I throw on cutoffs and a black silk tank, mixing my old style and new into MY fucking style, and then dance down the hall to the kitchen. I reach for the coffee pot but stop my hand halfway to it and spin away to the fridge instead. I reach in to grab one of my dad’s beers and then open the freezer compartment and pull out a Sara Lee cheesecake and dump it on the counter. My hips sway to my own beat as I pull out a fork from the drawer, pop the lid off of the cake, and rip the foil from the plate Rex had brought me. I snag the bacon off the plate, add it to the top of the cake, stab the fork into the center, and then carry it and the beer out to the back deck.
I settle into one of the old lawn chairs before taking a swig of the beer and laugh that it’s only nine in the morning. I look over at the bare field next to the trailer and decide that’s my fuck field and it’s currently empty of fucks. And then I demolish that fucking cake and the bacon on top of it with a huge smile on my face.
When the cake pan is scraped clean and the beer is empty, I stand and head back inside. I dig out my work bag from the pile of boxes in the corner, get a fresh beer and settle in to do some research on a possible future pathway. I want something that’s mine, something that’s me that no one can ever change or take away from me again. It’s time for work.
Rain
Ispend the next three days not packing up my dad’s stuff. I run the numbers, source material, make two different proposals, and dance. I blast music I haven’t listened to in years and dance with myself as ideas and plans fly through my head. I ignore the knocks on my door and sleep in my dad’s bed so I won’t hear any taps on my window. I have no space right now for any Kingston. There’s only room for me.
Day four dawns with me jumping out of bed with a new determination and Maggie texting me for proof of life. She’s pissed that Rex is pestering her to check on me as I won’t answer the door for him. She begs me to meet her for lunch at Dolly’s and I decide I’m ready. I’m ready to step out of this house and start my new ‘me’ journey so I make a few calls and set up an appointment for an hour before lunch and then I put on my new look.
My hair is a wavy, bouncy swing around my chin, my eye liner is sharp enough to make a man bleed and my lips are that killer red that will cut anyone off at the knees. I pair a set of navy linen capris with a red and white checked halter top that I found from my teen wardrobe that leaves my entire back exposed and set it all off with a pair of wedges that make my legs look a mile long. I flip my hair at the completed look reflecting back at me in the full-length mirror on the back of my bedroom door and sashay out of the room and then the trailer.
I sing ‘Witch’ by Devon Cole at the top of my lungs with the windows down the whole way to town and decide I’m going to consider this the ME era and this song my mantra with a grin.
I’m feeling amazing by the time I meet my first appointment in the alley behind Main Street and he unlocks the back door of the empty property he’s here to show me.
“Can I ask why you wanted to meet in the alley?” He asks me after running an appreciative look over my outfit.
I send him a bland smile and chuckle. “We both know if we went in the front of this building, more than half the town would know about it within twenty minutes. I’m counting on your discretion that that won’t happen after we leave here.”
He nods eagerly. “Of course, of course! You can count on my professionalism. I won’t tell anyone until you’re ready to go public.”
I nod slowly toward the ring on his finger and arch a brow. “That would include your wife or any co-workers?”
He flushes red and his smile dims slightly but he nods. “Yes, of course.”
I wave my hand around the first space we’ve stepped into. “Great, why don’t you give me the rundown, then.”
He shows me the first space and then the two others connected with it before I follow him to the second level. What we find has me fighting the smile I want to show. A decent-sized two-bedroom apartment covers the top floor. I walk over to the large windows that look over Main Street and the green square park and bite my lip to keep that smile from forming. A little paint and a few upgrades to fixtures and appliances and this would be a perfect home. I smooth my expression out and give the guy nothing to go on.
“So…the property has been vacant for four years now?”
He grimaces but nods. “Yes, unfortunately in this economy there hasn’t been any interest in new businesses opening. Which of the three spaces were you interested in?”
My lips tug up and I shake my head like he said the silliest thing.
“Oh, you misunderstood me. I’m interested in purchasing the entire building, excluding the business on the end.”
His eyebrows pop up so high they disappear into his hair. “Oh…OH! Okay, well, um…”
“Do you know if the owners would be open to that?”
I ask sweetly like I don’t know that an empty building bringing in zero dollars would be something the owner would want to dump.
“Well, the bank owns the building so I’m sure they would be very open to getting it off of their books.”
My eyes narrow and my thoughts spin. The local bank owns it? As in the bank Lannister Kingston’s cronies own and would have foreclosed on my dad as a favor to him? That fucking bank? I make sure my internal monologue doesn’t show on my face when I tell him a price that is thirty percent less than what I was prepared to offer. The agent blanches at the number but I give him my best beauty queen smile. Wide, full, and fake as shit.
“Or…they can wait another four years to see if the economy improves. Also…that offer, it’s good for twenty-four hours and I’ll be paying…cash.”
His eyes widen at that so I step past him toward the door.
“Write the offer up and let me know when they get back to you. I’m late for my next appointment.”
As I walk down the stairs to the back door, I finally let a cat that ate the canary smile widen my lips. Okay, maybe it’s a little bit of my villain era too.
I circle around the building to Main Street on my way to meet Mags at Dolly’s and take in the outside of the building that faces the square. I already have ideas on what to change and what to add so I miss seeing Rex’s truck pull up in front of The Broken Spur.
