Chapter 28 #2
Last night was incredible. I can’t stop thinking about it. If I lose my job because I’m daydreaming about what you can do with your fingers, I’m blaming you.
River laughed out loud and gave a little wave of apology when the camera guy turned to look at her. Better for me if you’re shit at your job anyway. I really am sorry about your wake up call.
There was no response. No dots showing she was typing, not even a quick emoji. River shoved her phone back in her pocket. Maybe she shouldn’t have mentioned the ghost thing. But it wasn’t like Marina was going to have forgotten about it.
River came out holding a mug of coffee and let everyone else know that it was brewed and ready. Several people went to get themselves a cup, and another person was scanning the shop slowly with a huge camera balanced on their shoulder. It all seemed a little surreal.
“Okay, River, we’re ready for you,” Emma said above the general chatter.
River sat at the tarot table with Adriana on one side of her and Emma on the other. A tarot deck sat in the middle of the table, all alone. Curious, she turned over the top card.
“What’s that represent? Other than the obvious.” Adriana asked, her phone recording.
“The Devil is a deceiver. Someone without morals or empathy. It’s corruption and greed.” River gave a wry smile. “I think we all know who it represents.” She went to put it back in the deck, but Adriana stopped her.
“Can you leave it beside the deck? I think it’s a great optic. And I love that you pulled it right off the top.”
River left it to the side of the deck and then sipped her coffee as she looked at it speculatively. Audrey had called Marina a devil woman. Was she not reading it that way because of her own bias and desire to see Marina as something else?
“Let’s talk.” Emma, too, had a cup of coffee in hand.
The cameras began to roll, but Adriana and Emma made it a conversation, and when Mrs. Crabtree arrived in a Lyft, they paused the interview and got her seated too.
When the chat continued, it had new life and extra flare thanks to Mrs. Crabtree’s input.
Emma, showing her investigative side, had a slew of numbers and facts surrounding gentrified communities, populations, and the rates at which developers ripped through neighborhoods.
She also had plenty to say about regeneration, all of which was pretty balanced between the pros and cons.
A crowd of onlookers outside turned into a mini protest, a perfect background for the conversation in motion.
When it was over, River sagged in her chair. “Why do I feel like I just faced down an interview board for a job I didn’t even want?” she asked, making the others laugh.
Emma looked at her watch. “We need to do some editing and stuff before this goes out on tonight’s news.”
Adriana stood and stretched. “Same here. I need to cut it to bite-sized bits for my socials in order to get buzz for tonight’s edition.”
River watched in bemusement as the crew packed up and everyone was gone in an instant. Emma asked if she could give Mrs. Crabtree a ride, which was quickly accepted with the caveat that she send some chicory coffee back to Chicago one day.
Suddenly the shop was silent and empty except for her and Audrey.
“Better you than me.” Audrey finally broke the silence when she got up and joined River at the table. “You did good.”
“I felt like I was speaking for people I don’t know. I don’t like it.”
“You are speaking for people you don’t know. And people you do.” Audrey rubbed at her temples. “Let me tell you, though, not one of those people had a quiet mind. All of them, going every direction.” She waved her hands erratically.
“I’m not surprised.” River pushed the Devil card back into the deck and let the cards run through her fingers. “You’ve got something you want to talk about.”
Audrey huffed and looked away. “I forget how irritating it is when people read you.”
River waited, knowing how Audrey hated to be pushed.
“I’m retiring.” Audrey’s words came out in a rush. “I know I mentioned it before, and I thought it would be a long way off. But with the heart attack and the Black Pinnacle stuff…” She swallowed and brushed at her eye. “I’m sorry. It’s time.”
“Where will you go?” River asked. She held her mental shields tight so Audrey couldn’t get hold of any stray thought. She didn’t want her to know how River’s stomach had dropped.
“Puerto Rico.” Audrey laughed at River’s look of shock.
“I know. But we’ve done a lot of research, and we can get a house on the beach there for practically pennies.
We’ll spend our days relaxing and doing just about nothing.
Wendy says it will be good to spend time with us and work on her art in a whole new environment.
” She reached out and took River’s hand.
“I’m sorry. I know it’s not great timing. ”
River squeezed her hand. “I’m going to miss you like hell, but you should do whatever it is that makes you both happy. And I expect you to bring me a margarita on the beach when I come visit you.”
Audrey dashed tears from her cheeks. “Well, I’ll have someone bring you a drink. It won’t be me.”
They spent the next half hour talking logistics, and River kept her shields firmly in place.
Losing Audrey was going to be losing the friend she’d counted on through so many of life’s difficulties.
Someone she’d laughed with, cried with, and been a hundred percent comfortable with.
And with the development stuff going on, it really was difficult timing.
But would there ever be a good time to lose a friend and business partner?
She couldn’t help but wonder if Audrey’s timing was for the best. If they lost to Black Pinnacle, if everything went sideways, then at least Audrey wouldn’t be there to watch their neighborhood disappear.
And she wouldn’t have to watch River’s heart break as she lost her community as well as her heart when Marina walked away for good.