side street baskerville a party for tea

 

But by the end of the day, Faun did not want to reflect upon the meeting with the two authorities which, mostly was tedious and all about the fact that Monsieur Pierre Reaux was not kept abreast of the ongoing details of the case. It was a wasted hour of listening to and watching him exclaim and strut over the documents and the paper trail of how Sullivan and she and third party had left him in the dust. 

It just buried Faun under more stupid nonsense. 

Sheila did not see Faun again until after closing time when she handed Faun the cash till,

“What did Inspector Clouseau have to say?—sheeze —you look like you’ve not see daylight in a year! Did you even eat anything all day?”

Faun took the till and quietly started counting the drawer down 

Sheila cleared her throat,

“hello?”

Faun looked up in mid count,

“thirty-seven….” her eyes focused on Sheila and for a second or two it seemed she seemed to go blank. Then she said, “I’m sorry …. yeah—Clouseau needs a clue—I don’t want to get into it, he’s an idiot —but, it’s just more stuff they need—paperwork—total waste of my time….sorry…. I can’t believe it’s so late—I never even saw the sun today….sorry I left you out there on the floor all day.”

“It was your day off, and I wasn’t alone, the girls took a shift today —so, the change might be off—“

Faun dropped the pennies back in the coin slot and looked at Sheila—six foot two black trans beauty wearing one of her usual imaginative ensembles, this one involving a red tartan kilt with a matching hat 

“Oh…. I didn’t realize ….” Faun again looked blank 

“Ill do the till— sweetie, why don’t you go home?”

After about a minute of considering and nervously rearranging the objects of the desk in front of her Faun sighed in defeat,

“yeah….” and stood up and reached without looking for her hand bag and coat but paused by the office door. She looked into the office and back at Sheila, “King Leopold?”

“Oh! We have him—I meant to tell you, can we drop him off tomorrow? Gary and he seemed to have hit it off—“

“So, who dropped him off? Who was the guy?”

“Guy,” Sheila said, “his name —that’s his name—“

“But—“ and yet as Faun wished to press for more info on this little mystery her phone alerted with the dismal tone of Pierre Reaux —asking her to fetch yet one more piece of paperwork —this one from Arthur’s office.

It was awhile before Faun finally arrived back at her place in the freezing cold, fumbling for her key hardly noticing any of her surroundings except for the cold and all the snow and so it was with a start that she looked up from removing her boots inside the entrance via her kitchen, by the door that she noticed ….Grant standing there looking at her —still inside the partition between her place and the other side that lead out to ….the other kitchen and —to salmon sofas

“What….” the words seemed not to come to Faun as she stared up at him 

He looked ….terrible ….it was clear he had been traveling but it was not just a look of travel weary, it was something deeper. 

He stared at her. His dark hair and face were groomed as usual but something was obviously wrong; he appeared slightly crumpled in his woolen pullover and gray trousers 

“Something’s —wrong….” Faun said it looking at him as she carefully approached him in her stocking feet 

Slowly his eyes met hers; red veined and tired but it made the green of one of them almost brilliant 

“Don’t ask me,” he said and just stared at her. His eyes took a deadly serious look. “Don’t ask,” he said again 

Faun took a step back and started to turn away,

“all ri—“ but he reached for her as she started to move away. Faun stumbled and let him steady her as she looked again up at him. She stared into his eyes and said again, “all right ….” as she took a deep breath, “would you like tea?”

a royal Reaux side street mystery

Faun arrived on foot before the sun and found her way to the cash office without having to flip any lights. She focused on the neat list in her head of all the tasks of the day…. but what about King Leopold? 

It had not crossed Faun’s mind once to believe the king could be anywhere but with Grant 

and since Grant was nowhere to be found, it seemed a moot topic until she found Sheila’s handwritten yellow post-it note laying stuck to—right on top of the shop’s electric bill: “almost forgot to tell you—Guy called saying he is dropping off King Leopold”

which threw a wrench in her plot to stay focused on her to-do list and not get distracted 

Nevermind the donation boxes of books cluttering up the path to the public bathrooms that needed to be inventoried and shelved or tossed, not a safety hazard but —by early mid- morning even this was to be evaded by a surprise policeman visit 

Sullivan and Pierre Reaux both arriving through the shop’s front doors and one glaring her down as Faun dealt with a line of people whose only literary interest was reading the price out of their expected lattes

Out of nowhere, Sheila arrived too, appearing from the stacks and saying,

“I’ll take care of the line, why don’t you take Mr and Mrs Smith over there?”

“You have great timing,” Faun looked up and without argument stepped away from the counter and headed out to the floor over to the ‘Smiths’

“Can I help you with something?” Faun glanced first at officer Sullivan and then at the French Canadian 

“Perhapz ve can ‘av a word in a more private eh—rroom, nes pas?”

Faun glanced at Sheila who waved with a wink and then looked over at Sullivan whose eyes looked serious 

“Great,” Faun said

An alley way called Dawn off the side street

She felt differently she realized, staring out over the street in front of her, watching the coats of snow melt under the pummel of the constant rain which replaced the days of snow storms 

She had felt differently for awhile.

The tone of life had cast a new altered scheme of shades ….and it was so gradual, this change …. it was not possible to pin point any exact moment of the shift 

but there was a shift …. 

Faun looked down at her chapped hands— now softened ….but they still slightly stung, if she noticed ….

why had she come here….? and why had Grant been able to distract her from ….distract her from what is reality. But the change began when it was still present 

   and the events —a few shocking deaths between other

events …. smeared what remained of the dreams 

What world did those dreams belong in?

Sheila had no other message from Grant— so, it seems ….he forgot her, and now having shut up this part of the house Faun turned away from the window. She kept her eyes away from the salmon colored couches and focused on the door through which would close out these recent memories ….

and once through that door….Shut….with a click….she leaned against it and stared ahead at the interior of her little kitchen ….her bald reality glared back as she wondered how it was possible that he had achieved this ability to distract her from reality —that reality ….

And now with everything back in order at the shop and the bills sorted out and replied to whatever it was that Pierre Reaux needed (copies of the mud print photos) now done 

Faun faced the empty place ignoring the mockery of cheap fixes that existed for dates and fake friends —how did he distract her from that? she slid down the door and sat on the floor ….not a flashy red carpet promise, it was just—the ease that existed when he was around; a calm in which to think and breathe— was it illusion ….?something she had conjured up and blindly had believed in—her fault—so….it should be easy to conjure again, right? for herself ….

Faun reminded herself that he would have to contact her eventually about the book shop 

wouldn’t he? 

It suddenly occurred to her why Grant was able to distract her from the brutalities of life 

how walls talk

but we are different now

Tango for ‘tea’ down the wrong side a side street

In the end, Faun did wind up in Grant’s….

 it’s best not to get ahead of things, certainly, but, with the amount of chaos two teenaged girls can create and having to unknot the damage —an overcharge that was fixed with a refund for six thousand dollars; a complaint from someone in Berlin Germany for a phone call about a book they didn’t order that woke them in the middle of the night (Jennifer was still not getting the dialing sequence must be cleared by hanging up the receiver, not by pushing the red light) —and a few confusing issues they seemed to be having with ….money—as in the physical kind. So, their total disregard for safe keeping the cash went right over their heads. Several times Faun had found the cash register drawer left open so….

By the time the mothers —Paula and Pamela of Jessica and Jennifer (respectively) came to collect the girls (Jessica at 6:03, Jennifer at 6:07) 

when Grant found Faun in the cash office counting down the drawer—and having problems making it balance with the estimated cash deposite ….

he found her looking disheveled with the frustration of the task in front of her; her glasses askew on her face and her hair standing up in places where it looked like she had pulled at it in a kind of frustrated fit, juxtaposing the teal colored tweed skirt and matching suit jacket otherwise smart ensemble, contrasted by a cream colored satin blouse that had a long ribboned tie and pearl buttons. 

Her little ballet pumps with the big buttons, he noticed, were kicked off by feet, outlined in opaque black tights 

“You look like you could use a drink,” Grant said as he, after the fact, tapped lightly in the door as if meant as a knock 

Faun looked up,

“Oh do you have one?” as she looked hopefully for this possibility 

Grant laughed,

“I know where Arthur hid his sherry but I was thinking more along the lines of going somewhere—would you eat fish? There’s a place I read about….”

Faun stared at him for a moment. She was still adding and subtracting in her mind. 

And wasn’t there something she was supposed to …. make him suffer for …. a little longer?

“Ummm—but—oh! My wall!” as it hit her just then what it was she had meant to be asking about 

Grant went over to the desk where she was, took all the cash and put it in an envelope—

“No wait—that’s not the deposit—that has the base fund; I can’t make it balance—“ she was saying as he was still removing the cash from her fingers

“You need to get out of here, I think,” he said this as he placed the cash and the till into the antique safe and quickly shut it.

He turned and looked for her coat, recognizing the dark green adirondak coat,

“Let’s go,” he said slipping a hand under each of her arm pits, and while holding her coat, pulled her up from the chair, “the deposit can wait—I’ll clear it with the boss, so, don’t worry.”

The sea food place Grant had read about seemed to be very good; it had a waiting cue. But Grant insisted they wait and order drinks. Faun would be willing to swear it was a margarita. At least the first one was. And she would be willing to swear the seafood was probably amazing.

What were they talking about?

The Bishops….the shop….his childhood, where he grew up….he made her laugh at things he talked about….

It was just a bit hazy. Except for his eyes—as she could not look at anything else as they sat at the table….and what he said….everything he said….and for the first time in forever, she forgot to be self conscious and relaxed next to him

There was that moment after the paying of the check when Grant was helping her on with her coat

“Oh no….” Grant suddenly had said as they headed out towards the door to go and now —watching how often Faun paused to study the textures of the wallpaper 

“Hmmm….?” she was, at that point running her fingers over the velvety texture as she walked and humming to herself 

“You can’t drive,” he said 

His meaning wasn’t clear until they were outside.

“It’s so hazy out,” but she was squinting and then dropped the car keys in the little snow drift by the car door. “Shit.” And fell down on top of the drift. 

It was when she decided she felt comfortable there that when Grant leaned over her and said,

“give me the keys,” the other thing he said finally made sense 

After that 

It was awhile in the car. How long was she staring at the glove compartment? And still in the restaurant’s parking lot.

Finally she thought to look at Grant. He seemed to be having a personal conversation with himself. The tequila was making it harder for her to grasp most of it—or was it the translation? 

“Key…”he said under his breath and looked from the key to the areas of the antiquated steering wheel and dashboard. He tapped the spot when he located it with the key—but was not in a hurry to insert it. He let out a breath. “Right side….” he said aloud. Then looked at the key again. Another deep breath. “Two lanes —yellow lines….how do you turn right?”

“It’s two left turns,” Faun suddenly said

“Sorry?”

“Going back,” she clarified, “I mean from here.”

“Oh….that’s even better….”

But Faun did not remember the journey back.   

There was a moment she heard that terrifying sound of car horns being blown as they drove by some cars and someone yelled something that sounded like,

“pick a fucking lane—your other left asshole!!”

but it made sense with her dream somehow—so,

 it wasn’t until she was dumped actually into his bed       —quite similar as she had been the last time, as a matter of fact 

Side street bookshop girls first day scene cont

Sheila reappeared, emerging from the the stacks from her favorite genre,

“Well you told him,” she said watching Faun's face

“Huh?—who?” Faun asked her

Sheila rolled her eyes,

“mister artful dodger, isn’t he the nephew?”

Faun felt her face burn and stared mutely back at her

Finally Sheila said,

“Oh, don’t play dumb—I’ve been watching you guys for weeks but, don’t let me interrupt your orientation with our new employees—this should be interesting. Well, if you need me, you know where to find me.”

Deciding not to give much pause over that, Faun marched in the direction of the cafe 

~a bit later on~

Seeing as they had conquered the espresso machine, Faun decided after a store tour— that it was the right time for a few basics.

She waved Jessica and Jennifer to follow her behind the cash register area

“So,” Faun looked at both of them, “pop quiz—can either of you tell me what this is?”

The two girls, dressed similarly to each other wearing the latest trend in jeans with retro 90’s band name sweatshirts 

“Uhhh….” Jennifer stared 

Faun was pointing to the store phone 

“Oh! I know—my grandmother has one of those! It’s an adding machine—right?—no wait—I mean a calculator! See these are the numbers you press….” Jessica stopped  herself now wondering why there was no screen

“Actually, that is the store’s phone which you will be answering and so let me demonstrate,” Faun took her mobile phone out from where she had placed it in the cash area desk drawer, “I’ll call the store and one of you answer— ok?”

The two girls looked at each other as though they were terrified 

“What do you press?” Jennifer asked as it started to ring 

and it was about then when Faun realized that it would be awhile before they got to books.

Especially when, soon after this part of the training session someone came in with a donation of a complete set of the encyclopedia Britannia; copyright 1928 in mint condition

Jessica said,

“I’ve seen these before at the library—they’re like a Wikipedia but it’s on paper.”

So for a moment Jennifer just stared at the volumes where they had been placed neatly on the counter where the donator had dropped them off

“But—how does it update?” Jennifer finally asked 

This was about when Grant reappeared looking that way he looked when he woke up with that sleepy face. A much needed interruption from the time warp generation gap. The way he looked now made her remember their night together and caused her body to react from the memory 

“how are things going?”

“Well….” she shrugged “well….”

“So—was that a yes before about sharing my bed?” he asked, leaning to say this into her ear, “to be neighborly and all —I promise, like before—a perfect gentleman,” he said 

But it was because the shop’s phone rang, and with a look from Faun to the girls, it was Jennifer who picked up the receiver,

“Uhhh…hello….?”

Faun cleared her thrust, glanced up at Grant,

“I’ll get back to you—excuse me,” as she reached for the phone receiver from Jennifer’s hand, and said into the mouthpiece, “Side Street Book Shop.”

if walls could talk or text down a Side street

 

Faun didn’t have the chance to properly reply to Grant because Jessica and Jennifer arrived, bursting through the bookshop’s glass-windowed doors with excited enthusiasm. 

“Uhh….”was all Faun could say, glancing up at Grant and ….it was at that moment that froze for awhile between them then ….when ….he noticed that glimmer of helpless terror fleetingly cross her face—what was that? he wondered….because it was quickly gone with a quick, perhaps —forced— laugh as she said under her breath, instead to Grant, as if to make light of the moment, “remind me not to give them sugar and maybe we should skip the coffee today!”

“Too late,” Grant then said as he nodded towards where they made for, like a bee-line as—already they had the espresso machine going 

“Shit!” she whispered and without another pause ran over, “wait! let me teach you first how it works!” 

But clearly, they had watched her plenty of times by now that —Faun noticed they knew what to do so, then just shrugged and let them. 

“Quick studies,” Grant said as he had by now caught up with her and placed one hand on her arm, “well, I’ll let you get to it, then—I’ve got work in Arthur’s office—I’ll meet you after….”he started to turn as if to go just then but paused, “I’d meant to call but—it was rude of me not to, I’m sorry and there’s no excuse except that between the building renovation to repair your wall —and the funerals and the law….”

“Wait, did you say—repair my wall?” Faun asked, even as she slowly rewound his other words and weighed it in her mind whether or not to forgive him so easily or make him suffer but—the Bishops’ faces loomed in her mind, guilting her thoughts 

“Oh—yeah—right—you don’t know ….”he winced just then and scratched his sable-brown, bearded chin thoughtfully and looked around to see who was nearby. 

There were a few shoppers in the next section looking at the shop’s packaged signature coffee and gossiping about the shop owners’ mysterious deaths. 

Their voices carried over as one said, “I heard it was carbon monoxide!”

Grant absently touched her elbow through the grey cashmere turtle neck she wore, as he thought over what to say,

“erm—whilst it was not just the alarms that had to be installed —as it turned out ….well—it is almost complete and it’s a good thing that it was taken care of straight away —“

Most of what he said she could not understand because he was speaking rather fast —as he was trying to decide on how to tell her….

“What are you talking about?”Faun asked him finding herself lost 

“I’ll tell you later—“ he started to leave and walk away but she grabbed hold of his coat sleeve, and the sheer force of her action caused her to swing into him, as he caught her from colliding into him headfirst

“No—wait—so, does that mean I still have to stay at the inn?”she asked looking up at him and trying not to let herself be ….drawn in by his lush, spring meadow eyes and ….so she forced herself to just —hold her breath —as he caught her from colliding into him headfirst

with hardly a beat, he said,

“I’m told it’s to be completed by tomorrow but—there is more than enough room in my bed, perhaps I should have said so before….” and for half a second it looked as if he was about to kiss her. So close was his face to hers. 

Until the sound of breaking ceramic from the cafe area broke the mood  

“I think you may have your hands full here,” Grant winked at Faun and did a slight wave, “I’ll see you later.”

“But —what happened to my ….wall?” she asked more to herself as he was by now, too far from her to hear