Page 9 of Candy

I was a no-good motorcycle-riding criminal fool who worked in a tavern. I had blood on my hands and dirty money under my bed. I had pillaged, fought, lied, stolen, and fucked more women than I could count.

My hands had no right to touch that woman. I should be lucky if she’d let me clean mud off her shoes.

But I had kissed her, and holy-flying-shit, it had been one of the best kisses I had ever had. That didn’t mean that it would happen again. I was sure she was outside, thinking that if she had the choice of kissing me again or jumping from the roof, she would take the chance of breaking every bone in her gorgeous body.

Yet, she came through the window, nailing me with those bright-blue eyes when her feet were back on the floorboards. Fuck! I needed to get away from this woman before I did or said something stupid, like, can I please worship your glorious body?

We managed to get down to the basement, and when I glanced her way, I found a somber expression on her face as she slowly moved around, staring at the walls.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sadly, there is a lot,” she murmured, then spoke at a higher level. “Do you see the cracks here in the cinder blocks?”

“Yeah, what about them?”

“Do you see how they climb, like stairs along the wall?” I followed what she pointed out.

“I see it. What does it mean?”

“It means that the foundation of the building is shifting, and by the number of cracks I see down here, it is quite significant.”

“Okay, does that mean it will fall or something?”

I shook my head. “Nothing quite that serious, at least for several years, but those cracks upstairs will worsen, and other things will start having issues, like doors closing and sticking.”

“The bathroom on the second floor sticks now. That just started a couple of months ago.”

“This would be why.” She sighed.

“I just thought it was the humidity or something.”

“Many people think that, but it only takes a slight shift for things to get wonky.”

“Wonky, huh?”

She chuckled. “Yeah, wonky is kind of my word.”

“Why?”

She stared at me for a moment. “Maybe someday I will share that, but now, I need to take some measurements and study these walls more. I will have to get equipment out of my vehicle and quickly scan the basement.”

“Alright.” I paused and glanced at the clock on my phone. “Are you okay to be down here alone? I have to get ready to open soon. It’s almost eleven.”

“Go ahead. I’m fine here.”

I nodded and started walking away, thinking that she was indeed fine—very, very fine.

She was in the basement for over an hour. When she came up the stairs, she was on the phone. “Alright, I will see you in a little while.” She hung up as she set a piece of luggage beside her.

“Going on a trip?” I asked.

She smirked. “No, that scans the wall and helps me determine how much everything shifted.”

“How bad is it?”

She winced. “It’s not good.”

While the restaurant part of the tavern was open and a few patrons were having lunch, the bar was still empty. “Do you mind if I sit at the bar and finish my report? Howard is coming by so I can tell him what I found.”

---