They both reached for their coffee. Alyx put her cup down. “I know you’re not married now; have you ever been?” she asked.
He shook his head. “There have been significant others. I’m not seeing anyone now. How about you? I assume, since you’re here with me, there’s no one special in your life?”
She lowered her eyes before she answered. “No, there isn’t.”
The rest of the evening was devoted to general conversation––business, the area, and other light subjects.
Alyx tried to stifle a yawn and lost. She apologized and explained why she was so tired.
“Do you often conduct estate sales?”
“No, actually, we don’t. This was a special case; Althea was a friend.”
He blinked in quick succession. Alyx didn’t appear to have seen his reaction, probably due to her tiredness, but I did.
“Did the estate sale include all the contents of the house?”
“No. The better pieces we bought outright and are in our store––all together in one spot.”
“Did you find a favorite piece?”
She smiled, “Yes, the bed,” and she went on to describe it.
She yawned again, this time openly and no excuses.
“Okay, Alyx, I’d better go before you fall asleep on me. That wouldn’t be good for my ego,” he said, trying to sound hurt.
“Somehow, I don’t think that’s a problem for you.”
She walked him to the door, and he took her hand in both of his, “I’ve enjoyed your company. Maybe we can do it again, soon?”
“I’d like that.”
She locked the door, turned off the lights and went straight to bed.
“There’s no need for a piece of sculpture in a home that has a cat.”
––Wesley Bates
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: The Problem That Wasn’t a Problem
Alyx was on the phone when I ventured into the workroom the next day.
“Maggie, where are you calling from? Is everything all right?”
“I’m home and I’m fine,” Maggie said.
“Home? What happened, sweetie? I told you I was taking care of everything. I hope you didn’t come home just because of what happened.”
“No, that’s not why I’m back,” I heard Maggie say from the receiver. “Do you have time to talk? I’ll bring lunch.”
“I’ll make the time.”
Maggie lived in a one-bedroom condominium on the ocean. Her attractive seventh-floor condominium, decorated in a sleek modern style was second only to the ocean view from the floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors across the width of the living room. Traffic was usually heavy around lunchtime, and the ten-minute trip took us twenty minutes plus the time it took to pick up the lunch order at the Cuban Sandwich Shop.
After greeting each other with hugs, Alyx didn’t waste any time getting to the point.
“Okay, what’s wrong?”
“George’s son, Erik, is thinking about enrolling in college here in Florida and asked if he could stay with him for a year or two, so he can save money to pay for the next two years of school, and George told him that he can stay for as long as he wants.”
“I don’t understand. Why are you so upset about that? Granted, you won’t have the same privacy you have now, but you can work it out, can’t you?” Alyx took a sip of lemonade and set it down.
Maggie did the same, except she held on to hers and paced to the door and back.
“That’s not it. It’s that I don’t know how to behave around a nineteen-year-old. I’ve never had any kids, and I don’t really know him; I’ve only spent a few days with him. I don’t know how to be a mother; I don’t even know how to cook. What if he hates me?”
“Maggie, he’s not going to hate you. To begin with, you don’t have to mother him; he has a mother already, and, secondly, George loves you. Did he say anything that sounded like he’s changing his mind?”
She shook her head, drained her plastic cup, and dropped it in the wastebasket. “He has no idea why I wanted to come home. Since I’m the one who suggested going in the first place, he had no problem with me changing my mind.” She smiled. “Sometimes I think he’s too good to be true.”
“The old Maggie would have said he was ‘too good for her,’ and that’s why I can say I think you’re experiencing commitment jitters.”
“I should have stayed here and helped you instead of running away.”
Alyx waved away the sentiment and suggested they eat lunch. Maggie took a bite of the crunchy lunchmeat sandwich and asked if there was any new information about the break-in or the estate sale.
“The sale went fine. Nelda did a great job. Almost everything sold for the price marked.” Then, she hesitated, “Something odd did happen though.” She pulled the note from her purse and handed it to Maggie to read.
Maggie read the short note out loud: “SHE’S GONE AND SO ARE HER THINGS––LEAVE IT ALONE OR ELSE … Oh, my! Alyx! You did tell Detective Smarts about this, right?”
“Well, I tried. I left him a message but I haven’t heard back from him yet.”
She picked up her cell phone and handed it to her. “Call him again, Alyx.”
“All right, Maggie, I’ll give him a call if you promise to call George and talk to him about the changes you’ll have to make with his son coming––and be sure to tell him you’ll be joining him more often on his picking jaunts.”
Alyx made the call, and this time her message said it was urgent.
“Honest as the cat when the meat’s out of reach.”
––Old English Saying
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: A Gift From a Far Away Place
The store closed at six on Sundays, and Alyx usually had dinner with Ethan and, most times, his girlfriend, Nicki. About once a month, she and Ethan got together with her brother, Tom, and his wife Susan. I knew she was glad for any time she had with Ethan––truth was, she missed his company. At the same time, she was happy to see him settling down, looking forward to spoiling her future grandchildren in a way she hadn’t been able to spoil Ethan due to her financial situation while he was growing up.
Ethan called earlier in the day, and told her not to cook anything, since he couldn’t stay for dinner. When he arrived, the girls and I greeted him as usual at the door, looking for the treat he always brought when he visited, and he didn’t disappoint.
Ethan asked Alyx about the estate sale, and then asked about her date with Jonathan.
“Jonathan is an interesting man. He’s been to countries I’ve only heard about, and some I haven’t.”
“What about David? Are you still to seeing him?”
Alyx had never liked discussing the romantic part of her life with her son, and rarely did. She quickly changed the subject by telling him about the Ethiopian restaurant they’d been to, how they served the food all on one large platter with no utensils, with only pancake-like bread, folded like a napkin, which was used as a tool to grab the food.
“I expected the restaurant to be along the same showy lines as what you’d find at a tourist attraction––but it wasn’t. It’s small, inconspicuous and tucked away in an out-of-the-way kind of neighborhood about an hour’s drive from here. You and Nicki should go try it.”
Mom, you know she doesn’t like anything except basic food. The most exotic thing she’ll eat is spaghetti.”
“That’s not exotic; that’s American.”
He laughed. “Exactly.”
He asked her if there was anything new on Althea’s case, and she told him everything she knew about it and who she suspected––omitting, I noticed, the part about the note.