Page 14 of Dark Love

The bouncer steps out of the car.

Mindy doesn’t live in a bad neighborhood, but having a big scary guy by our side isn’t a bad thing at all, especially since there’s no doorman at her building. Mindy walks over to unlock the door and I stand back to avoid crowding her.

Our bouncer doesn’t seem to have any issue with crowding people as he walks over to my side. He leans down and whispers in my ear, “Love like that is neither a fairytale nor a pipe dream.”

WHAT?!? How could he—

“Always assume people are listening.”

Oh my! Oh my! The only comfort I can find in this situation is that I’ll never see this man again. I shouldn’t have spoken so freely to Mindy. I shouldn’t have shared at all. Life never works out when I try to get closer to people.

Baking

Dahlia

Flour… check

Sugar… check

Molasses… check

Vanilla… check

The phone rings as I’m checking the pantry for the ingredients that I need to make cookies. Why do I always have chocolate chips but rarely remember to buy milk? “Hello.”

“Dahlia.”

“Hi, Mom!” I set the phone on the counter on speaker. Mom never calls to ask a quick question. “How are youand Dad?”

“We’re good. Work called him in to do a consultation again. They don’t seem to understand what retirement means.”

“A consult means Dad is going to take you on vacation.”

“That too.” She giggles. “I think we’ll go somewhere sunny before the foliage gets into full swing. Have you started to move your fall wardrobe out of storage yet? It’s getting chilly at night.”

“I need to do that.” Climbing up into the attic isn’t my favorite thing to do.

“Your father and I can come down and help you later in the week.”

“You don’t need to do that, Mom.” I set the flour canister on the bar next to the bowl.

“With work and everything, you don’t have much time. And we love to help you.”

More like you want to check to make sure I’m okay. “If you come down, I’ll take you and Dad to my favorite little restaurant. It’s this little hole in the wall place in an alley.”

“You eat in an alley! That doesn’t sound safe or sanitary.” Mom’s nose is probably wrinkled.

“You know I wouldn’t have moved here if Dad hadn’t said it was safe.”

“Safe is subjective. You’d be safer living with us. A woman living alone in a big city like Urbium is never truly safe.”

I thought the same thing until I did research on this little neighborhood. There hasn’t been so much as a single pick-pocketing incident, let alone a break-in here in two generations. It’s like criminals are afraid of this neighborhood. I probably wouldn’t even need to lock my doors at night, but there’s no sense in testing the limits. “Mom.”

“I know. I know. You’re an adult. You need your space to spread your wings and explore the world. I just wish you could explore here. Speaking of exploring; how is that new job of yours?”

“Hard. It’s really hard, but I think I love it.”

She sighs. “I’m really proud of you. Are you making friends at work? Some of the point of getting this job was to make some friends.”

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