Page 41 of Resonance
I curled my lip at him, and he chuckled.
“Just messing with you, man.”
As he eased upright, Ivy pushed her application toward him. “Put in a good word, all right?” She made a gross kissy face at him, and he gave her a syrupy smile in return.
“Always.”
“Wow,” I cut in on their schmoopfest. “Can I change my mind and get a coffee black instead of a latte? Y’all just made my teeth hurt.”
Back at Grim’swith our coffees in hand, Ivy clocked in and I clocked out, then headed down the hall to grab my bag.
“Owen?”
I backstepped and peeked into Dan’s office. “What’re you doing here?”
“You seem constantly surprised that I’m at my own place of business. Great thing about owning my own shop is that I can come and go as I please. Fancy that.” He closed a folder on his desk and tossed it atop a pile of others. “I was thinking about heading over to an estate sale out in Belle Meade. Wanna ride along?”
I heard Ru coming in for his afternoon shift and glanced back into the hallway. “Really?”
“Yeah, why do you look suspicious?”
“Just seems like something you’d do with Ru or solo or…”
“Radio’s busted. Figured I could use something to listen to. Ru’ll just talk about Quinn the whole time.”
“MaybeI’lltalk about Quinn the whole time.” I gave him suggestive grin.
“You might. Or you might theorize about pillows or how Saturn or Jupiter smell.”
“We covered pillows last night. And as for Saturn and Jupiter, I don’t think either of them technically have a scent we could detect because we wouldn’t survive long enough to smell it. However, Mars? Probably smells like blood. Because… iron-rich core.” I tried to focus on the science and not the quirk of Dan’s lips.
We seemed to have successfully returned to “status quo,” and while it was comforting to know that both of us were capable of and mature enough to maintain a professional veneer after the shit we’d gotten up to in that sauna, it was also maddening. Because Jesus, I wanted him again. I was pretty sure no one in the rental history of my shitty little apartment had pelted the shower walls with jizz as frequently as I had since we’d gotten back.
“See, better than talking heads already.” Dan opened a drawer and stuck the files on his desk inside. “Meet me at the truck in five.”
* * *
The estate salein Belle Meade was classic Nashville, a gentle hill of a drive leading up to an old colonial-style mansion with huge supporting columns decked in ornately carved leaves and vines at the top and bottom. I’d driven these streets for hours when I’d first moved here. Most of the time because I’d managed to get myself lost, but then I’d started taking notice, slowing down to appreciate the scenery. This was the biggest city I’d ever lived in, and compared to my tiny garage apartment squished between a duplex and a new build, the thing that stood out the most in this section of town was the vastness of space.
A man in a suit with threads so shiny they gleamed watched our approach, removed his hand from the pocket of his trousers, then stuck it back in and tilted his head.
“Help you gents?” he asked, and I looked down at my holey jeans, my rainbow-print Docs, and the scuffed toes of Dan’s boots. I guess we weren’t the usual clientele.
Dan stuck his hand out gamely, unruffled. “I called ahead about the music room. Daniel Grim.”
Suit Guy’s face lit up with recognition. “That’s right, Mr. Grim.” Out came the hand again, slotting in Dan’s larger one. Two solid pumps.
“This is Owen. He works with me.”
The guy gave me a dismissive nod and passed Dan a flyer. “This details the layout of the house. All rooms seen here are open and contain marked inventory. If a door is shut, there are no sales in there, so please pass them by.”
“Not a problem.”
The guy pushed open a heavy door that looked like it belonged on a church, then seemed to hesitate as we passed through. “I really enjoyed ‘Proof.’Off your solo album?”
Dan served him a polite smile that I immediately recognized as fake. “Thank you. That’s nice to hear.”
As we strolled past, the smile blinked away as quickly as it had appeared.