Impossible Dreams (16 page)

“Oh, you were the tenant in the old Shafer building?
Shame, that.” He shook his head at her offer of tea and wandered to
inspect the freshly painted plaster walls. “Most of these old buildings
have no insulation and weren’t meant for modern heating and
air-conditioning. The constant expanding and contracting of the joints from
heated interiors and cold weather, or vice versa, puts a tension on the
materials used back then.”

Maya didn’t like the sound of that, but in her
experience, authority figures always put a bad light on things. Rifling through
a box of bumper stickers she’d found in Cleo’s storeroom, she
giggled over one reading
Wear short sleeves, support your right to bare arms
!
and tried to pretend the man didn’t exist.

The inspector turned to look at her as if she were crazed,
so she held the sticker up for his inspection. He harrumphed and looked a
little less jovial. “I’ll need to take a look at the wiring. Is the
circuit box in the back?”

Maya shrugged helplessly. “If that’s where they
put those things. I’m sure Axell will have kept it up-to-date. If it
were up to me, the wires would have crumbled into dust.”

He gave 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. And the
school might be a dead end if the authorities had their way. If Axell invested
in the school, she really couldn’t be certain he would approve of her
dreams for it, and she didn’t want any domineering man interfering. 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.

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. The road from here out to the house might not be safe
later today.

He punched in the buttons, made the arrangements, and one
more task taken care of, he contemplated the next. Maya hadn’t come over
to discuss the store opening. He couldn’t blame her for not going out in
this weather, but she could have called. He assumed she knew how to work a
telephone.

He hoped that old building didn’t leak. The previous
tenants hadn’t complained of it, but they hadn’t lived upstairs
either. Maybe he should check on her. Business was slow this time of the
afternoon, especially in rain like this.

He was making excuses. He knew he was making excuses.

He didn’t care. He couldn’t focus on anything
anyway. It wouldn’t hurt to stop next door and see what progress had been
made. Matty would be arriving home from kindergarten soon. Maya might need a
ride out to the school.

Axell wrinkled his brow at that thought. The road out to the
school crossed a creek that rose quickly. With urgent purpose, he took the
steps two at a time.

Soaked instantly, he ran the few yards to the back of the
shop. He should have warned her to keep the door locked, he realized, as he
reached for his key at the same time as the knob turned beneath his hand. The
increase in drug activity lately had led to a string of break-ins.

He shouldn’t have to tell a grown woman to keep her
doors locked.

Fighting irritation as well as concern, Axell stalked
through the unlit storage room. It wasn’t as if Maya had anything to
store back here, so he didn’t expect a flurry of activity until he reached
the front, but the place seemed ominously silent without chanting monks or
rushing ocean tides.

Not until he reached the echoing emptiness of the front room
did he realize something was wrong. There should be cleaning people bustling
around, opening all these boxes, stacking ugly gnomes on shelves and arranging
kaleidoscopes on the counter. Maya should be sitting at that empty table,
sipping tea...

Axell glared at the empty water carafe and hot plate beside
the neat stacks of bumper stickers.
All those who believe in psychokinesis,
raise my hand.
He snorted and almost grinned, reached for another, then
caught himself. Maya wasn’t here. Neither was anyone else, including
Matty or the teenage clerk. Maya’s teacups and pot were gone. Something
was wrong.

He checked the front door. Locked. Well, at least she had
that much sense.

Glancing around, Axell sought some clue for this lack of
industry, but his heart was already racing. Maya was a hundred years pregnant.
Angela had lost their son on a day like this.

He grabbed the phone and punched in the number for the
school. He got an out-of-order message. Nothing new. Damned telephone company
couldn’t keep the lines up in this weather. He called Selene.
They’d argued so much over the partnership contract, he had her number
memorized. He almost gasped in relief when she actually answered.

“Have you seen Maya?” he demanded, without
preamble.

“She’s out at the school, measuring that dump
upstairs for curtains,” Selene snapped. “What the devil did you
think you were doing, moving her into a place the city is condemning? That poor
girl had her hopes up so high...”

“What do you mean, condemning? This building is as
solid...” Axell sputtered to a halt. The mayor, again. He didn’t
have time for this argument. “How did she get to the school? The
phone’s out and the water is probably rising right now.”

“Well, it’s not exactly as if she’s going
anywhere. Last I heard, she was catching a ride with someone. I think she
arranged for that teenager who works for her to bring Matty out there. I had to
call off school for the afternoon. Something’s got to be done about the
damned department of transportation letting those roads get this bad...”

“Selene, do you realize that if school had to be
called off because of the roads, Maya could be stranded?” Axell asked
impatiently, cutting off the tirade on the transportation board. “Can you
get out there and see if she’s all right?”

“Look, she’s got food, a bed, a roof over her
head. She’s fine. I’ve got a meeting with my lawyer in a few
minutes. She really can take care of herself, you know.”

Axell heard the speculative note in her voice but ignored
it. “Did it ever occur to you, Selene, that she’s nine months
pregnant and doesn’t have any transportation?”

He heard hesitation on the other end of the line before
Selene replied. “Women know these things in plenty of time, right?
She’d have told me if she was in any pain.”

“Selene, we’re talking about Maya, remember?
Have you ever heard her complain? I’m heading out there. You keep calling
the school, see if you can reach her. I’ll let you know as soon as I get
there. Keep your cell phone with you.”

“Suit yourself.”

Axell heard worry behind Selene’s flippant attitude,
and assured she’d be on hand if Maya needed her, he hung up.

He wished he’d brought the Rover into town today, but
he’d just had it washed and hadn’t wanted to get it dirty. Stupid.

Not taking the time to castigate himself properly, Axell
hurried out the front door, locked it, and dodged rain drops until he reached
the BMW. He was probably worrying for nothing. She was probably upstairs,
dizzily creating palaces out of that trash heap.

She’d do it too, Axell realized. She would probably
scavenge bolts of cloth from Goodwill, decorate the walls with it, and call it
home. She’d be sitting there with her teapot on a toadstool, sipping tea
when he arrived.

He needed to reassure himself with those thoughts. He
didn’t want to accept responsibility for any more women, and certainly
not for a comparative stranger.

Maybe not a comparative stranger. He knew her bad habits as
well as his own. And there was the matter of that kiss... Something else he
didn’t want to think about.

As he navigated puddles large enough to splash the
car’s roof, he congratulated himself for not driving one of those
low-slung sports cars that Angela had preferred. The Beamer’s solidity
would get him through.

Axell lost some of that confidence when the heavy car
fishtailed in a particularly deep stream of water as he left the main highway.
Slow
down
, he muttered, easing up on the gas pedal as the rain poured harder,
blinding the windshield. He’d driven these roads for decades. He knew
every willow oak, every curve around the cotton fields, every skinny creek that
rose in bad weather. He’d be all right. He just prayed Maya had the sense
to stay where she was. Someone else might not know the roads as well as he.

What the hell was he doing out here? He was being an
overprotective ass. Angela had accused him of that often enough. Maya was warm
and safe. He was the idiot navigating dangerous roads in flood conditions. Maya
would think he was crazy. He ought to turn back right now and go home and check
on Constance.

He didn’t turn around. Constance was fine. He’d
built his home above the flood plain. The rain only threatened the old houses
built by rivers and creeks.

He was just being practical, but Selene’s words rang
in his ears.
What the devil did you think you were doing, moving her into a
place the city is condemning? That poor girl had her hopes up so high...

How many times could one person be knocked down before they
quit getting up?

He wouldn’t think like that. Maya was a survivor. She
wasn’t like Angela. She wouldn’t do anything to hurt Matty or the
baby. Maybe she’d holed up out here so she could cry her eyes out in
private, but she would be fine. By now, she had that tea ready.

Axell rode high on that confidence until he hit the river of
red muddy water pouring over the road from the new shopping center development,
and the car stalled.

Damned planning commission. He ought to sue.

***

Maya swept the last pile of dirt into a dustpan and dumped
it into a trash bag she’d brought from downstairs. There, she had two
rooms clean. That’s all they’d need for now.