“Oh, you dick.”
“Honestly, you’re pretty good. I’ve seen a couple of those episodes on Netflix, they’re pretty boring, but I definitely wouldn’t be able to paint something halfway decent just watching him. So good for you.”
“Yeah, well, he makes it easy.” She shifted toward the ladder. “I want to go back up there.”
I stepped closer to her, partly blocking her way. “Paint me something.”
“No, thanks. Can you move?”
“If you paint me something.”
“Ren, I’m serious.”
I laughed and shook my head. “All right, fine. Come for a walk with me tonight.”
“Ren—”
“You’ve been in a shit mood for the last few days. All you do is hide your ass up there and pretend like nothing else exists. All I’m asking for is a half hour of your time for a little walk around the block.”
She flexed her jaw but nodded. “Fine. Half hour. No more.”
“Not a second longer, my princess.”
She nudged me to the side and I let her pass. I watched her climb up then disappear into the attic.
* * *
She met me downstairs just after dark wearing a paint-stained sweatshirt and a pair of dark jeans.
“You got dressed up for me,” I said.
“We’re going for a walk, not to some fancy ballroom.”
“And if we were going somewhere fancy, what would you wear?”
She gave me a look. “Come on, asshole, let’s get moving.”
I smiled and followed her down the outside steps and onto the sidewalk. She headed toward town and I walked alongside her, quiet at first. Truth was, I didn’t care what she wore, so long as she was around me. That realization was a little strange, and I can’t recall the last time I felt that way about a girl, like it didn’t matter what she looked like or what she wore, all I wanted was to be around it. I felt that way about Amber, and the girl hated my guts, which probably said something about myself that I didn’t want to examine too closely.
“What do you think of your stay at Chez Leone so far?” I asked.
She looked at the houses as we passed them, mostly old Tudors, some fairly large and renovated, but most of them still sporting their original stone fronts. Bird vetch grew in thick, sweet clumps in one front yard, little purple flowers blooming large. Common mallow sprouted in the cracks between the sidewalk slabs. I thought about an old book my father left behind one day, a book of plants and animals, and I used to spend hours reading it, obsessing about every little detail, trying to memorize all the plants I’d likely come across. I had a weirdly extensive knowledge of weeds because of that, which isn’t exactly useful in my line of work.
“Boring, so far,” she said. “Mona’s really nice though. I guess I should be grateful.”
“Grateful?”
“They’re keeping me safe.” She stared down at her feet as she walked, her hands swinging loosely by her side. “Most people in my position wouldn’t get something like that. I mean, Vincent’s the don.”
I snorted. “What, are you having a change of heart?”
She glared at me. “No, I’m not.”
“Then what do you care?”
“I’m just saying. I was so angry when I first got here, but then I had a good conversation with Mona, and I started painting, and maybe it’s mellowing me out.”
I watched her closely for a quiet minute. I could see it, now that I looked closely: she didn’t hold herself so tight, didn’t seem like she was on the verge of skittering away at any second like a scared rabbit. She wasn’t loose, not exactly, but she wasn’t holding herself together through sheer willpower at least. I had to admit, she was probably right.
“That’s good then. You probably wouldn’t mind if we stayed here a while longer then.”
She shot me a look. “Did you hear something?”
“No, I didn’t. But I have a feeling Vincent’s going to want us to stay as long as the war’s still on, and I assume that’s happening.”
“You had to have heard something.”
I shrugged and didn’t answer. I had heard some things, rumors mostly, from guys I knew back in the city. The war wasn’t going well, not at all. Vince’s guys were fighting all the time, and the bodies were starting to pile up. The city was on edge and everyone felt like it was finally time for the whole thing to come crumbling down. I wasn’t so sure about that, it never seemed like Vince would end up being weak or some shit, and I figured it would take a lot more to bring the Leone family to its knees, but still. Nothing good was happening.
She didn’t need to know that. As far as I could tell, so long as it stayed quiet out near us, we’d probably stay in that house for months.
If it weren’t for her, and for the absurd amount of money Vincent was willing to pay me to stick around, I would’ve cut and run a while ago.