Locating the garbage, I dumped the remnants and went in search of her.
I found her in the only other room of the house I hadn’t been in. Another square room, only with superhero posters lining the walls. Mara was sifting through the DVDs lining a shelf.
“Got a thing for Batgirl?”
She spun around with a gasp. “For a big guy, you move quietly.”
Four disk cases lay in a pile and a portable DVD player was at her feet.
“Wouldn’t a tablet be easier to cart around and watch movies on?” I wandered around the room, studying the posters.
“Yes, but these are already purchased and I can send them back to the nursing home with her.”
Why didn’t her mom have her own tablet with movies on it? They only cost a few hundred dollars.
Her cupboards were full of cheap food and the house barely broke four digits in square footage. A few hundred dollars meant more to Mara than to me. I could go out and buy all the tablets sold in the Twin Cities and not even flinch, yet Mara couldn’t afford one.
For the first time, I felt a twinge that I’d done something wrong. My bottom line wouldn’t miss the strip mall that much, and I’d recover the loss with my other endeavors quickly enough. The tenants who’d move into the high-end condo I had planned would be financially well-off whether or not I built them a luxury home, but Mara would be out of an income stream. And that not only affected her but her mother.
But that was how women like Mara worked. Prey on men’s sympathies, tug their heartstrings. I shook myself out of my musings. I wasn’t responsible for Mara’s financial decisions and I’d never condone conning hard-working people out of their property.
“As for Batgirl,” Mara retrieved her items and dropped them into a tote, “this used to be my old room and I was all about girl power growing up.”
“Explains Supergirl, too.” I indicated the other poster hanging up.
“Exactly.” She flashed me a smile and I saw the impish little girl who used to envision herself in powerful female superheroes.
“Then why Star Wars?” I indicated the disks she’d packed.
“Remember, I’m named after Mara Jade Skywalker.”
I broke out in a grin. “You, too. I was named after—”
Whoa. I’d almost said my real name.
Her head tilted as she waited for me to finish.
“Uh, I lost my train of thought. I can’t remember the story of where I got my name, but it wasn’t from Star Wars.” Star Trek and I didn’t dare say even that. She was smart enough to connect the dots. Named after a Trek character, a rich guy in sales with a driver, and a dad who’d recently passed away. Had Sam ever told her he’d named his son after Wesley Crusher from The Next Generation?
“Sam. Hmm.” She tapped her chin. “I can’t think of where that could be from, either. I’d have to know your parents’ tastes. Lord of the Rings? Samwise Gamgee, perhaps?”
My parents’ tastes had been wildly different. Why my mom hadn’t insisted on naming me Bentley or Tommy Hilfiger, I couldn’t guess. Maybe Jennifer had loved Sam once.
“Before we get going, do you want to go out one night this week?” What did people do on real dates? My dates knew sex was all I was interested in, but I needed to see Mara again—but not at work. Would she keep storming into my office building, demanding a meeting?
Her eyes brightened. “Sure. Catch a movie or something?”
The way she hung onto the tote, gripped in front of her in both hands, she looked so girlish and full of hope. Like she thought this might be a relationship that was going somewhere. On my end, nothing had changed. I wanted answers—why Sam? Had she targeted him from the beginning? Had her run-in with my dad at the convention truly been a coincidence? Had the location of her comic book shop been a calculated move because she’d known a single old man owned the place?
“What movie?” I hadn’t been to one in years. Sometimes, Flynn came over to watch a show in my home theater, but it was rare for us to have time off together.
“I’ve been wanting to see the new Avengers.”
I cocked an eyebrow and scanned her posters. “A DC girl wants to go to a Marvel movie?”
“It’s my job.” She started for the door and I followed her out to the car. “Have you ever been into Arcadia?”
“I haven’t. My work doesn’t take me by there too often.” I almost went as far as saying I’d never heard of Arcadia, but I’d been obsessed with it since going through my father’s documents after he died. The lie would be too easy to slip up on. Until my father’s passing, that whole strip mall had been nothing but an eyesore I couldn’t believe Sam had hung onto.
She tossed me the keys. “You’ll have to stop by so I can show you around before it closes.”
“I think I will.” For the satisfaction of seeing her clearing her shelves and filling packing boxes.
Chapter 7
Mara
I blasted the display case with cleaner. If it weren’t for the fact that 60 percent of the clientele were grown-ass men, I’d swear fifteen preschoolers had been pawing the glass.
I scrubbed the greasy prints off and blew a pink bubble half the size of my head with my gum. It made the most satisfying smack when it popped.
“Good one.” Chris, my only employee, was sorting and organizing titles behind me.
“Thank you.”
We were both subdued. I’d just had the shut-down talk with him before we opened.
I eyed my work. Stalling, that’s what I was doing.
“I guess I’d better go make those signs.” I straightened and wrapped my arms around myself. My store wasn’t chilly, but a gray cloud hung over me now when I was in it. No more orders. No more excitement about opening more days, hiring more workers, thinking of new ways
