Authors: Camilla Chafer
“When was that?”
“Around twenty-five years ago.”
I whistled. “I wasn’t even born then.”
“I know. I remember your mom and dad. They were friendly with my parents.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Annalise never said?”
I shook my head then when I realised we were still just stood there, facing each other, I remembered my manners. “Please have a seat. I’ve just got to get my boots and purse then I’m ready.”
“Take your time.”
I tried to be as quick as I could as I sat at my dresser to brush on a little makeup, just a touch of eye-shadow and a sweep of mascara, nothing more. When I’d zipped up my boots and gone back into the living room, my jacket hung over my arm, Gage was stood by the mantle-piece looking at the photos I had up there next to my brooch.
“Family?” he asked congenially.
I shook my head. “I don’t have any family left. These are friends.” There was a picture of me, Kitty, Étoile and Seren all together and another one of just me and Evan. It had been taken on a beach one night, so long ago now, his arms wrapped around me, smiling straight at the camera. It made me happy and sad all at once. I should get around to framing them.
“They going to visit you out here?”
“I don’t know.” I turned away before he could say anything else. “Shall we go?”
“Sure. I brought my car seeing as I didn’t know if you were wearing a dress or not. I figured you wouldn’t want to be on my bike,” Gage was saying as he opened the door. I pulled it behind us and locked it, my fingers tracing the magic the lock retained, and if he thought locking it was odd for this small town, he didn’t say. I stood on the porch for a moment, a faint tingling niggling my skin. I looked around into the low lit garden, wondering what it was in the shadows that bothered me so much. I shivered lightly and hurried over to Gage where he was holding his car door open and waiting for me, trying to shake off that feeling I had of being watched.
“I thought movie then dinner, or drinks?” said Gage as he folded himself into the driver’s seat after closing my door in a very gentlemanly way that I somehow hadn’t quite expected from him. “There’s a few shows on. I didn’t know what you’d seen recently.”
“I haven’t been to the cinema in a long time so I haven’t seen anything,” I confessed. “I didn’t even know Wilding had a cinema.”
“It doesn’t as such. We’re too small to sustain one so we’ll go to the next town over. Annalise might have mentioned there’s a coffee shop in town that does screenings of old movies, if you like that sort of thing. They do shows every Friday night.”
“I’ll have to get her to take me.”
“You’d better book your time.” Gage flashed a smile at me as he turned the car onto the road and pointed it towards town. “She’s been spending a lot of time with Beau.”
“She seems pretty happy that he’s back?” I ventured. Annalise hadn’t said a lot to me but I guessed there was some history between the two of them.
“They were high school sweethearts back in the day. Thought they might even get hitched but they split up during their senior year – I was away at college by then – and Beau went off to the army and Annalise, well, she moved on eventually.”
“And here they are again.”
“Here they are again,” agreed Gage.
We fell silent while I wondered if I was supposed to make small talk to fill the gaps. Gage had never struck me as overly talkative but I didn’t want him to think I was in some way put out about our date, even if it was the result of me getting a smack down in poker. When I thought about it, I was actually fairly pleased to be going out and on a date, no less, with Gage. There was no denying that he was an extremely attractive man. And he liked me. That thought made me bristle with pride just a touch, even if there was a little pang of guilt at that. I brushed it off. I was going to do my best to enjoy myself. I had to live.
“What you smiling about?” asked Gage.
“I was looking forward to this evening.”
Gage flashed me that smile again, the one that made me melt inside. “Me too,” he nodded and flipped his blinker so that we could switch roads and start the route out of town, instead of into Wilding.
“So, how come you don’t have any family?” Gage asked, then shook his head. “I’m sorry if you think I’m rude. I just wondered because you came here out of the blue and you said back at your house that you didn’t have family.”
“I think you were there when I told you that my parents left me the house. I didn’t know about it until a few months ago though. I don’t think they ever took me there.”
“I would have remembered if the Mayweathers had brought a kid with them and I don’t remember you. Did they pass recently?”
I shook my head. “When I was little.”
“That’s rough.”
“You said you knew my parents?” I pressed, changing the subject slightly, suddenly eager to glean any knowledge about them.
“Well, sure. I’ve lived there my whole life, ‘cept for a few years during college and after, so I remember your mom and dad coming out now and again. They used to pay me a couple of dollars for doing the lawn.”
“They got a good deal.” The lawn was big and took effort as my aching muscles had found out this summer.
“A couple of decades ago that was a great deal.”
“Was it you who still cut the lawn when the house was empty?”
Gage nodded but kept his eye on the road. “Every month money turned up from some law practice in New York in return for keeping the lawn good and doing the odd bit of maintenance. My parents used to keep an eye on the house for your parents, and when they passed, I kept it up. The money stopped coming when you arrived.”
“I don’t understand how anyone could have known I was here.” I wondered if I should ask him if he minded the money not arriving.
“Someone knew,” pointed out Gage.
I guessed that might explain why I’d had my mystery gift waiting on the porch. Perhaps it was something to do with Steven’s law practice. I hadn’t seen him since that fateful evening in New York when I’d first arrived Stateside; the day on which he’d given me my parents’ last effects and the key to the house. Of course, I didn’t say any of that to Gage, instead I said. “I’m sorry about the money. I didn’t know you was expecting it and I’ll make it up to you.”
“No you won’t. That money was not our livelihood and we were always a bit surprised when they kept on coming after our parents’ passed on. We’ve been paid, Annalise and I, for keeping an eye on the place and now we don’t have to, so for that, I’m grateful. Plus now I only have to keep on cutting one chunk of grass so I’m grateful for that too.”
“Well, if you’re sure.”
“I’m sure and don’t go offering to pay your movie ticket either.” I wasn’t totally sure if Gage was offended or not so I let that slide.
“What is it you do anyway?” I asked. He had a nice house, inherited like mine so I assumed there was no mortgage to pay. He had a nice car, and his motorbike, and I knew he worked out of Wilding, though I’d never been sure what he did.
“For work? I’m a graphic designer. I design logos and artwork and stuff like that.”
“Wow,” I admitted. I was lacking in the creative department but I made up for it with an awesome ability to stick out dull jobs. Or, at least, I had.
“And you?”
“Until I got here I used to do office work. Typing, filing, things like that... not nearly as exciting as graphic design.”
“You wouldn’t think it was exciting after the five hundredth cheesy logo you’d drawn. You going to be looking for office work here?”
“Maybe. I don’t really feel like it’s my calling, but I don’t know what is.”
“It’ll hit you one day,” Gage said kindly.
“I hope so. Maybe more of a gentle thud though. Hey, maybe I’ll go to college. I never went. Or I could do some correspondence courses.” It was something I’d thought a lot about over the years but never done anything about since I had worked long hours. So much had changed this past year, maybe one of them could be positive.
“That would improve your prospects ready for when you do know what you want.”
“Maybe. I’ll look into it.”
“Ask Annalise. She used to teach at the local college so she’ll know how to get you started.”
“I didn’t know she taught.”
“Yep, textile design. That’s why she’s so good with all those things she makes.”
“How come she gave it up?” We were on the outskirts of town now and heading towards the main street. Annalise had taken me here to buy lamps a few weeks ago and we’d stayed for lunch in the town. It was a bustling place, both day and evening as it sucked on the people from the surrounding smaller towns.
“She had a real bad ... accident a few years ago and she didn’t go out much after that.” Gage was gripping the steering wheel and his knuckles blanched to white. “Gave up her job, moved back home and then she started her craft business. She’s almost back to her old self now.”
“Oh, she never said.” I wondered what he was going to say before he’d said ‘accident’. I got the impression he was smoothing over the details.
“She doesn’t like talking about that time of her life. That’s why I’m happy she’s happy. Especially with Beau. He’s a decent guy and he’ll treat her right.”
Gage took one hand off the steering wheel to point along the street. “The movie theatre is just over there.”
We got tickets for a Johnny Depp film and shared a bucket of hot buttered popcorn. He didn’t do anything cheesy like try and put his arm round me but he did rest his arm against mine on the armrests and later, when we left, he wrapped his hand around mine and I let him. He was toasty warm and I allowed myself to enjoy the simple pleasure of a handsome man holding my hand.
“Do you want to go for a drink?” I asked as we lingered for a moment outside the doors of the theatre, the cold night air whispering around our faces. The street was shot with artificial light spilling from the doors and overlaid with the soft glow of moonlight. A long line of people snaked down the street. It was date night from the looks of the number of couples waiting.
“I’d like that,” I said.
He nodded to a bar across the street. “Let’s go there.”
The sound of the band hit me as soon as we went inside and I let Gage, being the taller and broader of the two of us, break our path to the bar. He was greeted, and clapped on the back by a few guys and I couldn’t help notice more than a few women look casually over him from head to toe and then look coolly at me. I got it. He was in demand and I was in the way. Tough sodding luck for them, said the little defiant voice in my head.
He ordered us beers and pointed to a table to perch at, holding my hand so that I was swept along in his wake. I shrugged off my coat and hung it over the back of the chair.
“Do you come here often?” I asked.
“Worst line ever. Does it ever work for you?”
I blushed and he squeezed my hand lightly. “I’m kidding, Stella. And no, I don’t come here often but I’ve been a few times. If I want to go for a beer, I go somewhere more local where I don’t have to drive.”
“Like the bar on our road?” I asked. The Loup Garou, as it was called, was a few miles down the road from our houses. From the times I’d driven past it seemed to attract a motley sort and I’d never been in there. I didn’t think I was missing much.
Gage took a long sip from his bottle. “From time to time.”
“I’ve never been.” Annalise had recommended a bunch of places but never that bar, even if it was the closest one to us.
“I don’t think you’d like it much.”
“Dirt floor and angry barmaids?” I asked, making light of it and Gage laughed.
“Not quite. It’s fairly rough and ready though. I wouldn’t take you there.”
“I’ll take that as a complement then.”
“Gage! Stella! Hey!” I twisted my head and saw Annalise and Beau bearing down on us. Annalise was wearing super tight jeans and a strappy top. Despite the cold, she was only carrying a light jacket. Beau was more dressed for the weather in jeans, boots and a thick check shirt. Still no jacket. I was glad I’d taken my jacket off or I would have felt positively overdressed next to Annalise. She slid over to me, smiling. “Well, hello. Are we crashing your date?”
“Not at all.” I would have signalled that she take a chair if there were any to be had but the other bar patrons had got there first so I stood to give her a quick hug instead.
“We’re going to see that Johnny Depp film, now. Shame he’s not a pirate in it, but a girl can’t have everything.” She shrugged and Beau slipped his arm around her shoulders so that she could snuggle into him.
“We just saw it,” said Gage.
“Then don’t say anymore because you’ll spoil the surprise. See you later ... maybe.” Annalise winked at me then hugged me again, then Gage, and Gage shook hands with Beau in a friendly man-way which involved clapping each other on the shoulders and not wincing.
“You’re right, she does seem happy,” I said, watching them retreat out the doors until they were lost past the crowd.
Gage nodded. “You want to stay for another drink?”
I shook my head. “You’re driving and it wouldn’t be fair. We should go.”
Gage drained the last of his beer and I took another sip. We’d been in there less than half an hour and I hoped he didn’t think I was trying to cut our date short. I’d actually surprised myself into having a good time.
“Want to dance before we go?”
I looked over to where he was looking and saw a small space had been cleared for no more than a few couples to dance. The band were playing some thumpy, up tempo numbers and the crowd were getting loud right along with them.
“Sure,” I replied and it wasn’t until we were on the dance floor and Gage had spun me out and pulled me back to him that I realised that the last time I’d danced, I’d been with Evan and my heart seemed to plummet through my body. I swallowed quickly and forced myself to move in time with the music. I would tackle my grief later, privately. I wouldn’t let it consume me. For this moment I just wanted to feel happy.