Chapter 114: She Was Not Paying Rent With a Smile

"Your son came into my room without waiting for an answer," Dove said. "He didn’t like who I was kissing, and then he ignored me when I told him to leave."

Caldwell looked at Hollis, who rubbed his throat and complained that the door had been unlocked.

"That doesn’t improve the story," Dove said. "You understand that, right?"

She told Caldwell what she expected: no entering without an answer, no gifts left inside, and no pretending room payment bought his son an audience. Edrik stayed beside her while she spoke. He didn’t offer an apology she hadn’t asked him to make.

Caldwell sent Hollis away and pointed out the broken shelf frames behind his repair bay. Dove asked to use those instead of buying fittings. Thorne could reshape existing metal, and there was plenty lying around. Edrik’s gift was different: metal held stronger while he touched it, then returned to its ordinary strength when he let go.

Thorne turned the scrap into sturdy bars and brackets for their room door and the little service gate. Edrik held the pieces steady during fitting, then tested both with his power off. The thick steel and sound brackets would do the work after they left. Dove tried lifting each bar herself before declaring the subject finished.

Two workers watched Edrik test the gate, then quietly moved out of his way. Dove handed Caldwell the dress while Thorne cleared the tools. "There. Everyone gets to keep their hands and their privacy if your son learns to knock."

They stayed for the night they’d paid for. Edrik helped Dove clear the front room so they could practice before supper, while Thorne watched the yard from the doorway. Fifteen active minutes earned the exercise reward. She finished flushed and hungry, and made both men promise that nobody would discuss Hollis until she’d eaten.

On Day Fifty-Four, she washed, ate, and went to Caldwell’s office to ask about selling. The diner smelled of frying potatoes and coffee. Booths lined the front windows, while a side door opened onto a strip of covered pavement used for small trades.

The best counter belonged to Hollis. Caldwell offered a narrower spot beside the kitchen entrance, with room for a table and two stools. The price was one owned bag of rice for two days, plus keeping the doorway clear.

Dove inspected it herself. Customers could approach from the diner or yard, and she could see their room gate from behind the table. Not perfect, but useful. She agreed to the ordinary price and carried the rice over before anyone tried to make the arrangement personal.

Hollis appeared as she was setting out her goods. His collar hid the marks on his throat, but it did nothing for his expression.

"You could have the larger counter if you’d let me show you around."

Dove didn’t stop arranging the table. "Why would I pay rent twice?"

He frowned. "That’s not what I meant." "You wanted goods for the space, and now you want my time. Sounds like twice." She looked at him then. "I already said no. Find something else to sell."

Thorne came up behind her with the second stool. Hollis looked at his hands, remembered yesterday, and left without trying to touch anything. Edrik watched him go with an expression that suggested leaving had been an excellent decision.

Today’s delivery contained four packs of cotton pillowcases in plain colors. Three needed buyers; fitted sheets waited on the reward shelf. Dove paid four Favor to keep a pack. They had pillows now, and she wanted something clean against her face that hadn’t spent a week under somebody’s tools.

The three sale packs went to drivers and kitchen workers for coffee, jars of pickles, and wrapped cheese. She touched the coffee packet and stored it behind the table, then collected the reward. Fifteen active minutes arranging the space and practicing after lunch brought her normal purse to four hundred twenty-six.

Thorne tested a stool before letting her sit. Dove scratched his ear when he looked pleased with himself, and Edrik laughed when she told her husband he could enjoy furniture without looking ready to fight it. Sprout finished its Favor tally while Thorne tried to persuade her that the other ear needed attention too.

Sprout suggested that two men were clearly improving customer confidence. Dove was more interested in opening the pack she had kept.

"Which pair fits my pillow?" she asked privately.

"Shared bedding provides excellent opportunities for closeness."

"I asked about pillow sizes, you creepy little wedding planner." She checked the measurements herself, then asked Thorne to save the blue pair. He remembered which side she slept on without asking, and that pleased her more than Sprout’s entire speech.

Dove tested the shelf height with an empty bowl. She could reach the first shelf; the second needed lowering. Thorne waited until she’d pointed out the place, then changed its metal brackets while Edrik held the heavy crate.

"You could ask me to lift you," Edrik said.

"I could also reach my own damn bowls. Try surviving the disappointment."

He laughed, and she let him put the crate where she’d chosen. When she passed him, his fingers brushed hers. Dove caught them briefly, pleased that he wanted to touch her even when nobody was watching.

A driver brought her a tin of hard candy as a courting gift. Dove thanked him for asking before setting it down, then refused the offer. He accepted that better than Hollis had, though he still lingered until Edrik asked whether his truck had become lonely.

Dove waited until the driver left before nudging the bear’s boot. "That was almost polite."

"I can try again if you’re disappointed." She laughed, and Thorne pulled her onto the stool beside him. Her knee brushed Edrik’s beneath the counter. When she moved to give him room, he nudged her boot with his and stayed put. Dove took a sip of coffee to hide her smile, then immediately burned her tongue, which ruined the effect she was going for.

She paid a kitchen worker with canned goods from the service-shop trades for a sack of flour and a crate of fresh bread. The recovered coffee had already made three good breakfasts. Dove intended to keep that streak going. He promised to bring both to her counter before closing, with Caldwell standing nearby as witness.

When the worker didn’t return, Dove went to the kitchen doorway. Through it she could see her marked crate beside the flour sack, untouched. Hollis stood between them and the delivery cart, speaking low enough that he expected nobody outside to hear.

"Leave hers where it is," he told the worker. "She can come ask me for it."

Dove put a hand on the doorframe and looked back at Edrik. He was already standing, but she shook her head once. This one was going to cost Hollis something he couldn’t blame on a broken fence.