Every day that she woke at Cutty’s house, she thought maybe she’d see him, if just by coincidence. But he never came by anymore. That was when she realized he must have been actively avoiding her.
She wallowed around Cutty’s aimlessly for a while, until she couldn’t stand herself or the looks of pity the guys would give her when they thought she wasn’t paying attention. She had a choice to make. She could sit there, frozen in hurt for some indefinite period, and let the void she felt within her blossom into something that would consume her. Or she could force herself to get on with building a new life for herself.
Lars had discarded her as easily as he did his clients, and it was time to toss him out of her heart. If she could.
Chapter 37
Lars looked down at his desk, piled with paperwork he hadn’t touched since Faith had stopped coming into the shop. Shit. This was going to take him all goddamn day and his accountant hadn’t come back yet. He guessed he could let it keep piling up but the IRS fined corporations, even ones owned by the former Grim Reaper. They feared no one.
He sat down in his chair and started shuffling through receipts and mail, almost wishing the post office hadn’t reopened with the rest of the world.
He was up to five separate piles of bullshit on his desk that had to get reported or filed when he saw it. It was the envelope Faith must have left the last time she was in here. It had gotten buried under with the rest of the items he hadn’t wanted to deal with.
He tore it open and found it full of cash, a deposit slip alongside it. Where had all this cash come from? He let it fall out of the envelope and a note was in with the slip.
Lars,
There is a good chance I will no longer be working here for much longer. When things calm down—which they hopefully will—you need to put this in your account so you can pay your bills. You were paying me way too much. You need to be more responsible with your money before you lose your business.
He laughed a little. She really had thought he was a financial wreck. Then he read the rest of the letter.
I’m sorry we got to this point. I didn’t mean to hide anything from you. I was scared and it wasn’t a risk I was ready to take. I wish I’d trusted you more but I guess we all live with regrets.
Faith
Lars was silent for a moment before he shoved everything off the desk.
***
“Where is she?” was the first thing out of Lars’ mouth when he walked into Cutty’s kitchen.
“At her house, which for some reason I think you know.” Cutty took a bite of a cutlet he’d just pulled out of a pan. “I can never make them taste as good as hers.”
“I have to talk to her,” Lars said.
“Now you have to talk to her?” Cutty took another bite. “I mean, they aren’t horrible, just missing something.”
“I’m going to go see her today.” Even saying the words made him apprehensive. She hated him. She must. But he had to try.
“Really? After a month, all of a sudden a lightning bolt hit you and you got some fucking sense?” Cutty asked, finally giving Lars his full attention.
“Yes, I’m going to talk to her.” He knew he sounded defensive but he had to see her, whatever came of it.
“It might have been a better idea a month ago. Or maybe not kicking her to the curb in the first place, but oh no, you wouldn’t listen to me,” Cutty said, waving his cutlet in the air.
Lars didn’t bother replying.
“So, can I take this to mean you want her, no matter what?” Cutty asked.
“Yes. I thought my intent was obvious. I’m not going over there to tell her she sucks.”
“Have to check. I never can quite be sure when you might kick in to your normal asshole self. Not to make you feel any crappier than you already do, even though you do deserve it, I gotta tell you something.” Cutty walked over to his fridge and opened the door. “Want a beer? You might need it.”
“No. Just tell me.”
“Before Karma disappeared, she told me she’d never seen someone who burned as beautifully bright as Faith.” Cutty took a sip of the beer he’d grabbed from the fridge, and Lars grimaced.
Lars sank into one of Cutty’s kitchen chairs as he groaned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Faith asked Karma not to tell anyone. She wanted you to want her on her own merits, not because someone else had to vouch for her. Can you blame her?”
Lars groaned again and leaned back in the chair, looking up at the ceiling.
“It’s kind of good news in a way, isn’t it?”
“It was easier thinking she was somehow a little evil. If she was even partially guilty, than I’d be partially right. Now I’m all wrong.”
“It gets a bit worse.”
“It can’t.”
“Oh yeah, it can. Remember, that night, how I told you guys that I thought maybe she was Faith, and you shit all over it? Had a talk with Paddy. He’d planned on recruiting her.”
How could he have been so wrong? “Give me that beer.”
“I knew it,” Cutty said, I told you so oozing out of his every movement as he grabbed Lars a beer and handed it to him. “There was no other way we’d all take to a stranger that quick otherwise.”
“Fate didn’t,” Lars said, latching on to anything he could.
“Fate was more fucked up than you at the time.”
Lars sat there frozen for a few minutes as his brain spun.
Cutty sat down across the table from him. “Sitting here isn’t going to help you. Go talk to her.”
“You don’t understand how bad it was. I hurt her.”
“Yeah, I am aware. I saw the aftermath first hand. And then you acted like an utter moron, and it takes you a month to come to your senses.”
“Like you haven’t been an idiot in the past. Stop bitching and help me.”
“Do. You. Love. Her? I’m not helping you unless you are a hundred percent sure, no bullshit. I don’t want you to screw with her again.”
“Yes.”
“Then you grovel.”
“I don’t grovel.”
Cutty stood and walked over to him, then patted him on the shoulder and said, “You do now, buddy.”
“That’s your big help?”
“It’s quite wise advice. People should pay me for this shit.”
“Is she there now?”
“Yes.”
“What’s she doing?”
“I keep telling you people, I’m Sixth Sense, not all knowing, but probably same thing she does every afternoon. She’s in her garden. Now that we found her a location for a new gallery, she’s been doing that to keep busy until we close on the property.”
“Thanks for taking care of her.”
“Are you kidding? I didn’t do it for you. I’m going to be her silent partner, and she’s going to make me a shitload of money. I checked out her last place she had before she died. The girl has a great head for business.”
“But you got her set up in a house and—”
“She negotiated it into our contract. I would’ve done it anyway but like I said, she’s no slouch.”
“Has she asked about me?”
“Nope, not a word,” Cutty replied.
“I’m going to go over there. Any last words of advice?”
“Wear jeans. Groveling is rough on the knees.”
“Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
***
Faith heard footsteps walk around her ranch house into the backyard, where she was bent over a flowerbed. She was alternating between weeding and planting rose bushes. She could smell his scent and knew exactly who it was without looking. She didn’t bother glancing up, just dug into the dirt with more vigor. She hadn’t seen him in a month, and the ache in her chest still hadn’t diminished. Now he was here and it felt like he was tearing her open again.
“What do you want?” she said, finally acknowledging his presence when he was only a couple of feet from her.
“Do you have a minute?”
“No.” Not anymore.
He didn’t budge from his spot. It wasn’t shocking. He was a stubborn bastard.
“I’m not leaving until you hear me out.”
“You don't deserve to be heard,” she said, still refusing to look at him and ripping a dandelion out of the ground as if it had personally insulted her.