Shutter (9 page)

“I have the time and I thought it would be nice to help a friend. That way you can take your time interviewing people for the permanent position.”

“Well the pay won’t be much. Actually I hadn’t figured how much to offer.” She bit her lip.

Antonio took a sip of his wine and smiled wickedly. “I’m sure we can figure something out.”

Chapter Eight

Antonio was a good little soldier, getting up at six in the morning to get ready for another day at Accidental Wonderland with Lucy. Part of him did think he would be bored to tears, but little did he know how interesting it would be to see her in action. She was a head-in-the-clouds artist. She was also a practical businesswoman. She knew how to deal with her vendors, her customers, and found time to create in the process.

He’d changed the lightbulbs in the storage room, began an inventory system that she could use to keep better track of her sales, and was able to take pictures of the passersby who walked up and down Main Street.

Lucy was working on another mosaic; this time it was a frame for a family portrait. He found her creative process to be rather interesting, which usually began with a thirty-minute meditation. He asked her why she meditated, and she replied very nicely that it helped center her and she was trying to channel the vibe her customer wanted for the frame. Once she prepared her working station and threw on the radio, which was usually on a local jazz station, she was a dynamo. She warned him in advance that she didn’t usually stop unless she got a customer or her grandmother called.

“How often does your grandmother call?” he quipped.

“Every other day. It used to be every day until she got a boyfriend.” She smiled as she sketched.

“She has a boyfriend?”

“Yeah. His name is Arnold. He owns a chain of dry cleaners or something like that.”

“So what does this Arnold look like?”

Lucy pulled out her phone and showed him a picture. “She sent me this one last week.”

Antonio chuckled when he looked closer. “Are they parasailing?”

“Apparently he’s as crazy as she is. But I’m glad she met him. Nana has been alone too long,” she said with a sincere smile.

“When did your grandfather pass away?” Antonio said.

Lucy had to put down her sketch pencil and think about it. “Let’s see. I was twelve when my grandfather died. So my mom eventually convinced Nana to live with us and then my mom and dad died two years later.”

“Your parents are dead?” he said quietly.

“Yes. Killed in an automobile accident coming back from the city one Saturday night. They were celebrating their sixteenth wedding anniversary. My mom was a dancer, a ballerina. And my dad was a musician. He played the bass guitar in a jazz band. Ever heard of the Melodious Five?”

He didn’t know why, but that name sounded really familiar and he couldn’t remember. Wait a minute… Lauren’s dad played in a band called the Melodious Five.

“Did he play with a man named Carlton Thompson?”

“Yes, he did. He plays the sax,” she replied.

“Carlton Thompson is my sister-in-law’s father.”

“Really? What a small world. I go see them every time they are in the area.”

“Does that upset you? Seeing them play without your father?” he mused.

Lucy let out a heavy sigh. Thinking about her mom and dad always made her feel weighted down on the inside. It had been twelve years since their accident. The memory of them dressed for an elegant evening was burned in her brain. Her mother had looked radiant that night. Lucy had helped her mom get ready that evening and she remembered everything. Her mom’s light humming, the two of them going through her mom’s jewelry box, her mother giving her a story for every piece her dad had bought for her.

“Lucia, you have to promise me when you marry one day, that you will do it for love. I married your dad because he and I shared something that was more precious than money or status. He told me that he may never be rich, but he’d always make music that I could dance to because he knew dancing makes me happy,” her mother had said and affectionately kissed her daughter.

Lucy remembered how embarrassed she had been that her mother shared that with her. She knew nothing about love then, other than her crush at the time, Kevin, had yet to call her. She couldn’t even imagine in her wildest dreams what her mother really meant then and she still couldn’t now.

“Lucy?”

Had she zoned out again? “Sorry. I used to avoid them but then I would see their posters everywhere or one of their old songs would come on the radio. I finally gave in and decided my dad wanted me to go. And now I can’t imagine not seeing them play. You know my dad was the musical director for the community theater for years and my mom was the choreographer. I spent most of my childhood there. I can still feel them there sometimes.”

“They are with you always, Lucia,” he said in a soft tone and smiled at her.

“So what about your parents?” she said, ready to change the subject.

“My mom lives in Jersey. I think she’s dating someone and that has me horrified. My father died about five years ago but he’d left my mom and us way before that,” he said stoically.

“So, why does your mom dating horrify you?”

“I don’t want to see anyone taking advantage of her. My dad didn’t treat her well. She’s been a serial dater since I can remember. Nothing permanent ever lasted more than three years.”

“So is that why you’re a serial dater?” she said sincerely.

“What I do isn’t usually considered dating, is it?” he replied.

“I suppose not,” she said quietly. “Does love scare you Antonio?”

The minute she said it she knew it was none of her business on so many levels. She could write a list for the rest of the afternoon detailing why. But she was curious and wanted to know. He’d just confessed his mother was a serial dater and that piece of the puzzle snapped into place, but his older brother was married with children, so obviously he was open to commitment. And why did she care whether he was capable of love? She didn’t know if she was either.

The silence after such a lovely conversation was on the verge of deafening and interrupted her creative flow. “Forget I—”

“No, Lucy. I am not scared of love. I am scared of the possibilities of love.”

It was hard to tell what she was thinking. If she understood what he was trying to say. Antonio tried to make eye contact with her but Lucy wouldn’t lift her head up. She just kind of stood there, very still, like a terra-cotta soldier. The door chimes started to play and he looked up to see Monica coming his way. Lucy smiled and excused herself to go to the stockroom.

Monica sauntered through the store with a black designer bag draped casually over her shoulder and wearing a pair of hip-hugging jeans that looked like she had airbrushed them on that morning. As she walked around, her nose would turn up, as if in disgust, by the eclectic things laid out around the store.

“Hey sexy,” she said, loud enough so Lucy could hear her in the stockroom.

“Hey yourself,” Antonio said with a smile.

“What on earth are you doing in this store? My friend Trina told me she saw you in here two days in a row and I had to come by and see if she was telling the truth. I thought you’d left town. You haven’t called me since we went to the gallery,” she cooed.

“I’m helping out Lucy until she can find someone on a permanent basis,” he said casually.

“Isn’t it a little beneath you? You’re a fabulous photographer. You shouldn’t be cooped up in this dreadful store helping out some weird artist.”

Antonio took a deep breath. “Helping a friend is never beneath me, Monica. And this store is not dreadful. It may look haphazard but Lucy has made an intentional display of color in here. Most people feel invigorated when they walk through the door.”

“I’m feeling invigorated, but it’s not by the colors,” Monica said in a sultry voice.

“You should buy something. The art community in this town is snatching up Lucy’s work.”

“And what is Lucy snatching of yours?”

“Excuse me?”

“The little flake must be doing something for you,” Monica said with a raised eyebrow.

“Let’s just say she gets my creative juices flowing,” he said with a slight chuckle.

“So our dates meant nothing to you?” Monica pressed.

“Monica, I think somewhere in the universe we cancel each other out,” he said sincerely.

“I suppose the two of us are just too much sexy for one couple,” she said with a sly smile.

If Lucy had not been in earshot, he would have told her that her mouth should be registered as a lethal weapon. But even that statement would have made Monica believe there would be a round two in the future.

Looking at her was truly like looking in a mirror of his sexual self. Sex was a sidebar to the way they were playing battle games with each other. And what was the end game in the seduction after the sex?

“Monica, my dear.” He walked over to her and caressed her arms. “I am afraid you caught me amid a personal evolution of sorts. If I’d met you three months ago, there is no doubt you and I would be saying our bittersweet good-byes by now. I don’t think, in the end, you can make a relationship work with someone just because we have great physical chemistry together. You don’t know it yet, but you want more than that. And the basis of our relationship is ill equipped to provide you with something you deserve. How about we try friendship instead?”

Monica nodded. Antonio kissed her ever so lightly on the lips and led her to the door.

“Take care, you,” she said sweetly.

“You too.”

And then she was gone.

When Lucy heard the wind chimes, she reappeared. “Thank you for whatever you said to that she-devil to get her out of my store.”

“She’s not so bad,” he quipped.

“Getting misty already and she isn’t even down the block?” Lucy laughed.

“Monica and I belong to the same club.” He held up his hand to stop Lucy from speaking before he was finished. “This club is filled with lonely, sex-obsessed people who would rather have casual relationships than take a look inside and find happiness there. Monica learned early on that her looks and sex appeal could get her whatever she wanted. I learned very early on that women are attracted to me and will usually fall for whatever bullshit I tell them. I know that makes me sound like an asshole, but it’s the truth. I can flash a smile and some woman within a three-mile radius will come over and ask how they can help me. That shit is intoxicating sometimes. How people are willing to give up their free will to another human being just because they think he’s handsome. And then I met you and never had a snowball’s chance in hell. Thank you for bringing me to my senses.”

Lucy stood there, not knowing what to say. She got a full confession from the most self-centered man she knew. The most astounding part was he knew, in great detail, why he was the way he was.

“It’s a family trait, by the way. My father had that charisma and that’s how my mom ended up on his fishing hook. My brother has it and it took almost losing the love of his life to understand why it wasn’t working for him anymore.”

“The funny thing about being human, Antonio,” she said quietly as she walked toward him, “is that we are not obligated to be any one thing. The only thing you can’t change in your life is being human. Everything else is just clay. We can make a masterpiece, smash it, and start all over again.”

“Lucy, I can’t make any promises to you. I wish I could. I know I’m not too thrilled about who I am right now, but I know there is a better man somewhere in here.”

She smiled. “Well, that’s a start.”

Chapter Nine

The weeks seemed to fly by. Each day Antonio greeted Lucy with a cappuccino and a big smile. He managed to help her get control over the inventory in the store and took some stunning pictures to be featured in the local newspaper.

After viewing his portfolio one night after dinner at Felix’s house, she asked him if he’d mind her selling some of his photographs in the store. He brought her the prints and she found interesting antique frames to complement his work.

By the end of the week, she’d sold three of his framed photos for a pretty hefty sum, thanks to Felix and his artistic pricing skills. Word was traveling about Antonio’s photographs and soon there was a demand for them. When she tried to give him the commission check for the sales, he refused to take it and informed her it was his contribution to her remodeling fund. He gave her ideas about how to make some things more visible in the store and she marveled at how he understood her artist’s way of thinking.

Amazingly neither tired of the other’s company. They worked in the same groove. Sometimes quiet, sometimes boisterous, sometimes arguing, sometimes resisting the sexual tension that was building between them. One day Antonio came up behind her to help her with a big piece of glass she thought she could pick up on her own. The glass began to slip out of her hands, but the next thing she knew Antonio was behind her, grabbing the glass and pressed against her back as well. She could feel the heat coming from his body and even felt his penis harden as they stood there for a moment, both frozen and not knowing what to do. Lucy began to blush a little bit and somehow, like a magician, managed to maneuver away from him before he could sit the glass on the floor.

Most of her trees were finished for the play and every now and again they would stop by the community theater after closing the shop. They even ran into Blake one night. She could see the disappointment in Blake’s eyes when he saw her with Antonio.

* * *

Lucy closed the store a little early on Saturday to check out an estate sale she’d read about in the paper. When she mentioned it to Antonio, he told her they should make a day of it. They picked up art supplies and stopped to have some ice cream. While sitting on a bench, a couple walked by with a dog named Max. Max was instantly smitten with Lucy, who spent a half hour fawning all over him. Antonio made small talk with the couple and even ended up giving them one of Lucy’s business cards.