"Joe."
"Are you getting married?"
"No," she said. "Not yet, at least. But he's got this apartment he's letting me rent for really cheap."
"How cheap?" Lane asked. "Free?"
Lu smiled. "Yep."
"That's pretty cheap," Lane said.
"I'm in love."
"I can see that."
"Are the producers gonna kill me for this?"
He shook his head. "Things happen," he said. "You should do what makes you happy. We'll miss out on you being here, but if it makes you feel better, this whole scenario seems like an act of God on behalf of a girl named Zoe Etheridge."
Lane proceeded to tell Lu Zoe's story, from the phone call at the bus stop to the way she came in and painted in the most unconventional ways. He showed Lu the robot painting and told her many of the details of their encounter, carefully leaving out the personal details of her past and any mention of the watercolor bunny.
"So is she the person you're gonna get to take my spot?" Lu asked after a thorough inspection of the robot.
"Yes," Lane said.
He hadn't even talked to Theo about the girl. He had been in Maine all weekend and was planning on catching Theo up on her this week. Lane would never, ever, under normal circumstances show Lu how certain he was about who would take her place, but there was no question in his mind that Zoe would be the one, in spite of how unorthodox this whole thing was.
"Can we call her?" Lu asked.
"Right now?" Lane couldn't believe he was even thinking about it. He wasn't accustomed to the feelings he was having at the moment. If Lane Alexander was anything, he was in control. He prided himself on that. This, however, was different. This was unchartered territory for him. He knew it made no sense to call Zoe with Lu sitting right there in the office, but he did it anyway. She didn’t have a phone, but Lane had an email address and the number to the convenience store where she worked.
"She's not gonna be there," he said, even as he dialed the number on his office phone. He held the receiver to his ear and looked at Lu. "Even if she was working last night, she won't still be there. She works the night shift. She got off at seven." He glanced at the clock, which told him it was nearly 10am."
"The night shift?" Lu asked as the phone rang.
Lane nodded as someone picked up the phone.
"Quickie Mart," the man said.
Lane cleared his throat. "I'd like to leave a message for Zoe Etheridge."
"Zoe, is your name Zoe Etheridge?" the man asked.
"Yeah, why?" a girl's voice answered.
She must have been standing close by because Lane could hear her nearly as well as he could hear the man.
"Phone's for you," he said.
"Hello?"
Lane felt a wash of relief. "I thought you wouldn't be there," he said.
"Who is this?"
"Lane. Lane Alexander from S&S," he added trying to sound more official than he felt.
"I was supposed to get off earlier, but somebody called in sick for their shift. What's up?"
"I've just had a meeting with the girl who's moving in next month."
"Yeah?"
"She can't." Lane said.
He wanted to explain, but the words were getting stuck in his throat.
"Lane please tell me you're not messing with me," Zoe said. Her voice was high-pitched. Lane could tell by the sound of it that she was trying not to cry—trying to hold it together.
"I'm not messing with you," he said.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"A month?"
"Uh-huh."
(Zoe let out a long, relieved sigh.) "Thank God," she whispered. "Oh, my goodness, you have no idea."
She seemed so soothed by the news and timid that Lane felt like he wanted to jump through the phone and be next to her. He wanted to know what she'd been doing all weekend—wanted to know if she was all right. He felt like she needed a hug and he wanted to be the one to give it to her. A hug, really? Lane had literally never fantasized about giving anyone a hug. He was not a hug-fantasy type of guy. This girl made him feel out of his right mind. He wiped at his face, barely aware of Lu's presence in his office.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Are you kidding? I'm wonderful! Thank you so much! I can't believe you're serious right now. Are you sure the spot's mine—like for real, for sure?"
"That's why I'm calling," he said with a smile in his voice.
There were several long seconds of silence.
"Are you there?" he asked.
A few more seconds passed before her high-pitched, shaky voice said, "Yes."
Lane knew she was crying, and he looked at Lu with wide eyes, feeling like he might have to trample her on his way out the door to Quickie Mart.
"I'm so thankful," she whimpered, trying her best to compose herself.
"Are you good?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Do you need help finding somewhere to stay for the next few weeks? I could help you look into shelters if you need it."
"I'm coming!" Zoe yelled to someone on the other end. "No thanks, I'm good. I can probably afford a nicer place now that I know I have somewhere to go in a month."
"Three weeks," Lane said.
Zoe smiled even though Lane couldn't see her. "Piece of cake."
He could hear the relief in her voice, and it gave him a sense of happiness.
"Can I come see you soon?" she asked. "You know, to talk about details or whatever?"
"Please," he said, trying to keep a poker face since Lu was sitting right there. "Today," he added, since he couldn't stop himself.
"I don’t know when I'll get off, but I'd like to. Did your mom like her picture?"
Lane's heart dropped when Zoe asked that question because he knew he'd never explain the extent to which his mother like that paining in front of Lu.
"So much," he said in a matter of fact tone.
"Okay, I gotta go, but is the spot really mine?"
"Yes. Three weeks."
"Oh, my gosh, thank you, thank you so much. Bye."
"Bye."
"Was she crying?" Lu asked.
Lane nodded, feeling dazed. He could hear the gratefulness in Zoe's voice, and he couldn't stop thinking about what her weekend must have been like. He ran a hand over his face and through his hair before leaning back in his chair to smile at Lu.
"That's crazy," Lu said. "I can't believe she just came into town and painted that robot on the spot in your office."
Lane smiled, thinking about the other painting. "I can't believe you don't want the room," Lane said. "It's crazy how it all worked out."
"I know," Lu said. "I was feeling bad about leaving you hanging with the short notice, but this is so cool! I'm totally rooting for that girl."
Lane smiled and did his best to seem neutral.
Lu threw her hands up like their business was done and she was about to leave, but then she remembered to ask Lane if he needed any help around S&S. She said she still wanted to be a part of the team, and Lane was happy to agree to hire her part time to help out at the gallery. It was a good scenario for him because he liked Lu, and he liked her art. He and Theo thought it would be a great addition to the gallery, or they wouldn't have chosen her in the first place. The two of them spent a few minutes talking about Lu joining the staff and the fact that Lane needed to call the documentary's producers, but before long, Lu was gone.
The first thing Lane did when she left was call Theo to let him know what was going on.
"Bonjour Lane," Theo said. "How are things?"
"Fine," Lane said. "A few changes I wanted to let you know about, though."
"Go ahead," Theo said.
"It's Lu Osborne. She's not taking the room that's opening on the twelfth."
"Is she okay?"
"She's fine," Lane said. "She's dating someone."
"Ahhh," Theo said, since personal relationships had been the cause of a few other artists' e
arly departure from S&S.
"I just wanted to let you know about it and tell you I'd take care of taking her spot."
"I guess we'll go with the mixed-media girl we had as an alternate," Theo assumed.
"No. There's someone new. I haven't even talked to you about her yet. I just met her Friday. But she's the one. You'd love her."
"No, I don't want to do that," Theo said.
He sounded completely serious, and Lane's heart dropped. "No?" Lane asked.
"I'm teasing you," Theo said, laughing. "I've never heard you be so passionate about a prospect before."
"I'm not passionate. I just know you'd love her, that's all. She's different."
"I trust you," Theo said. "If you like her, I'll like her. Just work out the details."
"I will. I am. I'll send you some pictures of the painting she did so you can see what I’m talking about. It's the little robot you brought back from Germany that one time. She painted it right here in my office. You'd really love her work."
"You already said that."
"Because you would."
"Well, go ahead and get her in there."
"I am. I'm about to call the documentary crew and tell them about her."
"Oh no, I forgot Lu was doing the documentary," Theo said, as if that complicated things.
"It's fine," Lane said. "Zoe will step in."
Theo let out a huff. "Pretty confident about someone you just met Friday."
Lane thought about reiterating the fact that she was a genius or telling Theo that sometimes you just know, but instead he just said, "Yeah."
"All right, well, make it work, I guess."
"I will."
Chapter 7
It was 11am when I finished work that day. I had been at work for twelve hours, which was slightly overwhelming on my first day, but it was fine since I had only been scheduled for two shifts that week.
I barely noticed the last hour of my extended shift, anyway, because Lane at S&S had called the store to let me know there would be an opening at the collective much earlier than he thought—less than a month, actually. I had a severe case of permagrin ever since I got that call.
The hotel where I was staying was not nice at all. Granted, it was better than being on the streets, but it wasn't a place I wanted to stay for very long. I had no idea New York had so many rats. I had seen some right out on the street near my hotel like they weren't even ashamed of showing themselves—no shame at all from these New York rats.
While I hadn't seen one in the hotel room with me, I could hear them at night, scratching and running around. We had mice and rats in Texas, but never a problem so bad that the sound of them kept me up at night. I slept with a pillow over my head, praying that nothing crawled on me.
My room didn't smell that great, either. It was either currently or had at one time been a smoking room, and probably a pet friendly one as well. I was relatively sure the sheets had been washed before I got there, but there were various stains on just about every fabric surface in the place. I wasn't trying to be a snob, but it was gross, and I felt a glorious rush of relief when Lane called and told me I'd have a place to stay at S&S.
I assumed that until January my living circumstances would be as bad or worse as they were currently and the idea of moving into S&S in less than a month made me feel like a whole new person. I may as well have been the mayor of New York City. I was smiling and high-fiving the customers that came into the convenience store after I took that call from Lane, and I was still beaming after I clocked out and made my way to the door.
I had a Coke in my hand as I waved over my shoulder to my co-worker, and I turned to find that someone was holding the door for me from the outside of the store.
"Thank you," I said. I stared straight at the young, attractive businessman for a couple of seconds before it registered that he was Lane. I had seen so many faces in my extra-long first day of work that it took my brain a few seconds to sort out the fact that I knew him.
"Hey!" I said. I stepped onto the sidewalk, and he let the door close behind me. We made our way to the side so we could be out of the way.
"I'm so glad I caught you," he said. "I tried to call to tell you I was coming up here, but the line was busy."
"You came here for me?" I asked, assuming until then that bumping into him had been a coincidence.
"Yes," he said with a little smile. "Where are you going?"
"Home," I said. "To my hotel."
"Are you walking?"
I nodded. "It's not too far."
"Can I come with you?" he asked. "Or we can take a cab. I just wanted to see if we could discuss some things—about the collective and the possibility of you having a role in the documentary."
My stomach flipped. While I really wanted to talk to Lane, I also didn't want to take him back to my hotel. I didn't want him to see where I was staying. My feet and neck were aching after such a long first shift, and all I wanted was a shower, but there was no way I was taking him into that rat hole.
"Maybe we could go sit on a park bench or go back to S&S," I said.
"Do you want to go by your place to change?" he asked with a glance at my Quickie Mart visor.
I reached up and took it off, pulling my hair out of the ponytail in the process and running my fingers through it. "I'm fine," I said, smiling.
Lane watched me run my fingers through my hair. I could see his gaze follow my hand down the length of it before meeting my eyes again.
He swallowed, regarding me with a serious expression. "I really don't care where we go," he said. "I was just gonna join you for the walk back to your hotel if that's where you're headed."
For whatever reason, at that moment, an urge came over me to be honest. He looked so nice, and I felt so gross, that I guess I figured I had nothing to lose.
I stared right into Lane's amazing ice blue eyes, and said, "The Icee machine sprayed this sticky, strawberry foam all over me about three hours into my shift last night." I pinched the front of my collared shirt and pulled it away from my chest, showing how sticky and gross I was. "It went everywhere. I pretty much got it off of my skin, but it's still all over my clothes." I paused and smiled. "I'd love to change and take a shower and everything, but honestly, I don't want you coming back to my hotel. It's not nice."
"Worse than you thought?" he asked, since I had already told him a little about it that day in his office.
"Just the… It's just kinda gross in there. I didn't know this city has so many rats."
Lane's expression grew more concerned. "Are there rats where you're staying?"
"I mean, not in the bed with me or anything."
He smiled. "In the room?"
I was about to say that I could hear them, but I stopped myself, feeling embarrassed and regretting being so honest. "I'm just tired," I said. "And the place is a little bit of a dump. I was just thinking we could talk on a bench or something… I mean as long as you don’t mind me smelling like strawberry Icee."
Lane gave me another one of those thoughtful looks he was famous for, like he was trying to figure out what to do with me next. "Why don't we go to your hotel?" he said. "If you want, you can grab a change of clothes and we'll go back to the collective. You can try out the showers there."
His reference to trying out the showers made me think about having a room there in three weeks, which made me feel so happy that I agreed to his plan. The next thing I knew, we were headed toward my hotel.
We walked slowly, and Lane used the time to explain about the girl who had to give up her spot. She was supposed to be one of the artists featured in the documentary, and apparently, the producers wanted to talk to me about taking her place. Lane had already spoken to them about my story and sent pictures of the robot.
Getting to that point in the conversation led him to say, "I didn't show them the bunny, though. I couldn't say anything about it earlier because Lu was still in my office when I spoke to you. My mom loves you for painting that. She reminded me
again this morning to tell you 'thank you'."
I smiled. "I thought about your story this weekend," I said. "I'm so glad I went with my gut and painted that. It makes me happy to think your parents see it as special."
"They do. My parents wanted me to take you up to Maine so they could show you pictures of my real mom when she was little. They said something about wanting you to see the way my real mom used to stand. I think you happened to get some detail right."
"Aww, that makes me smile," I said.
We had been walking so slowly that it had taken nearly a half hour to make it to the building where I was staying. I came to a stop when we got to the front door, and Lane stepped back to look at the exterior of it before staring at me again. There was very little foot traffic in this area, so we just stood in the middle of the sidewalk.
"That's just about everything I wanted to talk to you about. Sometime in the next week or so, you'll need to stop by and look over the rules and sign the agreements. I don't have your packet ready just yet, but I, uh, I guess I could put it together this afternoon if you want to come back with me now."
"Oh, no, that's okay. If that's all you needed to talk to me about, then I guess we're done. A walk-meeting, walking-meeting," I said, babbling. I smiled at myself for being a dork, and stuck out my hand for Lane to shake in an official manner. "Thank you so much, Mr. Alexander," I said, feeling somewhat relieved that he wasn't going to come in.
He shook my hand, but seemed reluctant about it. "I'd like to get your phone number so I don't have to go track you down at work."
"I don't have a phone. I didn't get one yet."
He pointed to the building. "Can I get the number to this place?"
"You're welcome to, but now that my dates have changed with the collective, I'll probably find a better place to stay. I could just call S&S or come by and give you the number to my new place once I find one."
"If you're planning on leaving, why don't we just get your things right now?"
I let out a chuckle. "I don't know if I'm planning on leaving today, necessarily."
"Why not?" He was so serious that an uncontrollable smile spread across my face. "Zoe, don't."
"Don't what?"
"I don't know, whatever you're doing right now."
So Much for Boundaries (Shower & Shelter Artist Collective Book 3) Page 5