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“Nah, she was a walk-in at the shop, and you know how that goes. I think she was a dancer though.”
“A dancer like in a show? On the strip?”
“Nah,” Sketch laughed. “Like astripper.At the titty bar. Maybe evenAllure.”
“Well if you remember her name, oranyother information, let me know as soon as possible.”
“Yeah that’s no problem Tati, but… what is this about? What made you ask me that?”
“Just curiosity,” I said although that was far from the case. I didn’t need anybody else in on my theory before I had a chance to fully flesh it out.
Roses, rings of thorns…
The two went hand in hand, right?
It fit too perfectly together tonotmean something.
And I was determined to figure out what thatsomethingwas.
For now though, I got Maite off the phone and let her go back to sleep, since it was painfully early in the morning. I was too keyed up – and too disinterested in having Kev’s hands on me – to go back tomybed.
So I set my sights on a different task, heading to the studio space in my house to work on a new batch of rose quartz... playthings. It was a hobby of mine that required a bit heavier machinery than many other crafts, but I didn’t mind that part.
Creating this moody space had been a pleasure—the exact right lighting, the display shelves, space for all my tools and raw materials lining the walls.
I loved working with stone, taking the rough uncultivated chunks and molding them into something unique, beautiful, and… pleasurably functional.
Not what Tali had in mind when she’d first introduced the rose quartz and other precious crystals to me.
She had been all the way in it, knew all their meanings and functions, was convinced in the ways they could help your chakras and shit. I wasn’t so sure, personally, butshebelieved, and Tali believed in so few things I felt compelled to support her in it.
We all had.
Even with my father’s general mistrust in what he considered “woo-wooshit”; he’d worn a hunk of rose quartz – one of Tali’s first jewelry pieces – around his neck every day because she gave it to him.
And who was going to have a damn thing to say about Gerard Tate’s pink necklace?
No fucking body.
That was who.
And even if they did, he wouldn’t have cared. He would’ve given it the same treatment he gave all direct disrespect, broken some assortment of bones and kept on trucking, mad that he’d had to beat somebody up while wearing Tali’s charm.
“I thought you said this shit was supposed to take away negativity and boost conflict resolution. Then why was I fighting motherfuckers all day, huh?”
We heard that once a week, easily, usually with Tali wrapped in a bear hug in his thick arms.
“You’re too mean, Dad.I don’t think it’s any match for you.”
She was probably right. He wasnevermean to us, always fiercely loyal to family. Anybody else though… they could get it.
I shook my head, blinking back tears over the stark reality that I didn’t haveeitherof those two now. My fingers went back to my necklace; a talisman Tali had carved herself, after having worked with the medium for a while.
It was supposed to bring me inner peace, and love.
I hadn’t quite mastered either of those yet.
Thesensualelement of it all though… I’d definitely been all over that, a fact that if Tali knew would have her so scandalized.
