Page 37 of Shadowed Rubies
As we made our approach, I realized the ‘For Rent’ sign was barely visible through the dust-coated front window.
“Don’t judge it until you’ve seen inside.” Molly warned me as we climbed the stained, cracked concrete stairs to the entryway.
The prim real estate agent coughed into her black trench coat sleeve after opening the glass door for us. She tentatively peeked inside the chilly space and turned up her pert nose before saying, “I’ll be out here if you need anything.”
As soon as the door closed behind her, Molly turned to me and said, “Ignore her. If you use a bit of imagination, can’t you see how magnificent this place could be?”
I wanted to tell her that the non-descript, unkempt space would require a great deal more than a ‘bit’ of imagination for anyone to think it was anything resembling magnificent, or even good, but when she whirled around with her arms in the air, it was easy to see how important this was to her.
“You look like you’re in the snow-capped mountains on the movie set forThe Sound of Music.” I grinned to let her know I was just teasing.
Ribbing me right back, she said, “Oh, you’ve actually seen that movie?”
“Of course, it’s a classic.”
“Well, so arePretty Woman,Dirty Dancing,Ghost,Footloose,Sixteen Candles, andSleepless in Seattle, but you somehow managed to miss all of those.” She shook her head as if disgusted by my lack of popular culture exposure.
Brightening with an idea, she said, “You and I are doing a movie marathon to watch all of those this weekend.”
When I scrunched my face in doubt, she added, “I won’t take no for an answer. Don’t make me use our secret sister power to mind-control you.”
She pointed to the scar Kevin had left on her forehead, which looked remarkably similar to mine. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the silly woman, but I still wasn’t convinced.
“Max is scheduled to be off for a rare weekend, so I don’t want to miss that quality time with him. Maybe another time?” I suggested, hoping that she would forget to reschedule. The thought of wasting an entire weekend lounging mindlessly in front of an electronic screen was not overly appealing.
“He can come,” Molly offered.
When I started to shake my head, she added confidently, “He’ll gripe and pretend like he doesn’t want to watch chick flicks, but he secretly loves them.”
I smiled as I remembered how excited he was about sharing the finer points ofLegally Blondewith me. Since I’d enjoyed that movie and our subsequent polar plunge a great deal more than I had anticipated, I nodded at Molly and said, “Sounds like a great plan.”
She squealed and pulled me into a hug before quickly stepping back and changing gears. Pointing at the front windows, she said, “Once these are sparkling clean, they’ll let a lot of natural light into this space. It would be an ideal location for a little tea shop, children’s bookstore, or aromatherapy boutique.”
I nodded as she rushed on. “Or maybe I could open a beeswax candle gallery where people could come and make their own candles.”
Without giving me a chance to respond, she grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the back, “Look back here. This room would be an ideal spot for a yoga studio.”
Looking around the small breakroom, I wondered if there would be enough space for people to stretch out their yoga mats.
Stalling for time, I reached into my pocket to retrieve a handful of almonds. When I offered Molly one, she quickly shook her head. Shrugging, I popped a couple into my mouth.
It was thrilling to be growing closer to Molly. She seemed to be starting to think of me as a sister, and I didn’t want to ruin that or dash her dreams, but someone had to be the voice of reason with her before she spiraled out of control with these half-baked plans.
When I followed her back out to the main room and she said, “Oh! Maybe I could open a matchmaking agency,” I swallowed the almonds and grabbed my opportunity.
“Hold on… Weren’t you saying just the other day that it seems like everyone in town is paired off?”
“Except me,” she inserted after I intentionally left that part out.
Ignoring that and trying to be delicate with her feelings, I said, “So, there might not be quite enough of a market in town for a matchmaking agency to thrive.”
She plopped down and sat cross-legged on the threadbare carpet as if my logic had just popped her birthday balloon. Trying not to think about how dirty my wool slacks would get, I sat down right beside her on the floor.
In a rare serious moment, the woman said, “I have to figure out some way forward in my life. Everyone else my age is busy falling madly in love and starting families. They have real careers and they’re achieving their dreams. Meanwhile, I don’t even have any dating prospects or concrete ideas of what I want to do with my life.”
“It’s okay,” I assured her. “Everyone feels lost and left out sometimes.”
Molly angled a glare in my direction. “Don’t even pretend like you understand. You’ve known you wanted to be a doctor, practically since you were born, and you made it happen. Do you know how lucky you are to have such clear goals and see them come to fruition?”
