I lost myself to him and to myself; to trust and to faith; and in that moment I was fearless.
EpilogueQuinn, four months later-
When I walked into the luxury plumbing fixture store on West Lake Street, I was immediately struck by the fact that they had rows of toilets hanging on the walls. The floor was plain cement. The walls were ordinary red brick. Covering the floor and walls was an array of sinks, tubs, faucets, and toilets. The space was large but felt small due to the substantial array of bathroom fixtures.
Automatically I did a sweep of the store, located exits, sized up the other customers, and so forth. Habits come naturally. Once comfortable, I walked to Elizabeth; she was about forty feet away, studying a row of faucets on the wall.
She didn’t look up when I approached but merely tipped her head in my direction as a greeting, “McHotpants.”
“Elizabeth.” I rubbed the back of my neck. I didn’t mind the nickname when Janie used it. But it just didn’t seem right with her friends, particularly Elizabeth. I hoped that today’s meeting would improve our strained interactions. “Thank you for meeting me.”
Elizabeth shrugged, “No problem. Anything for Janie. She said she’d meet us here at six.” She reached out and twisted the knobs on a faucet.
If Janie was going to arrive at six then that meant I only had a half hour to work through whatever issues Elizabeth obviously had with me dating Janie. I waited for Elizabeth to look up but instead she frowned at the metal spigot and walked further into the store.
I scowled at her, trying not to grind my teeth. “Why did you want to meet here?”
“I want a new faucet.”
“What’s wrong with the faucet in the apartment?”
“I don’t like it.”
With a great deal of effort I managed to keep from rolling my eyes, “Ok.”
She fiddled with another series of levers, “Ok? So you’re ok with me changing the sink?”
I glanced around the store again, counting three more people I’d missed in my first sweep of the space; “Elizabeth, you can remodel the bathroom if you want, I don’t care.”
“And you’ll pay for it?”
“Sure, whatever. Whatever you want.”
She looked at me then. Her pale blue eyes narrowed and she inspected me, like I was a disease.
Since we met some four months ago, I had felt at cross purposes with Elizabeth. She was irritable every time I was alone in a room with her. Just last week, the last time Janie and I had spent the night at their place, Elizabeth made passive aggressive remarks about my inability to make a good cup of coffee.
I knew how to make coffee. I made really good coffee. She just didn’t like me.
Usually I wouldn’t care; but, her best friend happened to be the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It was necessary to make an effort.
I met her glare with one of my own; finally, she spoke, “So, Mr. Graniteface, what is this-” she motioned between the two of us, “-about? Why did you want to meet before Janie arrives?”
I crossed my arms over my chest, preparing to negotiate; “We need to figure out some way to get along.”
“You’re right.” She didn’t look surprised by my statement.
“What is it about me that you dislike?”
She lifted her blonde eyebrows, “I don’t dislike you.”
I didn’t want to call her a liar so I didn’t respond.
After a protracted moment she continued, “It’s not that I dislike you. I just don’t trust you.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t understand your motivations and I still think you’re hiding something.” She mimicked my stance, crossing her arms over her chest. She was small and looked silly when she tried to appear tough.
“I’m not hiding anything-”
“Oh, really?” Elizabeth started rubbing her chin with her thumb and forefinger, “What did you do with Jem? What happened to all of the thugs from Boston? Why didn’t they press charges?”
“Janie and I discussed all of this. She knows that I took care it.”
Elizabeth didn’t hide her anger very well; “Well, Janie won’t tell me-”
“Probably for your own good-”
“I want to know what happened, I don’t want to be patted on the head and sent on my way! What if they come back? What about Janie-”
“Janie is stronger than you think and I’ll protect her if-”
“-I need to know so I can take care of her, you can’t protect her forever!” Elizabeth waved her arms around wildly. She was starting to draw attention to herself. I didn’t particularly care but it was annoying.