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“Grace?” an all-too-familiar voice comes from behind me.
I turn around with a snicker. “No wonder they got to work so fast,” I tell the man I broke up with a little more than half a day ago. “What are you doing here, Zach?”
“Listen, I know what it must look like, but I promise it’s not what you think,” he starts.
“Well, I think it you came all the way here from New York after I told you things weren’t going to work out between us. But hey, I’ve been wrong before,” I respond.
“I know that’s how you must feel now, but …” he trails off. “Wait, you haven’t heard?” he asks.
“Heard what?” I respond.
Meanwhile, Alan’s dropped the broom as the floor’s now clear of glass—though there are now long, metallic grooves like spider veins on the old, laminated floor. I watch as he tries to lift the huge piece of glass all by himself and I cover my ears as it slips from his fingers after two steps and shatters on the sidewalk.
“I’m not paying for that!” I shout through what should have been that window. “You should go,” I tell him. “I don’t know what you expected to find when you came here, but I’m pretty sure once you leave, that glass is coming out of the salary I don’t make anymore.”
“What happened to the old one?” Zach asks.
Shaking my head, I answer, “I’m not really in the mood for chit-chat, Zach. If you came here to say something, I suggest you spit it out already. Otherwise, I have to go back to being the piece of gum under everyone’s shoe.”
“What does that mean?” he asks.
I groan. “It means that thanks to you, everyone in town thinks I’ve slighted them out of some magical existence,” I tell him. “I don’t know how they got it into their stupid heads that I ever had anything to do with how you spent your money or who you hired, but now that thought’s in there, it doesn’t look like it’s going to fall back out anytime soon.”
He purses his lips. “I can talk to some people,” he says. “Maybe it’s not too late to turn them around.”
“They’ll get over it,” she says. “Sooner or later, they’re going to find something else to be mad about, and they’ll find another stooge to blame for it. You should have called,” I tell him. “I could have saved you the trip.”
“Whether it’s out yet or not,” he tells me, “there’s something I should have said a long time ago—”
“I didn’t knowyou’dbe here,” Naomi calls from outside the empty frame. Rather than use the door, she comes in through the window.
It looks like they got the glass cleaned up, at least.
“Are you back in town for a while, or is this more of a quickie trip?” Naomi asks Zach.
“We’re kind of in the middle of something right now,” I tell her.
Naomi gives a cavalier wave of the hand and turns her attention back to Zach. “You know, it was great seeing where you live, glimpsing your world, sleeping in your beds …”
“What are you doing?” I ask. “Can you give us a minute?”
“This one’s no fun,” Naomi says to Zach. “You should have gone with the fun sister.”
What the hell is she doing? I’d say she was trying to cause some argument between Zach and me, but I told her this morning about the phone call. There’s no point.
Zach’s looking at me, his wild eyes begging me to save him, but I don’t know where to start.
I growl, “Naomi, wait in the office. I’ll talk to you after Zach leaves.”
“It looks like I’ve upset her,” Naomi mocks. “I don’t know about you, but I’m more interested in people who like to be teased. Do you like to be teased, Zach?”
I start to say something, but Zach speaks first.
“I don’t know if people didn’t clap loudly enough at your dance recitals when you were a kid or exactly why it is you think you need to be the center of attention all the time, no matter what’s going on around you or who’s asking you to stop,” he says. “However, your sister and I are having an important discussion—rather, we were until you barged in and refused to leave, which is how I assume you’ve managed to stay anywhere longer than five minutes. Does it look like either of us finds what you’re doing the least bit charming? It’s annoying and rude, and what’s more, it’s repulsive. I’m standing here talking to your sister and you’re making your stupid flirty remarks right in front of her, what the hell isthatsupposed to accomplish, but convincing us that you’re even more ridiculous a human being than we originally thought? Now do what your sister told you and go wait in the office until we’ve had a chance to talk. While you’re at it, try growing up: it may not be easy, but trust me, all the people in your life will thank you for it.”
My mouth’s agape. Naomi’s fighting back tears and I’m stunned where I stand.
“Naomi,” I breathe, “head to the office a second and let me deal with him.”