Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 70429 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70429 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“Good mornin’ to you, too! How are you doing, honey?” she asked while picking up a half-used bottle of perfume, looking it over.
“I’m doing just fine, ma’am. This here is my mama’s stuff. She died.” His smile faded.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” She placed the perfume bottle down gently and looked into the man’s eyes. He was so pure—an innocent, as her grandmama called them.
“She was a good person. She liked garage sales, too. Is there somethin’ you’re lookin’ for? Maybe my mama had it!” he offered enthusiastically.
“Oh, well, I like vases and—”
“’Scuse me!” a short, skinny woman interrupted them, shaking some bag in her hand. “How much are these Christmas ornaments? Ain’t no sticker on ’em.”
“I’ll help you.” A deep voice that was made from the earth and ash, the pit of a volcano, washed over the entire area in the richness of his tone. She drowned in that man’s subterranean voice, feeling suddenly hot all over, like tea in a kettle. The voice had bellowed from a tall, gorgeous, broad-shouldered man with black hair and eyes so blue, they looked like ice. He had a short beard, and he definitely wasn’t an innocent…
He took the bag from the impatient lady, who was now standing there with her hand on her hip, mean-mugging him, and looked it over. “How ’bout two dollars?”
“Make it a buck fifty.”
“Ma’am, these ornaments ain’t never been used, and it’s twenty of ’em in here.”
“Those ain’t but some cheap Christmas jumbles. The same kind they sell at Big Lots!” she protested.
“Then I tell you what. You go on and get ’em from down there yonder at the Big Lots, since you think I’m being unreasonable.” He tossed the bag down onto a table and Azure fought the urge to laugh. Shaking her head, she perused a nearby table covered in bracelets and necklaces.
“Hold on. How about one sixty?”
“Lady, my aunt liked to buy Christmas stuff early. It was her favorite holiday. The proceeds from this sale are goin’ to my cousin here and her hospital bills. She might be gone, but them bills sure ain’t.”
The woman smacked her gums. “…Okay. a dollar seventy-five.”
“Hell! I’ll give you the damn quarter. Just give him the price he asked for and go on somewhere!” The words tumbled out of her lips like beans from a can before she could stop them.
All eyes were on her. The short woman seethed, steam coming out of her reddened ears.
“Well, I done said it now… let me be a woman of my word.” Azure jammed her hand in her purse, pulled out a quarter, and placed it on the table next to the ornaments. “Now give that man the rest of his money and stop all this squawkin’.” She then made a dash to the other side of the yard for a large, shiny vase had caught her eye. Right beside it was a planter, and now both were in her radar. “Oh, this is nice.”
Just as she was getting into the groove, making plans in her mind as to where she’d put the vase and flowerpot, someone tapped her shoulder. She spun around, vase in hand, and ended up eye-to-eye with Mr. Not-So-Innocent.
“Oh, hi! Do you need anotha quarter?” she teased.
His lips curled and he flashed a memorable smile.
“Nah, I just…” His smile tightening, he jammed his hands into his khaki pockets, briefly looking away. “I just wanted to thank you for bein’ so outspoken… and so beautiful, too.”
She pursed her lips and rolled her eyes.
“I expect my beauty to afford me a good price on this here vase then, and the planter, too. How much?”
“Hmmm.” He tapped his chin, as if he mulling it over. “The vase…” He gently took it from her hands and looked at the bottom. “Oh, this was from Pottery Barn and cost my Aunt Angel, accordin’ to this here sticker, ninety-nine dollars. Knowin’ her though, she got it on sale. So, we’ll chop that down to fifty, then give you another discount… you know, for your beauty ’nd all, and that brings us to a grand total of twelve dollars.”
“DEAL! And this planter?” He went through the same ol’ routine.
“Well, this ain’t as fancy, so I can let this go for five.”
“Double deal. Seventeen dollars…”
She dug in her purse and removed a twenty, which she handed to him. He then gave her three crisp dollar bills. Stashing them away, she pretended to not notice him looking her up and down, like some wolf on the prowl. Shimmying past him, she looked at more of his deceased aunt’s wares. Some of it was junk but certain pieces were truly eye-catching, like a large painting of a bird. She grabbed and studied it.
“You like art?”
“I am art.”
He burst out laughing, but she didn’t crack a smile.
“Do you want that painting? Maybe we can negotiate a price.”