Second Hand: A Tucker Springs Novel 2

looked up from the counter. “I was wondering when I’d see you again. I need to start paying you less for this stuff so you have to come by more often.”
    I put the items on the counter, feeling ridiculous at the way my heart kept pounding too hard inside my chest. “I know you said you can only take one item a day, but I really want to get rid of these. The fondue pot can’t be worth much anyway, right? I mean, maybe I could give that to you, but you could pay me a bit extra for the other?”
    He stared at me. I couldn’t tell if he was amused or annoyed. Finally, he smiled. “I’ll make an exception,” he said. “Since you’re my favorite customer.”
    Pulse, get it together. You’re being ridiculous. He’s just being friendly. Also, you still are not gay. “Thanks, El.”
“But you have to come back after work for the money.”
“Why?”
He rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I’ll have to fudge a bit on the paperwork, you know—”
“Could you be arrested?” He had said it was some kind of law, and yet it hadn’t occurred to me what the cost of breaking that law might be. “I don’t want you to do anything that might cause you trouble.”
He laughed. Something about it told me I was missing something obvious, like he’d told a joke and I’d missed the punch line. “No trouble. Don’t worry about that. Just come back after work.”
The afternoon was slow. Two of our patients no-showed. Brooke was sullen and sniffly. I waited for Nick to ask her what was wrong, but he never did. At three o’clock, my mother called me on my cell to give me her flight information. She’d arrive the following Saturday.
Nick ended up sending Brooke home early.
“She won’t last much longer,” he said to me after she left.
“What do you mean?”
“She and her boyfriend broke up. I bet she’ll be moving back home to California.”
Then he’d have to hire a new assistant. Hopefully he’d find somebody a bit friendlier.
Right before we closed the office, the door opened, and Velma walked in. She was dressed in tan slacks and a red blouse. Without the tennis skirt and sweater, her resemblance to the cartoon detective was less striking.
“Can I help you?” I asked from my seat behind the counter.
“Hi, Paul. I heard you worked here.”
That sounded strangely ominous. I had no idea how to respond.
“I thought I’d stop in and say hi.”
“Oh,” I said stupidly. “Hi.”
“Your yard looks great. The clematis are gorgeous, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, they’re doing really well. Thanks for the suggestion.” I wondered once again if she was one of the Curb Appeal judges. Maybe if I mentioned the contest casually, I’d get a sense of how involved she was. I was trying to figure out how to bring it up when Nick came out of his office. I didn’t think I was imagining the way her eyes got a bit bigger when she saw him.
“Oh, hello,” Nick said. “I didn’t realize we had another appointment scheduled this afternoon.” He craned his neck to look over the counter at her feet, obviously looking for the animal he assumed she’d brought with her.
“No, I don’t have an appointment.” She fidgeted with one of her earrings. “I’m a friend of Paul’s.”
Nick turned to look at me in surprise, and I tried to erase the look of utter bafflement from my face. She was a friend of mine? When had that happened?
Nick was still staring at me, obviously waiting for an introduction. “This is Dr. Reynolds,” I said to her. “Nick, this is . . .” I came embarrassingly close to calling her Velma, but that wasn’t her name.
Too bad I didn’t actually know her name.
“I’m Lorraine.” She held her hand out to Nick.
“Nice to meet you.”
She turned back to me. “Hey, Paul. There’s this new restaurant that just opened down the block. The Light House. Have you seen it?”
“No.” It was pretty stupid to name a restaurant The Light House when we were miles away from any significant body of water.
“I’ve heard it’s really good.” She fidgeted with her earring again. “I’ve been thinking about checking it out.”
“Oh.” Why was she telling me this? I looked at Nick. He had his head down, ostensibly reading the file he held in his hand, but I could tell he was listening. I could also tell he was highly amused. I had no idea what to say. “You’ll have to let us know how it is.”
Her smile faded a bit. Nick started coughing.
“Okay,” Lorraine said. Her cheeks were as red as her