“James, I miss the hell out of you and wish you were still here, honey,” I whisper as I get out of the shower and prepare to get into my bath. “But it’s time for me to step into my future and since you were such a green flag guy, I know my worth and won’t accept anything less. I owe it to you and Amberlea both to find joy in living once again.”
By the time I’m done with my everything bath, the water has cooled off significantly and I shiver as I step out of the tub and grab a towel. I think I need to add a towel warmer to my order; it would be nice to have during the winter. I don’t know how cold it gets down here, but living in Texas, I’ve learned that the weather does whatever it wants. So, I’ll be prepared.
I plait my long hair then put my silk bonnet on, grinning as I think about all the times Uncle Mack has given me shit for wearing one. Marcella finally told him that they weren’t just for people with natural hair, but anyone who had hair on their head. All I know is it reduces the tangles in the morning, and also those damn frizzies that the humidity likes to tease out of my hair.
Crawling into bed, I pull my journal out and write out my feelings. Page after page fills, covering everything from what I did at work today to my conversation with Beth, and lastly, my plans for the future. I fall asleep with a book open on my phone, and thankfully, none of my nightmares show up, something I was worried about considering how emotional this morning was for me.
“What the hell?” I ask as I walk into the shop.
As part of my normal opening process, I have the coffee pot going, more water put in the fridge, and my lunch put away. But when I breach the doorway into the front reception area, I come to a stuttering stop.
It’s trashed. There are empty bottles and cans on every available surface, and food bags as well as debris litters the floor. Abyss is going to lose his mind because if an inspector popped in, we’d be dinged hard.
Sighing, I turn on the computer then head back into the kitchen to grab a garbage bag. Armed with that, as well as a pair of gloves I snagged from my room, I start cleaning the mess. I can’t believe last night’s party would do something like this and am appalled that people who are supposed to be grown ass adults would treat a business in this manner.
“I was going to get that when I got in this morning.” Abyss’s voice rolls over me, and I shriek in surprise because I was so lost in thought, I didn’t hear him coming in. Considering his size and the fact he wears motorcycle boots, it’s not like he’s a ninja. “Bythe time I got them out of here, I was in no shape to deal with this bullshit.”
CHAPTER
EIGHT
Abyss
I should’ve knownshe’d get in before me, she usually does. Unfortunately, today she came in to an absolute disaster area.
“I hope you charged them extra,” she grumbles. “This is… this is bullshit, Abyss! They’re grown men and should’ve known better. Hell, we’ve got several trash cans that they could’ve tossed their empty stuff in!”
I bite back my grin because she has no clue how beautiful she looks when she’s fired up about something. Her eyes are sparkling, there’s a rosy hue to her cheeks and the fact that she’s so incensed on my behalf gets my motor running.
“It was horrible,” I admit. “There were ten of them, they all wanted flash art pieces, but had a hard time deciding what they wanted. Then they had to eat, so they did a DoorDash order, but they also got a double dash or something like that so they could have soft drinks, chips, and candy. I swear to Christ they were like a bunch of frat boys.”
“Were they wearing polo shirts?” she asks, grinning.
“Actually, several of them were, come to think of it. I know if Rio had popped in like he sometimes does, he’d have lost his shit and made them clean it up, but I was in my room for the majority of the time and didn’t see it until the last one was done and they were settling up.”
“Please tell me you charged them extra,” she says, holding her gloved hands together like she’s praying.
The chuckle that bursts out of me has her eyes widening. “As a matter of fact, I got the sense that they were going to try to cheap out, so I bumped each tattoo up by fifty bucks. None of them tipped, but honestly, it’s not an expectation to me at all. Still, since you’re helping me set this shit to rights, I’m giving you half of it.”
“You don’t have to do that, Abyss,” she states. “I work here too and prefer it if things are neat and tidy.”
“But if we had a cleaning crew in, this would be a non-issue for both of us, so I’m going to do it and you’re going to let me. Don’t argue with me, Shelly, I’m the boss and you’ll lose.”
“Ugh, fine, whatever,” she grumbles. “Guess I’ll put it toward some new sketchpads or something useful.”
“I’ve seen some of the pictures in your room, do you do commission work?” I ask.
Right now, I’ll take any little thing she wants to share in an effort to get to know her. It’s almost an obsession at this point, although I’m nowhere near stalking her.
Yet.
It might happen, though, because I wanna know all there is to Shelly Adcock. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Granted, I know about the ugly and the bad, but she isn’t aware of that fact, and until she’s willing to share with me, my lips are sealed.
“Actually, yes, I do,” she says. “I’ve done portraits and I’m in the process of setting up a website with slides of some of the work I already have done that’s for sale.”
“Diversification, I like it,” I reply.
“I often sketch between clients,” she admits. “Some of them will just stay in the pad, but others, I’ll take home and put them on a canvas. I love that I can tattoo one of my designs on a person’s body since it’s permanent, but I started out doing caricatures at the local fairs, then animal portraits from pictures that their owners gave me, and I have even done a few with people in them.”
