Iron & Wine

Chapter Nineteen - All That Glitters

He pondered on it for a moment, looking at my face, searching again. "Yes, I think it does. Shall we?" And that was the end of that discussion. Jack held out his arm for me to take and we strolled down the street toward the shopping center.

We walked in complete silence for twenty minutes. I wanted so badly to talk to him some more. I wanted to know what this was, what he wanted it to be. He said that he thought he knew what I meant before, but did he care? It wasn't until we were walking the isles in the costume shop that one of us actually said anything.

"So what did you have in mind?" Jack asked.

I was so dazed that it startled me to hear his voice bring me back to reality. "Excuse me?"

"For a costume, what did you have in mind?"

"Nothing really, I hadn't even thought about it. What about you?" I asked as I scanned the racks of cheesy costumes and skanky outfits. Yuck, I would never wear any of these. Maybe I could just throw on a sheet and cut two holes out for my eyes.

"Oh, I already have mine."

"What? Then why are you here?" I asked.

"To help you pick out an outfit of course," he replied with a crooked smile. I saw him glance at me from the corner of his eye. "Plus, it was a good excuse to see you again."

We looked at each other and, for a second, I felt like he was going to lean in and kiss me again. But he didn't, he just stared.

"So, tell me something about you," he suggested.

I huffed in frustration. "Like what?"

"I don't know, anything, all I know is that you work at the gallery and my sister absolutely adores you."

"Well that's pretty much me in a nutshell. There really isn't a whole lot to know about me." It was true, except for the fact that my roommates were fairies and I'd been raised by my young, eccentric aunt because my father was always away on safari. But I didn't want to talk about me right now. If he was in the mood to chat then I wanted some answers. "I'm sure you're way more interesting. Like what do you do? Where do you live?"

"Well, I travel around a lot. I do quite a bit of work for Celi's gallery, signing artists and all that. And I do work with other galleries here and there. I guess you could call me a freelance representative. I currently live with Celadine, but most of the time I live where ever I am at that point in time."

"That's kind of sad. I mean, not having a place to call your own."

"I have a home with Celadine. The house she lives in has been in our family for...a very long time," he replied and grinned to himself. But there it was. That same, cryptic code that they often spoke around me, as if I was too naive or too stupid to be able to handle the truth.

"So what's the deal with you guys, anyway?" I asked. I was taking a risk here. He could answer my question or he could shut me out. I was betting the latter of the two.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked innocently. But I could see through him. I could see there was something that I didn't know, and it was driving me nuts. Maybe he was married? That would explain the secretive behaviour. It would also explain why Celadine was so angry that Jack was pursuing me.

"Well, Celadine doesn't seem to be too pleased that you and I are spending time together." I had to be careful with the way I worded things. I didn't want him to think that I thought this was something more than what it might actually be. "You guys were arguing at the gallery, so why would she care so much?"

Jack seemed to be having an internal argument with himself. His face frowned as he concentrated on what to say. "Well, my sister cares for you a great deal, more than a mere employee or a friend even. She was never one for...sharing."

I was totally confused. "Is Celadine gay?" I whispered to Jack. He threw his head back and practically cackled in laughter.

"No need to make fun, geez. You don't really explain things clearly. I'm kind of putting together a puzzle without all of the pieces, ya know?" I crossed my arms and huffed, looking away in embarrassment.

Jack moved closer to me and laid both his hands on my shoulders. They felt like iron claws gripping both my arms, yet he was gentle. He lifted my chin so my face would meet his eyes.

"It is not my business to tell you about Celadine's life. But I can assure you one thing, she is not gay. She values you as a daughter, maybe even a sister, I guess you could say, considering the age difference."

"Oh, well then, I feel silly." I tried to put my head down, but he wouldn't let me. "Um, so what do you value me as?" I asked. He was giving me all the wrong answers, it made me happy to know that Celadine cared for me as much as I cared for her, but I still needed to know Jack's agenda.

"Well, at first I was just curious about my sister's interest in you." He let me go then, and backed away. "But now, I don't know." He appeared ashamed almost, as he admitted this. Maybe he did have another life somewhere else, and I was just some little fling he was considering. Well, I wasn't about to let myself get trampled all over by some guy, no matter how beautiful and tempting he might be.

"I see, well if you're not sure then maybe you should stop wasting your time and leave." I grabbed the closest packaged costume and headed to the checkout counter. As the lady rang me in, I heard the bell ring signalling the door opening. I didn't need to look up to know that it was someone leaving.

"You can get the body glitter half price with this costume," mentioned the lady at the checkout. She was shorter than me, with half of her head shaved and the other half dyed yellow.

Engulfed in my own rage, I wasn't even paying attention to her, so when she spoke it confused me.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, trying my best to pay attention.

"The body glitter. You can get it for half price with any of the fairy costumes." She was kind of looking annoyed now.

I glanced down at the package I'd randomly picked up. A green and pink fairy princess costume. What a coincidence. Julie and Lattie would love this. I chuckled and nodded to the lady as she threw the glitter in my bag.