Page 30 of The Aura Answer
Gracie wrinkled her nose in distaste. “What offer?”
Nick wrinkled his forehead in thought. “Some company wants a local marketing coordinator for a land project. I’m not sure why the owner of a sporting goods store is involved.”
“Huh, that’s a little weird. And he hated Bertie. Why on earth would he want his work?”
She didn’t think Nick had any interest in remaining in Afterthought any longer than it took for the court case to end, so the job offer was just weird and possibly an excuse for asking about the sketches. She examined them in the dim light. Only one contained an image of Teddy. Perhaps he hadn’t wanted to specify that one? Not out of modesty, for certain. Teddy considered himself a rock star. There was something surreptitious about all this.
She gave that a second thought. “Howdid he know we have the sketches?”
“Mrs. Janus maybe? I never question potential customers, only think how I can squeeze their wallets. She worked quickly, if so. If there really is interest, I think I’ll run down to the Barn tomorrow and acquire a few more of those. Your family has quite a few good frames sitting around. I can probably make fifty to seventy-five dollars on the small frames. Add the sketches—maybe a hundred fifty?”
That number drove Teddy straight out of her head. “I only paid twenty for the sketches already framed!”
“As you say, Sammy is not a natural salesman. He picked those shoddy frames up at a garage sale by the box for a few dollars. Probably gave his brother a tenner for each sketch. If he came off with ten profit, he’d be happy.”
“If he can’t sell them for twenty, how are you—”
Nick grinned, caught her by the waist, and steered her out the door, flipping off the light as he went. “He’s not me.”
“This isn’t like stolen auto parts, is it?” she asked in suspicion as he locked up, avoiding any reaction to his manhandling.
They’d never locked the garage before. But Nick was seeing money where no one else had. She hadn’t even known there was a lock.
“Not stolen,” he reminded her. “I’ll pay fair price. I add a little magic to the frames, spend a little more on good mats... I won’t make a fortune but a few dollars for groceries helps.”
She was so rattled she forgot his too-familiar arm around her until they reached the porch. Then she stiffened and walked ahead. “Maybe you should buy all of Bertie’s sketches. I don’t think he would want Teddy Jr. anywhere near them.”
She marched inside, leaving him to follow, whistling. The Brit took everything with insouciance. What waswrongwith him?
Inside, the kitchen filled with the aroma of pizza, and the kids were carrying plastic plates to the dining room table. Gracie was utterly amazed at how domestic weird Pris had become.
“Is Jax done filming disaster?” Gracie asked as she dug out napkins and utensils.
“He’s helping Mr. Patel take a few of his family’s heirloom fruit carts back to his house. That poor man has suffered so much. It doesn’t seem fair he should have to start all over.” Evie was in the booth, texting rapidly. “Mom and I are contacting a few contractors.”
“If his insurance is as slow as mine, they’ll have no income for months. I think he has a dozen kids to feed. He’s been bringing in a lot of his younger siblings.” Grace grimaced. “Do they celebrate Christmas?”
“Don’t know, but if we do, then we should be the Magi and bring gifts to them.” Dante jotted notes on his phone. “Food, first. Rent?”
“Let’s wait for Jax. He’ll have a better idea about what kind of insurance they have.” Evie scooted out of the booth.
Nick washed the wood stain and turpentine off and dried his hands on a towel Pris handed him. “It took Jax to bring the insurance company in with a reasonable offer after the fire that left me unemployed. Mr. Patel will need an inventory of everything in the store. In the meantime, is there any place else he can set up?”
“Being out there at the end of town, he had a lot of parking space. I don’t think there’s any place with enough room for his carts in town,” Gracie called from the dining room where she helped the kids set the table.
“What about the Antique Barn? Maybe Sammy could rent him some space?” Nick asked. “It’s just down the road. I could make signs.”
The others leaped on Nick’s idea and ran with it.
Stunned at how easily the suave Englishman had inserted himself into her family, Gracie remained silent.
What if Nicholas Gladwell decided to stay in Afterthought? Set up the antique shop he obviously knew how to operate? Or accepted Teddy’s weird offer of a marketing job? What if the too-sexy Brit was right here in her face every day from here on out? Her cautious nature clenched in panic.
Jax’s motorcycle roared up, diverting her distressing train of thought.
He came in smelling of smoke and casting off his motorcycle jacket, trailing Reuben in a leather blazer. Still wearing his kinky hair in a man bun, the engineer inhaled the pizza aroma and produced a six-pack of beer. “Got salad?”
Gracie handed him the bowl. Reuben looked weary but content, which was more than he had when he’d arrived last spring. Wearing a stylus instead of a bone in his hair, lacking all his former metal except one earring, he blended into the family chaos.
