The Devil Has Dimples Page 3

  “What about Sunday?” I asked.

  “You got me. Maudie always disappeared after church services. Wouldn’t return until after dark or late Monday night.”

  He ambled over to the back door, taking some keys out of his pocket.

  I wondered where Maudie went. Maybe someone knew. “Where did she get the antiques?”

  Grant flashed me the dimples again. “I hear from the old boys around the courthouse that Maudie could sniff out an antique from a hundred yards, that no one’s barn, attic, or garage was safe if she had her mind on something special for a client.”

  “She sounds formidable.”

  “Oh, she was. As tiny as she was, she was a firebrand.” He unlocked the door.

  “Grant, tell me, do I look like her?”

  He studied me from head to toe, making my body temperature rise, then grinned. “No. You don’t look a thing like her.”

  “Do I...look like anyone else...you might know?”

  “Now that, I would remember.” Grant opened the back door and indicated that I should go in first.

  It was about eight by ten feet, with a washer and dryer located against the wall, and a large staircase was on my right.

  “There are two sets of steps inside to take us up to the apartment. Maudie didn’t want to get trapped by fire, so she put a winding staircase in the front of the store.”

  “That makes sense.”

  “I believe a friend of hers died in a fire. So she was cautious after that. Just turn on the switch and it lights up the stairwell.”

  I flipped the switch as Grant locked the back door then handed me the keys. They were still warm from his body. I dropped them in my pocket fast.

  “Always lock this door, or else Randall will come in.”

  “Who’s Randall?” I followed Grant up the stairs.

  “The town drunk. Maudie left the door unlocked a year or so ago and found him curled up in her bed the next morning, drunker than a skunk, and smelling like one, too. She screamed so loud and so long, I almost had a heart attack coming to her rescue.”

  Grant flipped a light switch at the top of the stairs and the stair lights went off. A short hallway with long horizontal windows lining the top of the right side of the hall gave off a cozy glow.

  “She must have been a sound sleeper to not have noticed him getting into her bed.” I followed Grant down the hallway.

  As he turned into a doorway, he whispered into my ear. “Maudie told me later that she was having an erotic dream on a garbage scow.”

  I burst out laughing.

  Grant gestured with his hand to a room on the left.

  “Your bedroom. Maudie’s things are just as she left them. Her bathroom is over there in the corner. She was a clothes horse, so you might be able to squeeze your things amongst them, or clear them out. It’s your decision.”

  As Grant talked I studied the room. The sleigh bed was low to the floor. Covered with a cabbage rose duvet, the bed had pillows in ten different hues, matching the colors of the spread. A deep rose colored love seat sat against one wall, with a deep lavender afghan spread casually over the armrest. A reading lamp sat on a full bookcase next to it. A skylight was the only source of natural light. I looked up and saw that it was huge. It must be beautiful on a starry night, but now it lit up the room with sunshine. The room was wonderful. I loved it.

  “It’s neat, huh? Since the room has the staircase in the back, the hallway on the side, and my bedroom on the other side, Maudie decided that a skylight was just the thing. It has an electric switch by the bed to open it when the weather is nice. It’s like sleeping outdoors in your own bed. You should see my bedroom. Curbside furnishings is what I call it.”

  Grant placed my suitcase on the bed. “Come, I’ll give you the nickel tour and then we can go eat.”

  He led me into the major part of the apartment. I stopped mid-step. I was in heaven. The colors were red and yellow. Lusty and vibrant, it shouted comfort. It was one huge room. A bookcase covered the wall from floor to ceiling on the right. The living area was in the middle, featuring a couple of sofas and love seats, everything matched, yet it didn’t. It drew a person in. Whoever designed this area had serious gifts.

  “Who did the decorating?”

  Grant barked out a laugh. “Maudie. And she would be insulted to think someone ‘decorated’ it.”

  “Why? It’s stunning.”

  “Maudie was always moving things around trying to find the correct ‘Feng Shui’ and finally gave up. She said that she liked ‘cozy clutter.’”

  The dining area was on the left wall with a view of the courthouse square. The antique table held a huge crystal bowl filled with red poppies nestled in glass marbles. The kitchen butted next to the dining room, the cabinets painted a sunshine yellow with fire-engine red countertops. Everything was open. Light, bright, airy. It was perfect.

  Grant stood there with his hands in his pockets. “Maudie hated walls, except for the bedrooms, of course. She wanted to know what was going on all the time. She felt walls kept everyone in separate little boxes.”

  “She’s right.” I loved this open look. You couldn’t hide secrets in this room. It would be impossible. My parents’ home was just the opposite. Separate bedrooms for everyone, including my parents. Separate rooms for each function. You could not go into the kitchen unless you were cooking. You ate only at the dining room table. Never in the living room or your bedroom. You could study only at your desk. Everything was compartmentalized. Everything. Even emotions.

  I shuddered. For an instant, I felt a chill. But as I looked around me, a warm glow entered my body. For some reason, I felt...safe. Loved. Protected. Something about this place just embraced me.

  “Do you want to see my room?”

  “Sure. Just this once.”

  Grant brought his hand up to his heart. “Oh, how you do wound me, woman.”

  His room was next to the kitchen area. He gestured for me to enter. I hesitated, then walked over the threshold.

  It wasn’t what I expected. I didn’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this.

  The furniture was from different periods. All antiques. What brought everything together were the colors of the accessories. Every shade, every hue, was all in deep green. It looked lush, inviting, sensual.

  “Something, huh? Maudie used my room as an extension of her shop downstairs. If she needed to sell my bed, it was gone by the time I got home. I never knew how my room was going to look from one day to the next. But it kept life interesting.”

  “I wouldn’t exactly call this curbside furniture.”

  “You would if you waved it good-bye while you stood on the curb wondering if you should have bought it first.”

  I laughed. Poor Grant, never knowing what he would sleep on. The bed in his room now was a huge four-poster with deep moss-green drapes.

  “Who moved her large items?”

  “One the high school wrestlers is always ready to make some extra cash after school. If it was a heavy job, he called some of his friends.”

  “That’s smart.”

  “No one ever called Maudie dumb. She was shrewd. Especially about antiques. Follow me. Let me show you something.”

  Grant walked back into the living room. Three sets of French doors opened onto the balcony. A spiral staircase heading down was in the right-hand corner. Next to it was the bookcase wall.

  Grant gestured with his hand. “These books are a complete library on any antique--furniture, glassware, jewelry, tablecloths--you name it, Maudie had a book about it. She studied every night and during the day. There wasn’t a thing she didn’t know about antiques.”

  I was amazed. There were hundreds and hundreds of books. It would take a lifetime to study them all.

  “Something, huh? I sure would hate to move them. But come here. I want to show you my favorite spot.” Grant walked to the middle set of French doors, unlocked them, and opened both of them. I followed him out onto the large balcony. />
  The furniture was white wicker, a table with a glass top that looked shattered, four chairs surrounding it, and a swing hanging from the rafters at one end. Brightly colored pillows were on every seating surface. Wind chimes caught a small breeze and tinkled cheerfully. Graceful ferns hung across the front of the building. Scattered planters had larger green plants in them. It looked like you could take a picture and submit it for publication in a decorating magazine.

  Grant leaned against the front railing, a large grin on his face. “I’ll have to move the plants inside once the weather changes, but it’s my favorite spot after a hectic day.”

  “It’s beautiful.” It was more than beautiful. I wanted to stay here in this apartment forever. I felt at home. For the first time in my life, I felt welcomed, warmed, and comfortable. I frowned.

  They say that you can tell what a person is like by examining where they live, their nest, so to speak. If you judged Maudie by her apartment, you would have to like her. I didn’t want to like her. I just wanted to understand how any woman could give up her child without a backward glance.

  I ran my fingertip across the balcony rail. It had slight imperfections painted over, gloss hiding the flaws and bumps underneath. But if you took off the paint, the truth would come out.

  The next six weeks were going to be the hardest of my life, unless I could find the answers as to who my father was and why Maudie gave me up.

  Grant turned to leave the balcony. “Well, I’m hungry after my workout. Are you ready to try out Hank’s?”

  “Hank’s?”

  “Yeah, Hank’s Hole-in-the-Wall . Maudie generally ate an early lunch there before she opened up her shop. That way she could get all the early morning gossip.”

  I followed him inside. “She gossiped?”

  “World-class. Sometimes she found out what cases I would be handling a day or two before I did. It was amazing.”

  “Do I need to change before dining?”

  Grant started to laugh. “This is strictly a come-as-you-are place.”

  Grant locked the French doors, then turned to me. “Would you like to see the shop? We could go down the spiral staircase and out the front. It’s shorter.”

  “Yes, that would be nice, since I’m going to be stuck there every day for six weeks.”

  “Hey, you’re off on Sundays and Mondays.”

  “Oh, a reprieve twice a week.”

  “Do you even like antiques?”

  “Well, yes. Sort of.”

  “Then you’re going to love how Maudie has set up her store.”

  Grant led the way down the steps and flipped a switch by the bottom of the stairs.

  I stopped several steps from the bottom, getting a good overview of the entire store. The light switch turned on individual lights. Not overhead lights, which would have seemed harsh, but lamps. Fabulous antique lamps sitting on tables and desks cast a warm, friendly, cozy glow throughout the store. But it was the way the furniture was set up that was marvelous.

  There were three or four parlors, and half a dozen bedroom areas. All the furniture was arranged as though it was in a room in someone’s home. How clever! Someone could come in and buy one piece or the whole room. There was even an antique kitchen in the back corner. That was something I wanted to check out. Old kitchen gadgets were interesting, if you could figure out their uses.

  “Once or twice, I’ve had to sleep down here. Maudie didn’t have time to replace my bed before I got home, so I had my pick of beds.”

  “It must have been a hard choice. I’ve never seen beds made up, ready to sleep in, inside an antique shop.”

  “It was easy. Maudie liked to display the antique quilts and embroidered pillowcases, though most don’t have any sheets. I picked the bedroom farthest from the windows. In case someone decided to window shop, I didn’t want to be seen in my altogether.”

  I laughed, then blushed at the visual. I knew that I would have my nose pressed to the window in order to see him in his altogether again. Even if he was a jock.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “What’ll it be, chickie?” The waitress was all of five feet, if that. Her white hair had grown out an inch and the rest was dyed a bright red with an even redder bow sitting perkily off-center. A shiny black uniform with a pristine white apron encircled her tiny waist. Her name tag read Naomi and she was chewing gum like it was the last piece on earth.

  I stopped gawking and directed my attention to Grant.

  “Would you please order for me?” I settled back into the booth.

  Grant studied the menu over the counter for a second. “Today’s special should be good, with sweet tea.”

  “Sure, chickie. Be right back.” Naomi strutted off, wiggling her hips in a suggestive manner.

  I burst out laughing. “Just how old is she? Eighty?”

  Grant grinned. “No. Naomi is only sixty-six. The same age as Maudie. Naomi lives a rougher life.”

  I laughed again, then frowned, doing the math in my head. “Then Maudie was thirty-nine when she had me?”

  “I guess so. Why? Does it make a difference?”

  “No.” I hesitated. “It’s just that I thought she would be younger. Much younger. That’s how old my adoptive mother was when I was adopted.”

  “Coincidence?”

  “Maybe.” I looked around the Hole-in-the-Wall. It was charming in its own way. Brightly colored red-checked curtains hung at the windows. A miniature railroad track sat on a shelf a foot below the ceiling. A train slowly chugged around the room. The ceiling was painted the color of the sky with clouds dancing along the edges. Four customers sat in a booth in the corner.

  Grant cleared his throat.

  “Fascinating, isn’t it? When I was a kid, I begged my parents to eat here. For a long time, I thought I was on a real train.”

  “I can see how a child would get that impression.”

  “Yes. Children are easily impressed. It’s only when you become an adult that you learn how fragile life really is.”

  “That sounds philosophical.”

  Grant studied me intently. “Life isn’t all roses, as you’ve just learned. There are thorns.”

  I’d been stabbed lately with life. “Yes, there are thorns.”

  Naomi walked over to the table and deposited two large glasses of tea with lemon in front of us along with two small cups of soup. Snapping her gum, she rested her arm on Grant’s shoulder and asked, “So tell me, chickie. Who’s the date?”

  Grant looked hesitantly at me.

  I decided to jump right in and declare that Maudie was my mother. Maybe I could get some answers quick. “I’m Maudie Cooper’s daughter, Sara McLaughlin.”

  Naomi swallowed her gum and gulped loudly. Her eyes opened so wide you could see the white surrounding the pupils.

  “Oh.” She whispered. Her eyes blinking like a bumblebee desperate to stay mid-air, she turned and hurried away.

  “I think you got her attention.” Grant remarked dryly as he picked up his soup spoon.

  “I think I got everyone’s attention.” I gestured to the other patrons sitting around the room. They were all staring at me.

  The place was absolutely quiet. Even the man behind the cook station was looking at me through the pass-through window. Naomi was dialing a pay phone in the back corner.

  “Naomi is known to gossip.”

  “Then everyone in town should know before the week is out.”

  Grant’s spoon hesitated in mid-air. He grinned, then added, “I venture to say that everyone will know before we finish our soup.”

  I laughed at that one. “Good. Maybe I’ll have answers to my questions before the six weeks are up.” I scooped up a spoonful of soup. Ambrosia--Corn and shrimp, one of my favorites. Then I bit sharply into a cracker and laughed again as crumbs landed all around me.

  “So, exactly what questions are you going to ask the natives?”

  I stopped eating and looked around the Hole. The customers were no longer paying att
ention to me but busily conversing among themselves. “The truth,--that’s all I want. The truth.”

  “You may not like the answers once you get them.”

  What could be worse than knowing that you weren’t wanted?

  “But I won’t know that until then, will I?”

  “No, you won’t.” Grant finished off his small cup of soup and pushed it to the side of the table out of his way.

  I pushed a shrimp around with my spoon, scooped it up and ate it. Then I placed my cup next to Grant’s.

  “I need to ask you one thing.”

  “Oh.”

  “It’s personal.”

  Grant flashed that dimple and smiled at me. “Great. It’s about time you show some interest in me. I knew my innate charm would eventually wear you down.”

  I was wearing armor against his innate charm, chanting ‘jock, jock, jock’ in my mind, That was all I needed to be immune. Right.

  “No.” I hesitated, then the words tumbled out. “Why do you rent a room in Maudie’s apartment?”

  Grant stared at me in disbelief, then started to laugh. Heads turned to see what the commotion was about.

  “Stop it, Grant. Everyone is staring.”

  “It didn’t bother you before.”

  “Stop laughing so hard.”

  “Well, I thought you were going to get really personal. And all you want to know is why I rent a room?”

  I felt embarrassed.

  Grant leaned forward conspiratorially, a deep smile still on his lips. “Because it’s convenient.”

  “Convenient.” I snorted. “Is that your only reason?”

  Leaning back in his chair, Grant frowned slightly. “No.”

  Waiting for an answer, I slowly drummed my fingertips against the tabletop.

  Grabbing my fingers to stop the irritating sound, Grant continued to hold them. “Well, it’s a long story...”

  Before he could finish, a stocky elderly man slammed open the front door, entered the Hole and called out, “Where is she?”

  Everyone in the Hole pointed to me.

  Grant groaned. “I warned you.”

  The man bustled over to our table and pulling a chair out, sat between us. He glanced at Grant and nodded, then turned his attention to me.