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  Katherine shook her head.

  “Where do you work?”

  On her toes, Katherine almost tried to see if they could notice the little shop around the corner, but the square was too crowded. “The lingerie shop around the corner with the lavender storefront?”

  “The place with the female torture contraptions in the windows?”

  Well—

  “And sells, like, all the sex toys in a back room somewhere?”

  Most of the sex toys were pretty much out on display so people could see and buy them.

  Katherine shrugged a single shoulder in answer. If they wanted, they could stop in.

  “Hey, Oli, get over here and meet our new friend!” Carmen waved a hand to catch the attention of someone behind her.

  Turning, Katherine noticed the guy who previously was sitting by the fountain, only now his guitar case was closed, his instrument no longer being played for other marketgoers. Dirty brown hair sticking up on either side, it did nothing to conceal his crooked smile quickly hidden again by his lips.

  “Hey.”

  “This is…” Gina’s mouth hung there for a moment. “We didn’t even ask you your name, did we?”

  “Katherine.”

  “Katherine,” Gina repeated.

  “Oliver.” His eyes flicked over her. “You go to AIA?”

  “No,” Carmen cut him off before Katherine could answer. “She lives in the city working for her aunt. She’s the one with the expensive underwear and sex toy shop around the corner from Keys.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  Katherine shook her head, surprised when she didn’t feel a blush rise to her cheeks. Nope. That was her.

  They were much more excited about where she worked than Avril or Jack was. Then again, they knew Emilie. They knew the city and the depths beneath, unlike these people who were just like her, new and taking it in by glance. Or rather, was just like her.

  She smiled again, leaning the weight of one of her bags against her yellow shoe.

  “You know what? You should totally come to this party going on tonight,” Carmen said, looking at Oli. “Of course, you should be the one asking since it’s at your place.”

  “Nah, totally.”

  “There. You should come.”

  Katherine paused. They were inviting her out? It was already getting late and she had to get back to Emilie, who was likely home from her appointment with little to eat, let alone company. “I don’t know...”

  “Why not?” Carmen moaned. “It’ll be fun. You said you’re newer here, right?”

  “You could meet some cool people.”

  Oliver waved the two girls a step back as he reached into his
pocket. “Give me your number and I’ll message you the address. Decide then if you want to show up at some point. Sound good?”

  Katherine paused as she thought about it. What was she waiting for, really? Emilie didn’t mind if she went out, and no matter how long she waited, no one else was showing up at her door to sweep her away anymore. It had been weeks.

  See you later, Jack said to her.

  Right. The reminder stung.

  “Okay.” Katherine rattled off her number. Down at the bottom of one of her produce bags, she heard the chime of her phone go off.

  “There,” Oliver said. “That’s me. Think about it. There will be lots of people, drinks and everything. It’ll be great to see you.”

  “Come to the party!” Carmen yelled again as she was pulled away by Gina, who smiled and waved.

  Lifting her hand into the air, Katherine gave a wave herself before gathering her bags back over her shoulders. Wandering down the last row of stalls, she turned back home. Inside, she noticed Emilie’s jacket on the back of the chair.

  So, she was already home.

  She nudged the door closed with her hip as she kicked off her shoes at the same time. Walking her bags over to the old retro table in the kitchen, literally standing on its last two legs, she leaned around the corner. Emilie’s light was on too.

  “Hey Em, I know you said you didn’t want anything, but I saw those croissants I remembered you telling me about a while back. They are the ones you said only showed up right near the end of summer or something with the rhubarb filling. They were there! It felt like too good of a sign, to pick you back up,” Katherine called out.

  A sign. She was really starting to sound like her aunt.

  Even if Emilie wasn’t sick, by the flakey coating of them, she wasn’t sure if she could’ve walked away from the few left at the baker’s stand if she tried.

  Sorting through the bags, she put away anything that needed to be put in the fridge, letting the door slam as she gathered the crinkly pastry packet in her hands. “I figured they would be a good before dinner pick-me-up!”

  Walking through the partly opened doorway, Katherine perched herself on the edge of the bed. The floral comforter still tucked under the box spring. She made a show of the slightly squashed yet still delicious looking pastry.