Chapter 10 #2
He didn’t dare hesitate, even though he knew his brother, with his paranormal senses, could hear every word. “I swear I won’t repeat anything you tell me.”
“Good. Here’s the weird part. I’m blind, and medical science can’t fix it.”
Noah was stunned. “Blind? As in, you can’t see anything?”
“Yeah. A real pain-in-the-asphalt for an ER doc.”
He loved how she reworded bad language to keep it PG. She must have learned that from working in a very public setting.
“I’m sorry. That’s got to be—disturbing!”
“You got that right.”
“Do you think it could be temporary?”
“I hope so.”
“Is there anything I can do? You know, as a friend. Can I shop for you or anything?”
“That’s sweet, but the housekeeper does the shopping.”
“Oh.” What could he say? Her father obviously didn’t like him, so a visit was out. “Can I call you once in a while? Just so you can talk to someone, if you need to?”
She hesitated but at last relented. “Sure. Not too often though. I had a heck of a time finding my phone before it went to voicemail, and I bumped my shin in the process.”
“Ouch. That’s why you were breathing funny.”
“Yeah, I was trying not to yell or curse under my breath.”
He chuckled. “You can curse to me anytime.”
“Well, I don’t want to get into the habit. I may go back to work eventually.”
“I hope so.”
“You and me both.”
* * *
A few days later, Kizzy was going stir-crazy, just sitting around the house with nothing to do—or see.
Her father was at work. She envied his power of invisibility.
He rarely used it, but he felt it gave him enough of an advantage so he didn’t need to worry about being followed by whomever was after the book.
Her sister didn’t seem to mind staying home. Her fiancé liked it too. He said the house was cleaner. She could almost hear Ruth’s eyes roll.
She could clean the house too—if she could see it! At least her sister had found a case for her phone that had a wrist strap. She could keep it with her more easily that way. But she couldn’t call and bother Ruth again. They had just talked for an hour.
Nick Wolfensen had gone home to have lunch with his wife and daughter. He seemed to go back and forth in a jiffy. She’d heard he lived on Beacon Hill but couldn’t figure out how he got there and back to Brookline so fast. Maybe he had more than one paranormal secret?
Fortunately, someone picked that moment to call. “Hello?”
“Hi, Kizzy. It’s Noah. How are you?”
“Oh, you know. Blind. But in some ways, I see a lot more.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Like what a good friend you are. Nobody from the hospital has called to see how I am.”
“Nobody?”
“Nope. Not a nurse. Not a secretary. Not a janitor. No one.”
“Jeez, that’s not right. You’d probably have thought to call them if one of your coworkers suddenly went blind.”
“Uh, no. That’s one of the things I actually saw. How much I let life interfere with important things like friendships or just plain courtesy.”
“I guess I know what you mean. I should call my brother. I don’t see him much anymore. If something happened to him, I wouldn’t know about it.”
“But I thought you two were roommates and on the same schedule.”
“He’s spending a lot of time at Mallory’s house. He’s even thinking of moving in with her.”
“Oh! That’s…nice?”
Noah chuckled. “Yeah. That was my initial reaction. It’s fast, but they seem to be crazy about each other, so I guess it’s a good thing.”
After a brief hesitation, Kizzy asked, “Where are you?”
“At home. Why?”
“Are you busy?”
“Nah. I’m just puttering around the lab.”
“The lab?”
“Yeah. I’m building a chem lab in our spare bedroom. I know, I know. That makes me sound like a total geek.”
“No, it sounds interesting. Really interesting!” After a brief hesitation, she said, “I’m going stir-crazy. I wish I could come over.”
“You can. Of course. I’ll come and get you. Dante has the car, but I can call an Uber and be there in half an hour or so.”
“No, I can do the same thing. I just need your address and directions.”
“But you’re blind! It’s no problem, honest. I can come and get you. Or visit there. We can play it by ear. Maybe you just need a distraction.”
“Okay.”
He was a good friend and would probably understand if she said she wasn’t really blind but had to come up with an excuse to suddenly stay at home.
But how would she explain why she needed to stay at home.
She couldn’t very well say, “Well, we have this book to protect, and I needed an immediate leave of absence without being able to say when I would be back—so I spelled myself.”
She was sick of the whole thing. The book was fine.
It was behind so many reinforced wards, nobody outside her family would be able to take it.
Even Mr. Wolfensen—who would be back any minute—couldn’t touch it unless a family member handed it to him.
She wished he didn’t have to hang around while she visited with Noah.
He hadn’t asked about her love life at all, but the guy was working for her father, not her. And her father didn’t approve.
Maybe she could send him on an errand. She wanted to be alone with the handsome firefighter. The admission surprised her. There was probably something wrong with this plan, but she had nothing else. She said goodbye to Noah, relieved that their friendship had survived.
* * *
Strolling hand in hand through the South End, Mallory listened as Dante tried again to talk her into calling her parents.
“I can’t. Seriously. They’re on a construction site.”
“Don’t they have cell phones?”
“Yeah, but they don’t work well in the middle of the rain forest.”
Dante shook his head. “Don’t you miss them? I mean, I’d miss my parents if I hadn’t seen or heard from them for a couple of months.”
“It’s okay. I knew it would be like this before they left.
I had to assure them about a billion times that I would be perfectly all right.
Even if I did find a way to get in contact, my mother would assume something was wrong, and she’d insist they come home.
Then my dad would disown me for jeopardizing his multimillion-dollar deal. ”
“He would not.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s a driven, type A kind of guy. If something gets in his way, he steamrolls right over it.”
“Well, then my parents would just have to adopt you.”
She laughed. “Are you sure about that? Wouldn’t that make us brother and sister?”
“Oh yeah. Ewww.”
“Not only that, but don’t they have enough kids already?” As they were walking up the steps to the Fierros’ brownstone, she hoped Dante’s parents didn’t hold what happened at the gallery against her. Dante assured her his mother would be delighted to see her again.
She had only taken a couple of steps inside when Gabriella hurried to the door and gave them each a tight hug.
“Come in, come in.” Gabriella grabbed Mallory’s hand and pulled her toward the kitchen. She glanced over her shoulder at Dante, who just grinned, following behind with his hands in his pockets.
Gabriella seemed anxious to see them. But why? Maybe she wanted to talk her out of seeing her son. No, Mallory. Stop talking to yourself that way! She had been trying to catch her inner negative Nellie whenever she showed up uninvited.
“I’m so excited to see you,” Gabriella said.
“Why?” Mallory asked.
Gabriella’s brows tented. “Why? Because I want to get to know you better. I’m happy that you’re in my son’s life. You seem to make him happy.”
She glanced at her boyfriend, who was rolling his eyes. “Dante’s always happy.”
“It would seem that way, because he has been ever since he met you.”
Mallory worried her lip. “I didn’t think you’d want him to see me anymore, especially not after the whole, you know…gallery thing.”
Gabriella smiled. “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry that happened to you, but it’s not a big deal. Not around here. I mean, who doesn’t freak out and turn into a monkey once in a while?” She gave her a sly grin, and the three of them laughed.
“Dante, you never told me your mother was so funny.”
Dante shrugged. “She has her moments.”
“I was just about to make my husband’s favorite bread. Would you like to help me?” Gabriella asked.
“Sure!” At that moment, Mallory’s phone rang. “Give me a second.” She walked off toward the back of the house and wound up in a laundry and mudroom while Dante stayed in the kitchen with his mother.
“Mallory?”
It sounded like the gallery owner’s voice. “Yes?”
“It’s Helen. I have some interesting news for you.”
“Oh, hi, Helen. It’s nice to talk to you again.” She could fake confidence over the phone much better than in person. “News? What news?”
“Yes. Apparently, someone at the show liked what he saw and wanted to get in touch with you.”
“Really? What was his name?”
“Maurice Winston. Do you remember speaking with him?”
“Um, no?”
“He’s a textile designer. He liked the color and movement and how you evoked emotion in your work. He was inspired and thought the patterns would be unique and beautiful in clothing. I have to say I agree with him.”
“You mean he wants to print my paintings on rolls of fabric? Then sell the fabric to make dresses, that sort of thing?”
“Exactly. Well, it’s done on computers these days. I was picturing it in my mind, and I think it’s a great idea. I’d love a dress made with one of your paintings as the fabric.”
“Wow. I had never thought of using them that way. I’ll gladly make sure you get one, especially since you were so nice to me, considering…”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m just happy to help. I think it might be a good job for you. You can probably even work from home if you’d like. I’ll send you his office phone number along with your check, and you can get in touch.”
“Fantastic! Honestly, I can’t thank you enough. The money will definitely help.”
“Great. I hope one of you will call and tell me how things are working out.”
“Thanks, Helen. I’ll do that. By the way, how is your friend? The one who told you about me?”