48. Communication
FORTY-EIGHT
Communication
STEVE & TARA
Steve
The sun dropped below the trees just as the firefighters got to take a break. They could finally relax a bit after dealing with an earlier fire that took out an old, abandoned house. As always, they were grateful for no casualties. Only the building was lost.
A buzzing sound drew Steve’s attention to his phone sitting on the table in the fire station lounge.
Derek and Kiro leaned in for a closer look in tandem, neither one even trying to pretend they were minding their own business. Neither of them kept a straight face as they saw Tara’s picture appear on the screen. Steve snatched it off the table. Shooting them a dirty look, he growled at their laughter.
Kiro elbowed Derek with a quick throat-clearing, turning them both straight-faced. Derek stood up and pointed toward the couch. “We’ll… uh, go watch TV.”
“You do that.” Steve glared at them, knowing he would probably hear more about this later.
He swiped his phone and brought it to his ear. “Hey, Sugar.”
“Hey.”
He could feel her smile through the phone. He had to shift in his seat to adjust himself under the table when her sultry voice serenaded his ears.
“I think I still owe you a proper date.”
“Yes, you do.”
Steve smiled when her voice took on a flirtatious inflection.
“You going to Jo’s for Halloween?”
“As long as I don’t have to go in costume.”
“Nice try, Steve, but you do.”
He groaned. “I don’t think I need–”
“Nope. Can’t get out of it. If I’m going to be in costume, you’re going to be in costume.”
“Why’s that?” Steve leaned back in his chair and rested an arm on the back of the empty chair next to him, ignoring the attention he was getting from Derek and Kiro. Shaking his head at their smirks, he turned his back on them and lowered his voice. “What are you going to wear?”
“Show up in costume, and you’ll find out!”
“You’re killing me, Sugar.”
“Yeah,” she said. “But I think you like it.”
Tara
In an excited mood, Tara turned up the music playing on the shop speakers and finished closing out the financials. Then, in between dancing up and down the aisles of books, she gave the store a quick inspection to make sure it was in good shape to open in the morning. Her phone buzzed with an incoming text. She pulled her phone from her back pocket and was jolted out of her good mood.
Ethan: I miss you. I want you back.
“Ugh.” She shoved the phone back into her pocket and finished straightening the shelves when it buzzed again.
Ethan: Can we talk?
Tara held out the phone and shook it, as if it were the phone’s fault that Ethan had texted her. “No, Ethan. We cannot talk,” she exclaimed out loud to the books on the shelves.
She paused to glance around as if there were people there watching her argue with her phone when it buzzed again. “We are not talking. Ugh!” She shoved it inside her pocket and shelved the last of the books that had been collected at the front counter.
She ignored another text alert. He was not giving up. Checking to make sure everything was in order, she turned down all the lights but the window display and headed to her car.
After running a few errands to get some last-minute things for her costume, she dialed Celeste’s number.
“Hey, gurl!”
“Hey, Cel. I’ve got the goods. Okay if I stop by?”
“The goods?” Celeste laughed. “Of course! Come on over.”
Celeste opened the door to let Tara and her shopping bags inside her second story apartment in an old, 1920s building. It had beautiful archways and perfectly preserved dark wood trim throughout. “Come on in. I was just pulling some stuff out for dinner.”
“Need some help?” Tara dropped her bags on the dining room table.
“Sure!” Celeste opened her refrigerator. “I was just putting together a little charcuterie board since I didn’t feel like cooking. I have some of the great sourdough bread from Jenna’s Boulangerie and some meats and cheeses.”
“Any fruits?”
“Grapes and apples.”
“Perfect.”
Tara and Celeste set up a nice spread of delectable finger food then got down to work.
“So what did you find?” Celeste asked.
With a proud smile, Tara reached inside her shopping bag and showed off what she’d bought. “Remember that blood red bodice I had from our Ohio Renaissance Faire days?”
Celeste’s eyes lit up. “Yes!”
“Well, I found some great peasant skirts and a blouse to match. Take a look!” Tara held one of the skirts to her waist and pulled one side out and wiggled her hips back and forth to show how wavy it was. “It’s really swooshy.”
“I love the black skirt and blouse. What a great contrast to the red. Do you still have the boots?”
Tara smirked. “The black ones that lace up the back? Of course. Anyway, Mom has a huge black shawl I can wear to top it off, but I have a gold, braided rope I can wear around the waist to break up all the black and red.”
“That’ll look good. You should fix it so the skirt pulls up a bit on one side, too.”
“Good idea.”
A text alert came from Tara’s phone. She silenced it and set the phone on the table.
“What else do you have?”
“I just need to fix up my hat.” Tara pulled out a black pirate hat, some blood-red and black feathers, a glue gun, and a sewing kit.
“You’ve got some work cut out for you.”
“Shouldn’t be too hard to put it together, right?”
“I wouldn’t think so. Just need to curl it up on one side, get the feathers to flow out toward the back and then you’ll fit right in with The Three Musketeers .”
“Can’t go wrong with Alexandre Dumas.”
“Never,” Celeste said as Tara’s phone buzzed again. “Somebody’s trying to get through to you. Everything okay?”
“No.” Tara’s eyes rolled as it started ringing. “Ugh! I mean, yes. It’s fine.” No sooner did Ethan’s name appear on the screen than Tara declined the call. “Anyway...Theo said I could borrow his sword, which will give the costume its final, amazing look I think it needs.”
Tara’s phone rang again.
“They’re calling you, too. Sure it’s nothing important?”
“It’s Ethan.” Tara moved her costume supplies out of the way and sat down to grab some meat and cheese. She rolled up a slice of provolone and took a bite. She let out a sigh when she finished chewing. “He’s been texting me and now he’s calling.”
“And you couldn’t block his number?”
Tara shot a sideways glance at her friend, huffed out a breath, and blocked his number, not caring to admit that she hadn’t yet considered doing exactly as her friend just suggested.
“Didn’t think of that, did you?” Celeste pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.