Chapter Six

“Was there a stabbing, or something, I didn’t hear about?” Tess asked as she walked into the store.

Aubrey looked up from the Lawton Constitution she had spread across the counter. “Why do you ask?”

“There’s blood on the sidewalk. As least that’s what it looks like. Big, fat drops of dried blood.”

Aubrey sighed. “That’s what it is.”

“It’s not yours, is it?” Tess asked, setting a stack of yellow flyers on the newspaper. “I thought you were going straight upstairs when you closed. You said you were tired.”

Aubrey nodded, picked up the flyers—Tess’s church was having a bake sale—and moved them to the end of the counter.

“Okay, girlfriend, the nod’s not helping. Yes, you went upstairs, or yes, it’s your blood?”

“Not my blood. You remember me telling you about Jim’s girlfriend?”

Tess nodded, listening as Aubrey relayed what happened the night before.

“We’re getting into freaky territory here,” Tess said. “A kid tries to steal from you, then slips on the only bit of ice out there, and this woman gets cut with a piece of metal the wind was blowing?” She pointed at the scrimshaw doll, displayed in its black lacquered case. “Maybe that doll really is cursed.”

“I don’t believe in curses.”

“Hey, Dude!”

Tess shook her head. “I think that’s the only non-offensive thing he says.”

“Liar, liar.”

“Speaking of Einstein,” Aubrey folded her arms on the counter and leaned forward. “If anything happens to me, would you be willing to let the boys have him?”

Tess sat down on the other stool Aubrey kept behind the counter. “Don’t talk like this, Aubrey.”

She closed the paper, folded it, and set it under the counter to later be spread beneath Einstein’s stand.

“I have to be realistic. The doctor told me that if I didn’t get a kidney, I only had another year to live. That was four months ago.”

Tess’s eyes swelled with jewel bright tears. “I’d give you a kidney if I could.”

“I know you would.” She squeezed Tess’s hand, then let go. “I’ve been thinking about selling the store, or rather selling all the contents to another dealer. I have a couple in mind, one’s in Kansas, the other’s in Texas.”

“If you sell your business how are you going to live?”

“I’d have the money from the sale. This building’s paid off so I can rent out the downstairs. I should be able to make it ’til I get a kidney or die.” She attempted a smile to soften the sting of her words.

“Don’t,” Tess whispered. “Don’t talk like this. Miracles happen. They happen all the time.”

“Of course they do,” Aubrey said.

Just not to her.

****

The next morning she seemed to have gotten her second wind. Dialysis the night before had left her drained as usual but for the first time in a long time she slept through the night and woke feeling ready for the day.

She’d walked down the stairs to the shop twenty minutes early, carrying a half-a-cup of coffee in one hand, while Einstein rode on her shoulder. With the radio playing country tunes, she’d started dusting, stopping only to open the front door at nine o’clock.

She was dusting her favorite piece, a three foot high rocking horse, that she had never been willing to sell, and singing along to an old Brooks and Dunn song, when Jim walked in the door.

He has a girlfriend, she reminded herself. A beautiful girlfriend. Even with that thought in mind her abdomen gave a pleasant little clench and her breath caught in her throat.

He handed her a cup of Starbuck’s coffee. “I took a chance. Vanilla cappuccino.”

She accepted the cup with a smile. She loved cappuccinos and vanilla was her favorite. It was still hot, not quite burning her tongue when she took a cautious sip. She closed her eyes. She hadn’t indulged in a cappuccino or latte in years. She’d really have to watch her fluid intake for the rest of the day.

“If you look that ecstatic over a cappuccino, I’d love to see how you look after an orgasm.”

Thank goodness her mouth was empty when he said that or cappuccino would have spewed out her nose. As it was she started coughing and couldn’t stop.

He was at her side immediately, thumping her back and laughing. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It was the just the look on your face… I’d love to shoot you like that.”

“What?” she gasped.

“With a camera.”

“Oh.” She couldn’t remember anyone other than her parents and grandfather wanting to take pictures of her.

****

Jim watched the red fade from her cheeks. He wasn’t certain how much was from coughing and how much was the result of his orgasm comment.

There was an innocence about her that he found intriguing. He’d noticed her looks before, telling himself he was only interested in her as a photography subject. She seemed to change daily. Today her face was thinner than it had been just yesterday. In another woman he might have thought it the result of clever makeup, but he didn’t think she wore any makeup other than a bit of lip gloss and mascara.

Yesterday she’d worn sweats that covered her figure and made her look heavier. This morning’s jeans were a little loose but still revealed some attractive curves.

Down boy, he told himself. He’d just ended things with Vicki yesterday and here he was, sniffing around Aubrey. For all he knew she had a fiancé, an ex-husband and a couple of kids.

“I didn’t know you were a photographer,” she said. “I guess you only date women who look like models.” She tried to add a bright smile to her words, but he heard the truth. She didn’t realize how lovely she was.

“I know what Vicki said.”

She looked at him in surprise, her green eyes wide. For the first time he notices the little gold flecks.

He reached for her free hand. “That’s one of the reasons we ended things. I won’t stay with someone who lies to me or about me.”

“You split up?” she whispered. “But if she was your model—”

“Vicki’s not a model. She works at a jewelry store. I met her when my friend asked me to drop off a necklace to be repaired. I take occasional pictures of faces I find interesting, sometimes I shoot landscapes, but mostly—buildings.”

“Buildings?”

Vicki had never understood why he took pictures of buildings, especially abandoned ones. “I’m working on two books. My dad’s actually helping with them. He’s a retired English teacher so he takes care of the narrative for me.”

“What kind of books?”

“One’s on ghost towns, the other is urban decay.”

She shook her head the tiniest bit. “I don’t know what that means.”

“Short explanation—abandoned buildings.”

“Why?”

“You go in and look at these places that were once full of life. Places that were once modern. You look at them after they’ve sat empty for years. It’s powerful.”

She looked doubtful. He wanted the chance to make her see the buildings the way he saw them.

The phone rang, she reached for it.

Jim slapped his palm on the counter to get her attention. “Later.”

She nodded, returning to her conversation: something to do with lead soldiers from the colonial era.

A cold wind caressed him when he stepped outside. His thoughts returned to Aubrey.