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 Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2018 6:48 pm
The weather turned colder and colder which each day which meant that Rhona found herself dressing in more and more layers. Her figure was by no means small -- athletic, but her glamour seemed to cling to her former Scottish heritage. However, between the knitted sweater, thick wool leggings, knee-high boots, and heavy wool pea-coat she looked even... fluffier than usual. She burrowed into her scarf, hiding her nose and lips in the soft, cream material from the chafing early winter air. However, between the layers and the lunch that she had planned with Jett, Rhona found that she didn't so much mind the chill in the air as she walked towards Jett's shop.
He was choosing the place, and he wasn't giving any ground as to where they were going, so Rhona didn't quite know what to expect. And while this seemed like a strange thing to make a surprise out of, Rhona had long since decided to just go with it. Jett was more than her friend, he was her Prince. She trusted him implicitly, and if he wasn't filling her in on something there much have been a reason for that. So she was following his lead and going where he wanted her too.
The bell above the door chimed as she slid in, trying not to let too much of the cold air in. She smiled at a woman fingering a small figurine and unwound herself from her scarf.
"Have you seen the man who owns the shop," Rhona asked softly, following the directing in which the woman pointed.
"Jett, right now looking for you is standing between me and food so I suggest you show yourself."
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Posted: Mon May 14, 2018 3:12 pm
Jett was in the office, a place he didn’t often spend his time, but he had one box carefully balanced in one arm and was texting with the other. He didn’t look up when Rhona spoke but replied, “Not hiding, Rhona. Door’s open.”
He remained where he stood, eyes on the phone for a moment before he send whatever message and turned to put the box atop the desk. He turned and greeted her with a smile. “But I know the power of a woman’s appetite, so let me just grab my jacket and we can head out.”
He had never been a fan of the cold and had gloves and a scarf within reach. His jacket rested atop the back of the chair behind the desk and he grabbed it quickly, moving with the enthusiasm of someone who was ready for lunch.
He wrapped the scarf loosely around his neck and slid on his gloves before he moved from the room. He knocked on a back door, the store room, and announced to the employee that he was stepping out to lunch. He locked the office quickly and then gestured for Rhona to join him as he made his way quickly out of the store.
He walked with a brisk pace but waited for her to join him by his side. “There’s a cute place that just opened a few weeks ago. Best cheesesteak I’ve ever had. They’ve got a whole list of sandwiches. Soup’s good too. I thought it would be nice to have something warm. Plus, I wanted to check up on you and make sure you were staying out of trouble. You have been, haven’t you?”
The path they were taking was nothing special; he didn’t expect it would ring any alarm bells to the woman at his side. The last time they had seen each other they had walked in the same way, only the last time she had been leading him to her church, not the other way around.
There were dozens of other paths he could have taken to the restaurant, but he had chosen this one for a specific reason.
He wanted to see if she’d already seen the ‘Sold’ sign.
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2019 7:04 am
Rhona followed the sound of Jett's voice and met him halfway, more excited to spend time with her friend than to eat. Though eating was pretty dope too. And the little restaurant that Jett described sounded absolutely heavenly. She knitted her arm around his, as was her way, and followed his lead, dreaming of soup and sandwich combos pairs with hot black coffee. Even if she did recognize the way, she was too busy dreaming about lunch to really notice. But she noticed the sagging hulk of the church when they neared it. And she noticed the sold sign in front. Rhona visibly deflated next to Jett, but tried to hide it with a small laugh. "Yeah," she said, hiding her misting eyes behind a nose scratch, "that pretty much figures. Ah well, it clearly wasn't meant to be, right?" Who was she trying to convince, Jett or herself? Rhona already knew the answer as she tried to heave the massive weight from her chest and failed miserably. Still, she rationalized it to herself. Owning a business was ahrd work, she'd seen JEtt do it for how long? And he was always busy. Plus fixing the place up would take forever and cost so much. Even if she did some of it herself, she'd have to learn all of these new skills, and what if she did things wrong? Still... Still... "Anyway come on. I was promised soup and if I don't get soup there will be hell to pay!" Despite her best efforts, however, there was little mirth in her voice.
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Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 8:45 am
Jett tilted his head to the side, playing stupid for the time being. "Hm?" he prompted. "What wasn't meant to be?"
He had kept his eyes in front of him as best he could, but the truth was that he'd been watching her expression out of the corner of his eye since they rounded the street corner.
He couldn't call it 'butterflies' in his stomach, that was too flavorful. But he was curious, and perhaps a bit excited. She hadn't seen the sign before now, that was good. Though, in hindsight, he was certain she would have shown up bemoaning the situation if she'd been aware of it before today.
Though, he could only play so stupid for so long. He paused when they approached the church, when the sign was just too visible to miss, even if you were pretending not to see it.
"Oh," he said, almost flatly. "Yes, that." He stopped walking and just stood in front of the building; his eyes found the church. "...Rhona, it really is an eyesore," he said a moment later. "...Whoever bought it would have to be out of their mind, you know. I'm not sure I ever saw what you saw in this place. I mean, the amount of time and effort you'd have to sink into this place..."
He watched her, the same casual expression on his face.
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Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 4:54 pm
Rhona just wanted to go to lunch, drown herself in coffee and soup, and go back home and cry. It turned out that she was just now discovering that she had accidentally begun to believe that she could actually own a building like this. She had begun squirreling away more money than usual from victims of her quota. More than just rent and living expenses. She had a thousand dollars in a jar next to her bed, all made up of fives and twenties. She had actually begun to believe that a thousand dollars was enough money. She had begun to believe... But Jett wanted to press the issue. So she just smiled as best she could despite the constant sinking she was feeling in her stomach. "Yeah," she agreed with a heavy sigh, eyes only leaving the church to glance at her friend. "I mean yeah. Yeah. You're probably... nah, I mean you are right. It would be a massive amount of money. And I don't work... I just... steal... so... maybe I should change that first, huh?" Rhona elbowed Jett as she finished, forcing more mirth into her laugh than would normally occur. "Get a job at... I dunno a coffee shop. Maybe something else will come up, or whatever. Maybe I can work at your store? Spend all day with one of your best girls? Huh?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 7:30 pm
Jett grunted in response, eyes once again moving to the church.
"I don't know if you're cut out to deal with antiques. You're like a bull in a china shop and, if I must remind you, we do sell antique china. No, I always assumed you were suited for something else. You're taking this remarkably well, though. Weren't you calling this 'your baby', or something?"
He knew she was faking; he didn't doubt that it was eating her up inside, that she was over there festering about a missed opportunity. His hand almost went to the pocket inside his jacket again.
Almost.
"I sort of expected you to go into a frenzy, demanding to track down whoever bought it, to drain them until they handed the deed over to you or something." He feigned a shrug. "...I don't like you looking so sad. Makes me want to do something about it."
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Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 8:51 pm
At Jett's chiding, Rhona's expression soured. He could be a little nicer, couldn't he? He was normally pretty rough with her, and normally she didn't mind... hell normally she gave it right back. But this was kind of a special circumstance, right? Jett could suffer to be a little softer to her now, right? Right?! She glared at him for a moment longer before sinking into her coat and turning back to the church before them. "I was calling her that..." she mused softly, more into her coat than anything. "But I guess that was more wishful thinking. It's only a building, Jett. What good would going after someone who bought it do? Say I did go after them and raise hell? What then? I don't want to start a new life out like that. It was meant to get me out of stealing and pickpocketing. Not be built on theft..." Her voice was catching in her throat, and Rhona was so pissed off because there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. Her eyes were hot and her brain was fuzzy and all she wanted to do was go home and lay in bed. Forget lunch. Forget ever eating ever again. She swallowed hard around the lump in her throat and reached out for Jett's hand. "There's nothing you can do, Jett. Except... take me to lunch and tell me what you think I would be good at. Maybe I can start with one of those ideas."
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Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 5:14 pm
Jett's smile was thin, but present. He was smug; she'd said what might as well have been magic words.
He slipped his free hand into the pocket on the inside of his jacket and pulled out the neatly folded papers.
"Nothing I can do?" he prompted, tapping her lightly on the forehead with the papers before holding them out for her. There was more paperwork to do still, to officially give her the building, but he held the deed in his hand. The address was marked right on top with a black and white picture of the church printed below that. It hadn't been too awful to get the building, and he figured it was better that he invest in it before someone else bought it. The land was probably more valuable with the property, and Rhona was such a dreamer, he didn't want to see her dream snatched from her.
Well. No, that wasn't quite true; he had set all of this up so he could give her the title, the property, the building of her dreams. He had seen her dream snatched from her. Only, he was giving it back.
He kept his hand in Rhona's, trying to keep track of her emotions. She wasn't particularly hard to read, he'd found, but he wanted to know exactly what was going through her mind right now. He wanted to know the exact second it clicked.
He wanted to feel when she realized it was hers all along.
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Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 6:04 am
Yes, Jett, nothing you can do, so drop it.He was being unusually mean today, and Rhona was about to ask what the ******** his damage was when he slapped her with something. She whipped her head around to glare at him, finally fed up with his evasive and frankly super rude behavior when she caught sight of something in his hand. Papers... bills? Why was he hitting her with those? It took a solid thirty seconds for Rhona's brain to catch up with what was happening. The deedThe squeal that erupted from Rhona's lips nearly shattered the glass in the windows, and the force with which she slammed herself against her best friend in the whole wide world nearly shattered him. "Oh Jett, you didn't! Tell me you didn't! Jett, this is amazing! How did you -- wait, when did you do this? Wait... wait you... this whole time... you jerk!" and despite her name calling, Rhona couldn't bring any anger to her voice simply because there was no room for the emotion. She was too happy. Too excited. Too full of dreams and wonder and light.
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