Divine Evil

circling planets just above the fingertips.
    When the phone rang, she walked back into the kitchen and answered with a mouthful of cake and cream. “Hello?”
    “Clare? Is that you?”
    “Yeah. Angie, hi. I've got my mouth full.”
    “What else is new?”
    “You tell me.”
    “I sold your
Wonderment Number Three
yesterday.”
    “No kidding? Well, that's cause for a celebration.” She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a Pepsi. “How's Jean-Paul?”
    “He's fine,” Angie said, smoothly lying. Neither of them were fine since Blair was keeping them updated on all the news in Emmitsboro. “How are things there?”
    “The corn crop looks good.”
    “Well, we can all sleep easy now. Clare, when are you coming home?”
    “Actually, Angie, I'm beginning to think I am home.” Time to drop the bomb. “I'm considering selling the loft.”
    “Selling it? You can't be serious.”
    “I'm heading that way. You can't say my work has suffered because I've changed my view.”
    “No, no, it hasn't.” But it wasn't Clare's work that concerned Angie. It was Clare. “I don't want you to do anything rash. Maybe you should come up for a few weeks, think things over.”
    “I can think here. Angie, don't worry about me. I'm fine. Really.”
    Angie bit her tongue and asked a question she already had the answer to. “Has Cam got a lead on who attacked that woman?”
    “He's working on a theory.” Deliberately, she turned away from the view of the terrace. “You're not going to tell me I'd be safer in New York than here.”
    “Yes, I am.”
    “I'm sleeping with a cop, so relax. I mean it,” she said, anticipating an argument. “Angie, for the first time in years, I'm starting to believe I can make it work—a real relationship,a sense of place and purpose. I don't care how corny that sounds, I don't want to blow it.”
    “Then move in with him.”
    “What?”
    “Move in with him.” And then you won't be alone, in that house. “Pack up your things and set up housekeeping with him.”
    “Did I miss a step here?”
    “Why should you live in separate houses? You're already sharing a bed. And damn it, I'd sleep better at night.”
    Clare smiled. “Tell you what, I'll give it serious consideration.”
    “Just do it.” Angie took a slow, cleansing breath. “I had a meeting with the rep for the Betadyne.”
    “And?”
    “They approved your sketches. Get to work.”
    “That's great. Angie, if you were here, I'd kiss Jean-Paul.”
    “I'll do it for you. Get started, girl.”
    She didn't waste time. By that afternoon, she'd made fair headway on the infrastructure. There were some inconveniences. The garage wasn't tall enough to handle the twenty-foot sculpture, so she had to move her work area to the driveway and bless the mild weather. Standing on a stepladder, she welded and riveted. Occasionally a crowd gathered to watch and comment, then move on. Kids parked their bikes at the curb and hunkered down on the grass to ask her questions.
    She didn't mind the interruptions or the audience. But she did have a bad moment when she saw Ernie standing in his front yard, watching her.
    At one point, she gave one of the young art connoisseurs five dollars to run to the market for cold sodas. He pedaled off while Clare took a moment to show her new students the proper way to fire a torch.
    “We saw you on TV.” One of the girls looked up at her with awe and admiration. “You looked real pretty, just like a movie star.”
    “Thanks.” Clare hitched up the strap of her overalls and grinned. That was the beauty of small towns, she thought. It was so easy to be a star.
    “Is Miz Atherton's house really all pink?”
    “Just about.”
    “How come you wear that funny hat?”
    “So my hair doesn't catch on fire.”
    “Them's men's shoes,” one of the boys put in.
    “Them's my shoes,” Clare corrected. “For safety, though I do consider them quite a fashion statement.”
    “My daddy says that women are trying to be men all the time these days. Taking over men's jobs' stead of staying home like they's supposed to.”
    “He says that, does he?” Clare wanted to ask if his daddy's knuckles scraped the ground when he walked, but she decided against it. “That's a very interesting opinion as we approach the second millennium.” After rolling her shoulders, she pulled off her skullcap and sat on the stepladder. “It's too nice a day to debate socio-sexual theories. Besides, you'll ram straight into reality soon