We’d collided together, and I had no desire to collide again.
I shook my head. “Nah. Like I said, if she’d wanted me to know, she would have told me.”
He smiled. “I don’t know a single person who would be able to resist finding out the answers to the ‘What’s in the box?’ question.”
I didn’t want to smile, but my lips twisted anyway. “You do know the story of Pandora, right?”
His smile increased, dimples appearing, and I had that weird sense of knowing him again, and I stared hard, absorbing the details of him, trying to place it. He suddenly seemed uncomfortable under my gaze. His smile dropped away as he juggled the trunk in order to bring his unnecessary sunglasses down onto his nose.
“Those should really help you with all this sunshine,” I couldn’t help teasing with a wave of a hand to the rain and dark clouds.
He nodded.
“They’re magic. They protect me from more than mere sunlight. They protect me from demons and angels and weirdos.”
I snorted. “Weirdos?”
His grin returned. “So, the demons and angels didn’t even phase you, but the weirdos did?”
I opened my umbrella and turned away from the grin that was unsettling me, stepping down from the sidewalk, ready to head across before traveling the few streets to Stacy’s house.
“Where are you going?” he called out behind me.
I turned to face him. He was still standing under the overhang with Grams’ antique trunk in his hands. My heart pattered because it was one more thing of hers I was losing. The sign for the store was above him. I’d turned it off, but at that exact moment, the sun peeked through the rain and the clouds to hit it:La Musica de Ensueños.
The music of dreams. Grandma had believed in it. A pattern to our lives we danced to. Above the building, a rainbow suddenly appeared as the sun and rain and clouds mixed together.
It was all too much. A gorgeous man my grandmother had loved. The store she’d poured her heart and soul into. The dreams and rainbows.
I didn’t believe in them anymore. I wanted to. Because I wanted them for my daughter. I wanted to give them to her on a silver platter.
I turned away, walking in the rain that still trickled down around me, not understanding why the man on the sidewalk watched me until I disappeared around the corner market. Not understanding any of it, but most certainly not understanding why Grams had wanted a man she hadn’t seen in years to have her things.
My head was there, at the store with a square-chinned man with sparkling eyes, when I got to Stacy’s house. I knocked and let myself in with my key. Stacy and I had exchanged keys ages ago because we always seemed to be running to get something for each other or taking each other’s kids home. It was just easier this way.
“Hello!” I called out.
Stacy came flying from the room they’d converted into a classroom. Her face was completely lit up.
“We finally got the approvals from the state and county school boards!” she all but screamed, her smile taking over the entirety of her face.
“Congratulations!” I hollered back.
Then, we were hugging each other and jumping up and down and dancing. Good news. We needed it. She’d worked hard to make the charter school happen. She was starting small, pre-kindergarten through second grade, but it would be a start. As funding and income increased, she’d be able to grow it more.
“When are we celebrating?” I asked.
“Soon. We’ll have to see what night Jay can watch the kids for us.”
Jay not only worked part time for her, but he was also getting his teaching credential, so he had his hands full, especially as midterms and spring break neared. The best thing about Jay was that he was beloved by all of the kids that Stacy took care of, including my daughter.
I squeezed Stacy again before stepping away. “I really am happy for you!”
She was beaming, and I couldn’t blame her.
My phone buzzed, an unknown number calling, and I sent it to voicemail. I caught sight of the time. The run-in with Cormac at the store had me behind schedule.
“I hate to run, but we’ll be late for our appointment with Cassidy if we don’t head out now.”
