Chapter 22
Gideon had a busier day than normal. Even the traffic on the street seemed heavier. Why, he had no idea. He’d sold a men’s chronograph, a kitchen clock, and taken in two repairs, which was fine, but it had cost him time away from the music box.
As a result, work was progressing slower than he liked. Nothing he could do about it, but it still irked him. He liked keeping to a schedule. He preferred the known to the unknown. Routine made mistakes less likely.
He supposed he ought to just be grateful for the sales, and he was, but he’d begun this business for two reasons.
One, so he’d have a place to escape his curse.
Somewhere not his home that he could still be comfortable in.
There were a few nights, in the early days, when he’d slept in the shop.
His curse had been especially bad right after he’d moved to Shadowvale.
Almost as if it disapproved so strongly of the change that it had taken its revenge on him.
Dark days. And another reason he disliked change.
Secondly, he’d opened the shop because repairing these small, intricate works focused his mind and allowed him to escape, however briefly, the reality of his life.
He would never have a wife or family, but he would have his shop.
It was his safe place. Always would be.
But when he couldn’t work on his various repairs and had to deal with people, he worried. Mostly that his curse, which never seemed to touch the objects he worked on, might target one of his customers instead. That just by being near him, someone else might come to trouble.
It was why he rarely went out. Rarely socialized. Never drove.
He headed into the back room. Last night had been an exception, obviously.
He realized just how much of an exception as he returned to his workbench.
He couldn’t think of one bad thing his curse had caused.
Nothing had broken. No one had tripped, gotten food poisoning (that he knew about), spilled anything.
No fights had broken out. The singer hadn’t lost her voice. No accidents had occurred, nothing.
He picked up the workings on the music box, nearly done disassembling it. The only odd thing that had happened was Sabrina had kissed him.
He took a deep breath. That might have been his curse’s doing. To make him believe that Sabrina had desired him. That she’d seen him as an ordinary man, worthy of her attention.
He frowned. Leave it to his curse to find a way to cut him so deeply. Her actions today only solidified the possibility that his curse had driven her to it.
She hadn’t mentioned the kiss. Undoubtedly, hadn’t wanted to talk about it. He couldn’t blame her.
He put on his magnifying glasses and got to work. Without further interruption, he should have all the pieces apart and ready for cleaning. He’d start on that tomorrow. He enjoyed that bit. Bringing a shine back to things. Removing the rust and corrosion.
The shop door opened. He closed his eyes, sighing in frustration. What now? He put everything down and stormed out to see who—“Sabrina?”
“Sorry, I know you’re probably busy, but I need you tonight.”
“You … need me?” He knew whatever he was thinking, she was not thinking the same thing.
“I need you to come to my house. For a birthday party for Korrie.” Her brows lifted. “It’s one of the things on his list.”
Gideon sighed. “Of course it is.”
“He’s never had a birthday party.” She hooked her thumb over her shoulder. “Julia’s already called in an order to Black Horse Bakery for a cake, and I’m going to get ice cream. You have to come. He’ll pitch a fit if you don’t.”
Gideon nodded. He was not about to turn her down. “I’ll be there. What time?”
“Seven o’clock, okay?”
“That’s fine.”
“You don’t have to bring a present.”
“I believe it’s standard to bring a gift to a birthday party.”
She smiled. “I just don’t want you to feel obligated. I know you don’t really want to come.”
“Not true,” he said. “I’m happy to attend.” He almost laughed. She had no idea how true that was, but it sounded desperate to his ears. “Happy might not be the right word, but I have no doubt it’ll be an interesting evening.” He looked directly at her. “And the company will make it worthwhile.”
“That’s very sweet of you.” She blushed, tipping her head forward to let her hair cover her face. “How’s, um, how’s the music box going?”
“I should have it completely disassembled by the end of the day. Then tomorrow I’ll work on cleaning the parts. That will take some time. How are things on your end?”
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I started the painting today. It’s slow, but that’s okay. I want to be sure it’s perfect.”
He nodded. “I understand that.” He wanted so much to ask her about the kiss. To ask her why she’d done it. But he imagined a question like that would send her running, and he very much wanted to keep her here. “How long do you think it’ll take you?”
“Well, we’ve gotten a little busier in the store—”
“So have I. Traffic’s picked up today, hasn’t it?”
She nodded. “I might be to blame for some of that. I placed an ad in the Vale Messenger for the shop. I’ve never been able to afford it before, but then you gave me that money from the watch.”
She took a step closer, the look in her eyes deeply earnest. “I have to thank you for that. Not just the money, the whole thing. It was a real eye-opener. I had no idea that watch was so undervalued. Julia and I have been going through everything in the store and searching for similar items online, trying to see how our prices compare.” She snorted.
“Not well, I can tell you that much. We’ve raised the prices on nearly everything. ”
“That’s interesting.”
“I think we were losing business because the prices were too low. It sounds crazy to even say that, but today has been a vastly different day in the shop.”
“There is definitely a perception of less worth when something is undervalued. It’s a fine line between a good deal and too cheap.”
“I’m learning that. I never had any kind of education in business, but I’m getting one now.”
“I really only know about watches, clocks, music boxes, and other small mechanical items, but you can ask me anything you want about business or whatever. If I can help, I will.”
“Thank you.” She bit her bottom lip. “I guess I’ll see you tonight.”
“Only if you tell me where you live.”
She laughed. “Oh, right.” She took a step toward him. “Do you have a pen and paper? I’ll write down my address for you.”
He got a notepad from under the counter and handed her a pen. She scribbled down her address, then gave him a little wave. “See you later.”
“Later,” he said. He watched her go. He hadn’t been invited to a birthday party since elementary school. After he’d accidentally knocked the cake onto the floor, he’d never been invited to another.
He finished with the music box ten minutes before closing, but he closed up anyway.
The day had been plenty busy, and he had things to do.
He went in the opposite direction down the street to a shop he’d passed many times but never gone into.
A place called The Chocolate Dragon. The sprite obviously loved sweets.
A chocolate dragon’s egg seemed like a good gift.
He bought a small sapphire egg filled with chocolates and had it gift-wrapped. He very much wanted to buy another one for Sabrina, but he couldn’t think of a logical reason. Just because wasn’t good enough when they were merely acquaintances.
He stopped at the dry cleaners and picked up his clothes, then, because he wouldn’t have time to order in dinner, he walked down to Noble’s Pizza and had two slices of pepperoni pizza with a ginger ale. He sat at a table by himself, his package and dry cleaning taking up the other chair.
It was so strange to be out like this. Very out of the ordinary for him. But no one paid him any attention. It wasn’t odd to any of them.
Somehow, he managed not to get food on himself, not to knock anything off the table, and to pay without causing an issue.
Experience had told him it was just a matter of time before the other shoe dropped. He didn’t like thinking that way, but it was true. Something would be wrong at home. He’d soon find out.
He took his package and his dry cleaning and went to the house. It looked all right from the outside. He went in, almost holding his breath in anticipation of what awaited him.
Cautiously, he turned on the lights. They came on. No bulbs popped. No circuits shorted. There was no water dripping in the kitchen. Not in any of the bathrooms, either.
He hung his dry cleaning up, looking through his options for the party.
He didn’t have a lot of casual clothes, but he did have jeans.
He’d wear those and the blue sweater Sabrina had liked, the one Stella had pressed on him at the Bargain Bin.
Come to think of it, he had a pair of dark blue suede loafers that Della had given him a couple of years ago.
He’d never worn them because they were so out of his comfort zone. Blue suede loafers? Did Della think he was Elvis? He laughed. But tonight was the night. Why not? What did he have to lose?
In fact, he was thinking it was time to go shopping. Pick out a few more colorful things. If they got torn or stained or shrunk in the wash, so be it. He had the money. The Bargain Bin wasn’t expensive anyway.
He’d let the curse dictate things for too long. Let it intimidate him into staying inside, caused him to overthink or make decisions that ran counter to his desires.
A loud crash came from downstairs.
He jogged down the steps, firm hand on the railing, to find a pane of glass had fallen from the left-hand sidelight next to his front door.
Could his curse read minds? Sense his new attitude?
Maybe. Wasn’t stopping him.
Taking no chances, he put on gloves to pick up the shards of glass. Then he went to the shed to get what he needed to board up the hole.
He was so glad he was going to Sabrina’s. Might just be for an hour or two, but maybe by leaving he’d show the curse it wasn’t going to change his mind.
If nothing else, it would get him out of this house for a while.