CHAPTER TWELVE
Alicia had only been home for a couple of days, but it seemed like a million years had passed since the last time she’d stood in the farmer’s market in Thailand, eating mangoes and sticky rice. A bagel with cream cheese and a large French vanilla latte weren’t quite the same, but that didn’t make it bad.
The travel had been fantastic, beyond her wildest dreams, but the money from the sale of the dive shop wasn’t going to last forever. If she was going to travel again, she’d need to go sooner rather than later, because soon enough she was going to have to start thinking about getting a job.
She sipped the hot drink and set it on the table, shrugging out of her jacket as she juggled her purse and laptop. She’d come to the coffee shop because sitting at home was becoming tedious and suffocating. She figured she’d start researching job possibilities, and maybe another trip, too.
She and Nikolai hadn’t talked about what would happen if she wanted to leave again. Mostly, they hadn’t talked about what they were doing with each other. She’d come home early to get back to him. He’d told her he missed her. They’d spent every night together since then. She’d caught him looking at her. A lot. Well, she guessed she was looking at him, too. Both of them had carefully sidestepped any discussion of their relationship beyond the here and now.
“Hey, Alicia. You’re home! How was the trip?”
She looked up to give Theresa a warm smile. She moved her bag off the opposite chair so Theresa could take it. “Amazing. Life changing. Have a seat. What’re you up to?”
“Getting ready to use the Wi-Fi, get some work done.” Theresa held up her computer bag. “I don’t want to bother you.”
“No bother.” Alicia looked around the coffee shop, which was now full enough that there weren’t any open chairs other than the one she’d offered. “We can agree not to talk to each other, how’s that?”
Theresa laughed and slung her bag over the back of the chair. “No way. I want to hear all about your adventures. I saw the pictures on Connex. It looked fantastic.”
“It was.” Alicia moved her computer so Theresa had room to put hers on the table. Her plate and mug, too. The table was barely big enough for everything. “I’ll eat fast, then you can have room for a plate.”
“Not grabbing anything, don’t worry.” Theresa sat. “So, tell me about everything.”
They talked for half an hour as Alicia ate her bagel and finished up her coffee. She hit the trip’s highlights. The food. The views. The bugs.
Theresa shuddered. “No, thanks.”
“Yeah, you think the wolf spiders around here are bad . . .” Alicia grimaced. “Let’s just say there are some things I can never unsee.”
“Sounds like an amazing trip.” Theresa smiled.
“I’m going up to grab a coffee refill. You want something?”
“Oh . . . yeah, I guess I should have something if I’m going to be here for a while. Pay my rent, so to speak.” Theresa dug in her pocket for a crumpled dollar bill and a handful of nickels and dimes. “Can you grab me a plain bottomless cup?”
“I got it.” Alicia waved away Theresa’s protest. “C’mon, it’s a buck fifty, I think I can spare it.”
Theresa nodded, her eyes widening for a few seconds as her lips pressed together.
Alicia thought something seemed off about her, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it might be.
By the time Alicia brought back the drinks, Theresa had cleared away the empty bagel plate and set out her laptop. She’d brought an extension cord, of all things, to plug into the outlet closest to them, and she’d plugged both her phone and her computer into it.
“You’re prepared,” Alicia remarked.
Theresa gave her another odd, offbeat smile and took the empty coffee mug. “I started learning to be prepared when I went freelance. Because I don’t work out of the office every day, I needed to find places where I could access the Internet, get charged up, stuff like that.”
Alicia waited for Theresa to come back from filling her cup. “Must be nice. Having that freedom.”
“It has its pros and cons.” Theresa sipped the coffee and set it carefully on the table. “Puts a lot of mileage on my car. Sometimes makes it hard to get stuff done if I’m out and about and haven’t found a good spot to roost. It’s a little bit like being a traveling salesperson, always on the road.”
“Have you thought about getting something more permanent?”
That seemed to be the wrong question, or at least a semi-impertinent one. At any rate, Theresa frowned and cut her gaze from Alicia. She tapped her fingers on her computer lid.
“Sure,” she said finally. “Of course. Something with a steady paycheck would be great. Working on commission can be inconvenient. Never really sure if the money’s coming in, or when.”
“It was like that, owning the shop. We had our regulars, and of course the trips we scheduled always brought in regular money, but so much of it was seasonal.” Alicia paused, thinking of how many times she’d budgeted their accounts to the literal penny, holding her breath until some money trickled in. “I’m not sure how I’ll feel if I go back to work for someone else, but I won’t miss that part. A steady paycheck would be a nice change.”
Theresa gave her a wan smile. “Selling your share seems like it was a good choice for you.”
“It was the right decision. I’m sorry Ilya didn’t go for it.” Alicia paused, watching the other woman. “He hasn’t changed his mind?”
“He has a couple weeks left, but after that, it’ll be too late.” Theresa shrugged.
Alicia shook her head. “He’s stubborn.”
“Yeah.” Theresa sipped more coffee. “So you’re looking for a job? I thought you’d do more traveling.”
“I want to. But I can’t live forever on the money from the sale. I’m lucky I don’t have a mortgage, at least. Being a lady of leisure doesn’t seem to be in my blood.” Alicia laughed. “So, yeah, I plan to do something. I’m not sure what yet. It’s been so long since I had to think about it. I’m not even sure what I’m qualified to do.”
“You’ll find something.” Theresa glanced at her computer. “Speaking of looking for jobs, I’d better get to work. I have some leads I need to research and stuff.”
Alicia waved a hand. “Of course. I’m taking up your time.”
Without much fanfare, both of them bent to their laptops. Theresa typed more regularly than Alicia, who’d intended to look up job listings but had instead spent most of her time scrolling through travel blogs. So many places to see in the world. How could she ever see everything? How would she decide where to go next?
“Zimmerman’s Diner is going into foreclosure,” Theresa said, out of the blue.
Alicia looked up. “Hmm? The diner?”
“Yes. We were there a couple nights ago.” Theresa coughed lightly. “Ilya and I.”
“I haven’t been to the diner in ages. We used to hang out there all the time in high school. Sometimes we’d go right after school and stay there until Galina got off work. She’d pick us up on the way home. Or after the school dances. Wow, what a blast from the past.” Alicia thought back to that. “Jenni worked there after she got her driver’s license. We all kind of stopped hanging out there, after . . . well. So it’s going into foreclosure?”
“Yes. It’s got some back taxes owed on it. Nothing outrageous, but sometimes people just don’t want to be bothered paying them. They want to dump it.” Theresa looked thoughtful.
“That’s too bad.”
Theresa looked up with a smile. “Not for me. It’s exactly the kind of property I should be able to get some interest in.”
“You like what you do.” It wasn’t a question, but it seemed to take Theresa aback.
She nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, I do. It’s not exactly what I thought I’d be doing, but it’s going all right. I think it might work out for me.”
“That’s a good thing.”
“Yeah. Yes,” Theresa said more firmly. “It really is.”
“I hope he changes his mind,” Alicia said suddenly. “I’ve tried to tell myself I don’t care, that it’s his business and he’s no longer my problem.”
“You were married for what, ten years? And part of each other’s lives for longer than that. It would be strange if you just stopped caring.”
Alicia frowned. “I know, but still.”
“Do you . . . are you still . . . you’re not in love with him anymore. Obviously.” Theresa paused. “I mean, you and Niko are together. Right?”
Hearing someone else say it made it feel more real and also more like a dream. Alicia grinned. “Yeah. We are.”
“That has to be a little complicated.”
“No kidding. Plus, if it all works out, I’ll have the joy of getting Galina back as my mother-in-law.” Alicia snorted softly. “Lucky me.”
“No kidding.” Theresa’s phone rang, and she pulled it out of her bag to silence it quickly. Whatever she saw on the screen must’ve disconcerted her, because her expression twisted. “Shit.”
“You okay?”
“I have to take this outside. Can you watch my stuff?” Theresa was already getting up, closing her laptop lid, and grabbing her bag.
Alicia waved. “Yes, sure. Go. I’ll be hanging out here for a bit.”
Twenty minutes later, she looked up from her online scrolling to realize Theresa had not yet returned. Alicia got up to peek out the coffee shop’s front window, searching. She thought she caught a glimpse of curly black hair standing by a car parked toward the front of the lot. When another ten minutes passed without Theresa’s return, Alicia sent the other woman a text. Theresa didn’t answer it. She waited another few minutes but, concerned, figured she ought to make sure everything was okay.
She packed everything up, tucking her own computer into her bag and Theresa’s laptop into the protective sleeve she’d left on the table. Making sure she hadn’t left anything behind, Alicia grabbed both bags and went out. She found Theresa standing by her car, a battered gray Volvo that had seen better days.
Theresa was crying.
This was awkward. Alicia cleared her throat to catch the other woman’s attention, and when that didn’t work, she reached out to touch her arm lightly.
Theresa turned, swiping at her eyes. “Hey. Sorry, that took longer than I thought.”
“What’s going on?”
“It’s nothing. I mean, it’s not nothing, but it’s fine.” Theresa rubbed again at her eyes, using the tips of her fingers to blot away her smearing mascara.
Alicia frowned. “It doesn’t look fine.”
“It’ll be okay. Really.” Theresa put on a watery smile that did nothing to convince Alicia.
“I brought your stuff.” She held it out.
“Thanks.” Theresa took the bag and set it on the trunk of the car. She sagged suddenly, shoulders hunching. “Thanks.”
“Look, I’m sure it’s none of my business, but you definitely don’t look fine. You look terrible,” Alicia said.
Theresa looked at her. No smile this time. She wasn’t crying anymore, although she looked like she could start again at any minute. “I’m going to lose the stuff in my storage unit, which is everything I own that doesn’t fit in my car, minus the stuff my ex was keeping for me in his garage and which he put out with the trash when he figured out I wasn’t going to get back together with him.”
“Oh . . .” Alicia wasn’t sure what that meant.
Saying that seemed to break a dam, because now the words came fast and hard. “I’m six months behind on the payment. I don’t have the money to pay the fees. I was counting on my commission check to be deposited this week, which would cover some of what I owe, but there’s been a delay. I don’t want to say it’s my ex’s fault, but I wouldn’t put it past him to have screwed up the numbers on purpose somehow, just to cause me trouble. They reissued it, but it won’t hit my account until the next pay cycle, which is in two weeks. I don’t know how they think I can live for another two weeks on the change I might be able to scrounge up from underneath my car seats. I’m so screwed, Alicia. I thought it was all going to be okay, but it’s not. I am totally screwed.”
“I’m sorry. Can I help you?” At the sight of Theresa’s bleak expression, Alicia felt her own stomach twist. Something was very wrong, but she had no idea what it could be. She’d known the other woman for a number of years, she realized, but knew very little about her. Still, she was family. There had to be something Alicia could do. “Can I lend you the money for the storage units?”
Theresa barked out a humorless laugh. “It won’t matter. Thanks, but I’m so far beyond all that.”
“Are you sure? How much do you owe?”
“Alicia,” Theresa said wearily, “I’m literally fifty thousand dollars in debt. I am never going to get out from underneath this. Never.”