Monster In the Mirror, page 10
“Nothing, I guess. Why?”
“Amelia Marchand just called to invite us both to dinner. Deacon and Em will be there, too.”
Izzy straightened, the potatoes forgotten. “The woman who started this town? The witch? Emeranth’s aunt?”
Henry nodded. “Yes. Does that concern you?”
Izzy exhaled. “I guess not. That’s a lie. It does. But not enough to make me turn down the invitation. So long as you’re going. I don’t want to go by myself.”
“No, I’m definitely going. You don’t get an invite from the countess and say no. But it’s nothing for you to be worried about.”
“Easy for you to say. What if she found out who my brother is?”
Henry approached her. “She wouldn’t care. I promise.”
“I know you say that, but it’s still hard for me to imagine no one will care that someone like me has moved here.”
“Someone like you? Someone sweet and caring and nice?”
She smiled. “You know what I mean.”
“Yes, I do, and you have to believe me. In fact, that might be why Amelia invited you to dinner. To show you just how unconcerned she is with your presence.”
Izzy nodded. That would be something. “I do believe you. What do you wear to dinner with a countess?”
“I’ll be in a suit.”
She glanced back toward her bedroom, thinking about what was in her closet. She’d find something. That was the beauty of having good things to pick from. “I guess I’ll do a dress of some kind. Hard to go wrong in that. Should I bring something? A bottle of wine? A side of beef for her tiger?”
Henry laughed. “I’ll get a good bottle of wine and that will be enough.”
She turned back to the potatoes, tasting them with a fork. More salt. She added some and gave them a stir. The oven timer dinged again. She pulled the biscuits out. They were tall and golden brown and smelled like heaven.
She put some in a towel-lined basket and brought them to the table. Henry hovered nearby. “Are you sure there isn’t something I can do?”
He was so eager to help. She nodded. “Can you carve a chicken?”
“I am a doctor. I like to think I’m reasonably capable with a knife.”
She laughed. “Then it’s all yours. Knives are in the block there.”
He carved the chicken while she added everything else to their plates. Before long, they were sitting down to the meal.
He stared at his plate like it was a work of art. “I can’t tell you the last time I had a home-cooked meal like this. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She sipped her water. “Maybe I’m just buttering you up before I tell you how much I’m going to charge you to organize that lab.”
He snorted. “I don’t know how much it’s going to be, but whatever it is, it’s probably not enough. I know what a job you have ahead of you. Were you able to make any headway today?”
“Oh, absolutely. I have a whole plan mapped out.”
“You do?”
She cut a piece of chicken with her knife and ate it, pleased to find it was as delicious as she’d hoped it would be. “I’ll need the better part of a week, maybe less, but I’ll have that place in great shape.”
“Not saying I doubt you, but that’s a lot of work.”
“It’s what I do, and I like doing it.”
“Lucky for me.”
She appreciated the enthusiasm with which he ate. “I’d say lucky for me. I need the work.”
“If you can organize me, you can organize anyone. You should start your own business here.”
“I’d like to.”
“I’ll give you a recommendation, if it helps. After you’re done, I mean.”
“That would be great. But if we’re …” She’d almost said dating but stopped herself, not wanting to make that assumption. Was that what they were doing?
“If we’re what?” he asked as he filled his fork with mashed potatoes.
She shook her head, trying to find different words. “I was just going to say if we’re … friends and people know that, they might think your recommendation is biased.”
He put his fork down. “I’m confused. I thought we’d already become friends. I thought based on what happened in my office we were going to see what being more than friends might bring us. Did I miss something?”
A little smile curved her mouth, but she kept her eyes on her plate. “I just didn’t want to assume anything. This is all pretty new to me.”
He reached over and took her hand, bringing her head up. “Isadora, let me be perfectly clear. This is all pretty new to me, too, but I know one thing. I’m crazy about you. Assume all you want about that, okay?”
She laughed. “Okay.”
Henry pushed the intercom button and leaned toward the receiver while looking through the dividing window into the MRI room. He’d just moved Izzy into the coil. “We’re about to start. Are you comfortable? This is your last chance to move.”
“I’m fine,” Izzy replied.
“All right. Here we go.” He began the first set of scans, and the MRI’s loud thumping filled the room beyond, penetrating into the walls of the control room. He’d already explained to Izzy that the process would take about an hour. She’d been fine with that, telling him to do whatever he needed to get the information required.
He sat to watch the screens recording each section of her brain, but his mind drifted, returning to the curious evening he’d had.
Like always, he’d given himself the revised dose of dopamine inhibitors, then gone down to the basement, locking himself in around 10 p.m. just to be safe. He’d taken a book to occupy himself. Nothing unusual about that.
What was unusual was that he hadn’t changed into Edgar. He’d suspected that might happen based on the way he’d been feeling, but those off nights had become so rare, he’d stopped thinking they’d ever happen again. Now one had.
The frustrating part was that he didn’t know if it was because of something that occurred inside of him or because of the dopamine inhibitor or something else entirely.
There were too many variables at play, which meant tonight, he’d have to skip the inhibitors and get back to his baseline. He’d have to become Edgar, plain and simple. Without anything in his system to tamp down Edgar’s baser instincts.
Not something he looked forward to.
He watched Izzy’s scans continue to come in. Maybe he could try to pull some data from the evening, though.
Edgar generally removed any sensors Henry had placed on himself for that purpose, but Edgar had been less … active the last time he’d appeared. That could have been because of the inhibitors, but Henry was willing to try gathering new data all the same.
And if Edgar tore the sensors from his skin as he always had before, then Henry really hadn’t lost anything. But if he didn’t … the data he could gain would be priceless. Worth the effort.
He monitored the machines until the MRI was done, then pressed the intercom again while also moving the bed Izzy was lying on out of the coil. “All done, Izzy. How are you feeling?”
“All right. Can I move now?”
The bed was all the way out now. “Yes.”
She stretched and wiggled, flexing her hands and lifting her arms. “I’m glad that’s over.”
“I bet. I’ll be right in.”
He let the software do its thing while he went in to see her. She was still lying down. “You can get up now. Just not too fast, in case you get dizzy.”
He offered her a hand, and she took it to sit up. “Thanks. So do you know anything yet?”
“Not yet, but I’ll spend the next few hours going over your scans and give you my best interpretation.”
“You promise to be honest with me?”
He nodded. “I promise. Even if it’s not good news. But I don’t expect that. I expect that everything is just fine with you.”
“I hope so.”
“Why don’t you get dressed while I collect the readouts to take with me, and then we can go to Brightman’s and see about that filing cabinet.”
She nodded. “Sounds good. I’m ready to get to work.”
Brightman’s Used Furniture was located in a large section of the warehouse that also housed Brightman’s Upholstery.
They strolled through the doors with no expectations, but Henry was surprised by the selection. “There’s a lot of stuff in here.”
“I’ll say.” Izzy went right over to a small side chair in a bright blue, white and green floral pattern. “This is really cute.” She turned the tag over, then shot Henry a look. “Is there a sale going on?”
He glanced around. “I don’t know. I don’t see a sign. Why? Hoping for a discount?”
“Always, but no. This chair, which looks brand new, is only marked a hundred dollars. That seems too cheap.”
“Hi, folks.” An older man walked toward them. “Welcome to Brightman’s. Anything I can help you find today?”
Henry nodded. “We’re looking for a lateral file. Three or four drawers high.”
“I have a black three-drawer and a tan four-drawer. Both have a few dents and scrapes, but they’re still in great working order.” The man stuck his hand out. “Elias Brightman. I don’t think we’ve met before.”
Henry shook his head. “I haven’t been in before, but I see now I should have.” He was reluctant to introduce himself, but politeness required it. “Dr. Henry Jekyll. And this is my friend Isadora. Great place you have here.”
“Thank you,” Elias said.
Henry looked at Izzy, who was now sitting in the side chair. “Which do you think? Three-drawer or four?”
“We should probably have a look at them.” She planted her hands on the arms of the chair and spoke to Elias. “Any chance you do layaway?”
Henry shook his head. “Izzy, if you like that chair, let’s just get it. I can deduct it from what I’m going to owe you.”
She got up. “I was just curious. I don’t need it. Let’s go look at those filing cabinets.”
Elias led them through the different sections of furniture until they reached an area that was all office pieces. The lateral files that he’d described as scraped and dented barely seemed used to Henry.
Izzy took one look at them and nodded at the four-drawer. “The big one, definitely. You have a lot of files, and I’d rather have leftover space than not enough. Pretty sure I can make that one work, though.”
“We’ll take the tan one,” Henry told Elias. “But I think we’d like to look around a little more.”
“Sure thing. For the sake of delivery, can you tell me where you live?”
“Right off of Fiddler Street. My office is there next to Noble’s Pizza.”
Elias nodded. “I know the place. I can have this delivered before five today. Will that work?”
Henry nodded. “Sounds great.”
“All right. I’ll get this written up, and when you folks are ready to check out, you just give me a holler.”
“Thanks.” Henry smiled at Izzy. “You should get that chair. And anything else you want. I am more than happy to deduct it from the vast sums I’ll be paying you.” Truth was, he would have happily bought her anything she wanted, no repayment necessary, but he had a feeling she wouldn’t go for that.
She laughed. “It won’t be vast sums.” She glanced back toward the way they’d come. Back toward the chair. “Are you sure you wouldn’t mind? I really don’t want to take advantage of our friendship …”
“Please. Take advantage of it. Let me help you. It makes me feel good to do it.” He was being as honest as he could be, because he didn’t know how else to make her understand that helping people filled a need in him. It was why he’d become a doctor, not just because of his curse. Helping people made him feel like he was balancing out Edgar in some small way.
That made him realize something. “You know the way you like to organize things? How it brings you peace?”
She looked at him with understanding. “Yes.”
“That’s how helping people, you especially, makes me feel. Make sense?”
She smiled. “Yes. And thank you.”
“All right. Let’s go shopping.”
An hour later, Izzy had found more than just the chair. She’d picked up two barstools for the kitchen counter and found a nice Oriental-style rug for the living room, a pair of simple dark wood nightstands for the bedroom, and a pair of lamps to go on them.
Henry couldn’t have been happier. He could have shopped with her all day. It was such an ordinary thing to do and yet nothing he’d ever done before.
They were just about to find Elias when Henry spotted a bunch of canvases leaning against a bookcase. “Hey, you don’t have a lot of art in your place. Maybe there’s something in here you might like.”
Izzy shook her head. “I think I’ve done enough damage for one day. I can’t spend everything working for you is going to earn me. I have to be able to pay bills, too.”
“Then let me buy one for you. As a housewarming present.”
She smirked, rolling her eyes a little. “You mean a pity present.”
He took her hand. “I don’t mean that at all. Come on, pick something out.”
She came closer. “There might not even be anything I like.”
“And yet,” he said, “there might be.”
She started at the front, pulling the canvases toward her as she scanned them. “Hmm.”
“What?”
Her smile was shy. “I kind of like this one.”
He looked at it. The painting was of a brightly colored toucan nestled in some palm fronds with a tropical blue sea in the background. It wasn’t something he’d expected Izzy to pick out, and he liked it all the more for that reason. “It’s great. You should get it. On me, of course.”
“You really like it?”
“I do.” He nodded. “Hard to look at a thing like that and not be happy.”
“I thought so, too. And happy is good.”
He looked at her, a little overwhelmed by this magical, beautiful woman who’d come into his life. “Happy is everything.”
Her smile broadened, and she leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thank you. For the painting. And for everything.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I will let you buy me this painting on one condition.”
He would have agreed to anything. “It’s a deal.”
She snorted. “I haven’t told you the condition yet!”
“Doesn’t matter. I already agree.” He shrugged. “But you can still tell me what it is.”
“I’m taking you to lunch. Anywhere you like. Your choice.”
“But I thought you didn’t have any money.”
“I don’t. Not much. But I can swing lunch.”
“If you really want to.”
“I do. Please let me.”
He could see the sincerity in her eyes and understood her need to do something in exchange for his kindness. Besides that, it would be a great chance to spend more time with her. “I would love for you to take me to lunch.”
Izzy walked into the Sunshine Diner beside Henry. Sunflowers decorated the whole space, giving it a bright, cheery vibe that made it easy to forget the overcast skies outside. “This is cute.”
“And they have great food, although it’s been a while since I’ve been here,” Henry said.
“How come?”
“Not sure, really. I guess I just got into a rut with Five Bells.”
“Well, I’m glad you picked it.” She had a feeling his choice had something to do with pricing, too. Diners were generally a good value for the portions they served. She appreciated his concern, but dipping into her savings to treat him was a small price to pay for all he’d done for her. And continued to do.
A server behind the counter greeted them. “Have a seat wherever you like and someone will be right over.”
They took a booth by the window, settling in on each side. There were menus stuck behind the container of napkins on the table. Izzy picked two out and handed one to Henry. “What’s good here?”
“As far as I know, all of it.”
“Yeah?” She opened her menu and took a look. Standard diner fare, which pleased her. Not many places like this existed anymore. “They have chocolate malts! I might have to get one of those. Although I don’t want to ruin my appetite for dinner tonight, either.”
She put her menu down to see him better. “What do you think Amelia will serve? Will it be really fancy?”
“I’ve never been to dinner at her house, but my guess is that it will be fancy enough to impress while not being so fancy that it’s not a good meal. If that makes sense.”
She smiled. “It does. So you think smallish portions of really good, very well-prepared food.”
He nodded. “Something very much like that. So if you want a chocolate malt, get one, because I don’t think we’ll get stuffed at Amelia’s.”
“Perfect.” She closed her menu. “In that case, I’m getting a cheeseburger, French fries, and a chocolate malt. There’s very little chance she’ll serve the same thing.”
He laughed. “I’d say that’s a sure bet.” He closed his menu. “I’m getting the same thing. It sounds really good. And it’s been a while since I’ve had a cheeseburger.”
The server, a silver-haired woman with a name tag that read Jean, came over with two glasses of water. She wore red cat-eye glasses with lipstick to match. Her hair was teased up high, and she had a sparkly barrette clipped into it. “Have you kids had a chance to look at the menu?”
“We have,” Izzy answered. “I’d like a cheeseburger, French fries, and a chocolate malt.”
“Lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, and sunshine sauce?”
Izzy nodded. “Yes, please.” She didn’t even care what sunshine sauce was; she wanted it.
Jean grinned. “Girl after my own heart. What about you, son?”
“Same exact thing,” Henry answered.
“You got it. Be right up.” Jean took off for the kitchen.
Izzy stifled a laugh. “She’s kind of amazing.”
Henry nodded. “I feel like I want to come back here just because of her.”
