Page 88 of Scars Like Wings
“Oh, my gods! You are one ofthem! Icansound angry! I can strike fear into the hearts of innocents with my fury.”
“Not when you scrunch your nose like that.” She gestured to the phone screen, making me accidentally scrunch my nose more and then making her smile even more. “You’re like Jigglypuff more than an actual threat.”
“I will prove you wrong one day. I’m going to scare you so hard you—you’ll—you’ll be sorry!”
“Sure, Jan,” Quinn shook her head, dumping the rest of the flour into the mixture and lifting the bowl to mix more fiercely.
“You like it. I can tell from that smirk.” She rolled her eyes, and I chuckled. “So, do you bake often, pumpkin?”
“I love that,” Quinn beamed. “But uh, only when I’m stressed from work or want something sweet or both. So… always?”
I chuckled. “What has you stressed about work? Everything okay?”
Quinn shrugged. It was that same half-hearted shoulder lift and fall that she had done before when I asked her about her work. There was definitely something more that she wasn’t telling me. Her eyes were locked on the batter as she stirred vigorously. “I’m literally the best at my job. Everything is goodwith it honestly. It’s just… It’s just very demanding emotionally and psychologically.”
“Why?” I asked. “I mean, I’m not trying to invalidate you and your feelings, but is real estate really that rough?”
“Let’s just say that ‘real estate’ isn’t the main part of the business. It’s like saying that Microsoft just makes video games. So, you are kind of right, but mostly wrong.”
“So, your family’s business is more than real estate? What is it mainly then?”
“Other than messy and depressing?”
“I’m being serious.”
“I know, I know. There just isn’t a great way to describe it that Icansay.” Before I could ask her to expand on that, she shrugged and moved forward. “I guess kinda like law enforcement or something?”
“So, like cops? Security detail and bodyguard work? Or like, private investigation? Or something else entirely?”
Quinn finally looked up at me. I watched in real time as her once-dark hazel eyes brightened with shock and curiosity. Her slitted eyebrow raised. She sat the mixed batter on the counter in front of her, strong arms framing either side of the bowl. “How do you know about that?”
I chuckled. “True crime, for one, but my uncle for another. Well, more like my play-uncle and godparent, so no blood relation, but uncle for all intents and purposes. Anyway, he does various contract work for the Department of Supernatural Operations and tells me about it after he finishes because he knows I love shit like that. It could be anything from bodyguarding a supernatural politician to doing some investigative work on a case to doing somemurderousthings. I have heard the whole gambit. Is any of that like what you are talking about?”
“Uh, yeah, kind of actually.” Quinn evenly poured the mixture into two greased-up glass bread pans. She started sprinkling chocolate chips on one side and white chocolate chips on the other of the same loaf. “The other cousins and I do contract work alongside my dad, traveling the country and handling different jobs, while my mom and aunts do more of the business stuff like accounting and finding leads for work. They are able to do the work, but they prefer administrative things instead. It’s kind of complicated, though. It might be easier to talk and explain it later in person.”
“Makes sense. Well, did you work today?”
“I got back from it this morning.”
“Tell me something good about it.”
Quinn closed the pumpkin loaves in the oven and set an old-timey kitchen timer. She raised that same slitted eyebrow at me again while she wiped her hands on a tea towel. “Are you going to make me ask you to explain?”
I smiled at her confusion. “When I was a kid and would have a bad day, my mom used to ask me to find something good about the bad I experienced that day. She used to tell me that there is no such thing as something being wholly bad and that there’s always something to enjoy in the sucky. So, for example, I had a bad day today, but I got to spend time with my friends and I had some really good cups of coffee. I learned some new things that, while throwing me for a loop, were things that I needed to know and I’m better for knowing now. So, give me something good now, pumpkin.”
“Okay, okay,” Quinn thought for a moment. Then she said, “Well, I saw a Highland cow today! She was so adorable! I was driving back home with the windows down for Clarkson?—”
“Aww, Clarkson was there?! Do you take her on all of your jobs?”
Quinn beamed. “I take her almost everywhere with me because she’s the bestest, goodest girlie!” Clarkson barked out of frame, and Quinn bent down to pick her up and shower her in kisses. “She’s super helpful in my line of work, so I take her with me when I can.”
Quinn put Clarkson back down, and I could hear her little nails on the floor playing with one of her many toys. Quinn smiled toward her as she continued. “We were driving back home on some backroads, and we came across a farm with some cows near the fence. When I slowed down, a cow, like, leaned toward the car. Clarkson started to bark at her, which I guess annoyed her. So, she mooed at Clarkson, and Clarkson gotsoscared! She immediately got back into the car and went into the backseat, poor thing.”
Quinn and I laughed, genuinely and hard. Soon, we fell into a comfortable silence. It should have been awkward and strange, but somehow, for some reason, it was nice. Quinn’s eyes twinkled as she watched me through the phone’s camera. My cheeks were starting to hurt from how much I was smiling. I really liked this conversation. It all just made me giddy.
Gods, I had the biggest crush on Quinn.
Something deep within me stirred, taking up more and more space.