Heart Song Anthology by Carolyn Faulkner (summer reads txt) 📗

Asher smiled over the stack of freshly cut wood. “It’s a process.”

Cora had to suffer through three more heart manicures where she stamped little hearts on their previously chipped nails to prepare women for their upcoming dates. Many couples went out once a year, and “heart day” was it for them.

She didn’t see why so many needed a holiday to go out and celebrate life, she had once celebrated life every day she still had it. She’d take herself out if she so desired, drink before five o’clock, go on dates and play little games with her love interests. She remembered playing such a game with Asher. Hide and seek, only he didn’t know her name and she had worked tirelessly to find his. It was an unspoken game. A game to see who could find out the most about the other. Naturally, she had won, so here she was being hunted by his company for digging too deep, discovering too much, and “bewitching” him.

“Ouch!” Cora’s customer said when Cora filed a bit too intensely.

“Sorry,” Cora muttered. She was so tired of being scared and angry and sad. She was so tired of stroking her scars as an anxious tick, and glaring at people who happened to see them and thought she had put them there herself. She was tired of the nightmares of Krone standing over her with a blade. She was tired of missing her old life. Maybe she should talk to Asher about taking her out for Valentine’s Day. Maybe it was what she needed to start enjoying their new life as ordinary people.

A beep from her phone interrupted her thoughts. She glanced down and to the endless irritation of the client, tapped the screen to see what had caused the device to chime.

The camera outside the school had picked up activity. It was motion activated so obviously this had occurred several times already, but every time she still scrambled to check it. Was it him?

It wasn’t. Motion activated also meant one twitch of a branch had the thing recording. She would have to watch the footage back later and she expected that most of it would be just twigs swaying in the breeze.

This part she did not miss about being a bounty hunter. Though there were times the adrenaline was so fierce she feared she would never come down from it, there were many times as well when she was simply sitting in a car, watching a building for hours with a cold cup of coffee. Sighing through her annoyance, she returned her attention to her client.

“Here comes Gloria,” Flora mumbled from beside Cora, though she was more talking to her client. “She comes in here yesterday throwing around this story about a man outside the school selling cigarettes to kids.”

“You don’t believe her?” asked Flora’s client, dropping her voice down to a whisper.

Flora only shrugged. “I just believe she over dramatizes things. I talked to the man. Didn’t seem the type. He was polite, civilized, and between you and me, he was pretty attractive. If you’re into the mountain man thing that is. He said he was handing out lollipops while he was checking the grounds for pests or something or other.”

Cora resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “You’d be surprised how many attractive, charming people have skeletons in their closet,” Cora pointed out. “In my experience, all of them do.”

Gloria came in and stepped up to the front, so Flora ignored Cora and raised her voice in a chipper greeting. “Gloria! What are you doing back so soon? Are your nails already chipped?”

“No, I just decided to go with something a little more festive.”

Flora’s lips pursed, probably mourning her beautiful design just painted yesterday. The scowl was short lived however, because money was money, and Gloria clearly had a lot to spend. “All right, sweetie, just take a seat and I’ll be right with you.”

“Actually Flora, I was hoping to get some fresh blood to do a little artistry.” Cora glanced up and found Gloria’s eyes on her. “Geneva, right?”

Cora’s limbs stiffened, a red flag waving in her brain. Why is Gloria taking such an interest in Cora? Could she be from The Company? She was there when Cora went sprinting out of the shop after a man thought at the time to be dangerous, and she had heard Cora’s Jersey accent as she often forgot to hide it.

Cora forced herself to calm down, that icy coolness slipping into her rigid body and forcing it to relax. She had always been good under pressure, and had always been a star at improvisation. “Genevieve,” Cora corrected.

In Cora’s mind Genevieve was an ordinary student just working through school as a nail technician, but perhaps she needed to throw in something interesting. Just some flare to make her more believable as a real person. Cora would give Genevieve a little of her own personality, including her accent since there was little point in hiding it now that she had let it slip. “Just give me a moment to finish with my current client and I’m all yours.”

Cora went back to work and Gloria sat down in the waiting area, flipping through magazines nonchalantly, but Cora felt there was a distinct stiffness about her that counteracted her indifference. Or maybe Cora was just overthinking. She was hyper aware of Gloria as she finished with her current client, then smiled at Gloria, beckoning her over.

Cora kept her expression polite, just another client, definitely not an assassin there to hunt her down and kill her. Certainly not.

Gloria took a seat gracefully and presented her already perfectly manicured nails. “So, what made you choose me today?” Cora asked casually as she began removing Flora’s hard work.

“I wanted something different.” Gloria shrugged. “You aren’t from here.”

“New Jersey,” Cora provided as if it weren’t a telltale sign that she was the bounty hunter from Florida that Gloria may or may not be after. “United States.”

“I went once. Ever