Unfinished Muse (29 page)

All in all, a simple project likely to take
me about a bajillion hours to complete. But I was determined to do
it anyway.

Getting the whole thing laid out, assessing
the damage, and getting everything organized took the rest of the
energy I had. I fell into bed and slept hard.

~*~

The next morning, I was up early and back at the
craft store. I purchased four cases of toothpicks, two bottles of
glue, and a brand-new collection of decorative scrapbooking paper
that had arrived in the store that morning.

I made it to the park bench in time for Alex
and Oscar to find me sitting there.

“Tell me you didn’t lose your dog again.
That’s the third time in a week.” He plopped down next to me.
“Maybe you should try obedience school.”

I grinned. “We tried that. You know, no
matter how many classes I take, I just won’t listen.”

Alex had the decency to laugh at my lame
joke. He was a pretty good guy.

I leaned down for a bag I’d shoved under the
bench. “I got you a present.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “Why on Earth
would you want to go and do a thing like that?” He peered inside
and found the toothpicks and glue. “How did you know I was running
low?”

I shrugged. “A hunch. How’s it coming?”

“It’s coming. Nearly done with the main
structures, though it’s slower going now since I have to hold the
walls up until they dry. After that, I’ll be working on the
inside—all the furniture and fiddly pieces.”

“Would you like some help?”

“Oh, I couldn’t ask you for that. You’ve got
plenty of your own things to do with your time.”

I held up my hand. “Alex, are you going to
get this done in time for the competition?”

He looked away from me. “I think so.”

I dipped my head so he’d look at me. “If I
helped, would you know so?”

His reluctance faded, and he grinned. “Yes.
I think I would.”

“Then let me help you? Please?”

He rose from the bench and stretched.
“Wynter, I don’t know where you came from, but Oscar and I are
grateful. Aren’t we boy?”

Oscar gave a sharp bark, then led us back to
Alex’s house.

I spent all day with him in his basement on
Saturday, except for when we came up from time to time for lunch or
snacks. His mom insisted on feeding me, once she’d pinched my arm
and decided I needed more meat on my bones.

We worked hard down there. Sometimes I held
pieces together for him, like a human clamp, until the glue set.
Other times, he’d snip a toothpick to a specific size as an example
and have me cut an entire box to the same length. I opened boxes,
unclogged glue spouts, and mostly kept him going until we were both
too tired to continue.

Before I left, I promised I’d be back on
Tuesday to see if he needed any more help.

After a glass of wine and a quick sandwich,
I spent the rest of the evening working on my quilt until I
couldn’t keep my eyes open. Phyllis sat beside me, murmuring
encouragement and singing ‘80s power ballads.

I didn’t mind her throaty rendition of Bon
Jovi’s “I’ll Be There for You,” but by the time she sang Poison’s
“Every Rose Has Its Thorns” for the third time, I was ready for
bed.

“I think that’s it for me.” I tied a knot,
cut the thread, and stuck the needle in my little stuffed tomato
pincushion. “Thanks for the serenade.”

“It was my pleasure.” Phyllis sounded as
tired as I was. “I could sing you a lullaby if you like.”

I gave her a weary smile. “I won’t even be
awake long enough to change out of my clothes. But thanks for
sitting up with me tonight.”

“It’s what friends do, sweetheart. Sleep
well.”

On Sunday, I knocked on Missy’s door and
surprised her with the new paper collection.

“You’re spoiling me,” she said as she took
the package. “I only gave you a piece of gum and some laundry
soap.” She looked more closely at the paper and gasped. “Is this
velvet? Oh, wow.” She dropped to the floor in front of the coffee
table and pulled the sheets out of their plastic cover. “I can’t
believe how gorgeous this is.” She ran her fingers over the
velvet-embossed patterns. “I want to use all of them. Thank you so
much!”

Cassie gurgled from the next room,
hiccupped, then started to cry.

Missy groaned. “So much for that. Gabe’s
working this weekend. Babies don’t take days off.”

I waggled my hand at her. “No. Sit. I’ll get
her.”

“She’ll need a fresh diaper.” She gathered
her legs under her to stand.

“Seriously. I’ve got this. I’ve been a
professional babysitter before.”

“Really?”

I rolled my eyes. “Trust me. I’ve done just
about everything at one time or another.”

My past experience came in handy. Cassie was
a mess. I got her cleaned up and in fresh clothes and diaper,
changed her crib sheet, and put all the wet clothes in the hamper.
By the time we came out, Missy was in the zone, cutting, clipping,
arranging and gluing.

And that was what it turned out Missy needed
from me to help her get her work done. She needed a nanny. Cassie
and I spent the day together, playing in her bedroom, having snacks
in the kitchen, and rocking in a chair watching her mommy make
art.

When Cassie went down for another nap
several hours later, I ran a load of laundry downstairs and brought
it back clean and folded. I washed the dishes, cleaned the
bathroom, and dusted. The only thing I didn’t do was run the
vacuum, since nobody can concentrate with that much noise.

For the first hour or so, Missy tried to
object, afraid she was taking advantage of me. Eventually, when she
realized how much she was getting done, she allowed me to help and
tuned out what I was doing unless I had to interrupt with a
question.

Around five, she stretched and looked up at
me. “I can’t believe I got so much done. I think I’m going to make
it in time for the party.” She gave me a hug. “Thank you so much,
Wynter.”

I picked up my purse. “It was my pleasure.
Sometimes moms need an extra hand.”

She hugged me again. “You were amazing.
Thank you.”

“I’ll come back Wednesday and see how you’re
doing. Okay?”

She grinned. “Awesome. See you then!”

By the time I got home, I was almost too
tired to work on my quilt.

But I did it anyway.

Chapter 24

At least on Monday I didn’t have to work to convince
Mark to let me help, since I’d already done that. I did, however,
have to work a whole lot harder on the project itself.

I lifted and carried. I hammered and
painted. I dug, mixed, screwed, and drilled. I even went on a beer
run.

We weren’t the only two people there, but
the other guys were hired to be there, and their work ethics
weren’t so great. When I left to get beer, I stopped at the
apartment and grabbed my illicit bottle of bubbles and a few of the
wands from the bag in my closet. From time to time, when I thought
no one was looking, I used the heart-shaped wand from my collection
to blow bubbles at their backs. As the bubbles popped around their
heads, I told them what a great job they were doing.

It didn’t work well, but they didn’t take
quite as many breaks as they’d been taking.

At the end of the day, the hired guys went
home, and Mark and I kept at it until we didn’t have light left.
The end result was disappointing. I’d seen the plans he’d drawn up,
and this was only the skeleton. We had a whole lot more work to
do.

“Don’t worry.” He patted me on the back.
“We’ll make it.” His voice was full of confidence, but his
expression was anxious.

I was way too tired to work on the quilt. I
was almost finished sewing the squares together, though, so I felt
I deserved a night off.

I hit the pillow hard.

~*~

When I knocked on Alex’s door, his mom answered and
let me in.

“We’re so glad you’re here, aren’t we,
Oscar?”

Poor Oscar was bundled up in a green vest
dotted with daisies. He looked uncomfortable.

“I’m…uh…happy to be here, Mrs. Meyer. Is
Alex downstairs already?”

She shuffled into the kitchen in her daisy
slippers, waving for me to follow. “He went down right after
breakfast. Here.” She shoved six pieces of bacon into a napkin and
handed it to me, then balanced a cinnamon roll on top of the pile.
“Take that down with you to eat. You look half-starved.”

“Oh, thanks.” I kept the roll balanced while
I opened the basement door, then escaped downstairs.

Alex saw my mountain of bacon and laughed.
“Sorry. If you’re not hungry, you don’t have to eat it.”

I shrugged. “She’s very sweet.” I licked
icing off the roll. “So. How are you doing? What are we working on
today?”

He waved me over to the table. “See for
yourself.”

The house was done. It was an exact replica
of the house I was standing in, even down to the crazy lawn
ornaments. He turned the house around and showed me the inside.
Tiny toothpick furniture decorated the rooms. There was even a
miniature Oscar down in the basement.

I gasped. “Alex, it’s fantastic. Is it
done?”

“Just a few touchups to do. I’ll probably
work on it right up until the judging, but it would be fine even if
I entered it right now.”

I grinned. “You did it. I’m so happy for
you.”

His expression was serious. “Thanks to
you.”

I chomped a piece of bacon. “I didn’t do
much.”

He shook his head. “You did a lot more than
you know. If you ever need anything, you let me know.”

I had a similar experience the next day with
Missy. She was still fussing with individual pages, tweaking things
here and there, but the book itself was done. All the pages were
complete.

“It’s so beautiful, Missy.” I flipped from
page to page, following the story of two people who fell in love,
married, had children, went on adventures, and never stopped
looking at each other with so much love the camera couldn’t miss it
in every single shot Missy had chosen.

“Do you think they’ll like it?”

“Oh, honey, they’re going to be so happy
with this.”

She hugged me. “Thanks for making sure I
finished in time. You’re a good friend.”

That was probably very much against the
rules. And I didn’t care one bit. “I’m glad I could help.”

I would have loved for things to have gone
the same with Mark as it had the other two. But it didn’t.

The two guys who’d been helping picked up
another job and didn’t show for work on Wednesday. Mark had worked
hard, but he’d been by himself. When I showed up to help on
Thursday, he looked so forlorn, I wanted to put my arms around him
and cry.

He sat on a half-painted teeter-totter that
was supposed to look like gumdrops balanced on peppermint sticks.
Instead, it looked like a wooden pole with two purple blobs.

“What happened?” I stood in the middle of
all the chaos, wondering if I’d ruined things for Mark by going to
help the others.

“I failed,” he said. “I should have kept it
simple or started sooner. I can’t do this.

I sat next to him on the center beam. “Can
we hire some new guys to finish?”

He shook his head. “I tried. Not enough
notice to get anybody out here. I have to have it done by tomorrow
night.” He waved his hand at the yard. “I figure I could finish it
up in four days by myself. Three, maybe, with your help. But I
can’t do it by tomorrow.”

At first, my eyes welled with tears. How
could things have gone downhill so fast? Then I thought about it,
and anger burned away the tears. How did this happen? Well, first,
Fate gave a new hire too many clients. This caused my boss to
assume Fate was up to something, so she stepped aside and didn’t
notice when my trainer failed to train me properly, my paperwork
wasn’t in order, and my dates were changed. To top it all off, my
ex dropped in to sabotage the whole thing.

How did it happen? The poor guy got a bad
Muse, through no fault of his own—or mine.

“I’ve got an idea.” I stood to face him, my
face serious. “Remember how I told you I work for the
government?”

“Sure. Top secret. Can’t tell me
anything.”

“Yeah. That.” I ran my fingers through the
top of my hair, which probably spiked it into a weird punk thing I
hadn’t intended. “I think I can get you some help. But I was
undercover with them, so they think I’m someone else. If I can get
them out here, you have to promise to go along with anything they
say about me, and you have to try to keep them working in different
areas so they don’t compare notes. Think you can do that?”

One of Mark’s eyebrows went up. “What the
hell do you do for a living?” He held his hand up. “No, never mind.
I get it. You can’t say.” He smiled. “If you can get me some help,
I’ll do anything you say.”

I had to swallow a saucy retort. The way
he’d said it sounded so dirty. “I’ll be back in a few hours to
help. And with any luck, I’ll have a couple of people here first
thing tomorrow morning.”

Both Alex and Missy were surprised to see me
again so soon, but when I told them a friend of mine was in a bind
with a project for a little girl with leukemia, they were more than
happy to help. Well, Alex was happy to help. Missy was willing to
come out and help, but her husband, Gabe, insisted on taking
over.

“You helped Missy out when she needed it.
And what kind of dad would I be if I let someone else’s little girl
be disappointed when I have the day off anyway?”

So, Thursday, I did some painting for Mark,
then Friday, we were a team of four, finishing all the unfinished
pieces, getting last coats of paint on the brightest pieces, and
putting banners and ribbons on the tallest peaks.

Halfway through the day, Missy and baby
Cassie showed up with lunch. Missy and I sat together on the ledge
of a pink, green, and yellow marshmallow castle, swinging our feet
eating sandwiches.