The Haunted - Jessica Verday [26]
I pressed my face against the glass and cupped my hands around my eyes to block out the sun’s glare. It looked… different. “Does this place look clean to you? Do you think they’re cleaning it up?” I asked him.
He walked over to my side and peered in. “Umm, it kind of just looks old and crappy to me.”
Taking a step back, I tried to see it how he was seeing it. Yeah, the glass was cracked.
And there were cobwebs in one corner of the room. Plus, several lightbulbs needed replacing.
But the window itself was actually clean, not grimy like it had been the last time I was here, during Christmas. The floorboards looked freshly scrubbed and polished too.
Some spray bottles and rags were sitting near the back door. I jabbed a finger in their direction. “Look, over there!” I said. “Someone’s definitely been cleaning.” Suddenly, something moved inside the store.
“Did you see that?” I asked.
Ben nodded, and we both looked closer, trying to make out what it was. A figure moved in and out of the light, then disappeared into a back room.
“Come on.” I motioned for Ben to follow me.
“What? What’s up, Abbey? Why does it matter who that is?”
“Because this is my store! I mean, the store I’m going to open one day for my perfume business. And I want to make sure that someone else isn’t renting it.” He followed me reluctantly to the alley around back. The door was propped open with a plastic milk crate, and I stepped up to look inside the store. “Hello—” I was cut off as a large person came barreling out of the store and nearly collided with me.
He was holding a stack of boxes.
“Sorry,” I said, jumping out of the way. He jumped too, but managed to keep hold of his boxes.
“Oh, my. I didn’t even see you there. Just let me set these down over yonder.” The man sat the boxes near the wall and then came back to me. “Now, what can I do for you, little missy?”
He swept off the tall black hat he wore, and bowed low. A short red jacket stretched tightly across his shoulders, and I noticed that his black pants were oddly shiny. He looked sort of like a ringmaster from a circus.
“I noticed that someone was cleaning up the store here, and I wondered if it was going to be occupied. I just love the shops downtown.” I widened my smile and gazed up at him.
The man chuckled. “She’s still vacant for now. I was just prettying her up a bit.”
“Do you need any help with that?” I put on my I-am-a-very-polite-teenager voice.
“Ain’t you the nicest thing,” he said. “Thank you for your offer, but I do believe I can manage.”
“Do you own this store?”
“Oh, it’s mine.” He gave me a calculating smile, revealing a large set of white teeth.
“Lovely,” I said. “So since it’s been available for a while, would you be willing to offer a discount to the next person who rented it?” I thought I heard Ben snort, but I ignored him.
“Well, I can’t promise anything, since certain terms would have to be discussed. But I’m a generous landlord.”
“I’ll be graduating soon, so you might be hearing from me. If the terms are acceptable.”
“You are a clever little thing,” he said. “I think I like you.” Digging into his back pocket, he pulled out a business card and handed it to me with a wink. “Here’s my card.” I accepted it and looked down. “Thank you, Mr.—”
“Melchom,” he supplied.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Melchom. I’m Abbey Browning.” I stuck out a hand, and we shook.
“Good luck with your store.”
I turned to Ben, who had remained amazingly quiet the whole time. “Ready to go?” He nodded.
Once we were clear of the back entrance, Ben leaned in to me and drawled, “Why, you southern belle, you.”
“Oh, please. I was just being nice.”
Ben scoffed. “You were totally sweet-talking him! I was waiting for you to bat your eye-lashes and break out the sweet tea.”
“It’s called using my God-given charm, Ben. Haven’t you ever seen Gone with the Wind ?” He just shook his head at me. “Chick flick.” Then he froze mid-step. “Wait a minute.”
“What?”
He leaned in close and inspected my hair. “A bit of straw from the barn jest stuck right