Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Milo
“Uncle Milo! Did you see the naked lady shop going in next door?”
I was reading through emails about my newest ad campaign and twirling the daisy hair clip I’d turned into a fidget toy when my nephew burst into the shop. Baffled, I blinked as he hurtled through the store to join me.
It wasn’t unusual for him to make dramatic and puzzling proclamations when he arrived at Dueling Dragons after school two days a week, but this one was particularly confusing.
“The what?”
Carter tossed his backpack to the floor, spilling crumpled papers and a handful of colored pencils out onto the dingy carpet.
A carbon copy of my oldest brother, Maverick, Carter was tall and lean with dark, tousled curls that never quite looked under control.
He’d sprouted up in height over the summer, right around his tenth birthday, but even his gangly limbs couldn’t detract from the charming grin he’d inherited straight from his dad.
Like the rest of the Davies men, Carter had also inherited eyes that could only be described as gray. In some lights, they might appear blue or green, but as Carter leveled a solemn stare in my direction, his were the shade of slate.
Carter might look like his dad, but he was a nerd through and through, just like his Uncle Milo.
In fact, Carter was the best advertisement I could get.
His rave reviews about Dueling Dragons had brought in more customers in recent years than most of my promotional efforts, though I hoped my new ads would generate more traffic.
Still, Carter’s Dungeons & Dragons-themed birthday party was solely responsible for a dozen hefty sales and two more parties booked for the coming months.
I forced myself not to fall down the rabbit hole of lamenting the loss of the space next door, even if those parties could have held twice as many kids with just one of the back rooms over there, and focused on my nephew.
“Naked ladies. I saw them. The door was propped open,” he informed me.
The new tenant had papered over the windows of the shop next door like whatever they were doing inside was a state secret.
I’d heard a variety of sounds coming from the other side of the wall, starting with creative but muffled swearing, then power tools, then thumping and hammering and bursts of feminine laughter.
For a second, I wondered if my landlord had rented the place to a sex shop instead of me, but it seemed unlikely.
We weren’t in the best part of the major shopping drag through Spruce Hill, but this was still Main Street.
Those “adult video” stores were almost always located in more remote areas outside of town—I figured there must be some kind of zoning laws at play.
But shit. Surely Jim would’ve mentioned it if a porn store was going in next door?
“Were the naked ladies mannequins, buddy?” I asked my nephew.
With a mouth full of the granola bar Maverick had packed for an afternoon snack, Carter shrugged and said, “Yeah, but they were wearing these…things.”
Jesus. Was it a sex shop? My mind raced with the potential items he might have seen—strap-ons? Harnesses? Maverick was going to kill me if his kid let this slip at school tomorrow.
“What kind of things, Carter? Outfits? Costumes? Uh, equipment?”
Carter’s brow furrowed like I was speaking Latin. “Um. Like, lacy nightgown things, mostly. There was a shiny bathrobe, too.”
“Lingerie,” I said slowly. “Is that what you mean?”
“Yeah, lingerie! I forgot the word. There were ladies in, like, old-fashioned clothes painting the walls inside, so all the mannequins were in the middle of the room.”
I ruffled his dark hair, relieved that Maverick wouldn’t have to explain anything more than sexy nighties.
My oldest brother had been a single dad since Carter was two months old, when his girlfriend took off for greener pastures, and he’d been on plenty of dates over the years—I would know, since I usually pulled babysitting duty—but not once had he brought a woman home to meet Carter.
For all my nephew knew, those lacy nightgowns he saw next door were a woman’s normal pajamas. I was content to leave it at that.
Though I hoped I’d be there to bear witness to my brother’s explanations.
After he finished the granola bar, Carter pulled out his homework and we settled into our usual routine of alternately solving math problems, quizzing spelling words, and cracking jokes.
I didn’t mind running the store alone when my part-time employee, Rafael, wasn’t working, but I loved the two afternoons each week when Carter was there with me.
He spent the other two with our middle brother, Mark, who owned a bath and body product shop across town.
Maverick got out of work early on Fridays to pick him up from school so they could have an afternoon together.
Once homework was complete, we were free to focus on the fun stuff—which, fortunately, was how my nephew viewed tidying up racks of comic books, organizing action figures and vinyl collectibles, and choosing which magnets and keychains would get the place of honor on the countertop display.
That day’s winners were a series of geese in superhero costumes, along with some of Carter’s favorite Nintendo characters. We were arranging them when Mav arrived to pick Carter up after work, still dressed in a charcoal suit and burgundy dress shirt. His eyebrows were raised in disbelief.
“Why is your car halfway down the block, man?”
I growled in annoyance. “Because someone’s been parking in my spot. Every day now, for weeks, no matter what time I show up to open the store.”
“But…that’s your spot. You’ve parked there for as long as you’ve owned this place,” Maverick sputtered.
Carter paused in shoving his homework haphazardly back into his bag to say, “Uncle Milo’s name isn’t on it.”
“Yes, thank you for that wisdom, my son,” Maverick replied solemnly. “Maybe you should leave a note on the car.”
“This isn’t middle school. No offense, Carter.”
“None taken,” my nephew said brightly.
Maverick looked almost more put out about the parking situation than I was—and I was seriously annoyed.
Everyone knew that was my spot, from other shop owners to residents who’d never set foot in the shop.
I’d almost managed to beat the little red SUV to it a few days ago, but it pulled in ten seconds ahead of me and I had to watch the parking spot thief in action.
I hadn’t, however, caught sight of the driver, since I was busy tracking down an open spot thirty yards away. By the time I got to Dueling Dragons, there was no one in sight.
“When the hell is the place next door opening anyway? It’s been weeks, hasn’t it?” Maverick asked.
“No idea.”
“It’s a naked lady store!”
I rolled my eyes as Carter’s exclamation drowned out my response. “It sounds like it’s a lingerie shop. I haven’t met the owner yet, but I bet that’s who’s parking in my spot.”
“If it’s one of the ladies I saw painting in there today, the owner is pretty. There were two of them, both pretty. Maybe you guys should go introduce yourselves,” Carter suggested. “Are you sure you don’t want to leave a note on the car? You could put your phone number on it.”
Maverick and I exchanged a look over my nephew’s head.
Carter was anything but subtle when it came to trying to set either of us up at every opportunity.
While my big brother had somehow managed to avoid falling into any of the traps his son laid, I’d gotten stuck having dinner with the kid’s math teacher.
She was lovely, but not exactly a comic book fan. There hadn’t been a second date.
“Buddy,” Maverick began.
Carter cut him off, saying, “I know, I know. Uncle Milo met the love of his life at Comic Con and we need to give him time to get over her before he tries again.”
My jaw dropped at his matter-of-fact recounting of my love life. “I beg your pardon?”
The words were quiet, but both my brother and my nephew froze, staring at one another with wide eyes in an attempt to convey some unspoken sentiment that I could read all too clearly.
“Jesus, Mav,” I muttered. “First, she was not the love of my life. We met one time. I don’t even know her last name. Second, seriously? I confide in you and you reveal all my secrets to the ten-year-old?”
“It just slipped out, man, I’m sorry. You were sulking for an entire week,” Maverick replied.
His voice was soft, like he could cushion the blow, but I shook my head as each word plunged into my body like a blade.
“Right. No, it’s fine. Milo Davies shoots and misses. That’s big news around here—oh wait, nope, it’s just more of the same old story.”
“Don’t be like that, man.”
“Doesn’t matter. See you Wednesday, Carter,” I said, laying a hand on the top of his head. “I have a shipment coming in tomorrow. You can help me put out some new stock.”
Carter stared up at me, his gray eyes troubled. “Sorry, Uncle Milo.”
“It’s fine, buddy. Go on, have a good night, you two.”
“I’m sorry, Milo,” Maverick echoed.
He wasn’t just apologizing for blabbing about the pathetic state of my love life to his kid.
Maverick knew all too well what it was like to think you found something special and have it disappear from your life without a backward glance.
I nodded, holding his gaze until he saw that I’d forgiven him.
It wasn’t his fault I’d let a good thing walk away so easily.
With a lift of his hand, Maverick led Carter out of the store and I was alone once again, staring down at the daisy resting on top of my book.
Maybe it was time to move on.
The little red SUV was in my parking spot when I got to work the next morning, its bumper sporting some stickers that unfortunately indicated I might actually like its owner—one read Talk Nerdy to Me, another was a watercolor Triforce symbol from The Legend of Zelda.
Interestingly, the last sticker was for a local martial arts studio.
Still, annoyance thrummed through my veins as I parked even further from the store than the day before.
By the time I got inside, breathless from the muttered expletives I’d cast upon the parking spot thief, I was met with even more frustration when I found the alarm on the back door screaming at me.
It was a miracle no one nearby had reported the blaring sound, but the doors were still locked and nothing appeared to have been tampered with, so I reset the device, updated the code, and set a reminder on my phone to be sure the alarm was engaged every evening when I left.
Maybe daydreaming about seeing Eden again had me so distracted that I forgot to set it the night before.
I spent half the day sorting through boxes of new comics in the limited space I had behind the counter, silently cursing whoever had moved into the bigger space next door, cat pee or not.
Hell, with those extra rooms at the back, I could have had an event room and a room for out of print or vintage comics.
I could have done any number of things with that extra square footage, but I’d missed out. Small, intimate parties were more fun anyway, weren’t they?
The bell over the door jingled and I straightened from a crouch to see a pretty blonde in high-waisted jeans and a red plaid cropped shirt enter the store, rubbing her upper arms against the chill of the January air outside.
I froze, thinking about Carter’s comment—two ladies in old-fashioned clothes.
I hadn’t been sure what he meant, but now that she stood before me, I was suddenly certain she was one of the women Carter saw painting next door.
Fuck. It was a painful reminder of how Eden had stood before me in a petticoat and that bustier. The memory squeezed around my heart like a vise.
“Hi there,” I called, offering a smile as her dark eyes landed on me. “Let me know if I can help you find anything.”
“Thanks,” she replied. Her voice was bright and bubbly as she moved toward a display of vinyl collectible figures.
I debated whether it was rude to return to unpacking boxes with a customer in the store.
Even after four years of owning Dueling Dragons, there were times I felt like I was brand new to customer service.
When the woman disappeared from view, I decided I’d stay standing and enter the inventory I’d already unpacked into my spreadsheet.
A few minutes later, she wandered to the counter with a vinyl collectible of Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender in hand.
“Just this?” I asked as I scanned the barcode.
“Yeah, my godson’s birthday is coming up. You have some great stuff. I’m sorry to say this is the first time I’ve been here.” She paused, bright red lips parting when they landed on my name tag. A strange look crossed her face before she added, “Milo, is it?”
I smiled briefly and turned the card reader toward her for a signature. “Yep, that’s me.”
“Hey, do you know if there are any comic conventions nearby? My godson is getting really into cosplay lately, I wondered if there was anywhere I could take him.”
“You just missed the one in the city last month, but there are quite a few within a couple hours of Spruce Hill.” I handed her a business card. “If you check the website, there’s a link to events around the area.”
Her smile was blinding. “Fabulous. Thank you, Milo. It was very nice meeting you.”
Before I could ask her name or verify whether she was the owner of the shop going in next door, she had flounced out the door, her blonde curls bouncing in her wake.
“What just happened?” I asked the empty store as I stared after her.
I replayed the entire interaction in my head, though she’d barely spent five minutes in the store, then shook my head and forced myself to get back to work.
Maybe mysteries were just the new fact of life around here.