Chapter 14
Gabriel turned off the radio in his shop. It wasn’t often he listened to music, because he liked silence when he worked, but today had been a good day. Better than most, which didn’t take a whole lot.
Tunes had seemed like a nice idea, and the jazz station played a lot of old standards that he enjoyed.
Having the radio on certainly hadn’t hurt his productivity. He’d made progress on the music box, carefully removing about a third of the parts using his fine jeweler’s tools. He’d found a little more corrosion as he got into it, not a great sign, but he could deal with that.
Tomorrow, he’d finish disassembling the motor and start removing the corrosion.
Some pieces would go into the ultrasonic; some pieces he’d just use pegwood on, little sticks of orangewood.
With those, he could gently scrape off surface corrosion without leaving scratches.
Some pieces might even be polished with chalk dust and a fine cloth.
Once that was done, the oiling would begin. It needed a light, precise hand. Too much oil would draw dust. Too little would increase the wear. Neither were good. That fine balance had been drilled into him by his father and grandfather.
He couldn’t wait to put the pieces back together and see the little bird perform. The reward for his hard work.
Now, he was about to head home. As soon as he made one stop.
He had his coffee-stained clothing in a bag. He’d drop them off at the cleaners on his way. But that wasn’t the stop he had to make. That one was just next door.
He went into Bits & Pieces. A young woman who was not Sabrina was behind the counter.
“Hello. Welcome to Bits & Pieces.”
“Thank you.” He glanced around. “Is Sabrina still here?”
“She’s in the back. Can I tell her who’s looking for her?”
“Gideon Locke. I have the shop next door.”
“Oh, right. Nice to meet you, Gideon. I’m Julia.”
He nodded. “Hello, Julia.”
The young woman smiled as she came out from behind the counter. “Just be a second.”
Julia returned from the back room with Sabrina behind her. Sabrina’s eyes held worry. “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. Please don’t tell me you ran into a new problem with the music box.”
“No, nothing like that. So far, the disassembly has been pretty standard. Some corrosion but nothing I can’t manage. No broken parts or missing pieces.”
She exhaled. “That’s good to hear. So what brings you back in? If it’s the list, I don’t have it yet. Korrin is dragging his feet because he’s afraid to go back into the music box. He thinks Amelia’s going to take his magic.” She shook her head. “Don’t worry, Julia’s helping me work on a solution.”
“Good, but that’s not why I came in.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the money he’d made selling her watch. He held it out. “This is yours.”
She frowned, took the bills, and counted them. She shook her head. “This is four hundred and seventy dollars. How is this mine?”
“That Elgin watch I bought from you this morning. I have a customer who collects them. I cleaned it up, polished the scratches out of the crystal, and called him. He bought it. That’s the profit.”
Her mouth fell open. “You sold that twenty-dollar watch for four hundred and seventy dollars?”
“No, I sold it for five fifty, but I took my expenses out. The rest rightfully belongs to you. That’s what it was genuinely worth.”
She looked at the money, then back at him. “I don’t know what to say. Besides thank you. But you should take more of this, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t. Have a good night.” He turned and left.
She watched him go, speechless over what had just transpired.
Julia nudged her. “He’s hot and generous. Maybe you should have him over for dinner. Unless he’s not single. Is he single?”
Sabrina shook her head, not really paying attention. Not in a million years had she expected something like that from Gideon. Then she realized Julia was talking to her. “Wait. What did you say?”
“That if he’s single, you should invite him over for dinner. He’s nice, he’s handsome, and he just gave you more money than we made last week.”
Having Gideon over for dinner was not in Sabrina’s plans. She doubted he’d come anyway. “He’s not looking for a relationship.”
Julia frowned. “How do you know that?”
“I just do.” She glanced at the money in her hand. It would help a lot, but it was also a wake-up call.
“What are you going to do with that money?”
“Put it back into the store. I’m going to buy a small ad in the Vale Messenger.
” She looked at Julia. “And after what happened today, we’re going to take a hard look at our prices.
Let’s start researching things online and see what they’re really worth.
I’m not saying I want to sell at top-end prices.
I still want to offer great deals, and we have to remember that a lot of our merchandise has been repaired in some way.
I know that brings the value down. But still.
If that watch was undervalued by that much, what else is undervalued? ”
Julia nodded. “I’ll spend the rest of the day working on it.” She got out a notebook from under the counter and grabbed a pen from the cup by the register. “I’ll write down what I find, then you can make the final decision on pricing.”
“That’s perfect. I’m going to place that ad, then I’ll check on Korrie, make sure he’s staying out of trouble. After that, I’ll join you. We can divide and conquer.”
“On it, boss,” Julia said with a smile. She went back behind the jewelry counter and pulled out one of the ladies’ watches.
Sabrina looked up the number for the newspaper and placed an ad. Because she was a first-time customer, the woman she talked to gave her a deal. Two ads for the price of one, which meant she’d get two weeks’ worth.
It was nearly half the money Gideon had given her, but it felt like money well spent. How could people shop at her store if they didn’t know about it? And while Amelia’s job would probably bring people in, that wouldn’t happen until the job was finished.
The ad needed to happen. The woman promised to email a mockup within half an hour, so after Sabrina hung up, she went to see how Korrin was doing. He’d just about finished untangling the second batch of necklaces the last time she’d seen him.
She opened the door to the back room, uncertain what she was going to find.
The necklaces were laid out on the table, all of them separated. Trip was snoozing in one of the chairs. Korrin was meticulously rebuilding a broken vase that Sabrina had been meaning to get to.
As she watched, he picked up one of the shards, figured out where it went, then carefully set it in place. He drew his fingers along the join, creating a little sparkle of magic. When he bent to get another piece, Sabrina gasped.
He whipped around. “I’m just fixing it, I swear.”
“I know that. I didn’t mean to startle you.
But I can’t see the crack where it was broken anymore.
It’s gone. My ceramic repairing is pretty good, but that’s like new.
And actually, I was thinking about repairing that vase using the Japanese art of Kintsugi.
Do you know about that? Regardless, your repair is invisible. Better than mine would have been.”
“I can do Kintsugi, too. I like fixing pottery with golden glue. But …” He smiled and wiggled his fingers, clearly pleased with himself. “I used my magic. Better than glue sometimes.”
She came closer for a better look. “I’ll say. This thing was smashed into a hundred pieces.”
“One hundred seventeen, to be exact. I had Trip check my math.”
She started to say something, then realized she had no response to that.
Then she realized something else. “Korrie, as much as I appreciate what you’re doing, and I really do—this is great—but I need you to finish that list. Please.
I know you’re scared about what Amelia has in store for you, but you have to trust me.
I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
His brow furrowed. “You’re a nice lady. I want to believe you.”
“You can believe me.” Impulsively, she stuck her hand out. “We’re friends, right?”
He hesitated. “I guess so.”
“Then let’s shake on it. Besides, I have a surprise for you on the way home.”
His eyes narrowed slightly, but he stuck his tiny hand in hers. She clasped it gently between her thumb and index finger and shook.
“What’s the surprise?”
“Wouldn’t be one if I told you.”
He looked skeptical, but his mood changed when her shift ended and they arrived at the Bargain Bin. “What’s this place?”
“My favorite store to shop at. You said you wanted some new clothes, right? We’re going to get you some.” Gideon’s money was coming in handy in more ways than she’d imagined, although shopping at the Bargain Bin wouldn’t break the bank.
He nodded excitedly. “I do want new clothes. I need them.”
“I agree with you. Come on, let’s go in. I’ll carry Trip.” She got his carrier out and slung the strap over her shoulder. Korrie flew alongside her.
As much as she didn’t want anyone to know about him or word to get back to Amelia, he needed clothes. And Stella and Della were good women. Whichever one of them was working today wouldn’t bat an eye at a sprite being in their shop.
They went in. Sabrina waved to Stella. “Hi, there.”
“Sabrina, nice to see you and Trip. Looking for anything special?”
“Men’s clothes, actually.”
“Lot of that going around today.” Stella smiled. “Everything is buy two, get one free this afternoon.”
“Great, thanks.” She nodded at Korrie. “Come on.”
She showed him everything on the rack. He picked out a whole armful of things for her to carry. Jeans, a pair of plaid pants, a plain red T-shirt, a paisley-print dress shirt, and a bright blue sweater with a yellow stripe across the chest.
Ultimately, he decided on all of it, which was fine with her, but it was only five items. They had a sixth free one coming.
“Are you sure there’s nothing else?” she asked him after explaining the situation.
“I can only wear one outfit at a time, and now I have two. I’m good. You get something.”
She took the things to the counter, then went to have a look. Her wardrobe wasn’t exactly overflowing, so something new would be nice. She found a pretty sweater in black. The yarn it was made with had a silver thread in it, giving the sweater some sparkle.
Fancier than what she usually wore, and she didn’t own a lot of black, but it was basically free, so why not? She added it to the pile. “We’re ready.”
Stella put down her magazine and came over, but before she rang up the items, she reached under the counter and pulled out a shoebox.
Sabrina immediately felt a familiar pull. Whatever was in there was broken.
Stella set the box on the counter. “I’m glad you stopped in. I’ve collected a bunch of things that we can’t sell because they’re broken. Figured I might as well give them to you. If you can fix them, you can have them. If you can’t, just throw them away.”
Sabrina peeked under the lid. Looked like a lot of jewelry. “Thank you. I’ll look through it tonight and see what I can do. What do you want for this?”
“Nothing. I would have just thrown it out anyway. All yours.” She folded up the clothing and stuck it in a bag. “That’ll be fifteen dollars.”
Sabrina already knew there was no point in arguing with Stella about her ridiculously low prices. She paid with a smile and took the bag and the box. “Thank you so much.”
She smiled all the way home, already anticipating what might be in the box. As days went, today had been pretty good. Tonight might be even better.