“You were gonna say sexy.”
“Not in front of you I wasn’t.”
He snorted.
“Okay yes, he’s sexy. Beyond sexy. He’s like a fireball. But it’s not just that; I love being with him. I just want to know more and more and get closer and closer. He’s made me happier than I can even describe. And now he might hate me and…I’m dying inside, to be perfectly honest.”
My father continued to stare at me. He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
“Well I’ll be damned.”
“Pretty sure I’m the one who’s currently damned.”
My father stood suddenly, stretching his arms over his head and yawning. “Tell you what.” He slapped the table twice. “I’m gonna crawl on home. But get in touch with Kora. If you can locate that ring for me, I’ll owe you one.”
“Okay. I will. That’s it? Nothing else to say? I just told you I might be falling for Orion, and you’re just gonna trot on off with your…bag of meat?”
“Oh, settle down, I was getting to that. Stop by my house Sunday morning, if you haven’t settled things with him by then. He’ll be there.”
A flicker of hope ran through me. “Thank you, Dad.”
“Don’t mention it. And I mean don’t mention it. Pretend you decided to come by of your own volition. Don’t need him getting all testy with me.”
“Got it.” My father limped a little as he left the table. “You want a ride home?”
He waved me off. “I’m not feeble! I can walk the half mile.”
I smiled. “All right, Dad. Goodnight.”
“Yeah, yeah. Goodnight.”
After my father left, I went inside and pulled up the website for Three Hills Gifts hoping there would be a number to reach Kora directly. There wasn’t. Only a main number for the store. I chewed my thumbnail, worrying that if I called, Orion might answer the phone. I wanted to talk to him, but didn’t want him to think I was making up some lame excuse by calling the shop looking for Kora. When it came to trying to reconcile with Orion, I sensed I had to tread cautiously, and do it right. Or I might not get another chance.
I was agonizing over whether I should call the main number, when I remembered I still had Chapel’s business card from the night he was here. I recalled the beefy tattooed redhead jumping up and down and shivering, telling me my house was infested with Spites before handing me the card.
I dug through the kitchen drawer and found the card there. This had me feeling better about things. I could go directly through Chapel, and ask to get a message to Kora.
He answered cautiously. “Hello? This is Chapel.”
“Hi. Chapel, this is Kurt Varley, do you remember me?”
Silence. Then, “Yeah, hey. I heard you got your problem solved already.”
“Yeah, I did. But I was hoping to speak to Kora about some follow up.”
“Why aren’t you calling Orion?”
Closing my eyes, I silently cursed. “We had a fight. Orion doesn’t want to hear from me right now.”
I heard noise in the background, voices, and he said, “Hold on, okay?”
“Sure.”
I waited several minutes. When Chapel returned, it sounded like he was alone. “Hey,” he said, speaking softly. “Still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Listen, Kurt. I…I need to talk to you about something. Can you come by my place in a half-hour? It’s the apartment above the gift shop. Orion won’t be here. He’s got a reading tonight. He’s getting ready to leave right now.”
“Oh. Um…sure, I guess. What’s this about?”
I heard a heavy sigh, then more silence.
“Chapel?”
“Yeah. Look, Orion talked to me the other day about those texts you got, and what was going on. I really need to talk to you in person. I get bombarded with spiritual noise when I go out to a pub or whatever, so I’d appreciate you coming to the apartment.”
“Sure, I can come by. This is about the texts?”
“Yes. And this is going to be awkward, so I apologize in advance.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m the liar. And I know who the thief is.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The seaside wasn’t so crowded tonight because it was raining. It started banging it down the minute I left my house, which I hoped wasn’t a bad omen. I didn’t believe in bad omens, but a lot of shit had happened recently that I didn’t used to think possible. Like shadow figures and spiritual termites and falling for a man.
I parked my truck down the road from Three Hills Gifts, then walked up the narrow driveway between the shop and the building next door, to a back parking lot. Chapel had asked me to come round the back because he didn’t want Kora, who was working the cash register tonight, to be involved. I had no idea what the fuck was going on, but I was eager to find out. And a bit irritated because I’d forgotten my umbrella and was getting soaked as I ran up a set of wooden stairs behind the shop to a door at the top.
Chapel answered with a beanie on over his bright red hair, in a white tank top that showed off his muscular arms and tattoos, gray sweatpants and bare feet. “Come in, come in,” he said as I stepped through the door. “Shit, it’s really raining out there.”
“Yeah.” I shook out my hair. “I noticed.”
I looked around the kitchen, small and clean, but sparse. There was a two-person hutch at the center, the countertops empty but for a microwave and toaster, the only decorative item a dreamcatcher hanging above the door.
“Take your shoes off,” Chapel said. “I’ll bring you a towel.”
He left and I kicked off my shoes. I’d worn a light jacket, which I was grateful for now, because I took that off as well, and at least my tee shirt was dry underneath. The kitchen smelled vaguely of butter and cooked fish, likely the filets Jasper had given Orion this morning, and that’s when it hit me. I’m in Orion’s apartment. A flutter of panic ran through me at the thought of him finding me here and getting mad. I had to remind myself that fear was stupid. I was being cautious about things, but I refused to actually fear Orion’s wrath.
I aimed to have a conversation with him and apologize, grovel if I had to, because I fucked up monumentally. But I kept in mind that Orion’s lie by omission was a big one, so while I’d take the lion’s share of the blame, he wasn’t exactly blameless.
Chapel returned with a towel, and I dried my hair as I followed him out into a spacious, open concept living area. It was bigger than I’d expected, slanted wall on one side with a very high peaked ceiling and skylights. And this part of the apartment was definitely lived in.
Books lined the shelves along one wall, along with crystals and shiny rocks and bongo drums and dozens of partially burned candles. There was a glass bowl filled with nothing but seashells on the coffee table, which was likely all about Orion and his readings. The space was all flashes of bright color, red and blue tapestries hanging along the walls, big pillows on the floor around a bronze incense bowl, like someone had been meditating. One wall was painted a deep red, the remaining walls bright white, and artistic prints hung along each of them. A huge painting of the tree of life, black branches set in a gold background. A beautiful watercolor of the nearby pier with the three hillocks in the distance. An abstract of what looked like a meteor shower. And above the bookshelf in the corner, an interesting pen and ink drawing of a sad clown holding a conch shell to his ear.