Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

C oral shut the door to the kitchen, cutting us off from the people in the front of the store, while Maggs wandered about the kitchen, sniffing her nose off.

I was smiling at the dog's happy, twitching nose when Coral stepped in front of me, serious as a heart attack. "Those are not harmless men out there. Some of them have had dangerous pasts. You must not underestimate them."

"Look, I've known them all for years," I said. "They're annoying, but?—"

"No." She grasped me by both arms, looking straight into my eyes. "Any one of those men could turn into a stalker. And stalkers are dangerous. I have had several men over the years who did not understand the word ‘No.'"

I wanted to ask her what happened to those men, but that's not the kind of thing you ask in Rocky Start.

She went over to a cabinet and opened a drawer. "I know you are averse to weapons. But a woman must be able to defend herself." She held up a knife, similar to the one she'd carried in her mourning hat, which I suspected was currently secreted somewhere on her person, probably in her apron.

I took a deep breath, knowing she was on my side, trying to protect me. "Coral, that's not me. The first thing I'd do with that is cut myself. I can pick locks and pockets and make stuff disappear—you want me to fool people visually, you want me to charm somebody, you want me to fix something, I am definitely your woman—but I don't do violence. I'm not against violence, I'm just no good at it." She started to say something, and I interrupted. "Remember the thing with Serena? I shot at her intending to kill her and only winged her. If Max hadn't shown up, she would have shot me dead."

"I can teach you some basics," Coral said, coming toward me with the knife. "And I am sure Max would be more than happy to also assist."

"I am not you," I told her. "I don't ask you to pick pockets, you don't ask me to stab people. I think that's fair."

Coral jabbed at me with the knife still in its sheath, and I turned to get out of the knife's path and swept my arm up under hers, deflecting the blow.

"Very good." Coral beamed. "You are a natural." She flipped the knife, extending the handle to me.

I sighed. "Coral, I swear to you, if I take that knife, I will be bleeding before I get back to Oddities. And it's useless anyway because I don't think I could ever shove a knife into someone."

"You will be surprised what you can do when you have to," Coral said. "I think you have already done that a few times. Particularly when Poppy was in peril." She pulled the knife back, narrowing her eyes at me as if she were evaluating me. "You are changing, Rosalie Malone. In this past month, you have begun to change and it's very good. The things you said out there, about never marrying, about not wanting their attentions, you would never have said those things a month ago."

I thought about it. "It's the Selfish Day thing. I took that one day to be selfish and I think it's just bled into my life, seeped into everyday stuff. I mean, I still do an automatic Cheery Boost, but at least I catch myself now. But there's a big gap between Selfish Day and Knifing People. I'm gonna stick with Selfish."

"And what happens if someone comes for Poppy again?"

"I will rip his heart out with my bare hands," I said and meant every word of it. Nobody messes with my kid.

Coral nodded and put the dagger back in the drawer. I wondered if she had a collection of weapons in there, like maybe a flamethrower. If she'd offered me a flamethrower, I'd have gone for it.

"Coral, I really appreciate this," I said, "but I can handle myself." I heard footsteps on the floor above us and realized it was probably Pike, Coral's significant other. I'd seen his pickup truck parked down the street. "Maybe we can talk to Pike. Ask him to tell them to back off?"

Coral shook her head. "Talk to Max. Get him to stay. We need him. Pike is too tired now to take care of this town like it needs. He always counted on Oz. Without Oz . . . he has no one to balance him. He wants to negotiate everything." She looked sad for a moment. "I think he has just come to the end of the fight, too tired to go to battle anymore."

"Well, negotiating is good," I said, trying to be positive although I agreed with her. Pike was losing his edge.

"Not with some people," Coral said. "And that includes those men out there."

I thought about the men out there. An absent-minded pharmacist who needed a bath, a sleazy exterminator who thought he was hot in his flamingo shirt, a postmaster who had delusions of being a sex magnet, and a sweet funeral director who wore headphones so he didn't have to talk to people and blushed every time he met me. "Maybe a water pistol," I told her. "Sid apparently runs from showers and Harvey wouldn't want his flamingos to get wet."

"This is not a joke," Coral said, more serious than I'd ever seen her before. "You are in danger." She opened a different drawer and took out a small box with a white tube in it, about the size of a small flashlight or a large lipstick. I squinted at it. Or possibly a small vibrator. It had a blue ring around the center and it looked pretty.

She handed me the box. "Pepper spray." She took it out of the box and showed me the flip top and the hook on the side. "Hook it onto your apron pocket. It has a range of ten feet. Aim for the face."

I took it. "Pretty. And I probably won't pepper spray myself, so that's a plus."

Coral flipped up the top and said, "You point this side at the man."

So okay, I could do this. In fact, pepper-spraying Sid and Harvey would be kind of satisfying.

"Yes," I said. "This I will take. How much do I owe you?" She waved that off, and I said, "Come on, Coral, this stuff can't be cheap, and God knows what the shipping is on something like this."

"No," Coral said. "I have Prime," and I just stared at her for a minute, trying to comprehend ordering weapons on Amazon. "Just be aware, Rose."

I looked at the shiny white cylinder in my hand with the pretty blue ring around the middle and suddenly, I was afraid. Coral was a lot smarter about this stuff than I was. If she thought there might be danger, there might be danger.

"Thank you," I said.

She smiled. "Let me get you some more tea and cake. You can finish it in here. In peace."