314

by A.R. Wise

  * * *

  “Come in,” said Stephen when he answered the door.

  Alma was nervous as she looked in at Rachel and Stephen’s gorgeous apartment. It was on the north side of the city, on the first floor of a converted duplex. The old, stone edifice was gated with delicately crafted wrought iron and the façade was replete with lush ivy. The wood floor looked old, but beautifully so, with dents and scratches that gave it character. All of the furniture inside was white, with black legs, and looked as if it had been set in place with the purpose of being used for a magazine photo shoot. Even the haphazardly tossed magazines on the glass coffee table looked as if they’d been purposefully disheveled.

  “Your apartment is stunning,” said Alma.

  Paul walked in behind her, and even the sound of his boots clopping on the floor was out of place. Alma knew he was uncomfortable without even looking back at him.

  “Thanks,” said Stephen. “That’s all Rachel’s doing. When she moved in, she made me chuck out all my stuff. She likes to pretend she’s the one that picked out everything, but don’t let her fool you. Her father is an interior decorator. He’s responsible for all this.”

  “Well he can come over to my place anytime,” said Alma.

  “Hi, I’m Stephen.” He reached out his hand to shake Paul’s

  “Paul.” The gruff, one word answer would have to do.

  “Come on in, sit down. Can I get you some coffee or something?” Stephen was wearing a pair of tight fitting jeans and a Northwestern t-shirt. He was barefoot, and his steps didn’t seem to make a sound as he padded through the room. However, every step that Alma and Paul took seemed to echo like hammer strikes on the wood.

  “I’m fine,” said Alma.

  “Same here.” Paul stayed behind Alma, as if more nervous than she was. He slipped his index fingers through belt loops on either side of her waist and stayed pressed against her back.

  “Rachel’s just finishing getting ready.” Stephen picked up a wine bottle and smiled as he held it aloft. “We might’ve been a little too liberal with the wine last night during our celebration.”

  “What was the celebration for?” asked Alma as she stood with Paul just past the foyer.

  “Besides the fact that it was Friday?” asked Stephen with a smile. “Yesterday was Rachel’s last day at the station. Yours was her last story.”

  “Oh wow,” said Alma. “She didn’t mention that before.”

  Stephen tossed the empty wine bottle into a trashcan that had been set aside for recyclables. “That’s because she didn’t know it at the time. She didn’t decide to take the plunge until we got home from the restaurant. We got our first deposit from the online ads from our video yesterday. It was more than twice what Rachel makes per month.”

  “Nice,” said Paul.

  “You can say that again. And I’m an independent contractor for the station, so I can keep pulling in an income while we focus on the site. I don’t have to work full time for them if I don’t want to,” said Stephen as he walked to the living room. “Come on in, sit down.” He waved them over to join him.

  “Should I take off my shoes?” asked Paul. He looked hilariously out of place amid the designer decorations that surrounded them.

  “No,” said Stephen as he waved off Paul’s concern. “Don’t be silly. Come on in, have a seat.”

  “I feel bad that you’re going to have to rent a van to haul us,” said Alma as she walked to the loveseat and sat down.

  “I can ride my motorcycle if you want,” said Paul as he sat beside Alma.

  “It’s no big deal,” said Stephen. “I went out and bought a ton of equipment to take with us, so it’s my fault.”

  “Camera stuff?” asked Paul.

  Stephen leaned forward and had a glint of excitement in his eyes. He was a handsome guy, and when he was happy his smile was endearing. “Even better. Rachel would kill me if she knew how much I spent on it, so don’t say anything.” He glanced over his shoulder to make sure the bedroom door was still closed. “I found a Paranormal Investigation company in Kentucky that was closing up shop, and I bought all of their old equipment.”

  “What sort of stuff?” asked Paul.

  “All sorts of cool things,” said Stephen. Alma was reminded of two men at Christmas comparing gadgets they’d been given. “An EMF meter, a thermometer, motion sensors, stationary cameras, night vision goggles…”

  “Awesome,” said Paul.

  Stephen smiled wide and nodded, encouraged by Paul’s appreciation. “They’re bad ass. I’ll let you check them out when we get to…”

  The door to the bedroom opened and Stephen sat back in his seat, abruptly ending his excited recounting of his list of new toys.

  “Hi,” said Rachel as she came out of the room. “Sorry I’m running late.”

  “No problem,” said Alma.

  Rachel looked exquisite, even in a simple pair of jeans and a sweater. Alma was suddenly ashamed of herself and looked down at her drab outfit. Rachel and Stephen were a different class of people from herself and Paul, and she felt incredibly out of place when with them.

  “You must be Paul,” said Rachel as she came around the love seat to shake Paul’s hand.

  “Hi.” Paul looked uncertain if he should stand up to greet her. He shook her hand and smiled, clearly as uncomfortable as Alma.

  Rachel turned her attention to Alma and looked like she was greeting an old friend as she reached out to take her hands. “Alma! I can’t tell you how excited I am that you decided to come.” She took Alma’s hands and pulled her off the seat. “I am going to get you whatever you want today. Okay? We’re going to go bananas. Shoes, skirts, jewelry, mannies, peddies, anything you want.”

  “You don’t need to do that, honestly,” said Alma.

  “Yeah, babe,” said Stephen. “Let’s not spend everything we made the day after we made it.”

  Rachel gave her husband a wry, knowing smirk. “This coming from the guy trying to hide four crates of stuff he bought off eBay in our storage locker.”

  Stephen blushed and chuckled uncomfortably.

  “Yeah,” said Rachel. “I know all about it, bucko. So zip it.” She turned back to Alma. “You and I are going to make a day of it. I’ll take you to my hair place, and they’ll set you up. By the end of the day you’ll feel like a new person.”

  “When are we going to leave for Missouri?” asked Alma.

  “We can leave tomorrow,” said Rachel. “He’s still got to get the van and I’m sure he’s going to want to play around with all of his new gadgets. We’ve got plenty of time. Right, babe?”

  Stephen shrugged, aware that he wasn’t being given much of a choice in the matter. “Whatever you say, beautiful.”

  “Paul, do you want to come with us?” asked Rachel, although her tone implied that she assumed he would hate to go along for the girly extravaganza.

  “Shopping, hair styling, manicures,” said Paul. “That sounds absolutely,” he paused, “like the worst day ever.”

  Rachel and Alma laughed.

  “You’re welcome to chill here with me,” said Stephen. “We can test out all the new toys. We’ll fire up the grill and get some beer.”

  Paul pointed at Stephen with a gracious grin. “That sounds like a plan.”

  Stephen got off the couch and slapped Paul’s knee as he walked past. “Come on, I’ll show you the gear I got.”

  Paul got up and Alma looked at him as Rachel was whisking her out the door. They smiled at each other and Paul blew her a kiss. Rachel had already pulled her out of the door before Alma could reciprocate.