Morrie sighed. “I’m the one fucking things up here, gorgeous. Don’t you worry your clever wee head about me. I’ll be fine. Heathcliff will calm down. Things will go back to normal. You’ll see. I have a plan.”
As he swung his lanky body toward the front door, his shoulders sagged. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that whatever Morrie was planning, I wasn’t going to like it. At all.
* * *
Three hours later, I was slumped over the desk, playing chess with Quoth, drinking my third wine of the day, and trying not to think about the fact I might be responsible for Count Dracula walking the earth, when Heathcliff stomped down the stairs. He watched us from the doorway. I could feel his glower creeping over my skin. It took all of my self-control to ignore him, but I had to. Heathcliff needed to come to terms with things in his own time. If I pushed him, he’d kick me out of the shop next, and I couldn’t handle that right now.
“Check,” Quoth said, sliding his queen across the board to threaten my king.
“Mina, I’m going out to price a book collection,” Heathcliff muttered. “Want to come?”
“Hell yes.” I stood up. Acquiring stock from estate collections was a part of the business I hadn’t learned much about. At least it would be a welcome distraction from the empty shop, the Dracula fears, the kiss, and just… argh,everything. “Quoth’s kicking my arse. I could use a distraction.”
“Quitting while you’re behind?” Quoth grinned, cracking his knuckles. “Smart move. I’ve been taking lessons from Morrie. I was about to stop going easy on you.”
At the mention of Morrie’s name, Heathcliff stiffened. I hurriedly grabbed my coat. “Are you okay to mind the shop for us? Remind people that the books on that display table are half-off and—”
“Don’t bother.” Heathcliff threw open the front door. It slammed against the wall behind, rattling the ancient frame. “No one’s coming.”
Don’t remind me,I thought sourly as I flipped the sign to CLOSED and shut the door behind us. At the rate our accounts were deteriorating, we’d be out of business within the month.
Heathcliff shoved his hands in his pockets and rushed off down the street. I had to jog to catch up with him. A bitter wind rubbed my face raw. I looped my arm around his and jammed my hand in his pocket, which felt super-warm but forced me to keep up with his grueling pace.
“Shouldn’t we call a rideshare?”
“Nope. The call is local. It’s four blocks this way.”
“How will we get the boxes back to the shop?” I asked.
“We make a couple of trips.”
My arms already ached with the thought of it. “I think you’ve overestimated how much I can carry. You should buy a van or something, then you can make trips whenever you need to.”
“I don’t want a car,” he muttered. “I hate that no one goes anywhere on foot anymore.”
Heathcliff spent his youth rambling over the moors. He felt most at home in wild places, cloaking himself in mists as he ducked along sough and beck, clambered over rocky crags, and skirted the edges of the deadly mires. Foul weather like this was his jam.
Not mine, though. I wished I’d thought to bring my phone. “Good. That’s four blocks where we can talk about what happened.”
Heathcliff said nothing.
“You didn’t really kick Morrie out of the shop, did you? Like, not forever?”
Heathcliff grunted.
“You’ve got to give me something. He kissed you. You kissed him back. What are you feeling right now? I’m dying here.”
“I feel like I betrayed you, that’s how I feel.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is true. I promised my heart to you, Mina. To you and you alone. Morrie had no right to force me to—”
“But you must have some feelings for him. Or you wouldn’t have kissed him back.”
“It shut him up for five minutes,” Heathcliff growled. “You can’t say that’s not worthwhile.”
I laughed. Heathcliff didn’t. “I want you to know that if you and Morrie want to try out this thing, see where it leads, I support you, as long as we discuss it first.”
