Aja hesitated. He was cute, but she wasn’t sure she could get interested in a guy that stripped for money. Although he had an aura of goodness around him that pulled her in more than she wanted. “Thanks, I’ll call my mom,” Aja said, shaking the lure of this guy’s magnetic energy. “Where do you go to school?”
“At the community college. I just started this fall.”
“Where did you go to high school?”
“Chicago area,” Walker said. “Just graduated high school last year.”
“And you came all the way to Dallas for a community college education?”
“Yeah, sort of.” He turned into the mall parking lot. “My grandfather has Alzheimer’s and is in an assisted living home. My grandmother decided to move with him but couldn’t bear to sell their house.” Walker stopped at the entrance. “They said they’d pay for me to go to school if I’d stay in their house and keep it up.” He shook his head. “It’s really sad to see him go in and out of his life.”
“That’s rough. Sorry,” Aja said. “It’s nice of you to be here for them.”
“Yeah, and I get to shake life up a little by moving to Texas.” Walker turned to her and smiled. “I’m heading to the home now to have dinner with them.” He laughed. “I used to sleep till noon, eat lunch at five o’clock. When I have dinner with them the food’s so bland it’s like eating air and we’re done by six.”
Aja eyed his foil-wrapped packages. “And I suppose you’re going to eat my piece of Mrs. Wells’s coffee cake later tonight.”
Walker grinned and raised an eyebrow. “It was worth getting naked for.” He reached for a pen and paper. “Here’s my number in case your mom can’t pick you up. I’d be happy to.”
Aja took his number and put it in her purse. “Thanks.”
Walker looked at her. “It must be pretty cool to have a mom like yours, being a psychic and all. I hear she also sings with a band.”
Aja shrugged. “She’s cool most of the time, but mostly I feel like we’re the town idiots.”
“Does she ever do readings for you?”
“Hardly ever. She says it’s hard for her to see my aura, and she gets really weird afterward. Usually a psychic can’t read people that are close to them.”
“Really?”
Aja shifted the focus from her mom’s intuitive gift. Aja hated her own abilities to “see dead people” or see inside a person’s heart. She’d discovered her talent when she was four or five but didn’t realize it until years later. She could see colors in her mom’s angel snow globe, especially after she shook it. Somehow she knew they were from people, but she was never afraid of them. About the same age, when Aja watched TV, she was often joined by a young boy who wore a baseball cap and would sit on the floor next to the couch, never letting Aja see his face. He said he was in a fire and looked weird. Her mom had at first thought he was an imaginary friend Aja had invented, but then sensed Aja was seeing a spirit. As soon as her mom tried to seek his aura, he never came back.
Aja glanced at Walker. “Apparently, according to my psychic Mom, I’m either an old soul or have a bunch of old souls around me.” Aja closed her floppy denim purse.
“Maybe you need to come to dinner with me and my grandparents tonight. Make your mom’s ‘old soul’ vision come true.” Walker raised his eyebrows playfully.
Aja shook her head. “No thanks; old people annoy me. They drool, shuffle, and…I don’t know—it all kind of weirds me out.” Aja opened the car door. “Thanks again for the ride. I’ve got to run. I’m already late.”
“Maybe another time?” Walker looked hopeful.
“Sure. I’ve got your number,” Aja said, as she got out. She stood on the sidewalk and watched him drive away. He was pretty cute, seemed nice enough, but the last thing Aja needed was an anchor to hold her to Dallas even though she was hypnotically drawn to his radiant personality.
Chapter 3
Aja punched in ten minutes late while her manager stood and watched, arms crossed. He made a point to look at his watch.
“Sorry, I had to get a ride.”
“Again? You need to get rid of the rust bucket you drive. How many times have you used that excuse?” He looked her up and down. “And why aren’t you wearing our line? You’ve been warned about that, too.” He raised an eyebrow and pointed at her butt. “Please don’t tell me those shorts say Massimo on them. Target?”
I’m surprised the alarms didn’t go off when I came in, Aja thought, and smiled uncomfortably. “I was in a huge hurry and didn’t have time to change.”
“Go buy something you can wear, then fold and stock these.” He pushed forward a messy rack stuffed with clothes that customers had tried on. “This should keep you busy.”
Aja didn’t argue but went to the clearance rack and picked a madras skirt marked fifty percent off. She’d been waiting for it to go to seventy percent, but, oh, well. Aja went to the counter to pay. The perky cashier, Taylor, rang her up at the register. “Got stuck with the rack again tonight?” She tossed her blonde curly hair. “Good, because after the register I get to model the new line.” Abercrombie employees had to be beautiful or they didn’t get hired. The privileged got to stand around and look good for the customers. “Guess you won’t have to worry about that tonight, wearing a clearance skirt.”
“Guess not.” Aja glowered as she grabbed the skirt and stomped off to the dressing rooms.
About an hour into her shift, she’d gotten most of the clothes put away, Aja went to the dressing rooms to clean up the new piles of clothes customers dropped on the floor.
“Slobs,” she muttered, clipping shorts onto a hanger. A kid, wailing and crying, was dragged into the dressing room by her young mother.
“I want to go!” the little girl cried, trying to pull away from her mother’s tight grip around her arm.
Aja hated screaming kids but was appalled by the tight hold the mother had on the child. She could see red marks on her little arm from the woman’s fingers.
“We’ll go when I say.” The mother shook the child. “Do you understand?”
“I’m hungry.” The girl couldn’t have been more than five or six. Her big brown eyes were filled with tears, and her face was swollen and red.
“Shut-up!” The mom gave the child another shake, almost pushing the kid to the floor. “I don’t want to hear another word.”
Aja stared hard at the woman hoping to embarrass her enough to stop. Aja saw the woman’s aura as angry red. She forced herself to stop the psychic vision. The girl rubbed her arm and hiccupped sobs.
“I’m…hungry,” the little girl whispered.
The mother slapped the girl across the face. “Didn’t I tell you to shut up?”
The sound was like a shot. Aja dropped the handful of clothes and ran to the mother. “Stop! Are you nuts?”
The child’s mouth was open in a silent cry, and she held her face where red marks and tears glistened on her cheek.
“Don’t tell me what to do with my kid.” The young mother faced Aja. “Unless you want a piece of me.”
“You do that to me, and I’ll have your ass thrown in jail.” Aja got in the woman’s face, her fists clenched. “I’m calling the police.”
“Aja, what’s going on?” Her manager ran into the dressing room.
“That woman just slapped the crap out of her kid.”
“I’m going to file a complaint with this store.” The woman crossed her arms, baring a large tattoo of a cross on her upper arm. “I don’t need this stupid-assed clerk telling me what to do.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I’ll talk to her,” her manager said.
“Damn right you will.”
“Wait, this woman just hit her kid and I’m the one being talked to?” Aja shook her head. “We need to call CPS or the police.” Aja bit her tongue on the word police. The way things were going, she’d get tossed in jail.
“Aja, back off.” Her manager got between them.
The little girl, still cr
ying silently but watching the grown-ups intently, moved closer to her mother.
“Don’t take that, kid,” Aja said to the child. “Dial 911.” Aja glared at the mother. “If you didn’t want kids, you shouldn’t have had them. They’re not punching bags.”
“Aja,” her manager warned.
“People like that shouldn’t be allowed to have kids.” Aja threw her hands up.
“I want her ass fired,” the mother said. “I’m never shopping here again. Come on.” She grabbed the child’s arm and dragged her behind her. The poor kid had to run to keep up, but she stared at Aja as she was pulled along.
The manager followed her out. “I’m terribly sorry ma’am, let me give you a shopping pass for your next visit.”
The woman kept walking. “Yeah, you better.”
“Why is she getting freebies after beating her kid?” Aja yelled after them. A small group of people had gathered but no one said anything.
Aja angrily picked up the clothes she’d dropped. Her manager stormed into the dressing room.
“That’s the last straw, Aja. I’m going to have to let you go.”
“What? Why?”
“You can’t talk to a customer like that.”
“She was beating her kid.”
“That wasn’t your business.”
“Then whose business is it? If she’s smacking her kid in public, what do you think she does at home? We should report her.” Aja held the clothes to her chest.
“It’s not just that. You’re always late, and you don’t come to work dressed properly.” He put his hands on his hips. “You’re a liability. What if that woman sues?”
“For what? Beating her kid?’
“Aja, I’m sorry, you’re fired.”
Aja tossed her armload of clothes to the floor and made sure to step on them as she stormed off.
Chapter 4
Aja wandered around the mall. She needed to call her mom. She hated that she left her cell phone in her race to escape. She would not go back to Abercrombie to use their phone. Pay phones were scarce so she looked around for a friendly face, someone who might be willing to let her make a call. She found an empty table at the food court and sat sulking about being fired. She scanned the crowd, hoping to find that mother so she could give her a real piece of her mind.
“Hey, Aja. Are you on break?”
Aja looked up to see Javier, one of the workers at Sonic in the food court and a student at her school. He was also Taylor’s boyfriend.
“No, I just got fired.”
“Bummer. What happened?”
Aja filled him in on what happened. “Plus my car is so unreliable that I’m always late anyway.”
“Good luck finding another job.” Javier sipped on a drink. “Most of my friends can’t find any work, and if they do, they’re only given about eight hours a week. Not enough to even put gas in your car.” He offered her a French fry. “Cool skirt, you just get that?”
“Yeah, how did you know?”
“The price tag is still hanging off it. Not that I’m checking you out or anything.”
“I should smear French fry grease on it and take it back,” Aja smiled.
“Hey, you did the right thing.”
“Thanks.” Aja took a fry and ate it. “Can I borrow your phone? I need to call my mom for a ride.”
“Sure.” Javier fished his cell phone from his pocket. “I’d offer to take you home when I get off, but Taylor would probably freak out.”
“Yeah, she’s modeling the clothes tonight at Abercrombie.”
Javier nodded. “Good. She was thinking you were going to get to do it.”
“Me?” Aja dialed the phone and waited for her mom to pick up.
“You give her a run, since you’re pretty hot.” He held the French fry bag out.
“Thanks,” Aja said, grabbing another greasy fry. People often told her she was “so pretty,” but she never made any popular lists. Aja tried her mom’s cell; it went right to voice mail. Some nights her mom sang with a folk group. Aja couldn’t remember if her mom said she had a gig tonight or was she at one of her human right’s protest? Aja didn’t want to walk home in the dark and in uncomfortable shoes. She opened her purse and took Walker’s phone number from her purse and debated calling him.
“Hey, don’t use all my minutes,” Javier scolded. “My parents are already on me for using it too much.”
“I’ll be quick,” Aja said, and dialed Walker’s number.
He picked up on the first ring.
“Walker, hey, this is Aja.”
“I was hoping you’d call.”
“I hate to ask you this, but is your offer still good for a ride home?”
“You’re already off work?”
“It’s a long story, but yeah.”
“You seem to have a lot of long stories. I can be there in fifteen minutes. Same place I dropped you off?”
“Sure, thanks.”
Aja handed the phone to Javier. “I owe you, thanks.”
“No problemo. I’m gonna run to see if Taylor is modeling.” He looked at the clock on his phone. “My break’s almost over, and I may have to crack a few heads if I find any guys going gaga over her.” He tossed his almost-full order of fries in the trash as he stood.
Aja licked her lips. Dang, she was starving and seriously considered Dumpster diving for the trashed food. She stood to leave and saw a uniformed police officer ascending the escalator. She froze. He looked very much like the Freddy Krueger cop. She couldn’t imagine them trying to track her at the mall. It was only forty stupid dollars, now less the fifteen bucks she had to spend on the skirt.
The officer turned toward her. It wasn’t him, but Aja still felt like a wanted criminal. Am I going to have to duck and run every time I see a uniform? She sorely wished she hadn’t taken the money. She did not want to go to jail—again.
She took a deep breath and headed to the mall exit to wait for Walker, a guy she’d only met today, didn’t know his last name, and had already seen naked.
My life is too weird.
Chapter 5
Aja hid in the shadows near the entrance of the mall until she saw Walker’s sky blue Buick pull to the curb.
“Thanks for coming to get me,” Aja said, as she slid into the car.
“Dinner was over and I really didn’t want to stay for dessert bingo anyway,” Walker said, flashing a big grin.
“I don’t know how you deal with all those old people. Don’t they creep you out?”
“No. I really get into talking to them. They’re interesting. I mean, it’s like having a personal history book.” Walker went on. “And I can’t help feeling sorry for some. Their families hardly ever visit.”
“So you really are a nice guy,” Aja said, leaning back in the car seat to look at him.
Walker nodded, laughing. “Yeah, but don’t tell too many people. It’ll ruin my incredibly cool image. Like driving my grandparent’s Buick. Way cool.” He stopped at a light. “What happened at work? You weren’t there more than two hours.”
“I got fired.” Aja tugged at her skirt.
“Long story?”
Aja sighed. “It’s pretty stupid, really. Some lady was smacking her kid around and I yelled at her.” Aja told Walker the ugly details. “My manager was looking for an excuse to get rid of me anyway.”
Walker watched Aja as she told her story. A car horn beeped behind them. The light had turned green.
“That’s a great reason to get fired,” Walker said, driving through the intersection. He gave a friendly wave to the driver behind him. “You totally did the right thing.”
“Tell that to my bank account.”
“So let me get this straight. You’re a wanted criminal, a fugitive from the law. You’re a hothead employee who can’t hold down a job. And you have a bunch of long stories to tell.” Walker smiled and kept looking ahead at the road. “Do you want to go get some coffee or something?”
“Sure,” Aja said
, warming up to him. “Did you happen to eat all of my coffee cake?”
“If I’m going to have to share the cake with you, then maybe I should just take you home.” Walker grinned.
“I’ll bet if you pose naked again Mrs. Wells will make you another one.”
They decided on a Starbucks and took the foil package of cake in with them.
Sitting at a table sipping tea, Aja asked, “What are you studying?”
Walker leaned back and sighed. “Good question. So far I’m just getting my basics done, but I’m pretty interested in history and art. And I love writing. Let’s just say I have no idea.” He pinched off a buttery chunk of cake and took a bite. “What about you?” he asked with a full mouth.
Aja shrugged. “If I can get out of high school, then I’m thinking about heading to the West Coast.”
“To go to school?”
“Eventually.”
Walker’s phone rang. He looked at caller ID and frowned. He hit the cancel button and put the phone in his pocket.
“Screening your calls?” Aja asked.
“Yeah, sort of.” Walker changed the subject. “What do you mean if you get out of high school?”
Aja told Walker about the meeting at school she overheard. “I probably won’t get my diploma, thanks to that jerk of a principal.”
“So you’re living on the edge, huh?” He sipped his coffee. “Most principals are jerks anyway. Part of the job description.”
“I don’t mean to be a problem, but trouble seems to follow me.” Aja looked out the window. “I just want to get the hell out of Dodge, but I don’t have enough money to cross state lines.” Aja stirred her tea. “And now I’m unemployed.”
“You could be a nude model.” Walker smiled.
Aja giggled. “Yeah, in front of my mother and her friends. That’s about the creepiest idea ever.”
He shook his head. “If my mother ever found out…” He let the comment hang.
“Yeah, I doubt most moms would approve of nude modeling.”
He scrunched his face. “She’s too proper and uptight.”
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