The Space Between (The Book of Phoenix) (12 page)

I used their pay phone out front to check in with Bex.

“
I’m sorry, who is this?
”
Bex’s mom asked, catching me off guard.

“
It’s me, Jacey. From college?
”

“
Oh, huh. I don’t think Rebecca has ever mentioned you. Does she have your number, honey?
”

Bex had always talked about her mom losing her mind, but this was the first time I’d ever heard it for myself. How many times had I met her? Stayed at their house for the weekend? Shaking my head, I simply said,
“
No, I don’t really have one right now. I’m in Florida. I’ll call back another time.
”

“
She’s not here much, dear. She’s moved into her apartment at school and spends most of her time there with her roommate. But I can tell her you called.
”

And before I could say anything, the line went dead. Bex’s roommate? She had to have been lying to her mother. That was the only explanation, which was better than the alternatives
—
Bex was pissed at me and had found someone to replace me or her mother really had gone over the deep end. The first one sucked for me and the second one really sucked for her. But as it was, I worried about her. She hadn’t said anything two nights ago about going anywhere else or moving in with anyone for the summer. So where was she really?

The question gnawed at me as Sammy and I took a walk before heading back to our new place. Well, our temporary place. I still wasn’t sure whether to trust Buck’s suggestion. While Sammy ran up and down the white beach and nipped at the gentle waves sliding onto shore, I squished my butt into the soft sand and shuffled through the business cards Buck had given me. Only half of the sun showed over the horizon, streaking the sky with pinks and purples and providing barely enough light for me to study the cards.

I couldn’t help my suspicion of the first one, bright orange paper with black ink, because Buck had been recommending him so highly. Maybe that makes no sense, but I didn’t quite trust Buck himself. The second card, white with metallic gold lettering, made me think of high dollar signs. The last wasn’t a card at all, but a scrap piece of paper with the name Humphrey and a phone number handwritten in blue ink. This one piqued my interest—probably cheap and perhaps a little rebellious of the “professional” establishment. Just my type. If I decided to do this, the handwritten number would be the first one I called.

Probably the smartest thing I should do, though, was talk to another real estate agent and make sure I wasn’t sinking a bunch of dough into something that would never sell for what I put into it. That would be the mature adult decision, and whether I had wanted to or not, I’d been forced to become a mature adult.

When Sammy and I re-entered the upstairs unit, I sure didn’t feel like one. My gaze slid over the dark room and I suddenly felt like a little girl, lost and alone. Completely alone. I barely made it through the door before the grief slammed into me. I curled into a ball on the pallet I’d already made with my sleeping bag and blankets, and I bawled. Sammy lay against me, trying to lap up my tears, but he gave in when they fell too fast for him to keep up.

I hadn’t cried like this since Trudy had called me at the dorm to tell me about Pops. In fact, I hadn’t cried at all since the funeral, constantly keeping myself busy, moving, looking to the next thing to be done. The tasks were brainless, no tough decisions to be made since Pops had already made them. All but one, anyway. Now nothing more remained to do except take care of this rundown apartment building. And I had to make a decision without any idea of what Pops really wanted
—
if this place was so important to him, why had he never mentioned it before?
—
and without anyone I knew to give me advice I could trust.

“
Pops,
”
I said aloud when the tears dried,
“
I don’t know if you’re there, if you can hear me. I never thought so, and you probably aren’t. You’re dead and gone and I have to accept that. But ... but if there’s any chance you are ... can you please help me? I don’t know what to do. I have no clue what you would want me to do. Please, Pops, if there’s such thing as souls and spirits and you have any way of still being here in some kind of form, please tell me. Give me a sign. I can’t do this by myself.
”

Of course, he didn’t answer. He was gone. The ideas of souls and spirits and
“
next lives
”
were simply comfort tools used to help people cope with the death of loved ones. Pops was gone. No part of him remained to give me answers or even a sign.

When I was ten, an old lady ran a stoplight and T-boned Pops and me, slamming into the driver’s side. Pops suffered a couple of broken ribs and we both had some scratches and bruises, but at the time, I believed he was going to die.
“
Don’t worry, little bird, I’ll never leave you,” he’d promised but even then I knew better. After all, my parents had left me, hadn’t they? Everyone dies. I dreamt of that accident, the screech of the brakes and slam of metal against metal ringing in my ears, but in my dream, Pops never looked at me to say he’d never leave me. Because he already had.

I awoke slowly, the sounds of the accident still reverberating in my mind. It took me a few seconds to realize they weren’t in my dream or my head. The horrible sound of metal scraping against metal and concrete came from right outside, followed by a loud crash. I rushed to the door and threw it open.

Three things happened simultaneously:

My gaze landed on the metal staircase to my door laying on its side on the ground where a dark-haired man stood frowning at it.

I yelled,
“
What the hell?
”

And my body remained on its trajectory through the door ... and into nothing but empty air.

Chapter 10

  My arms flailed. My stomach fell faster than the rest of me, and a scream ripped through my throat and out my mouth. And the next thing I knew, I slammed into a hard body, strong arms catching me without a waver in their owner’s stance. My breath heaved out and didn’t return. A jolt of energy ran through my body, a tingling sensation hitting every nerve. With eyes bugging out of my head, I looked up into my savior’s face. He stared back at me with astonished—and familiar—eyes.

“
I know you.
”
This time, the words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them, even while the word
dyad
whispered in my mind.

Something sparked in his own brown eyes
—
the same sense of familiarity. Neither of us seemed to be able to break the lock we had on each other.

“
I don’t think so,
”
he muttered gruffly.
“
Are you okay? Can I put you down?
”

His gaze scanned my body carefully as though he studied every freckle for injury, leaving a trail of goose bumps in its wake. Embarrassed, I struggled in his arms until finally he set me on my feet. The sound of Sammy’s bark from the doorway registered in my brain. I gave him the
silence
sign, and he quieted.

“
Looks like you’ll live,
”
the guy said, and his sarcasm hit me the wrong way.

“
How did you do that?
”
I demanded. Sure he had a muscular form
—
a very nice, delicious form that made him the epitome of “tall, dark, and handsome”
—
and I weighed no more than a buck-ten, but still.
“
How did you catch me so easily from a two-story fall?
”

He smirked.
“
It’s not exactly two stories. If you were on the roof, that would be two stories.
”

I narrowed my eyes.
“
You know what I mean. How did you do it?
”

“
Honestly, I don’t know. You were falling. Someone had to catch you, and since no one else was around, I volunteered.
”
He shrugged.
“
It was my fault anyway. Guess I felt obligated. Don’t make me regret it, okay?
”

He returned to the staircase, studying the braces that had been anchored into the wall not five minutes ago.

“Ah, man!
What the hell did you do to my stairs?
”
My astonishment and embarrassment quickly turned to anger and frustration.

“
Seems I did you a favor.
”

“
Excuse me? You ripped my stairs from the wall!
Nearly killed me!”

“An eight-foot drop likely wouldn’t kill you. And
they
fell
from the wall.
”

“
You said it was your fault I fell. What did you do?
”
I put a hand on my hip, shook a finger at him and ranted on.
“
And I do know you. I recognize you, anyway. Your hair’s shorter, but it’s only hair. Not much of a disguise. You were at the show in Charlottesville. You pulled me out of the fight. All the way up in
Virginia
. And now you’re
here,
right where I am. Again. You better start explaining, or I’ll call the cops.
”

He smirked again, eyeing my wagging finger. I didn’t know whether to admire the grin
—
a hint of dimples showed when his full lips lifted like that
—
or hit it right off his face.

“
You’re a feisty one, aren’t you? Especially for such a little thing,
”
he said, and my hand balled into a fist in natural reaction to his condescending tone. He lifted his hands in the air in surrender. I couldn’t help but notice his smooth, tanned skin stretched taught over the long and strong muscles of his hands and tried not to think about what they would feel like against my body again. I shook my head, erasing those errant thoughts.

“
Explain,
”
I repeated, now through gritted teeth.

He rocked back on his heels and crossed his arms over his chest, the muscles straining against his black Guns N’ Roses t-shirt.

“
I heard you wanted to know what it would take to fix this place up. Thought I’d check it out to get an idea of what it needed.
”
His dark gaze darted over to the old, rusty staircase lying on its side, then back at me.
“
I’d say the stairs need to be replaced, for starters.
”

“
Is that your game?
”
I spewed.
“
Come over and wreck everything so I’ll pay you to fix it? What kind of split does Buck get? He probably told you to start with the stairs, knowing I was up there and now have no choice but to fix them. I mean, my stuff and my dog are up there. Oh, man.
”
I turned to look up at the door.
“
Sammy? You okay, boy?
”

Sammy wagged his whole body and let out a happy bark. I pushed my hand through my tangled hair and realized for the first time I still wore what I slept in
—
an old t-shirt and boy’s boxer shorts.

“
I’ll get my ladder,
”
the guy said, turning for his truck parked in the overgrown lot. He returned with a long ladder and leaned it against the building’s side, having no problem with reaching the door upstairs.

“
Hold up a minute,
”
I ordered. He started up the ladder even as I continued.
“
Is this part of your charges? Because this is totally bogus. I didn’t ask for any of this. I don’t even know if I want to fix anything. I’m not sure I can even afford it. So don’t be
—”

He reached the top, pulled Sammy under one arm like an oversized football
—
and Sammy
let
him
—
and shimmied his way down one-handed.

“
No charge,
”
he said, setting Sammy down.
“
I dig dogs.
”

My arms fell limply to my side, and no words came. His dark eyes gleamed as he surveyed me, making my thoughts go to inappropriate places, especially under the circumstances. Then he cocked his head, and it was all I could do to not become putty in his hands.

“
Can we start over?
”
he asked. He held his hand out to me.
“
I’m Micah. I do a little work for the locals here and there. They call me the village handyman. You won’t find anyone better
—
or cheaper
—
but if you want me to go, I’ll go.
”

I looked at his hand and back up at his face.
“
And what about my stairs?
”

His hand remained in the space between us.
“
I gave them a shake before trusting my weight on them to go knock on your door. They fell right off the wall. They were about to go any time, so you’re lucky it didn’t happen while you were on them. Or, worse, someone else who would be happy to sue you.
”

“
And what’ll this cost to fix?
”

He rubbed his square chin covered in dark stubble, as if he hadn’t taken the time to shave this morning. “
Tell you what. You buy the supplies, and I’ll put up the new stairs
for only a thank-you for saving your life.
”

“
And why would you do that?
”

“
Guess I feel a little guilty, even if they were about to come down anyway. Besides, you’ll get a sample of my work before deciding to hire me.
”
He stuck his hand out again, and a real smile spread across his face, fully displaying dimples more heart-stopping than I’d expected. His grin grew even wider at my expression.

Blowing out a breath of both reluctance and embarrassment, I reached up for his hand. As soon as our palms touched, that strange jolt flipped my stomach and my head spun. Micah must have felt something, too, because his eyes widened, although his hand tightened around mine.

“
Um ... fine,
”
I choked out, extricating my hand from his before the bones in my legs began to melt.

“
Excellent.
”
He seemed to recover himself, and the smirk returned.
“
Of course, your other options are a retired dude from New York who charges you as if he were still there although he prefers fishing to working so he never shows up, and a sixty-nine-year-old who’s usually drunk and likes to work in his speedo and nothing else.
”

My nose wrinkled involuntarily at the visual. If this were a beauty pageant, I didn’t have to see the others, even if they weren’t old, swindling wrinkle-bags. I doubted anyone here
—
or anywhere, really
—
compared to Micah. He was the hottest guy I’d ever seen.
Ever
. But this wasn’t a pageant and even though I felt like I’d known him before
—
really
known
him, not just recognized him
—
I still questioned his intentions. If he thought he could take me for a ride, he had another thing coming. Well ... unless it was a ride of the naked kind .... I blinked. Man, where were these horn-dog thoughts coming from?

“
If we book it to the lumberyard, I can probably have your stairs done by the end of the day,
”
Micah said as Sammy came running up to him after doing his business. My dog nudged his nose against Micah’s hand and received a scratch behind the ears. Sammy loved this stranger.
Traitor
, I couldn’t help but think, although I knew if Sammy liked Micah, the guy couldn’t be too bad.
“
You can use the ladder to get your things, though.” His eyes scanned me from head to toe. “Like some clothes, maybe?
”

I looked down at myself. Awesome. I was totally nipping out through the thin fabric of the t-shirt. I crossed my arms over my chest and my face heated to the temperature of hell. I made a beeline for the ladder.