her a look of disbelief and wandered into the back. Slumping back in her chair, Maya sipped her tea. She was trying to keep an upbeat face on things, but she knew better than to expect anything good of people in authority. Still, she couldn't imagine Axell letting his property deteriorate.
Biting her bottom lip, she carefully arranged the bumper stickers by category. Some of them were really pretty funny. Maybe she could get one of those turning kiosks to display them...
She didn't have any money, which was precisely why Cleo hadn't put them out.
Why didn't she just give this up and go put her time in at the school? At least that had half a chance of becoming a profitable venture, and it was something she was good at. She knew absolutely nothing about the retail business.
If she moved in at the school, she wouldn't have to worry about transportation all the time. The school bus would pick Matty up and drop him off, and she would be at home and at work at the same time. She really should have asked Axell to invest in the school instead of this dead-end proposition.
But Cleo would need the shop when she got home. She really needed to get in touch with reality. It kept slapping her in the face, after all.
She had all the stickers organized in neat little stacks by the time the inspector returned. She'd taped one proclaiming Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder to the wall above her head, but the inspector didn't seem to see the humor.
"I'm sorry, Miss Alyssum," he proceeded, scribbling notes in his notebook, "but I'm afraid my report will recommend the building be closed until major structural repairs are made. We simply can't take any chances where human life is concerned."
What about her life? And Matty's? And Cleo's? Weren't they human?
Probably not. They were just cogs in the wheel. Sighing, she handed him a sticker reading Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
Startled, he took one look at her face, hastily tucked the sticker into his clipboard, grabbed his hat and umbrella, and hurried out the door into the pouring rain.
Maybe he thought she'd go berserk on him. Maybe she would have.
Watching the cleaning crew industriously arranging the inventory inside the glass counter and on the shelves Axell had built, Maya fought for calm. No building, no store. No apartment, no home. No car. No money. No Matty.
Fighting the panic that always lived within her, Maya gripped the table hard and forced herself to think. She had fair warning this time. She could get her things out. The school would be uncomfortable for a little while, but she could live with uncomfortable. She couldn't live without Matty.
Covering her abdomen with her hand, Maya sent up an impassioned prayer. She couldn't live without this child either. She had to have a home for it.
Panic and tears threatened her control. Choking on them, she grabbed the telephone and dialed Selene's number.
She could do this. She was an adult with responsibility. She wouldn't let the world come crashing down around Matty's head again. Never ever again.
December, 1945
When you stayed away that week, I thought I'd die. I stayed sober, waiting. I had the bartender throw Pete out and fired the damned piano player. Maloney used to make me laugh but I stubbed my cigarette out on his hand when he tried to pull the stupid coin trick again. He was funnier when I was drunk. You ruined me—in more ways than one.
When you didn't show Saturday night, I got drunk again. I was still half-soused when I got up the next morning. I'm not making excuses. I'm just telling you why I went to church that morning. Probably the only day all week I almost laughed, when I walked in that door wearing my best red dress and saw all those jaws drop.
You were sitting beside her—Miss Butter-Wouldn't-Melt-In-Her-Mouth. Damn you.
Chapter 13
What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
Tapping his pen against his desk, Axell stared out his office window at the downpour. He'd lived here all his life. He knew the vagaries of North Carolina weather and road conditions. Angela had lost her life on a day like this one, and she'd been driving one of the larger highways and not one of the flood-prone ones. He'd better call Constance's baby-sitter and arrange to have her take care of Constance at the house after school.
He punched in the buttons,