chapter 45
BAILEY ARRIVED AT work worried that Woody was going to show up and cause a major scene. She wanted so badly to break away from him. She dreaded what was ahead of her if she didn’t. With the money they were going to steal, she would be able to get out of town—start over.
Once the store was open for business, as if he had read the script, Levi offered to go get breakfast.
“You want cheese in your grits?” he asked, walking out the door.
“Yes, please,” she replied, anxious for him to leave.
When the door shut, she went straight to her purse to get the camera. As soon as she laid her hands on it, the back door sprung open, and Levi was standing there with a goofy smile on his face.
“I was just curious…what’s your favorite movie?”
“Uh…what?”
“I just realized that I don’t know what you favorite movie is. That really says a lot about someone.”
Bailey was flustered and couldn’t think of anything else to say, so she asked, “I don’t know. What’s your’s?”
“It’s hard to say. This chick that cuts my hair, she’s always talkin’ about movies and lines from movies. It made me realize that I might enjoy a movie, but the ones that I really remember are the ones with great lines.”
Bailey wanted him to leave, but she nodded her head as though she actually cared about what he was saying.
“Hell, I like so many, it’s tough to choose one. A Christmas Story is probably my all-time favorite, and that movie has got some great lines. I watch it every year when they play the marathon at Christmas. ‘You’ll shoot your eye out, kid!’”
“I’ve seen that. I love it when the kid sticks his tongue to the light pole,” she said with a giggle.
“Sometimes I kinda think me and Moon Pie are like Ralphie and his little brother.”
Bailey laughed. “I don’t think so. Y’all might be those two boys that are always picking on him, though.”
“I even drink Ovaltine sometimes.”
“Well, you certainly take your movies seriously, and I’d love to talk some more about ’em, but I really gotta get to work.”
“Tell me a movie you like, and I’ll let you go.”
Bailey sighed and thought. “I did rent a movie recently called Double Jeopardy.”
Levi was leaning on the doorjamb, intently watching her. He offered, “Ashley Judd. I love her.”
“I watched it twice. I kinda identified with her character, and I loved it when she said, ‘Hello, Nick.’”
“Oh yeah! That was really good. See…I learned somethin’ about you. Okay, be right back.”
Levi was gone for ten seconds, and then he suddenly burst back through the door, scaring the crap out of her again.
“Did you know Michelle Pfeiffer was the first choice to play Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs? She turned it down ‘cuz it was way too scary.”
“Really?” Bailey replied.
“Yep. I love movies.”
“I do too.”
Levi smiled at her. “Great. Okay, now I’m gone to get breakfast. Be right back.”
Bailey walked to the back door and peeked outside to make certain that Levi had indeed left. When she saw him drive off, she grabbed the camera and began looking for an optimum location. She figured that she had twenty minutes to set the camera and place the magnet inside the doorframe, all the while being mindful of Moon Pie’s static cameras.
After setting up the spy camera, she stood on a chair and affixed the magnet to the inside of the metallic backdoor frame. She quickly shut the door and replaced the chair in the back room.
When she heard the back door slam, she playfully called out, “Hello, Nick.”
She could hear footfalls and assumed it was Levi as she turned to leave the office.
“Who the hell’s Nick?” Moon Pie asked as he appeared.
“Nobody. Levi and I were just talkin’ about something, that’s all,” Bailey said, hoping to hide her surprise at seeing Moon Pie.
“Uh-huh. Where’d he go?”
“He went to get us breakfast. It’s always slow Saturday mornings.”
Moon Pie walked into the office and looked around suspiciously. “So, who’s Nick?”
“He’s from a movie that Nick—I mean Levi—and I were talkin’ about before he left.”
“You never talk about movies with me.”
“I really don’t ever really talk movies with anybody. Levi just asked me what I liked.”
“He’s so gay,” Moon Pie said, sitting down in his desk chair.
“No he’s not.”
“So tell me, does Woodrow know about Nick?” Moon Pie asked with a sly smile.
Bailey rolled her eyes and, with a sigh, hurriedly walked toward the front of the store. The best thing about today was that Moon Pie would most certainly open the safe, revealing the code and putting her that much closer to freedom. She planned to call Walter with an update at her first break, when she could go outside for some privacy.