Chapter Thirty-One
Thirty-One
The scent of burning sage mixed with sweetgrass from several stalls tickled my nose as we walked down aisles of vendors peddling beads, crystals, and jewelry. It was a dazzling maze on the fairgrounds inside the expo hall. It had been raining when we arrived, and Danuwoa’s shirt was clinging to his muscles. I didn’t mind it, even if my hair was heavy and frizzy.
It was Saturday, and I didn’t have a care in the world. After I’d done what Kyle told me to do, I hadn’t heard from him the rest of the week. I hoped his requests for “favors” had come to an end. Danuwoa and I were back to being happy and lusty. Things were really looking up.
Living with Sage was still weird. I hadn’t really talked to him. We called a silent truce. He knew how I felt about him and the letter. He also knew there was nothing he could immediately do to fix what was broken between us besides showing up and following through with his promises. All I had to do was wait and hope he did.
Danuwoa and I walked hand in hand down the aisle with Walela stopping at every vendor on our way to Joanna’s. Her sign was the prettiest. It was hand-drawn on a poster board, and I could spot Sage’s art anywhere. He was always great at drawing, and the vibrant yellow sunflowers around Joanna’s name on the sign looked so detailed you could almost mistake them for being real ones glued on.
“Hi, Sage.” Walela sallied right next to him at the table. Joanna nodded a greeting and went back to helping a couple of women pick out some of her foot jewelry. Some people loved beads around their toes. I was not one of those people.
“Hey there, Your Highness, are you here on official Indian princess business?” he asked. I missed his shoulder-length wavy hair, but with his buzz cut, he couldn’t hide behind it. A few freckles dotted the bridge of his nose on his sun-kissed face. His crooked smile made Walela blush and giggle.
“Nope, I’m looking for some new jewelry. Do you recommend anything?”
“This bracelet is very cute. The blue would match the dress you wore when I first met you.” His suggestion was genuine, and I was shocked my careless and self-absorbed brother bothered to remember such a detail. Perhaps he really was changing?
The bracelet he held up was pretty and delicate, the turquoise seed beads were woven with a loom and crisscrossed with tiny lapis and gold beads throughout.
“Wanna try it on?” Sage asked.
“Yes!” Walela extended her arm, and Sage clasped the bracelet around it. Once it was on there, she wiggled it around to get the feel of it on her wrist. “Can we buy this?” she asked and showed off the bracelet to Danuwoa.
“If that’s the one you want, then yes.”
“I have to have it.”
“Anything else?” he asked his sister. Danuwoa squeezed my hand at the cuteness of watching Walela tap her chin as she considered the other possibilities.
Joanna’s creations were all beautiful, even the weird, funky ones. She had a small following of people on social media who loved her outrageous beaded collections. It took a certain kind of person to walk around with a beaded boob that read free the nip on the center of their chest. Those people paid her good money, but the pieces took a long time for her to do.
A queue started to form to get a look at the necklace stand showcasing a green dragon spitting flames. The piece boasted a $500 price tag. It was worth it.
“We’re gonna do another loop—you coming, Walela?” I asked.
“No, I think I’ll stay for a minute.”
“You can be our live model and show off some pieces,” Sage offered.
We walked around the other aisles, stopping if something caught our eye.
“This is nice,” Danuwoa told me, lifting our laced fingers to kiss the back of my hand.
And it was. We were free to walk around and explore without the threat of our coworkers or boss spotting us.
That was until, in this crowded public place, I spotted Gary freaking Horowitz. I pushed Danuwoa away from me and yanked my hand back.
“What the…?” He sounded appalled, and rightfully so.
I shushed him and ducked behind a huge geode. He stood, arms crossed, looking down at me.
“Get down! You’ll draw attention to us,” I hissed.
“I thought you promised we were past this.”
“Gary is down there,” I said and pointed. “We said we would stay discreet at work.”
“This isn’t work.”
“Gary is work,” I pleaded.
Danuwoa shook his head and walked away. I put my head in my hands. I royally, massively fucked up. Again.
“Ember?” Gary’s voice was behind me.
I looked up at him in my crouched position. “Gary, hi. What are you doing here?” I stood up. “I dropped my hair tie, was looking for it.” I waved my hand around, like it explained why he found me crouched on the dirty floor of the expo hall.
“Right…I’m just here adding to my crystal collection.”
“Nice. I like crystals too.”
We stood there awkwardly. I started craning my neck looking for any sign of Danuwoa.
“Looking for someone?”
“What? No,” I said, letting out a nervous giggle. “I’m just seeing what stall to hit next. I’ll see you around the office.” I darted away, flitting around the stalls like a madwoman looking for Danuwoa.
I retreated to Joanna’s stall.
“What happened between you and Danuwoa?” Sage asked me.
“Nothing. Everything’s fine. Why? What did he say?”
“He just looked pissed and told Walela they had to go.”
“Oh.”
“Wanna talk about it?”
“Not with you.” I looked past Sage to try to catch Joanna’s eye. She was busy with customers. She didn’t need to be bothered with my bullshit. I had to find a way to fix this…again. The only thing was, I didn’t think I could.