Page 24 of Look My Way
“You’re saying stalking people who save your life isn’t one of yours?” He cocks a brow, and I laugh, pressing my back to the chair.
“I mean, I was talking about the ones I’d want to tell others about, but if I’m really being honest, I like to slit the throats of people who hurt others, on Sundays after attending church service.”
His smile fades before coming back and he laughs. “Is that all?”
“Nah, I also collect items from my targets before and after I catch them. It’s actually how I got this necklace.” I tap at the chain wrapped around my neck and his belly shakes from laughing harder. It feels good being honest with him. He doesn’t believe me, but I’m still sharing a part of me I can’t share with anyone aside from my sister who figured out my dark truths in the worst way.
“Well in that case, if any of them have any plants or stones, make sure to think of me.”
“I will,” I say, squeezing his hand before standing from my chair. We clear the table together and I load the dishwasher while he takes the napkins to the hamper in the laundry area. As he’s walking back into the kitchen, his eyes narrow in on something by the soap dispenser. It’s a painted stone with green swirls and pretty pink flowers.
“I started off painting them for my garden, and then they found their way inside my house. I like leaving them in random places for people to find too, hoping to bring a smile to a stranger’s face. Sometimes it’s flowers with sweet messages and others its silly animals.”
I pick up the one by the sink, caressing the smooth surface. “I love them. I bet others do too when they see them.”
“I used to leave them for people close to me too. Not sure if they kept them, but I haven’t seen the ones I’ve given to Daniel in a long time.”
“If you left them for me, I’d proudly display them everywhere. Can you show me more?”
He nods with enthusiasm and shoves me through the short dark hallway, turning on a light as soon as he opens the first door we come across. It’s a bathroom. As I step in behind him it doesn’t take me long for the colorful stones on the back of the toilet and scattered around the sink to catch my attention.
My lips spread wide as my gaze lands on each one. The paintings are of different flowers. Lillies, poppies, dandelions and roses.
“Lovely.” I lift one up closer to the light, tracing over the dark green vines and brown thorns. It’s how I imagine we’d look together on rock, vibrant beauty and prickly darkness.
“There’s more, but I’m sure once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.”
Sounds more like Daniel’s words than his. “I want to see all you’re willing to show me.”
His eyes glimmer and he zips down the hall. I trail closely behind him, shutting off the light and loving the bounce in each of his steps to what I’d assumed was his office when I stripped the window bare. There are more stones on his desk with various dinosaurs. Farm animals sit on a shelf in front of books with his name on them. How did I not notice any of these before?
“I keep going back and forth between storing them away and setting them out. It comes off as clutter, but I also like looking at them while I’m working. Makes this room feel livelier and . . . and I don’t feel so alone.”
“I don’t see any clutter.” My fingers twitch as I debate over pocketing one. This is something precious to him that he’ll let me have if he wants me to. I’ll wait, like I am with everything else.
“Yeah . . . well, I know most probably would.” He straightens a glass figurine sitting between two stones with birds drawn on them.
He means Daniel, doesn’t he? He doesn’t have to say his name anymore for me to know exactly who he’s referring to. “I think many would disagree if you asked. Much like you, I think they brighten up the room and give it more personality. It says a lot about the person who lives here.” While mine says nothing about me. I’m not there enough to care how each room makes me feel, but I can definitely relate to growing lonely while sitting in my living room or bedroom too long. It’s why I don’t. Not unless I have a new souvenir to admire. But when compared to him, they all seem dull in comparison.
Every room would come to life and be brighter as long as he was in it. He’s all over this room too, each item around him representing his different moods and sides.
“Yeah . . . I do prefer to enter homes that look lived in versus something that would be featured in a home magazine.” He laughs, dimples popping out, and I want to touch them with more than my hands. Fidgeting with his shirt, he’s about to walk out into the hall, but then I yank a random book from the shelf, flipping through the pages so loudly he stops dead in his tracks.
“I haven’t read this one yet. Don’t think I’ve seen it in any of the online stores either.”
Spinning around, he lowers his eyes to the cover of the book. “Yeah, it’s only available at signings when I attend them. I’ve been meaning to republish them after I got the rights back from another publisher, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
His answer stirs more curiosity in me. “There’s others?”
Running a hand through his hair, he takes two steps toward the shelf and lowers himself to the ground to pluck several titles from the bottom. After scanning the section some more, he stands back up and hands me the stack of four books. “There’s these too. If you want them, you can just have them.”
Dragging them closer to me, I read over the titles, and that’s all it takes to secure my decision to take them all home with me when I leave. To read over them faster than the others. These have more of who he is in them, don’t they? He looked at them more lovingly than his others, and it’s obvious that lots of freedom went into creating the stories.
Shuffling the books around, I look more closely at the illustrated cover of “Obey Me.” There’s a man on his knees in front of another, and the faces change right before my eyes. It’s my hand on his cheek as he happily submits to me with those dimples showing. A buzzing sound comes from his phone and he jumps, panic rising in his eyes.
“It’s a lot later than I realized. I need to get ready for bed soon.”
That means Daniel’s on his way, and I can’t be here when he arrives.
