Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

I woke up beautifully late, determined to get my act together. Time to plan for the future. I assumed Max was gone and that was fine , I didn't need the distraction and if he was gone that meant he wasn't here about Mei so that was good, too. And I had a future to plan for. Things to do. For Poppy and Mei and Lian.

For me.

If he'd wanted to see me again, he'd have stayed.

So, the future.

The only thing I could think of to protect Mei was to get her out of town, but Lian seemed to think this guy Herc would find her anyway. So if we couldn't stop him coming to town, we could prep Mei and never leave her alone. She could stay in Poppy's bedroom, we could warn the school that her absent father was looking for her, make sure there were always adults with her, that he could never see her alone.

I still wasn't sure what Lian was afraid of—kidnapping?—but putting a guard of adults and almost-adult-teens around Mei was my best idea so far. We could keep her and Poppy at Coral's after school. They'd be in sugar shock by nightfall, but small price to pay for safety.

And then there was my dicey future after Ozzie's death. My best bet was that he left everything to Coral. I could probably convince her to keep the store open to see if I could make it turn a profit. I was pretty sure she didn't need the money, she just liked it. Still, her getting the shop was iffy; Ozzie had cared for Coral but she had plenty of money and didn't need his, so I was going to need a Plan B.

I got out of bed and looked at the clock, appalled to find out it was almost nine. Well, I'd wanted to do something selfish. That was plenty selfish.

I went into the bathroom and caught sight of myself in the mirror. That was a really fine bruise on my cheek. I washed my face and slathered more arnica on—the stuff really does speed up bruise healing but it doesn't work overnight—and considered makeup for the first time in years. Just to cover up the bruise, not to change my face. I tried a little and realized that instead of a bruise, I'd have a big splotch of make-up and that would be worse, so the bruise it was. I brushed my teeth and got the snarls out of my hair and let everything else go. This was me. Deal with it, Rocky Start. And for once I wasn't tired. This was a new day, a new life, today I could have anything I wanted that I could afford, and I could afford to sleep late, the shop was closed.

Should it be closed?

The thing was, Ozzie hadn't paid me for October, it not being the end of the month yet, and if I opened the shop, I could keep the money as payment for October. Although since I was losing my job, didn't I get termination pay? I mean, I hadn't been fired, but I was definitely out of work.

No, I'd just keep the money from whatever I could sell until . . .

Until Barry opened the envelope tomorrow. Not much time to make up your back pay, Rose. You really need a Plan B.

I went out to the kitchen to make breakfast, half hoping Max would be there but not surprised when he wasn't. The kitchen was spotless, though; he must have cleaned. Poppy wouldn't have had time before school. That was nice of him.

I opened the refrigerator, looked at Poppy's uneaten overnight oats, thought about being good and eating oatmeal, and then thought, No .

It's Selfish Day .

I was going to treat myself to Coral's baking, one last sugar and fat blowout.

Selfish Day was turning out to be such a good idea.

I should have mentioned last night: Coral's bakery is great. When she bought the place many years ago, she had the front facade rebuilt with big windows that let the sun in, and she'd tiled the floor with black and white squares and etched the glass door with the word "ecstasy," but everything else was turn of the century, the turn of the second-to-last century. She'd even had Ozzie source old counters and bakery cases so it just felt . . . homey. Warm. Nice. Coral-ish.

Most of the tables had people at them—people came from out of town to get Coral's baking—but the short counter behind and to the left of the last bakery case was empty, all four stools, probably because that was where Pike usually sat, half-hidden from the crowd, grouchy and uninviting. So I went there. Coral smiled when she saw me, poured coffee into a mug and put hot water and a tea bag into another, and brought them down to me. I waved to her counter clerk, Anita, who waved back to me and went on serving customers, and Coral put the mugs on the counter and pulled up a stool on her side before picking up her coffee. "You are late today," she said, clearly approving of me as she sat. "Thinking about Mei?"

"Still no solution," I told her. "But we tell Poppy and the boys to never leave her alone at school, and we make Poppy and Mei stay in here after school, which will mean the boys are in here, too, so she'll have people around her to block her. Not to mention you and your skinny knife. It's not a real solution, but it'll keep Mei safe until we think of one."

"Very good." Coral looked at me closer. "Is there something else wrong?"

"Well, today is Selfish Day," I said. "I slept until nine , Coral. It's probably my last day here, so I'm going to wallow in it. "

"The wallowing is good," Coral said. "But it is not your last day here. We will think of something. Speaking of wallowing, how was Max?"

"Seemed okay," I said, confused. "He's gone now."

"I meant in bed ."

"I just met him. I couldn't sleep with somebody that fast."

"Why not?"

"Because . . ." Actually, I couldn't think of a reason. It's not like I had to worry about my reputation. "It just seemed fast." She looked at me, exasperated, and I said, "And I'm out of practice. And he wasn't interested. He's gone. Left this morning. Back on the Trail."

"He was there all night, just across the hall, and you did not join him?"

"He tried to leave in the middle of the night."

"And?"

"I met him in the kitchen and he said he'd stay until morning."

"And?"

"And he went to his bed and I went to my bed. And then he left before I got up this morning. If he'd been interested, he'd have made a move."

"It was your home," Coral said. " You had to make the move. No wonder he left. He probably lay awake all night wondering when you might come to his bed."

"I doubt that."

Coral shook her head. "He could have used a warm woman. That kind of man does not ask for anything. You should have?—"

"Look," I said, exasperated. "I do not have the skills to lure somebody into sex, let alone the body to have sex with somebody?—"

"There is nothing wrong with your body," Coral said. "Your clothes are terrible, but your body is fine."

"Coral, I'm going to be fifty on Saturday."

"I am seventy-four, and I have been double-teaming Pike and Ozzie for years." She looked thoughtful. "I should get someone to take Ozzie's place. After the ceremony, of course."

"Ceremony? "

"Oz's ceremony of death," Coral said. "Pike is handling it." She thought some more. "Maybe if Max comes back, I will try him."

"He's not coming back," I said shortly.

"What a shame," Coral said, smiling at me.

The problem with Coral is, she doesn't miss much.

Actually, she doesn't miss anything. I looked at her, a woman who refused to let age define her, who indulged her strong appetites for everything, who never doubted herself, who killed her first man at fifteen and had a stiletto in her picture hat. "I wouldn't know how to seduce a man," I said, realizing that sex was another thing that I'd always done as a reaction to some man asking. I'd never gone up to a guy and said, "How about it?" That had seemed . . . selfish.

And today was Selfish Day.

And Max was gone. There's my life for you. There had been a part of me who'd hoped he might still be around when I got up. I didn't want to say goodbye to him again, but I would have enjoyed another hello.

Coral was talking. "Honey, you do not have to seduce men. You offer and they are yours." I blinked at her and she said, "Well, if you have seen them show interest, they are yours. But you can do things to make them take interest. And then when they sweep you off to bed, you tell them what you want. Especially guys like Max. He is just like Pike and Ozzie, so used to being grim and stoic he doesn't know how to be anything else. That is why they need us."

"Coral, I have served enough men in my life."

"He would serve you, too." She thought of something and smiled. "I bet he would be good. Men like that are competent at everything."

I remembered how swiftly he'd taken down Junior and turfed Norman. He probably would have been.

"I would have been all over him," Coral said.

"Yes, but you're a force of nature."

She shook her head and then got up to open one of her bakery cases and take out a slice of Nusskuchen . "For Selfish Day," she said, putting it down in front of me.

"Oh, God, I shouldn't," I said, but really, I had to. Coral is a master baker, and Nusskuchen is a sublime loaf cake with hazelnuts and lemon and chocolate pieces in it.

"About Max," Coral said. "Sex is fun, correct?"

"I can't remember." I cut into my Nusskuchen .

"But society puts all these restrictive rules on it, especially for women. If you ask me, men started that whole concept of women's honor just to keep women from having a good time."

"There's a logic problem there," I began, but Coral swept on.

"Look at you. You haven't had sex in nineteen years, and why? Because you didn't want to upset anybody."

"Sixteen years," I corrected her. I hadn't been a nun my first few years here in Rocky Start, but then Poppy had gotten older and Ozzie grouchier about me going out and the pickings had been slim. "Actually, there wasn't anybody I wanted to have sex with," I said and changed the subject. "Did Barry call you about the will reading tomorrow afternoon? Was your name on Oz's envelope?"

She ignored that. "When Max comes back, you should go to him. You're attracted to him, you are both of legal age. What's the problem?"

"Coral, I'd have to put on makeup and probably a bra and be . . . flirtatious, and I just can't. I'm done." I took another bite of loaf cake. "And he's not attracted to me. And he's definitely not coming back."

"He was interested in you without makeup and a bra, so I do not see why you would have to change. Give him a chance. Then tell me how he was. I really want to know."

"He's gone." I took another bite of my nut loaf. It was sublime, but the slice was huge. The rest of my Nusskuchen was going home with me to fuel the rest of Selfish Day.

"I am willing to bet he will be back," Coral said.

"Why?"

"My intuition. I am very good at anticipating what men will do. I do not believe it was chance that brought him here."

Well, yeah, she would be good at anticipating men. Honey pot. I bet she'd been good at it, too. "It doesn't matter what brought him here, he's gone now, so I am definitely not having sex?— "

The shop door opened just as I said "sex," and a woman with a little girl looked daggers at me, so I finished by whispering "—with him or anybody else. I have problems to solve."

Coral shook her head at me and went down the counter to wait on the glaring woman as Anita, her counter clerk, got the little girl a cookie, and I finished my tea—Lemon Zinger, my fave—and headed out the door with the rest of my Nusskuchen wrapped in a napkin.

But after I got outside the Ecstasy door, I hesitated. It wouldn't hurt to be prepared. Small steps. I didn't have to actually sleep with anybody, but I could be ready . . . I went next door to the other side of Oddities, to Quill's Pharmacy, and bought condoms and lube from an interested Sid Quill and then went back and opened the shop.

All I needed now was a plan. And some guy.

It was a real shame Max had gone.