Make a decision, Temperance.
I debate leaving them, but if I take them, it still doesn’t mean anything. I don’t have to go there. I grab the keys and shove them in my purse before locking the Tahoe and striding home with all my senses on high alert.
When I walkinto the courtyard, Harriet has white sheets spread out on the grass.
What in the world could she possibly be doing next?
She walks out of her house wearing a black silk caftan that billows behind her, a tray in her hand and a smile on her face.
“Am I interrupting something?”
Her head snaps up like I’ve disturbed her meditative state, which, knowing Harriet, I might have.
“You’re back sooner than I expected. How did it go?”
I glance at the tray in her hand. “Is that paint?”
“Body paint.”
She says it like the statement requires no explanation.
“For ...”
“Immortalizing myself in rainbow color. At least,” she glances over her shoulder, “I will be if my gentleman friend arrives to paint me.”
“Oh ... okay. So, this is a good time for me to find somewhere else to go.”
Harriet tilts her head to the side. “Only if you have an issue with nudity. My tits may not be as perky as yours, but they’re younger than you. My plastic surgeon was a genius in the mid-nineties.”
As always, Harriet manages to wrangle a laugh from me.
“How did the gallery go?” she asks.
I tell her about the showing Valentina wants to do.
“That’s phenomenal. You’re incredibly lucky to have the opportunity. Don’t fuck it up.”
Her no-nonsense wisdom is always appreciated, as is yet another reminder from her that I could be doing so much more right now than going upstairs and holing up in my apartment.
“I won’t.”
“Good.” She gives me a pointed look. “I’m sure you have better things to do right now than watch two paint-covered septuagenarians fornicate outdoors—like make some art.” She glances at her watch. “Actually, you should plan to be gone until at least nine. Maybe ten. I’m feeling frisky tonight, and he’s got the little blue pills.”
I glance down at my purse, which holds the keys to the warehouse. The warehouse that holds all the scrap metal Kane had delivered for me.
Can I really face it?
Yes. Yes, I can.
Because I have a list to work on, and not just the one Valentina is going to send me. The list that Harriet forced me to start.
A list Kane would have approved of me making.
Another gut-wrenching slash of pain stabs into me, and I breathe through it.
“I’m not going to ask if you’re okay, Temperance,” Harriet says to me. “But you will be. You’re stronger than you know.”
With a decisive nod, I take another deep breath.I’m stronger than this.