Miss Fortune

Chapter Thirty-Three

Almost a week passed without a word from Thorin and to Alex, it seemed as if a gray pall had settled over Gram's house, over the shop. Over her. Her anger was gone now and all she felt was wrung out and numb. Terri had tried to convince her to come down the shore to stay with the Morrison family in Point Pleasant for the week, but knowing she'd be lousy company, Alex begged off. Instead, she threw herself into work with renewed gusto. In two days, she'd cleaned and reorganized the storeroom, dusted and straightened every bookshelf, and rearranged the other half of the store as well. Pathetic, but at least it kept her mind off Thorin.

More or less.

No, that was a lie. If anything, it gave her more than enough time to think. And to miss him. And to wish she had the balls to call him.

She scowled down at her phone, which stubbornly remained silent as it sat on the shelf below the front counter. It didn't seem like all that long ago Lieutenant Durin nearly lost his head to a golf club because he'd startled her and she'd swung for the bleachers. It didn't seem like that long ago he'd shown up on a rainy day to ask her to go over some photos from Frerin's funeral but instead they ended up sleeping together for the first time.

A heavy sigh rose to her lips. He wasn't going to call. He wasn't going to stop by. His silence spoke volumes and there was nothing else to do but accept the truth that stared her in the face.

She and Thorin were a couple no longer.

She missed him.

She could have called him. She tried to call him, but once she brought up his contact information, she couldn't make herself hit send. She thought about going to his apartment, but the one time she actually worked up the courage to pull into his lot, his truck wasn't there.

She didn't want to think about where he'd been. Terri said she'd seen him at the Hilltop the previous Monday, with a few of Cranford Falls' finest. She also said a pretty blonde seemed determined to get him to go home with her.

At that point, Alex interrupted her and changed the subject. She didn't want to know whether or not the blonde was successful.

Even Frerin seemed to have disappeared. She hadn't seen him in what felt like forever, and she missed him as well.

The bell above the door tinkled and Alex's spirits sank further at the sight of Mrs. Urlino coming into the shop. Her spine stiffened as she said, "You are not supposed to be here."

"It's a free country and I'll go where I like," Mrs. Urlino snapped.

"Well, this private property and my grandmother has banned you from her shop."

"Then she can throw me out. Is Teddy here? I want to talk to my Marco."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Mrs. Urlino, Marco is probably in your kitchen right now. Or he's at Monmouth Park betting on whatever races are going on today. Or he's at Darcy's trying to forget he's married to you. Wherever he is, you are not going to have a session with Teddy or anyone in my family and you are going to leave unless you want me to call the police and have them remove you and somehow, I don't really think you want that."

"You think you scare me?" Mrs. Urlino balled up her hands to rest them on her bony hips. "You think I don't know about you? You puttana. Sleeping with that cop when you're not married to him."

"My life is none of your business. Now, get out."

"You think no one sees you, think no knows you fornicate with him in his truck, in a parking lot? Where anyone can see you? Puttana! You should burn for your lust."