by Lisa Daniels
She also didn’t want to fulfill his expectations of women and his regular one-night stands. Or endorse what he’d said. Even though it was technically a compliment.
His face had remained curiously blank when she refused, and he’d watched her saunter off to her little house, until Katie drove the two of them away, back to the four-star hotel.
Chapter Four – Oskar
Day two, and he was already bored of this place.
Not of Lena, to be clear. Just of dust and mud and the smell of cow dung in the air, and the extreme lack of things available for entertainment.
“They weren’t kidding when they said there wasn’t much to do in Geevor,” Oskar grumbled, as Katie stopped by one of the attractions on offer: the old tin mines just outside the main village, and the quarry surrounding it. The quarry itself resembled a kind of crater overgrown with plants, and for the mines, there was a rather miserable, paunchy tour guide to whom they had to pay eight dollars each, just so they could get permission to wander around some decrepit old section of mines, most of it roped off, some of it lit by shitty orange lights dusted with cobwebs, with a horrible, musty, stale oxygen smell the deeper they went, like being encased in an underground mausoleum.
“The local legend,” the guide informed them in a monotone voice, picking his nose as he did so, “is that a li’l kid got hisself killed. Went on the elevator a’the winch gave out, and e’plummeted to his death. If ya see his ghost, it means you’re next.”
Delightful. Oskar hated the way the guide talked, as if he had a whole wad of cotton wool stuffed in his mouth. Or those awful pasties. See the sights, Lena had suggested. All five of them. Katie appeared equally unimpressed, but both of them kept an outwardly respectful appearance, though they flipped the bird behind the guide’s back, who made even interesting local history feel like watching paint drying.
“You should apologize to her,” Katie said, dipping back to their conversation of earlier. “Make a grand gesture, bring out the flowers to her workplace. It’ll look good and fulfill the terms of the contract perfectly.”
“You really think she went off back to her home because she was offended?” Oskar didn’t know why the idea bothered him. He liked Lena, sure enough. Wasn’t his usual type, but there was something in her manner, her smile, the soft way she spoke and the self-deprecating humor that endeared her to him. She just seemed much more switched on than the kinds of people he was used to dealing with.
“You big time fucked up,” Katie confirmed, as the guide wandered away, letting them explore a small cavern, where some old miner’s gear was draped over boulders carved to resemble seats, with some plastic pasties balanced on top of the clothes. “You know what it’s like, living in a small town?”
“Nope.” He popped the p in the word and glowered at Katie. “But I’m sure you’re about to tell me.”
“One bad rumor can end someone. You’re part of a community, a small, close-knit one. People do anything to ensure they fit in. And if they don’t, then they’re ostracized. In the old days, people who didn’t fit in tended to die. So it was a matter of survival to be like everyone else. You’ve lived in the city and had an easy life, and you’re used to people hating you or liking you. It doesn’t matter if they hate you, you can just ignore them. Too many people to pay that much attention to, anyway. Harder to ignore when you know everyone’s names and have much smaller social circles.”
Oskar nodded along with Katie, musing over the words. “So… when I complimented her, that she was good in bed… this is the part I don’t get—that’s bad?”
“Yes. It’s practically sexual deviance here. Or at least it would be back in the place I grew up in,” Katie said, smiling until her sharpened canines glinted in the dim light of the cavern. “You don’t want to be deviant. You want to be the good wife stuck in missionary position, a real town sweetheart, and not making any odd business.”
A small twinge of guilt rippled through Oskar, the more Katie explained. When she put it that way… he could see how bad it sounded. It was odd for him. Women usually liked compliments. Those he knew loved admitting they were good in bed, they found it empowering. He honestly thought he was helping her out, because that Chloe woman’s behavior disgusted him. He knew about the waspish language women employed against one another. They didn’t fight with fists. They preferred knife-edged words, stabs at self-esteem, implying things and letting their victims connect the dots and assume the worst.
He’d been so mad. He understood perfectly in that moment why Lena chose to lie to someone like her. At the top of the social network, people were all about material wealth, and flaunting their connections. They loved proving their superiority at every turn. He wouldn’t be surprised if everyone lied a bit about who they were.
“I hate small towns,” Oskar muttered. Thinking about how much harder it probably was to run away from a place like this. “Sure, I’ll do something. Get enough flowers to flood that library out. But wait…” Now he glanced at Katie suspiciously. “Since when did you become Lena’s cheerleader? Last I checked, you thought my choice to do this was a terrible idea. You even called her a hick.”
“I did, didn’t I?” Katie’s yellow eyes seemed ominous in the weak light. She combed a hand through her shoulder-length dark hair. “Well… you seem to be on your best behavior with her. And I don’t know… maybe she’s growing on me a little.”
“Is it because she strings together coherent sentences?”
“They all do that,” Katie chided. “You just don’t bother talking to them long enough for them to prove they can string together coherent sentences. No, I can’t place my finger on it yet. But we’ll wait until the week is over.”
They finished the mine tour, and Oskar dipped into the only flower shop in the town, buying out about half the shop from a bewildered old lady who was probably lucky even to get a single customer in one day—except church days, marriages, and funerals, of course. Oskar was tempted just to leave the whole sorry dump behind and get back to business, but he also wanted to honor his contract.
Maybe I can take her out of Geevor for a day. Take her somewhere that doesn’t look derelict, or where one sneeze from a hurricane won’t knock everything down. He brooded on this for a bit, wondering how far was too far when it came to his contract, and whether it really mattered if he stretched it. The money she’d given him was hardly worth any effort at all.
But still… there was something about Lena that he liked. They’d only had one evening together, but it interested him enough to have her linger in his thoughts afterward. Sure, this place happened to be a horrible place no sane person would voluntarily choose to live in, but at least there was one little diamond in the rough. And it came in the form of Lena Tate.
“Do you think all the good women in the world are hiding under rocks?” Oskar mused out loud to Katie, as the movers they’d hired for the day started loading the flowers into their truck. “Lena mentioned that I wasn’t looking in the right places. Not that this has ever been a concern before, because in the places I go, there’s always people trying to make names for themselves.”
Katie examined him with slight concern, slight interest. “I don’t think they do. Just depends where you look and what you’re looking for. And as far as I’m aware, you’ve never thought too hard beyond the quick flings when it comes to prospective partners. Also, I think you just like annoying your father.”
Oskar grinned. “True. He’s got my brothers, though, with their perfect trophy wives and their children. He seems to think if I don’t settle down soon, he’s somehow failed as a Wainwright.” He folded his arms, absently watching the movers carrying absurd amounts of bouquets. Truthfully, he’d never been much interested in the cardboard cutout life his parents had provided for him. Every decision from his birth had been made with the intention of him having stake in the family business, that he wouldn’t be interested in anything else.
All those important dinners with his father’s clients, e
xpensive private education, and pointing out a woman’s family as a good reason for marrying her. It was how it was traditionally done, of course—people always wanted to be optimally matched for wealth and prestige, or at least, if not rich, hard-working, and attractive, with some weight to the family name. At no point in any of his upbringing was it expected that Oskar might associate with anyone far below his rank.
Date-Monsters made that possible. But even then, he’d always been drawn to a certain type of woman, simply because the programmed successful image was the only one he knew. Because he avoided interacting with those out of his league. Because he believed it.
“What are you thinking about, sir?” Katie said. She only reverted to the sir when concerned about overstepping her position.
“I was just thinking… maybe I shouldn’t be here. I came here on a whim, really, not expecting anything much, maybe just to give some giddy adult a nice story to gush to her friends…”
“But she’s not a giddy adult,” Katie supplied.
“No,” he said, frowning in slight annoyance. “And she doesn’t react like I thought she would.”
“You see her as a challenge, then?” Katie asked cautiously, clearly wondering what was going through Oskar’s mind. He didn’t know himself.
Or why Lena was bothering his thoughts so much. Ah well. When he saw her later, it’d probably ease his mind.
“I suppose so. Feels like I can’t act the way I normally do. So I’m just wondering how I should act.”
“I can Google it for you,” Katie said dryly. When Oskar didn’t respond to that, he noticed Katie pull out her phone and tap away on it. Likely doing exactly as she’d suggested.
* * *
Lena’s reaction when it came to the flowers was just glorious. Oskar had opted for staying hidden for most of the unpacking, letting the movers carry the sheaths of flowers to the library, attracting the looks of some very puzzled and elderly civilians, and a few from the younger crowd who would probably spread the news over Geevor in less than an hour. He was technically pushing the boundaries of the contract, but at the same time, he was Oskar Wainwright. It’d be odder if he didn’t bother with any kind of grand gesture at all and acted like a miser with his money.
When Oskar finally sauntered into the library, Lena stood behind her desk like a scared rabbit, as flowers exploded all over the counter, around the desk, and artfully lined the windowsills and occupied spare places away from the books. An overspill of flowers in vases had made it to the single set of stairs as well, where there were some bolted-in e-readers for those who preferred the sleekness of the device compared to the rustle of book pages. Next to Lena stood an old lady who was sniffing a set of purple flowers and sighing appreciatively.
“Whoever’s done this for you, you should marry him right away!” the lady said, her blue eyes glinting, appearing almost on the urge of swooning. Oskar decided this was the moment to introduce himself.
“You hear that, Lena? She says you should marry me.” Oskar pasted on a winning grin, and Lena’s cheeks erupted into an epic shade of crimson.
“You,” she said, apparently at a loss for any other words to grace her lips.
“Me,” he agreed.
The old lady stared at him, jaw agape. “Oh, my! Is this the man, Lena? He’s so handsome. Look at those muscles, so well developed. Oh, if I were fifty years younger…”
“Verity!” Lena gasped, her attention now firmly ensconced with the old woman. “Are you hitting on my boyfriend?”
“Oh ho, my dear. Of course not. I’m merely saying… we’d have loved him back in the 60s.”
Oskar felt decidedly uncomfortable that the old woman was checking him out, and now saw amusement on Lena’s face, rather than the frozen astonishment of earlier.
“Wow, Verity, I never would have thought it of you. What will your husband think?”
“He won’t mind. It’s not like he can keep his eyes off the prettier ones anyway,” Verity said with a dry laugh, waving wrinkled, liver-spotted hands around. “This one is such a catch, dear. Don’t let him run away.” She gave an obvious wink at Lena before sauntering away, but not before giving Oskar another once-over. Katie, meanwhile, was struggling not to laugh, and Lena simply raised fingertips to her mouth.
“Well, I suppose just because you get old, it doesn’t mean you suddenly stop showing interest in people.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had that happen before,” Oskar said, as Katie cleared her throat, still trying not to laugh.
“What’s up with all this, anyway?” Lena gestured to the flowers. “You don’t have to do anything other than show up for the reunion, you know.”
“Of course. But I heard ladies like flowers, and I did upset you last night, I think. So consider this my apology.”
Lena slowly ran her fingers over her mouth, and Oskar followed the motion, thinking how soft her lips looked, how they parted under her touch. “And you think an apology means buying up an entire flower shop?”
“Don’t you like them?”
“I—I do. It’s just… you can always just say sorry,” Lena said with a faint smile. “You don’t have to do anything more than that.”
Oskar’s heart skipped a beat at that. Other women would have expected something big as an apology. And he got it, because people wanted to feel special, like they were worth something. Then here was Lena Tate, who didn’t expect anything at all. Just a sorry.
“I hope you don’t find my gift too imposing, then,” he said, stepping closer to her. “And I’m sorry for my actions. I thought I was helping you, but I’m afraid I don’t really grasp small-town politics.”
“I figured,” Lena said, now resting her elbows on the reception desk, looking up in a coy way into Oskar’s eyes. He saw how long her eyelashes were, and that there was a tiny indent in her left cheek, like a scar. “Thank you. I’ve thought it over as well, and I believe you did mean well. I might have overreacted myself. So I’m sorry as well. Listen, I probably have about twenty minutes before the next customer comes in, so we can talk if you want.”
“Sure,” he said, smiling. He told her about his visit to the Geevor tin mines, and got her laughing when he started imitating the creepy guide, doing a terrible approximation of the accent. Her day was less exciting—browsing the internet, dealing with the odd customer in a day and age where less and less people bothered with books, so only the older people really utilized the library resources. He found he wanted to give more excuses for Lena to smile, because she really did have a pretty smile, though his thoughts also strayed to less innocent areas, instead imagining what she might be like when it came to the bedroom. Would she want to keep things chaste during their week together, or did he stand a chance of progressing things with her? Giving her a night to remember.
Maybe give himself one, too.
About thirty minutes into their talking, six customers came in at once, all seeming like they’d just left a nearby church, and Lena gave him a quick apology, touching his hand for a brief moment that made him blink and wonder if he’d imagined the contact, before she dealt with her new arrivals.
“Doing alright there?” Katie muttered to Oskar, who again was subjected to unusually hungry stares from the older women of the group, and appraised by the men.
“Great,” Oskar said, listening to the elders compliment the beautiful decorations of the library, feeling rather proud of himself. “We should try and plan another date somewhere. I’m also thinking maybe we could arrange to take her out of town if she’s got enough time off. Maybe I could fly her.” He didn’t usually fly people when he morphed into dragon form, but it certainly was an effective way of getting around fast. And he did have a license to fly in every state in America. It just seemed more professional to do things the human way, get in first class cabins and interact with celebrities across the board. The visitors took a great chunk of Lena’s time to sort out, as they varied from returning books, asking for new suggestions, then meandering around
the library like lost shoppers.
“The rush hour,” Lena joked to him, now checking the returned books more thoroughly than before for any signs of damage. “At least none of them forgot a book this time, or had their beloved Pekinese bite some pages out of them. Always have to be careful with those.”
“The challenging life of a librarian,” Oskar said, though inwardly, he felt a little jealous of the simplicity of Lena’s work. Dealing with books and old people had to be far more relaxing than his line of work. No expectations other than to turn up and make sure the place didn’t burn down and people gave back their books by the due date. Must be nice to not have to worry. “It’s good work, what you’re doing. Someone’s got to make sure things run smoothly.”
Again, something flickered in her face that he couldn’t decipher. Had he said something offensive again? “Very true,” she said, sounding less tense than what was shown on her face. “Though it does feel very dead-end, like I’m not going anywhere.”
“You don’t like working here?”
She shrugged helplessly. “I like it. Of course I do. It’s a great job, honestly. It’s just… nothing changes.”
I can understand that, he thought. “Would you like to go on another date tonight, then? We could eat at the hotel—they have a nice selection of gourmet food there.”
“Oh…” Lena’s expression fell, taking on an oddly puppy-like sadness. “I’m sorry, I actually have somewhere to go tonight.”
“You do?” Oskar glanced at Katie, wondering if this was some error on his part, and now she was gently refusing him. Despite being the one to pay for him.
“Yeah… my mother. She’s been harping on about me not visiting enough, and she needs some groceries done because she’s messed her back up. So I have to go over, cook, and listen to her talk my ear off. I’d love the date, honestly… but I can’t ditch my mom like that.”