Faun had no idea why, but since she had been running the bookshop, she’d show up there only in skirts and dresses, no doubt the years of habit from her bookstore days. Unless it was the decor itself that drew her into its mood or her need to blend into the surroundings; in this case, the wallpaper.
There was no way Grant could have known why she dressed the way she did, but as to her blending into the background —would not have crossed his mind. She perhaps complemented the William Morris entryway wallpaper or was it the other way around—?he was hypnotized to stare at the precise place where her longish dark green skirt with swirls of paisley stopped at mid calf to reveal astonishingly sensual long legs despite her pixy height, and at the moment had him captured. But Faun did not notice as she was still examining the screen, sat at Arthur Bishop’s office desk chair.
But just then Grant’s phone rang causing the both of them to jump with its otherworldly intrusion brought by the ringtone
“Excuse me, I have to take this,” he politely said and stepped out the office door, shutting it behind him
Faun looked at the door he had vacated and sat for a moment knowing a moment of total bewilderment. She just looked at the door. It seemed awhile she sat there feeling dull. It was as if something had hit her on the head. She thought: what am I doing here?—should I go or….what would I be doing right now if he….
….blank
Slowly she rose from the desk and, feeling strangely dizzy she stumbled into the edge of the desk as she lost her balance. Again she stared at the door as she leaned on the edge of the desk. She could hear his voice through the door but no words came clear, it was only the hum and tone of his voice.
She shook her head as if to wake herself up and said aloud to the empty room,
“I should go….shouldn’t I?”
Quietly, she went to the door and opened it. He glanced up from his phone as he saw her and their eyes met; hers dark and bright and his shaded in the dimness where the shadows made his expression unclear. He stopped talking just then but she waved and quickly walked in the direction they had come toward the back entrance of the bookshop from the cellar.
Since it was creepy at night, especially this time of year with all the Halloween decorations everywhere, that sense hung about down there, so, she quickened her way back up to the shop.
She completed her evening routine for the shop—more habit from her past, and her need to tidy things up; cash drawer balanced and totals written into the ledger, and then once locked up, grabbed the cloth cash bag, then grabbed her raincoat and handbag; a small clutch, then out the door, she locked up. She hesitated. Should she set the alarm, or would he?
“Oh you’re off!” came a voice behind her from the street side.
She spun around.
Grant stood there looking at her from the sidewalk.
“Yes, well—I thought ….”
“Sorry, that call was—“
“I wasn’t sure if I should wait—“
They spoke at the same time. Awkward.
“Umm,” Faun shrugged and then held the key as she said, “I just need to lock up and set the alarm….”
“Of course,” he said and as she turned to do so, he walked over to her.
It was dark now, the sun had gone down and he wondered if she would be all right out here on the street alone. He felt compelled to ask but was not sure how without sounding patronizing.
Instead she said,
“do you need a ride?”
He had walked.
“I’m staying just a few blocks from here, but—“ he smiled
“Me too—I just drive here because I have to drop the deposit at the bank —which is far,” she waved a cloth bag at him, “that’s my car there—“ she pointed to an old 1970 faded yellow station wagon Volvo. “Care to come along? I can drop you off.”
When he opened the passenger door it made a loud creaky sound but the interior was clean and everything looked like it worked. He slid in at the same time as she did and they shut the door at the exact same moment. This seemed to make them both look at each other. They both laughed.
She said,
“you must be used to getting in on that side,” as she started the car. The engine revved up with muscle as she pressed the gas.
“Yes,” he said as she pulled the car onto the street.
“So the bank is that way—which way are you?” she waved to the left.
“Why don’t I come along for the drop,” he suggested and added, “I’m that way,” and he waved to the right.
They fell quiet as she drove to the bank, her thoughts in conflict. One part worried about what he might think of her driving as men generally don’t like women to drive them in her experience, unless it was her? She followed the speed limit. But she also started to wonder if —he just came because of —the cash bag? was he suspicious of something else —or should she be —or was he but of who? She glanced at him and noticed he was looking at the speedometer
After the drop—a secret kind of hidden drive through by the bank that required a key, he watched her walk back to the car, her long legs gliding with athletic grace and reminded him of the glimpse of leg that first caught his eye.
She got back in,
“so which way are you?”
“I’m by Elizabeth street,” he said
“Oh, me too!” she said and then pulled the car down the familiar way that she always took going home.
It was strange having him with her. But also not strange. In that it was strange because it was not strange. Having him with her. It felt more normal. Which for her, that in itself was not normal.
“Erm—“ he started to say something
but at the moment he began, so had she,
“So—“
“Oh!”
“Oh!”
They both said
Faun kept her mouth shut.
“Was just thinking —or—wondering—I mean, this town closes up early—“ he was saying but he spoke quickly and she didn’t get most of those words as he paused between, “no, I saw a Starbucks back there I remember or—which way is that? Do you know?”
She caught that word,
“Starbucks!” she repeated, “you like coffee—do you want—?”
“Well, is it out of the way, I meant if you want to join me?” he asked —just as he recognized Elizebeth street, “oh but here we are….”
“Well—we can still go….” even as she turned the car down Elizabeth and while saying so it suddenly began to rain and at the same moment that it began —with a bolt of lightning for emphasis as something flew past the windshield
“Maybe it’s a sign,” he said as the sky had lit up, “did you see that?” he pointed
“What was that?”
“That was a bat.”
She met his gaze as she stopped at the corner to look at him. But the chill that passed through her was not fear. Her eyes fell to his mouth for one instant and….she found herself wondering how it would feel to kiss his mouth. Perhaps prickly. As she noted the way his facial hair outlined his lips casting sensual shadows
“You’re not afraid of them?” he asked
It took a beat too long for her to interpret his words. She kept staring at him. She looked into his eyes. Repeating in her head the syllables. She fell inside them.
“They’re more afraid of humans,” he was saying
but she was still decoding and lost in the music of his voice; it was deep and rhythmic as she’d imagined Thomas Hardy would sound
He said,
“I’m just to the right after the next corner—actually, I do have a coffee maker there, if you’d like to join me? It’s a bit rough but nobody lives in that part of the house where I’m at.”
As she turned following his direction, something suddenly dawned,
“are you at 56?” she slowed at a house and pointed
He smiled slowly,
“I should have realized—you’re the rental! Or I should say the renter—I didn’t put it together—“
“Yes—oh—I’m their renter —that’s how I met the Bishops!” as she realized what he meant. She met the Bishops when she took the apartment they advertised for rent.
“I forgot—they’d mentioned but—the yellow Volvo should have ….” he was saying as she pulled up the driveway to the back of the small, narrow two story old Victorian style house with a front porch, “when I visit, I stay in a dormer room with an en suite, I use the community kitchen which has a coffee maker.”
She put the car in park and as they unbuckled their seat belts they both laughed
“There’s a community kitchen? I never noticed! I’ve been thinking I had a new neighbor!”
“There’s a community dining room too and sitting room—would you like a tour?” he asked
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