Chapter 37

CHAPTER 37

B y afternoon, I had most of the books off the shelf and the worst of them put into boxes so my mom could do whatever she wanted with them when I heard the bell on the shop door ring. I went out expecting to see Marley, but it was Harvey Ware.

I hate Harvey Ware. He kills things. You know, rats are super intelligent, and he just sprays them with poison, and they die horribly.

I really hate Harvey Ware.

"Where's your mom?" He sounded angry, but he was looking me up and down. I was in jeans and an old loose T-shirt, but he was scoping me out. Dirty old man.

"Not here," I said. "And she doesn't want to see you anyway. I don't want to see you."

"You watch your mouth, girl," he said. "When your mom and I are married, there's going to be some changes here."

I blinked. That was the most absurd thing I'd heard in, like, forever. "My mother is not getting married," I told him, "and if she decided to, it would be to Max and not you."

"Max is on his way out," Harvey said, shaking his head. "And when he goes, she'll come back to me. She's feisty, I'll give her that, but she'll come around."

" Back to you?" I said, confused. And horrified.

"Your mom and I were a real hot thing back in the day," Harvey went on, this really ugly smile on his face. "She'll come back for what I'm dishing out. And when she does, you'll have a real daddy for a change. I'll get you straightened out."

"Fuck off, Harvey," I said, convinced he was insane now.

"You watch your language," he said, his face twisted now. "You screwed us up the first time." He took a step toward me. "She stopped with me because she said she needed to take care of you. It was your fault."

"I don't believe she was ever anywhere near you, you dirty old man." The thought of my mom with this creep was just . . . "I hope the serial killer gets you next. You're pond scum."

"Listen, you little bitch," Harvey said, and then the shop door opened and Marley came in.

"Get out," I told Harvey. "I've got backup now."

"What, this wetback kid?" Harvey laughed.

"What the hell?" Marley said, startled.

"Harvey is being a sexist, murdering, racist asshole," I told him and then looked at Harvey. "You. Get. Out." I picked up the nearest heavy thing to throw at him.

"I haven't murdered anybody," Harvey said, scowling at me.

"Mice. Rats."

"You dumb bitch," Harvey began, but then Marley had him by the neck of his shirt and was dragging him out of the store. I ran to the door and watched Marley throw him into the street. I had been thinking of Marley as a kid like me, but I'm not a kid anymore and he was twenty, and Harvey was basically a potato with legs.

"Do not come back," Marley said, calm as ever, to Harvey as he lay sprawled in the road. "You are barred from this shop. And from Poppy. If you try to come in here again, if you try to talk to her again, I will take you down."

His voice was just stating the facts but really dark, a level I'd never heard before.

Harvey sputtered something that neither of us could make out. I noticed Geoffrey Fine, his headphones on, a to-go cup of Coral's coffee in hand, standing on the sidewalk. He looked at Harvey and said something to him, then pointed away from us, back down the street. Harvey shook his head, gave both us and then Geoffrey the finger, and stalked away, acting all big and powerful. Geoffrey turned to look at Marley and me and gave one of his shy smiles and a shrug, confused about what was going on, and then meandered across the street toward his place.

Marley closed the door and came back to me in the archway. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," I said. "He was horrible, but he didn't touch me. I wish somebody would exterminate him. The things he said . . ." I lost my breath for a minute. "I didn't know people could be that vile."

"Yeah," he said. "They can."

I leaned on him, and he put his arms around me and patted my back, really awkward, and I almost cried. But as my mom says, crying doesn't get the job done. She says take ten minutes and cry it out and then fix it. But I don't think Marley could stand ten minutes of me crying all over him, so I straightened and said, "Thank you."

Marley was looking at me with some concern. "You sure you're okay? We could . . ." I could see him struggling to find a solution. "Coral's!" he said, looking relieved he'd thought of it. "We could go to Coral's and get you something sweet."

I laughed. "I've already had something sweet. You, coming to my rescue."

"Okay, then." He shuffled his feet nervously.

"Want to help me finish clearing out the library?"

"It's what I live for." Marley walked into the back room, looking grateful for the change of subject. "Whoa. You've done a lot back here."

"Yes, and I have big plans, which I am planning to make you part of." I put Harvey behind me and went toward him. "You and your big muscles. For lifting. Boxes of books."

Marley struck a pose, flexing, and I laughed.

Okay, you know, I can take care of myself, I really can. If I'd had to beat Harvey to death with old books, I would have.

But there was something about realizing I had people like Marley and Max looking out for me. Friends. I mean, I was pretty sure Max was a friend even though he was old.

Harvey talking about being my dad—there's a new nightmare for me—triggered something. I thought about Max as a stepdad for the first time, maybe not an official one since mom swore up and down that she would never get married, but an unofficial one. If he stayed, that would be nice. Max would be a good dad. I felt safe with him, safer than I'd felt since Ozzie died.

"You okay?" Marley said, so I must have been quiet for too long.

Max and Marley. These were good men.

"So the books," I said, and we moved back into the library, and I told him we could open more of Ozzie's boxes once the books I was keeping were up on the shelves because Ozzie's boxes were always interesting, and everything was fine again.

Kind of.

I was going to have to tell Mom and Max about Harvey Ware.

"Which box first?" Marley said, and I went back to work.