Leaving Tracks (6 page)

Glory walked behind her and studied the old man but said nothing as she made her plate.

“The Quiet Mouse does not remember me.” Mahkah chuckled. “It has been a long time since we’ve seen each other. Mapiya sends a gift. You will not remember her either I think but she insists on giving you a gift.” He reached into his satchel again and pulled out another wrapped package. “Only you may touch and only you should wear it.”

It wasn’t a necklace but a pair of intricate metal cuff bracelets. One to be worn on each arm. Glory stroked a finger over the colorful mosaic pattern created by the stones before sliding them in place. “They’re beautiful. Thank you.”

Mahkah nodded. “They will be good for your spirit. It will help tame the anger and hate that poisons you.”

Glory blinked in surprise at him but said nothing. She only studied the bracelets again and nodded to herself.

“Now, that that’s been completed, let’s see this unhealthy space you speak of.” Mahkah stood
from the bar.

“I’ll take him over,”
I jumped up glad to be able to do something. “You should finish breakfast, and Avala hasn’t eaten yet.”

T
here were times
I hated having brothers. And there were times, like this one, when I thought having brothers was certainly useful, but still annoying. And though I didn’t have any sisters, I imagined if I did, I’d probably feel the same way.

Rhett had complained from the time he got home all
through attempting to load the truck. He had just gotten home; he was tired. There were three of us why did we need him?

I
had primarily ignored him. Rhett wasn’t complaining loud enough, yet, for Thierry to hear and he probably wouldn’t. But Wesley was nearly as formidable as Thierry when it came to scolding's. I just waited for it.

“I just got home. There are three of you. You don’t need me.” Rhett trudged down the stairs into the basement storage for the next load.
It was a sentiment he had repeated in variation for the last half an hour with little response from Wesley or I. We were mostly used to his bitching.

We
had already carried out the fainting couch and two of the chairs. The ends tables, the sofa, and the coffee table were all that was left. Rhett sat on the coffee table only to have Wesley smack him in the back of his head.

“That is a table not a chair. I know
Ma taught you the difference.” Wesley began. “Stop your bitching. Those women put food in your mouth and the mouth of your horses. They barely ask for anything in return so when they do need something it’s only polite to reciprocate. The more you bitch the longer this will take.”

“I still don’t see what the b
.f.d. is. Hell, you and North can get this stuff no problem.” Rhett clomped over to an end table. “Even the women folk can lift and carry this shit around.”

“She doesn’t have a real fucking leg,”
I growled and shot Rhett a dirty look. I had reached my limit if Wesley hadn’t and I wasn’t listening to his shit anymore. “I imagine Hadley would love to carry her stuff up and down the stairs her damn self, but she can’t. Her right leg isn’t real. So shut your fucking mouth and be grateful you still have the ability to move furniture around. And if I hear one damn complaint from you in her presence that could even marginally upset her; I’ll beat you bloody.” I picked up the opposite end table and stormed up the stairs, disgusted with my brother. I heard Rhett’s quiet “shit” before I made it all the way up.

Rhett
, wisely, kept his mouth shut the rest of the time as we pulled the remaining items up from the basement. Thierry had stayed topside to organize and cover the furniture properly as it was loaded on to the truck. When it was done we had a nicely, tightly packed truck with furniture covered properly so nothing would ding or scratch.

I
sat in the back with the furniture as my brothers crammed into the cab. Usually I’d fight for my place in the middle but I wanted the air. I needed to cool off before seeing Hadley. I didn’t want her to know I was upset. My problems were fractional in comparison.

Morgaine and the other sister
I’d yet to meet stood at the side door when the truck pulled in. I smiled at them both as I hopped down. Then stepped aside and allowed Thierry to unlatch and begin uncovering the furniture.

“I’m North.”
I held out my hand to the seemingly quieter version of Hadley.

“Glory.” Glory shook
my hand briskly then gestured to the truck. “Morgaine and I can carry some of the lighter stuff to help y’all out. Hadley and Avala are upstairs putting together the bedroom furniture we brought in.”

Her voice brought to mind great magnolia trees and tea on the veranda.
Its warmth and slow drawl rolled over me in a creeping caress that was in its way pleasant and comfortable. I wondered if she knew how dangerous her smooth voice was. I also wondered if she knew that her accent was stronger and richer than Hadley’s.

“We got end tables here,” Wesley set them next to the truck as Thierry handed them down. “They’re light enough for you ladies
and stacks of cushions.”

Morgaine rolled her eyes even as Glory jumped on it and picked up
and end table. “Rhett,” Morgaine started, “Glory will be going to school with you. I and Avala would appreciate it if you could be nice.”

“I’m always nice.” Rhett said to her
and winked as he passed by with a chair.

“In a pig’s eye.”
I muttered taking the other chair from Wesley and following my brother inside.

I
could instantly feel the difference when I stepped into the mostly empty space. The overbearing masculinity was gone and in its place was a clean, welcoming feeling. The feeling was probably promoted by the trio of candles burning on the fireplace mantle.

“Hadley?”
I set the chair down, ignored my brother sitting in the chair he’d sat down and cautiously stepped into the hallway.

I
stuck my head into the first door only to find a simply made up spare room in mint and blue colors. The next door was on the opposite side and since it hung open I could see the bathroom tiles–a simple white sparkling against the equally brilliant rubbed bronze accents. The claw foot tub looked brand new and the water droplets indicated freshly scrubbed. Still, there was no Hadley so I moved to the door at the very end of the hall.

Hadley was sitting on a bed
unlike any bed I’d ever seen before. The platform bed wouldn’t have been unusual if it hadn’t been suspended above the ground from two thick braided ropes that looped through very sturdy, industrial looking O-rings in a boxed u-shape. The ropes look like they knotted under the frame and the excess was left fraying for decoration. An antique quilt covered the mattress and fat pillows were scattered about.

Avala looked up from the clothes she was folding into a dresser. She nodded to
me and went back to her task. From the empty boxes scattered around her, she was a woman on a mission.

Hadley
looked up from the clothes she was putting on hangers and smiled slowly. “North. Hi.”

“Hi. We’re bringing in the furniture
, and I realized we don’t actually know how you want this set up. If you want, I can stay after it’s all in and move it around for you.”

Hadley’s brows drew together for a moment then smoothed out. “Sure, I don’t see why not. It’d be a big help. Then maybe Avala and Morgaine would go to work instead of
harass me.”

“You fold clothes like a two year old.” Avala spoke smoothly and without judgment
, though there might have been some humor in the infliction of the words.

“Which is another way of saying they’re not folded at all?”
I asked.

Hadley huffed. “They are folded. Just simply.”

“Sure, I fold simply too.” I grinned at her, “I better go help my brothers before one of them comes looking for me.”

Wesley and Rhett had already brought up the
fainting couch and were trying to maneuver the sofa through the door without knocking anything or anyone off the narrow landing. I went in for the assist and it took the three of us and Glory’s commentary to wiggle the sofa through the narrow space.

Glory went to work on arranging the cushions and decorative pillows as soon as it was set down. Rhett sat
in a chair and watched Glory for a moment. I shook my head and started out with Wesley to get the coffee table but stopped on the landing to make sure Rhett played nice.

“Morgaine says you’ll be going to school with me,”
Rhett said in a pleasant tone.

“Yeah
, for now. I’m going to graduate this year and enroll in college for veterinary medicine. What about you?” Glory replied. I heard the cushions rustle as she sat.

“I breed and train horses. Work horses
, Paints and Palominos mostly. I’ll be going to college for Equine Studies.” Rhett answered. “I graduate next year. How old are you?”

“I took horseback riding lessons for a while. It was fun.”
Glory answered in an absent tone, and I heard the cushions rustle again. Either she had stood and changed them around or she changed chairs. “Perfect. Seventeen this year.”

“If you want to ride, I’ve got horses that could always use some extra exercise.” Rhett told her.
“How are you graduating this year?”

“I might take you up on that. Like I said. It was fun but
Daddy got pissy that I wouldn’t make a career out of dressage and jump so he cut my lessons. He was always doing some spiteful shit like that.”

“Glory,” Avala’s voice cut through the room like a knife. “He i
s still your daddy.”

“To my everlasting remorse.”

I took the coffee table from Wesley as he brought it up the stairs. Glory popped up from the sofa when I stepped into the room. “There are dogs that need checked and fed. I’ll be back later to see if Hadley needs anything.”

Rhett watched her exit
and only shook his head. I said nothing. She was different, seemingly a lot different, than what I’ve seen of Hadley. Hopefully, Rhett wouldn’t pry too hard.

“
Thierry says if you don’t want to walk back you better be down by the time he gets all the blankets folded.” Wesley told Rhett and he jumped up and ran down the stairs shouting at his brother to wait.

Wesley shook his head, “Some things never change.”

“I told Hadley I’d help her rearrange the furniture.” I informed as I sat in a chair.

“At least someone remembers their manners.” Wesley nodded
approvingly. “Avala! Morgaine is waiting with the truck. Are we going to the Community today or not?”

“Coming, coming.” Avala hurried out of the back room with Hadley right behind her. She turned to Hadley, “
Just go over to the house and open the freezer if you get hungry before I get back. I have some stuff frozen that you can just pop in the microwave.”

“I promise she won’t starve.”
I said seriously and had Avala giving me a once over that made me want to squirm. “Because I love your ma just as much as you love mine, I’m not going to remind you about respect and manners.” Her voice was very near lecturing. “Behave. The both of you.”

“Come on. I’m sure Hadley knows how to beat a man with a fire poker, but I highly doubt it will come to that.” Wesley took Avala by the arm and led her out. He did shoot
me a firm glare before the door closed behind him.

“Well,” Hadley sat in the opposite chair. “Might as well get you started.”

I
t had taken
all of ten minutes to get the living room situated to my liking. I thought I’d been pretty amicable about the whole thing, and only fussed when North couldn’t obviously tell the coffee table was crooked.

“Do you have anything else that needs to come up?” North asked studying the built
-ins on either side of the electric fireplace. The thing was actually pumping out a decent amount of heat for a fake but I doubt North noticed the difference.

“There’s a moving
truck out the main door. You should have seen it pulling in. If you want to pull it up to the side door then my books still need to come up, and the rest of my clothes. There’s a surround sound too and a desktop computer. My laptop is over at the house and a duffel bag of clothes but that can stay over there for now.”

“I’ll get right on it.”

It wasn’t as stressful as I had anticipated it would be. North took direction well, for the most part, and he didn’t seem overly concerned with the amount of books he had to cart up the stairs. It took him an hour of back and forth to empty the rest of the truck and then he helped unpack.

“You don’t have any dishes.” He commented when he went for a glass of water. He dipped his head and drank from the spigot instead.

“Um, I think there may be extra at the house. I didn’t really think of it. I know Avala said something this morning about extra pans.” I answered from where I was putting away books. I had hooked up the surround sound as soon as it was in the apartment and now some jazz number wept through the speakers.

“
I’ve got a little pottery set up over at my place. Dishes are something I’m good at. I can bring you some as a house warming gift.”

I
looked up from my stack of books and tipped my head studying him as he came back into the room to arrange CDs on the opposite built in. I tried to imagine seeing him sit at a pottery wheel. The image just didn’t fit. “I can’t see it.” I said finally.

“Can’t see what?” He wasn’t looking at
me but reading the CDs as he put them up. Some of the music I knew was obscure. But I enjoyed different things. I wondered if he did too with the way he seemed to make mental note of each one he studied.

“Can’t see you sitting at a pottery wheel sculpting
,” I answered. “It doesn’t quite mesh with the farm boy, ice skater imagine I have of you.”

“
Got to eat. And you need something to eat off of.” North rolled his shoulders. “It relaxes me. My brothers can be, and have been, huge pains in my ass. It’s where I can go and be alone and create whatever I want without them harping. I’ve made decorative bowls, and urns, and lamps. I’ve got molds I’ve made myself as well; I don’t just sit at a wheel but I can. I’ve got a website that Wesley keeps tabs on, because I can never remember to.”

“If you don’t mind, I think your dishes sound great. If I know Avala
, she’ll give me the ugly miss matched plaid and floral ones.”

“Plaid and floral?”

“I think it was a phase Ma went through.” I replied easily. “It’s really, really ugly.”

“I bet.” North looked around. “You don’t have any movies here.”

“On the computer. I watch from the desktop usually. Dad wouldn’t let me have any of the TVs.”

“I’m pretty sure we might have an extra.”

“I think Morgaine mentioned something about having an extra too.”

“She’s probably going to bring one back from the community. One hand washes the other.” North set the last CD on the shelf. “I think I’m done here, cap. What’s next?”

I looked around. It was starting to look lived in. It felt better than I thought it would. “Just clothes to fold and hang up, but I have this funny feeling that if I do it, Avala will be over tomorrow to redo it.”

“I’m not much for folding, but I can hang pretty well.”

“Why are you doing all this?” I asked sitting back in the chair North had insisted I drag over to the shelves. I doubted he wanted to help me situate my place. Guys, at least all the ones I had known, didn’t do stuff like that. “Being neighborly, even friendly is one thing but this feels above and beyond.” I thanked my father for the rudeness that seemed to come with the question. I wasn’t very trustful of kindness. I’d had so little that to get any outside my sisters felt insincere. 

North walked over to where
I sat and picked up some books to shelf them without speaking for a moment. “Originally, I thought I could charm, or finagle you into coaching. And if I wasn’t neighborly and friendly my ma would come back from beyond just to box my ears after my brothers did it.”

“And now?”

North shelved more books before answering. “Your face when you offered to let me skate whenever I wanted hurt me almost as much as, I imagine, it hurt you. I could see that it hurt you so badly–like alcohol in an open wound–and yet you offered anyway. I’d still like you to coach, but I’d rather it be your freely made decision than for me to, well, bully you into doing it. I can wait, I’ve waited this long. And when you’re ready, I’m sure you’d be a more effective coach if it were your choice rather than my pleading. So I’m here, being neighborly and friendly because I think you need neighborly and friendly. If you’d rather I leave, I will.” He smiled down at my up turned face then, on I think it was an impulse, ran his fingers lightly over my cheek. “You’re eyes are tired, Hadley. And sad. I can’t really help with the tired, but I’m hoping that friendship, and understanding, can help with the sad.”

I
didn’t swipe his hand away but closed my eyes and let the sensation sink into my skin. No one had ever offered simple friendship. No one had ever touched me so gently or carefully before. Something in my heart stirred, and I refused to examine it. I would just go with the flow. I could do that for now; just take life as it was given. When I opened my eyes I gave him my best smile. “No.” I decided, “You’re fine. You can hang while I fold.”

I
thought about his words as we set my place to rights. With clothes folded and hung, the computer set up, unpacking was rapidly coming to a close. It wouldn’t hurt; I decided to watch an audition. It was a friendly and understanding thing to do wasn’t it? It’d been so long since I had friends, I wasn’t sure anymore.

I
walked down with North intending on food before taking trash bags to the office and training table. “There’s a gym in there.” I gestured down passed the refrigeration door. “The weights will probably be fine, I have no idea on the treadmill or rower or bicycle.”

“Equipment is usually built to last.” North stated standing in the doorway looking in. “What’s up the other stairs?”

“Personal trainer’s apartment. It should be empty as she brought all her own stuff and took it with her when I left.” I rubbed my arms as the chill of the ice hit me. I hadn’t remembered to grab a jacket to go over my sweater. “You can use the gym whenever you’d like as well.”

“We have one at the house. Not that anyone ever has the energy to use it.” North took off his coat and draped it over
my shoulders. “I’ll walk with you over to the house. My blood’s thicker than yours.” He held the door for me and we stepped out together.

“What time do you usually start
in the morning?” I asked oddly comfortable wrapped in the warmth and smell of his jacket.

“
Thierry starts before the sun rises. Four I think.”

“I take it you don’t?”

“No. We’ve had that fight, and I’ve won it. I start at seven thirty during the winter and five thirty during the summer. Summers suck. When Rhett’s home, he does the evening chores and I do the morning ones. It keeps everything balanced–I think he gets the easy time. I’d rather the evening chores but I lost that fight. He’s up with the horses anyway, but I get stuck getting dragged out of bed.”

“That’s good then,”
I thought aloud and stepped into the breakfast nook through the French doors with North behind me closing the door firmly.

“Why is that good?”
He stared out the window a moment. “I think it might snow some tonight.”

I, a little reluctantly,
took his coat off and handed it to him. “I have one here.” I moved to the kitchen stove where Avala had decided to leave a pot of soup on warm. “It’s chicken and dumpling. Would you like some?”

“No, Wesley’s making pot roast tonight.”

“Okay, do you mind?”

“I promised Avala you wouldn’t starve,
.” North sat at the bar and watched as I ladled soup into a soup cup.

“I made those.”

Startled I looked at him. “What?”

“The soup cups. One of my first slip casts. The mold still works too.”

I stared at the simple wide rimmed, emerald, oversized cup. It was pretty and functional. “I like it.” I set the soup on the bar, got out the bread then sat next to him. “Well Hell, forgot a drink.”

Before
I could scoot back up North was up and walking towards the fridge. “No matter what season, there’s always some kind of fresh flavored tea.” He opened the fridge and then came back to the bar with two glasses and a pitcher of dark tea with raspberries and what looked like blueberries floating at the top. “We have berry tea today.” He poured the glasses and returned the pitcher to the fridge.

“Before we run off on a tangent again,”
I spooned up some soup and sighed. The lemon zest was enough tang to make me whimper. I loved lemon in chicken soup. “She put a dash of lemon in it.”

“Tangent
,” North prompted when I spooned more soup and just savored.

“Oh
, right. Be here, five thirty tomorrow morning, with your skates and music. Short program first. Think of it as an audition. I’ll watch, score, and then deliberate if I want to coach you or if you have the skills worth honing. If you get more than say a fifty on the short, you’ll skate the free program. You’ll get all your scores and their breakdowns before you leave. I’ll let you know Monday, after thorough deliberation and contemplating, if I will coach you.”

North nearly choked on his tea.
I saw it by the way he pounded on his chest. “An audition?”

“I’ve only ever taught one on one
unless it was a class. And when I had more than one person clambering for a coach I held auditions.”

“Five thirty?”

“That’s A.M. pal of mine.”

North sighed. “I was afraid of that.”