AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Anything,” he insisted as his thumb caressed her palm.
Her heart swelled for this man she liked too much. Swallowing hard, Alanna tugged him down an aisle at random. She made a show of looking at a collection of large, showy vases that were several hundred dollars each. Next, she studied carefully preserved baseball cards nestled in a locked glass cabinet with jaw-dropping price tags. Of course, she had no intention of picking anything expensive. The man was out of work, after all. But it was fun to tease.
Oddly, Sully didn’t seem perturbed at the possibility of getting stuck with a hefty bill. He followed her patiently as if he had all the hours in the world for her.
Time seemed to slow in the antique shop. Alanna would have never normally even considered stepping inside, but now she was enthralled. She looked through beautiful old dresses, pointed out board games she’d played as a kid, and teased Sully when he exclaimed over VHS tapes of the original Star Wars trilogy. Eventually, they became separated, and she found herself in a small nook filled with glass figurines.
And then she saw it, a small, slender figurine of a cat. The statue looked nothing like Petunia, but there was something about the figurine’s proud bearing that reminded Alanna of her lost pet… her lost friend.
Alanna picked up the cat figurine and walked to the front of the store.
“You find something?” Sully asked, moving away from a shelf crammed with old comic books.
“This.” Alanna placed the delicate figurine on the crowded checkout counter.
Sully stared at the figurine over her shoulder. “You sure that’s what you want? Not any of those fancy dresses? Or maybe those Star Wars VHS tapes?”
“No. This is perfect,” Alanna said. And it was.
Sully dutifully paid $12.84 with tax, and Ethyl wrapped the cat in swaths of tissue paper and placed it in a small paper box. Bernard sidled over to the counter as Ethyl handed the box to Alanna.
“So, Ethyl, is this the sale we needed to finally retire?” Bernard asked his wife.
“Bernie, you wouldn’t retire if you won the lottery, and neither would I.”
The two laughed and Ethyl placed her hand on Bernard’s.
Alanna clutched the paper box as Sully escorted her out the door.
Ch. 39 Sully
HolyClassDEnterpriseStarship, Alanna was beautiful. As Sully escorted her out the doors of Behind the Timesand back onto the sidewalk, he saw that her face was flushed from laughing, her cheeks round and pink. The usual hardness in her eyes was replaced by a sparkling mirth that plucked every string of his heart.
“You know, I used to be afraid of Ethyl and Bernard when I was a kid,” Alanna told him as Sully led her to his car. “There were rumors that Behind the Timeswas haunted, and they were ghosts.”
Sully slipped his arm around her waist, and she leaned into him.
“There was a haunted house on our street,” he mused. “I never met the woman who lived there, but her name was Mrs. Herbowitz. All the kids claimed she was a witch. I’m sure she was just a sweet old lady.”
“Oh my God, and Hector!” Alanna turned to look at him. “You know that guy from the mechanic shop? Everyone used to be terrified of him in high school. He’d toss kids in a locker just for looking at him the wrong way. If the yearbook had a category for Most Likely to End Up in Jail, he’d have gotten 100% of the vote. And now look at him.”
Funny, the only thing Sully could look at was Alanna. The skirt of her pink dress swished around her hips, and a soft breeze tugged at her short blonde hair. Sully longed to lean in and dribble kisses down her neck.
“I’m starving,” Alanna said as they arrived at the car. “Can I buy you dinner?”
“Actually, I’ve got that covered.” Sully gave her his most charming smile. Time to deploy Phase Two ofProject Magical Date. He popped the Mazda’s trunk, reached in, and handed Alanna a folded blanket. She raised an eyebrow, then laughed, as he lifted out a medium-sized cooler.
“Have you ever been on a picnic?” he asked.
“Never had the time.” Her brow puckered at those words.
“You do today.”
A few blocks later, Sully steered Alanna into a small park at the end of Chaparral Drive. Tall cedarwood trees provided plenty of shade across a flat expanse of scraggly grass. A few yards away, children shrieked as they tumbled around a playground under the watchful eyes of their parents.
A frown crossed Alanna’s face as she glanced at the small parking lot near the back of the park.
“What is it?” Sully asked.
