Snuffed Out - Tim Myers [37]
“But I can’t just mess it up. It’s so pretty.”
“Keep it if you want to, but I wouldn’t burn it.” I reached for one of her other efforts and started the process over again. She watched raptly, and refused when I offered her another try. “You do it. Let me learn at the feet of the master.”
“I’m hardly that,” I said as I quickly pinched the wick into the softened wax and rolled a tight candle.
She took it when I offered my effort and compared it to her own. “Okay, I see what you mean. I’ll practice more.”
“That’s all it takes,” I agreed.
“I wouldn’t say that. I think you’ve got the knack, Harrison. Did you have a nice time on the river?”
“It was glorious. The leaves are beautiful, aren’t they?”
“Absolutely.” She looked at the clock over her desk and said, “Is that the time? I’m late. Sony, Harrison, but I’ve got to go.”
“Do you have a date?” I asked casually.
As she shooed me out the front door, she said, “That is none of your business, sir.” To take the edge off her words, she added, “Thanks for the lesson.”
“Thanks for the row. I’ll be back.”
“I’m counting on it.”
As I headed back to River’s Edge, I found myself wondering who Erin was meeting. It was frankly none of my business, she’d made that clear enough on more than one occasion, but there was a part of me that wished she’d been rushing around to meet me.
Pearly was just finishing up mounting the last security light when I drove back to River’s Edge.
I said, “They look good.”
“If you don’t mind the irony that we’re putting them up a day late, I suppose you’re right.”
“Do think this is a waste?” The bill for the lights was pretty healthy, but I didn’t feel I’d had any choice.
“No, Harrison, don’t pay any attention to me. I’m in a dark mood, and I’m not afraid to admit it to the world. The only company I’m fit for tonight is my own.”
“I’ll leave you to it, then,” I said as I excused myself.
“Now don’t go off like that. I wasn’t talking about you. It’s the finer gender I’m discussing.”
“If you have problems with the woman in your life, I’m the last one to discuss it with. I’m going through a bit of a dry spell myself.”
“Dry spell? Don’t I wish. I happen to be in the awkward position of having three different women vying for my attention at the moment.”
“Why Pearly, I never would have taken you for a ladies’ man.” I hated to admit it, but I was enjoying some of the man’s discomfort.
“Laugh if you will, but it’s serious enough. Harrison, since my dear sweet wife died, I haven’t been involved with anyone. The hole where she isn’t is still entirely too large. I believed, in my naïveté, that if I dated several ladies at the same time, I wouldn’t be confronted with any one of them getting too close. I wasn’t necessarily trying to keep secret the fact that I was seeing them all, but confound it, they somehow managed to find out about one another anyway, and now they’ve given me an ultimatum. I’m to choose one or lose all three.”
I patted him on the shoulder. “Pearly, I wish you the best, but I wouldn’t trade places with you for anything in the world.”
“I’d say you’re a wise man for that decision alone, Harrison. Well, I’m finished here. What say we give them a test?”
“What do I do?” It was nearly dark, with the hours of sunlight lessening with each passing day.
“Stand here in the shadows and we’ll check them. Let me throw the breaker first.”
He came back a minute later, and I said, “Sorry, it didn’t work.” It was as dark as when he’d left.
“Ah, watch this.” He stepped off the porch and the lights suddenly came on in all their intensity, nearly blinding me.
‘They work on motion sensors,” he explained. “That should scare off any would-be vandals, don’t you think?”
“It should do the trick. I know it will certainly get my attention upstairs.”
“The perils of living at the establishment you own,” Pearly said as he put his tools away. “We each have our own problems, and I trust we haven’t been given more than we can handle.”