"Oh yeah, I meant to ask about that earlier. Is that a band or something?" Faith's mom asked with a tilt of her head.
"You mean the...decal?" Faith asked, realizing she probably sounded as if she'd just had the wind knocked out of her. Out of all the things she could have forgotten, it had to be that huge imposing decal that her parents were obviously going to notice and ask about.
"Yeah...Happy Scoops is an ice cream shop, right?" her dad asked in deep thought. "Or at least they claim to be. I think they made the news once, and not in a good way. Wasn't it about a year or so ago, Holly?"
Faith was beginning to wonder if this night would ever truly end. Don't tell me what you heard on the news. I don't want to know, and I can probably already guess the gist of it.
Snorting, her mom retorted, "I can barely remember what I saw on the news two days ago. You think I remember the news that far back?"
Well, let's get this over with. "Okay, so you guys remember Sheena? She used to come over sometimes, mainly before...'he' came along and started taking up all my time. Anyway, I haven't heard anything on the news about it, but some friend of hers owns Happy Scoops and has been trying to get creative with the advertising, and I thought I would help her and her friend out. Just for a while."
"Hmm," her dad mused. "Well, I hope this friend of hers didn't have anything to do with that altercation that took place over there. It sounded like at least two people got--"
"Wait a minute, you don't even really like ice cream, do you Faith?" her mom interjected. "Or sweets in general. It just doesn't seem like you to help advertise a business that you wouldn't actually buy from, even if it was for a friend."
Faith supposed she couldn't blame them for being curious about her having a sticker that size when she didn't even work for said business, or care about anything they claimed to be selling up front. And not only that, Happy Scoops had apparently made the local news at one point now?
Unfortunately, she was much too tired right now to come up with a story that was both believable to them and didn't cause them to worry further. "Like I say, can we please finish this some other time? There's no need to worry about me, or Sheena. That sticker is coming off really soon anyway." Faking a small smile, she added, "I agree it does look pretty ridiculous." If luck was on her side for once, they would forget about it altogether by tomorrow...well, at least until one of them went outside and looked at her car again.
"But--" her mom began, but then stopped with a sigh. "Never mind. You do look pretty exhausted."
Her dad gave her a wary glance before also agreeing to not push her any further about the matter.
Hopefully Aaron will agree to just send someone to my house to get the rest of my payments for the last couple of weeks. That way I won't have to drive to Happy Scoops anymore or answer people's questions about what Happy Scoops is, Faith thought as she proceeded to pour herself a glass of water from a pitcher that sat in the fridge. As she stood in the kitchen drinking it, she waited for the sound of the front door closing and her mom turning her attention to a magazine that sat on the side table next to the couch where her mom sat. Only then could Faith take her purse, which she had sat on the kitchen table, and slip the knife inside to take to her room.
Once she'd brushed her teeth and changed into some pajamas, she found herself opening the blinds and staring out the window of her room. Windows were something she had preferred to avoid and keep closed for the most part ever since she and Rowan had moved in together, but now...in a bittersweet way, there was something freeing about it, being able to look outside at night without feeling like her or her loved ones' lives were being threatened. Besides, even if the company still somehow existed, they likely wouldn't have as much interest in her, now that Rowan apparently no longer wanted to be associated with her. She wanted the feeling to be mutual, which it was for the most part, but even now that she was alone in her old room and left to her own thoughts, she discovered just how hard it was becoming for her to have a thought cross her mind that didn't somehow involve Rowan. She couldn't believe she was actually debating with herself on whether she should send him a text or not...but now, she kind of was.
Where are you, Rowan? And why did you do it? Faith thought, scanning the small street running past the front yard, even though she knew she wasn't going to find him there. She wondered how close or distant he was from here though, what he might be doing at this moment, and even whether he was still safe somehow. Did you mean it, or was this really some elaborate scheme to make me think you hated me in order to protect me in some way?
Aaron's words came back to her with a sudden pang in her chest. She supposed she was too innocent for this world, and that innocence truly had come back to bite her, despite the fact things could have gone so much worse than they had tonight. Faith sighed, closing the blinds back and turning to her suitcase on the bed. Who was she kidding? Rowan had meant everything he said and did to her. People were rarely ever kind or well-intentioned without wanting something in return--that was simply how the outside world worked, and now she was learning that Rowan was indeed a part of that world. As much as she hated to admit it, it was her who had been the clueless one in the bubble all of this time.
Faith would allow herself to check and see if Rowan had sent her anything, but she was determined not to message him first. She had told that police officer that she wanted as little to do with Rowan as possible from here on out, and that needed to remain the truth. If anything, it was Sheena and Sherm she should be checking up on. And of course, she still needed to text Chance...
After settling into bed and seeing that she had three messages waiting for her, and seeing that none of them were from Rowan, she waited for some of the heaviness inside of her to subside before checking to see what Sheena and Sherm's responses from earlier were...as well as what Aaron wanted, as the third one was from him. She recognized the number as the one he had used to try to call her repeatedly earlier that night. Please don't let it have anything to do with Sherm...
To her relief it wasn't about Sherm, and apparently she didn't need to worry about texting Chance either, as the message from Aaron read: I'm meeting Chance behind Dale's Bookstore next to the festival grounds at 1 p.m. Sunday. Maybe you can catch him after we're done talking.
Faith swallowed hard. Chance may have been much more honest compared to Aaron in terms of how he made a living these days, but she still didn't dread having to see him again any less, especially since she had promised Rowan (as well as herself) before that his brother would never need to be involved in either of their lives again. Maybe this would truly be the last time, and then she could cut ties with the Frost family altogether. She even wondered about Agna sometimes, and whether she also might have been justified in some of her supposed "bullying" of Rowan. Had Chance ever even bothered to try to figure out what made his then-girlfriend disappear from his life so suddenly and suspiciously?
Shuddering, she quickly moved on to the other two messages, which were mainly just both her friends sending their condolences regarding Rowan's unexpected decision, though she found that she wasn't really interested in sympathy that much--if anything, it only made her feel worse. For now, she would just focus on the fact that at least both her friends seemed to be okay--for the most part.
The good news was, Sheena was reluctantly agreeing to call off her idea of involving Sherm in her own problems regarding her love life (and Aaron's criminal life, more importantly). The reason didn't even matter to Faith, just as long as Sheena was calling the entire thing off. The bad news was, Sherm had already been to Happy Scoops on more than one occasion (before he saw her message begging him not to do it), claiming that he had heard a couple of pre-existing rumors about the place but hadn't been able to back them up so far. According to Sherm, a guy who seemed to closely match Levi's description had stepped out into the parking lot at one point to ask him if there was a problem, to which Sherm had simply replied he was lost and just about to turn around. Ultimately though, it sounded as if Sherm didn't plan to involve himself any further, and hadn't specified on whether he'd gotten any closer to finding out more about the exact reason for Aaron's supposedly secretive attitude around Sheena.
Faith let out a ragged exhale. Her mom had been right earlier--she was exhausted, even though her mind still felt how some of Rowan's paintings looked. She would just have to reply to Sherm and Sheena tomorrow, but at least she could sleep knowing Sherm had made it back to his place okay and that neither of her friends had any more immediate plans to spy on Aaron or his associates. No one was completely out of the woods yet, but it would have to be enough for tonight.
Faith had managed to split her Saturday between continuing to catch up with her parents (which did include having to falsely reiterate to them that there was nothing sinister behind that car sticker) and corresponding with Sheena and Sherm. She had found some semblance of peace in focusing on the things she still had in her life and not spending too much time by herself, which was when she started thinking about Rowan the most.
She had yet to confront her parents about the stolen gun incident, but at least she did find a small spare container of pepper spray in the form of a keychain laying around her mom's desk that she let her have, and her parents were more than understanding toward the fact she wanted some extra protection. For the most part, Saturday had been a much-needed breather day for her, especially since she finally got an e-mail back from her supervisor approving her request for time off this week.
However, in a lot of ways, it was still soon to be back to business for her. After a day of rest and trying to get her bearings that didn't last nearly as long as Faith needed it to, Sunday came. She remained vague about where she was off to and why, and was reluctant to even go at all at first. However, once her mom slipped in an obligatory comment about how she "hoped Faith wasn't seeing someone else already," Faith decided leaving the house and getting some fresh air for a while wasn't an entirely horrible concept after all.
Upon arriving to her destination, she debated on whether she wanted to look around at the different types of art on display after she was done talking with Chance, as it was the last day of the festival and everything would be taken down later that evening. But then again, she wasn't sure if she was even missing that much; it would be a while before she could learn how to enjoy certain things by herself again, especially given how much Rowan had seemed to enjoy himself the one time her parents took them.
Faith hadn't arrived that much longer after 1:00, but she still needed to see if she could spot either Aaron or Chance. Her plan was to keep a safe distance away while still keeping an eye on them, and then approach Chance once she saw them start to walk in separate directions, or just back into the open where there was a fair amount of people and she didn't have to be alone with the both of them. Just one of them was bad enough, even though she was starting to trust Aaron a bit more, in a strange sort of way.
She walked over to the edge of the alley that Aaron had described, which was long and narrow, and she did spot two men having what appeared to be a heated discussion of some sort. Except for the fact that both of them had dark hair, though, neither of them were very recognizable from a distance. Maybe it was just because she hadn't seen Aaron in casual clothes like he was today in a long time, and she just hadn't seen Chance in a long time period.
Just to make sure it was really them, she took out her pepper spray to have ready (just in case anything were to go wrong), slowly making her way forward so she could hear some of what they were saying:
"...I don't even know how you found my new address! Unless you got someone at my work to tell you..."
"What, you think you're too good to work for me? I could pay you twice what they're payin' you at that firm downtown."
"Don't you get it?! I'm not interested in becoming one of your goons! I like my job, and I intend to keep it. I don't even want to know why your old accountant quit, let alone what you did to him for quitting. Good luck finding another one, because I'm not it."
"So that's how this is gonna be, huh?"
That's Aaron and Chance alright... That was her cue to leave, or at least continue waiting for them where it was safe. She had no interest in being caught in the middle of their little exchange, after all. But before she had any more time to seriously think about it, she saw that Chance was storming off in the opposite direction to hers.
It was now or never, and she figured that it would ultimately be selfish of her to not at least try to get through to him, not to mention she was still desperate for confirmation of the things Aaron had initially told her. "Chance! W--wait!" she called out, hoping neither of them were carrying any weapons and that she wasn't drawing any attention from nearby. "It's alright--it's just me," she said, hesitantly beginning to step toward them.
Both of them whipped around to look at her, and while Chance was registering her face, Aaron only sighed and proceeded to reach for something from one of his pockets, but to Faith's relief, it was only a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "He's all yours, Faith. I ain't getting anywhere with him."
"Faith?" Striding back in her direction, Chance demanded, "What are you doing here? I have enough going on as it is." He gestured toward Aaron.
"It's nice to see you again too, Chance," she replied, her sarcastic tone making her sound much more confident than she felt. She wanted to feel sorry for him, as it was obvious that Aaron was trying to make him an offer he couldn't refuse while Chance probably just wanted to live out a quiet and legal rest of his life, but he was already making the idea of sympathy difficult for her. "Listen--I know this is probably a bad time, but I had some questions to ask you. It won't take long--"
"Where's Rowan?" Chance interrupted, eyes narrowed. "Usually you two are inseparable. In fact, from what I remember you hardly ever seemed to let him out of your sight..."
Underneath Chance's arrogant and analytical glare, Faith sensed something almost like concern in his voice. This was it. Maybe they could actually put their differences aside, even just temporarily, if she could get him to hear her out. "Well, about that--if we can keep things fairly civil here, there's something I need to tell you regarding him. And if you're okay with talking about it, I was also wondering some things about your sister--and 'the company.'"
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