Chapter 53

CHAPTER 53

I was arguing with Luke and my mom out in front of Oddities when Marley pulled up in his truck. My mom had been tense after Harvey attacked her, and she wasn't any more relaxed now that he was dead. I should have cut her some slack, but we started talking about replacing the broken front windows and my mom had different ideas than mine. I mean, it's her shop, but my ideas were better.

Marley got out in time to hear Luke say, "Okay, whose store is this? Because one of you has to be in charge or we'll never get this done."

"What's up?" Marley said.

I took a deep breath. "Mom wants the new windows to look like Coral's, which are very nice, but I think if the store is called ‘Oddities' it should be different."

Marley nodded. "Like what?"

"Fun. Kind of kinky, maybe."

"Kinky windows," Marley said. "You're going to have to be more explicit."

"Just different. " I was frustrated already from arguing with two people who were treating me like I was a kid, and now this.

"Stand down, Malone," Marley said. "It you want to convince these two to follow your dream, you're gonna have to give them something."

I nodded, frustrated again, and Marley looked at my mom.

"So this is your store, right? Or are you guys in partnership on this?"

My mom stared at us for a minute and then she said, "It's Poppy's. I'll help in any way I can, but this is Poppy's store. I need something new, and Poppy needs to make this place new."

I gawked at her, too stunned to say anything.

"You're the one who loves it," she said to me. "And you're going to need someplace to work during your gap year. And I really need a new life."

I burst into tears. I couldn't help it. My mom wrapped her arms around me and whispered, "This is what Ozzie would have wanted," and I cried harder. I heard Luke tell Marley they should go next door for coffee or something, and Marley said, "Nah, she doesn't cry for long. It'll be okay. She's smart and tough and she never gives up. This place is gonna be great."

And I cried harder.

Then Marley said, "We want bulletproof glass, so you can cost that out while she figures out how she wants it. Start with full sheets. We can do a lot with woodwork over it in whatever configuration she wants."

"That's a plan," Luke said, sounding relieved.

I managed to stop crying, but it's been so damn hard. I still have the nightmares at night, Serena comes back every night, and I can't sleep; and everything is changing; and more people are dying, Mom said Harvey Ware was dead, and what if the next one is my mom? Or Max? Or what if Max leaves? Or what if it's Marley ?

"It's okay," my mom said, holding me tight, and I looked up and saw Marley watching me, not moving, frowning now, like he knew it wasn't okay.

That's when Max came up the street in a hurry, and he looked tense.

"What the hell is going on here now?" he asked.

Luke nodded. "Just Mother-daughter stuff."

"There's been a development," Max said to Luke, and the two of them started to go back down the street, but then Max turned to Mom and said, "You coming?" and Mom said, "Guess so," and took off her apron. The three of them headed down State Street listening to whatever Max was saying, and at one point they all three stopped in front of Nice Funerals, looking really serious and my mother shocked, so whatever it was, it must have been big. Maggs trailed behind them, looking over her shoulder once or twice at me, concerned.

Marley said, "C'mon, Malone, back to work," and slung his arm around my shoulders, and we went into the shop and while he hung the teapot, I figured out the kind of windows I wanted (the old-fashioned kind with little panes) and he said they could do that over the bulletproof glass that Luke would order.

I was distracted by how my mom had looked, but even so, when Marley went to hook the teapot up to the power, I saw when he went still.

"What now ?" I said, and he climbed down the ladder, took me by the arm, and pulled me outside. " What?" I said when we were out in the sun.

"Your building is bugged," he said very quietly, "and we need to tell Max. Right now."