by Zee Irwin
“Detective Jace Delfino, ma’am. Are Daniel or Maddie here?”
Her eyes squinted as if she noticed my neck and wasn’t sure what she was looking at. I was used to this kind of treatment from people who met me for the first time, but it didn’t make it any easier to deal with, especially in this situation. It made me a little self-conscious, but I resisted the urge to play with the collar of my shirt. For a moment, playing the detective in front of her meant I could ignore her stares; later, though, I might replay the look in her eyes in my head and curse my life, or the Marines or the bad guys in Afghanistan, for creating the monster I was.
“Is there a problem?” With no Irish accent detected, I scratched that clue to who she was off my mental list.
“Sorry, no offense, but I don’t know you, and this concerns them, so . . . Are they home or not?”
“Maddie!” She kept guard in the doorway, still with arms crossed.
“Oh Jace! Come in.” Finally, a friendly face appeared from the hallway. I’d been to the house many times before and knew Maddie was emerging from the kitchen. The other clues were her drying her hands on a dish towel, and the enticing aroma of fresh-baked cookies wafting through the air.
“Hey, how are you?” I stepped past the other woman and greeted Maddie with a kiss on the cheek.
“Have you two met? Jace, this is Lily, my roommate, and Lily, this is Jace, a good friend of Daniel’s.”
“Hey,” I nodded at Lily.
“Hey back.” She shrugged, only this time her blue eyes softened toward me and there was a hint of a Mona Lisa smile. I had to admit she was sort of cute, but I was here to do a job.
“I have some news for you about your attacker. We caught him.”
Lily suddenly came alive with a barrage of questions. “What’s this? Attacker? Maddie, when were you attacked? You never told me?”
Maddie shrugged it off. “It was no big deal. I wasn’t hurt. It happened one night when I walked home from the pub to my old apartment.”
Daniel came up behind me to the door, balancing a few bags of groceries in his arms. “Hey, Jace. What brings you by?”
Lily swept Maddie away with an animated discussion while promenading to the kitchen where the oven buzzer sounded. My mouth watered and my stomach growled, leaving me to wonder if I might get offered a cookie before leaving.
“Here, let me help.” I took two lower hanging bags from him. “I stopped by to tell you we caught Maddie’s attacker.”
His head turned sharply to me. “Oh man, that’s the best news I’ve heard all day. Did you tell Maddie?”
“Right before you arrived.”
We entered the kitchen. I did a double take to Daniel to confirm he had the same thought I did. Did their kitchen explode?
“Jeez, Harvard. I leave for an hour to pick up groceries for dinner and Hurricane Maddie storms through. Good thing Ma’s not here to see this.”
I saw the gleam in his eyes. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little jealous of what my friends had, from Daniel’s nickname for Maddie, to their teasing of each other, to the obvious physical connection they had. Like magnets, they drew together, holding hands, often near each other, no matter how many people were in the room.
Lily chimed in. “Maddie might actually be a mad-scientist when it comes to baking. I warned her an hour ago when we started this cookie making adventure. Cooking isn’t for the faint of heart.”
“All right, ha ha. Things may have taken a turn for the worse when I started the dough mixer on level five, spraying flour everywhere. But here. The proof is in the results.” Maddie held a fresh from the oven cookie up to Daniel’s lips for the first bite and waited for his judgement.
“Mmm. Wait. Another.” Before Maddie drew her hand away, he took a second bite. “Mmm. Okay, it’s official. You’ll have to come over and bake me cookies often. We better clean the kitchen up good before Ma gets home. Heaven help us if my Irish mother walks in and sees this mess.”
Daniel put the groceries away while Maddie served cookies on a milky white plate looking like a fancy antique from days long gone. She put them on the island between Lily and me. “I give us all permission to ruin dinner by having dessert first. Jace, sit. Stay awhile, in fact, stay for dinner. We’re grilling salmon.”
I eyed the unoccupied stool next to Lily, but remained standing. Lily would be on my right if I sat, and it would put my scars in full view of her. “I hate to intrude. Besides, I should get home and feed Sammie.” And I hoped to chat with Flower65, if she was still talking to me.
“A dog?” Lily piped up as she picked up a cookie from the plate.
“No, a big, black tomcat.” The cookies looked as good as they smelled. Daniel wasn’t shy about grabbing two. I followed suit.
She swallowed her bite. “You’re a cat person? Hmm. I never would have guessed. Do you have pictures?”
A far cry from her crossed arms at the front door. She now held out her empty hand for my phone, the half-eaten cookie taking up space in her other hand. Unbeknownst to me and somewhere along the way, we broke through the barrier to more familiarity.
I suddenly felt a little naked, showing private photos on my phone, but I complied and pulled up a few. I held my phone out for her to view a photo of Sammie sprawled out along the ledge of the sunniest window in my apartment.
“Aww. Look at him. I’ll bet he’s a big baby. I have a few cats.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of litter and cat hair to manage.” I imagined her closet full of cat hair rollers and poop scoopers.
“I own a bookstore and all the cats live there. My customers love being able to pet them and relax with a wonderful book and a cup of tea.” She popped out her phone and patted the stool next to her. “Come closer to see.”
Okay, so she seemed nice. I could let my guard down a little. With no other excuse to leave coming to mind, and being a little intrigued by the fact she owned a bookstore, I viewed about twenty pictures of her cats accompanying her running monologue of names and how she came to own one.
“You’re lucky to have a landlord who let’s you keep so many cats at the store.” I noted when she looked up at me it was right into my eyes, avoiding my neck altogether, and then she glanced away. That was another thing I was used to. People finding anywhere else to look but my neck. How hard was that for her? Did I secretly disgust her, like she was using the cat pictures as a creative way to calm her nerves being so close to such a monster looking guy?
“Well, I own the building. Yes, very lucky. I’d have cats at our apartment too, but someone doesn’t allow pets in his building.” She glared over at Daniel.
Daniel held his hands up as if pushing back. “And that’s the way it’ll stay, no matter how many times you ask.”
I forgot for a moment she was Maddie’s roommate. It was shortly after Maddie’s attack at her old apartment that Daniel moved out of a converted bank building he owned to free up a three bedroom for Maddie to move into, a chivalrous move by a guy if I’d ever seen one, and he wasn’t even dating her yet at that point. I figured it wouldn’t be long before Maddie and Daniel lived together. I’d known Daniel several years, and I’d never seen him have eyes for any woman other than Maddie. In fact, he had been staunchly against relationships until she came along.
Lily let out a sigh, sounding full of mock exasperation aimed at Daniel, and turned back to me. “You should stop by sometime. It’s The Cat’s Cradle down on Prince Street.”
My mouth dropped. What were the odds I’d be investigating a string of robberies on Prince Street and meet a shop owner from there. I was also in awe. This young woman was impressive, with her confident manner of being a shop owner. But was she just being nice about inviting me?
“Jace, are you staying for dinner? I could send you home with a little baggie of salmon bits for Sammie.” Maddie insisted, and stood next to Daniel at the counter, their arms around each other like magnets.
I gazed at all of them, and I almost agreed. But then I swe
ar I saw a slight shift of Lily’s eyes down to my neck. I abruptly stood. “Thanks, but no. I came to talk to Daniel about the case.”
My buddy left the arms of his girl, grabbed a plate, and opened up a butcher’s package. “Well, talk to me outside while I get these filets on the grill.”
It was an oddly nice day for Boston, perfect for getting some sunshine and breaking out the grill from winter’s slumber. The warmth spread through me as I removed my cardigan and rolled up my sleeves. Daniel strategically aligned four thick salmon steaks on the grates.
I’d worked with him on the side for a few years. He’d hired Travis and me here and there for investigation work involving his divorce cases. Usually, the work involved staking out, observing people, and finding anything showing proof of cheating or mishandling of business affairs. Nothing tedious or dangerous, and he paid well. But the trust we’d built between us made him more like a brother to me.
I filled him in on the arrest of Ricky DeMase, and where we stood with the counterfeit ring investigation. “With the FBI taking over the case, I can focus on investigating the sudden rash of burglaries down on Prince Street. I’m heading up a small task force to investigate. I’d like to see if we could get the businesses together for a community meeting.”
“So, what do you think about Lily?”
“No, dude, please don’t try to fix us up. It’s awkward enough meeting her like this.”
Daniel’s lips twitched, paired with a mischievous look in his eyes. “I meant about her being a store owner on Prince Street. Maybe you could approach her for information about the area and the shop owners, but yeah, fixing you up with her isn’t a bad idea either.” He winked at me while flipping over the salmon filets, gaining perfect cross marks from the grates seared into them.
My cheeks heated, and I rubbed at my neck. “I-I wouldn’t want to involve her in this mess.” I meant the investigations, but also the mess that was me and all my issues.
“Hey, how’s your brother doing? Did he decide to do another tour?”
“I spoke to Luc about a month ago. I think he’s had enough of the Marines. He’s talking about coming back and taking over Dad’s construction business. More power to him. I love building things, but running a vast company and all the stress that comes with it? Not for me.”
“You’re happy taking your share of the profits and living your life.”
“That’s exactly why Dad set up his company the way he did. Luc and I are secure for life. Little did any of us know he’d pass so soon.”
Right then, Lily exited the house, practically skipping down the stairs to the patio, carrying a wicker basket of plates and things to the picnic table where I sat. My first impulse was to laugh at her, but it was also hard not to notice her. The dress she wore seemed different, but man did it hug her figure in all the right places. There was something about her attractiveness that was unique.
“Last chance, Jace. Staying for dinner or not?” She set the table and held up a fourth plate, waiting for my answer. I was close to saying yes, but this time, I knew her eyes stared at my neck. Maybe I was seeing things, maybe not. Either way, I wasn’t in the mood to sit around all night watching Daniel and Maddie love up on each other while enduring Lily and her eyes on my scars.
“No thanks. Some other time, maybe.” I stood to leave. Once again, I was jealous, wishing for a heart to share with someone. Would I ever find someone to love me as I was, scars and all?
Just as I expected, Sammie attacked me the second I was inside the door. Instead of rubbing himself along my legs in his usual loving way, he sat upright next to his food dish, with a growl registering his disappointment.
“Okay, okay, buddy. I’m late for dinner, but I have a treat for you.”
With a vengeance, he attacked the bits of cheeseburger I had picked up on the way home. I piled on his canned food as well, trying not to get any on his nose.
I settled into the couch and pulled out my phone, immediately logging into the LitForum, but Flower65 wasn’t there. I waited and waited. Nothing. I left her message.
Me: Had to work late. Hope to catch you tomorrow.
Frustrated, I grabbed my knife and a block of wood and set to whittling, an odd hobby I’d picked up years ago from Dad. When I needed ways of relaxing and getting out of my head, I carved. Birds were my thing, and I don’t know why. Somehow, etching every little detail of a bird out of wood, the intricate process kept my attention for some time. Tonight, I carved out the beginnings of a cardinal with heart-shaped wings until my fingers ached.
Missing a night of chatting with Flower weighed me down and my head sank into the cushions like it was a heavy bowling ball. Sammie was my friend again and jumped on top of me. After stretching and turning up his purr volume, he nosed at my arm, lifting it just enough to fit his head underneath.
“It’s just us tonight, you and me against the world.” I snuggled him close into my body, letting my worries fade away as I smoothed his fur with my hand.
“I met someone today. Lily.” I surprised myself, and Sammie too, since his head popped up. Images of Lily splayed out across my mind, one in particular. The way she pushed her glasses up her nose. Odd, yet underneath it all, she was pleasing to the eyes. And her Mona Lisa type of smile appeared mysterious yet coaxing at the same time.
I drifted off to sleep thinking about our strange encounter, only to be awakened a short time later by a call from Travis.
“Hey man. Becky comes to town soon. Did you meet your online friend yet?”
“Ah, shit. Don’t make me regret telling you about her. No, I haven’t asked her yet.”
“Good, then that settles it, you’ll come over and spend time with Becky.”
“Nope. I can’t. Whenever it is, I’m sure I’ll have to work.”
“Nice try. Don’t give me that bullshit.”
My heavy sigh into the phone should have warned him off. “I like this woman online. I don’t want to mess things up by having a one-night thing with Becky.”
“Dude, at some point you gotta put yourself out there. Try things. You never know when the right one will come along. If you like this chick online, then you should meet her.”
I thought of Flower65 and of Becky, and between the two I’d rather spend an evening with Flower. But yeah, it scared me shitless. All the what ifs plagued my brain.
“She’ll probably see me and run the other way.”
He snorted. “Have you ever considered if she doesn’t run away? Maybe you’re the one who runs away because you don’t find her attractive?”
Nah. I don’t know why, but I could already tell Flower was attractive. At least, according to the image I created of her in my head. Brunette with blue eyes who enjoyed reading as much as I did. I’ve spent many nights piecing together a mugshot of her in my mind based on all the clues she left in our chats.
Rustling sounds came through the line. Marcie’s voice took over. “Look, I can’t stand thinking you’ll be alone for the rest of your life. You’re too good of a man for that. So either get off your ass and meet the online girl. Or come to have dinner with us and Becky this week. But either way, do something, Delfino.”
“Fine. I’ll see if Flower65 can meet up.”
She almost screamed into the phone. “Yes, you can do this.”
Travis took the phone back. “And if she turns out to be a disaster, Becky can be Plan B.”
Sharp Dressed
Lily
I almost tripped as George twirled himself around my legs after I walked into the shop late in the morning. He begged to be picked up. I obliged him after putting on the latest apron, this one in white with orange felt flowers all over it and big purple letters that said Spring Sprung at Cat’s Cradle.
“Oh, my handsome boy. How has the morning been? Any customers?”
Two ladies sat at one of our tables, sipping tea, one petting Molly, our resident white Persian, and the other petting BooBoo. I waved at Simon, who was in the kitchenette mixing up
a chai tea and chatting with Tina, one of my regulars who had become a part-time employee. She was in graduate school majoring in English literature, and I counted on her to run some of our reading groups, but I swear she had a thing for Simon.
Another customer was in the parenting section perusing our collection, and finally, near the back, I spotted Beverly, talking to two gentlemen who I instantly recognized as Daniel and Jace.
It was curious to see them here, especially after last night at Daniel’s. I imagined Bev was keeping them occupied with her latest news from her recent health checkup, and how her last batch of tulips had finally bloomed, all while trying to investigate their book tastes and make a recommendation. The mature woman possessed natural people skills. If there were ever a sales contest between her and Simon, Bev would win hands down.
I made my way toward them. It had been an interesting first meeting with Jace at Daniel’s house, and now he was here in my shop with a serious air about him, being all business, matching the tone of his navy blue suit.
On second glance, he looked good, like a sharp dressed man type of good. Like a clean-shaven, good cop, give me just the facts, ma’am kind of hero who could throw me over his knee, spanking me for every naughty thing I’d ever thought or done. And, wow, I needed to stay off the afternoon caffeinated tea and romance book of the day.
Jace almost resembled Daniel with his hot lawyer-looking ways, although his hair was longer than most, and I was here for every minute. Even if the guy was brawny and not my usual type, I could easily imagine myself making an exception.
“Hello. Can I interest you two in some books today?” I noticed their arms were empty and that wouldn’t do. Bev could usually sell anything to anyone. Since she didn’t, it was up to me to make sure they didn’t leave without buying something.
“If you’re looking to understand women better, I highly recommend either a book about the female spirit or a book about sex and the female body, depending on which topic might interest you the most.” Only half-kidding, I grinned and winked at neither one in particular, although I hoped Jace caught it.
