I walked around her in a slow circle. She was ten feet tall and no doubt one of the heaviest things I’d ever made. It was going to take an engine hoist and probably some creative engineering to get her on the truck that would haul her to Charlotte. But we’d manage.
Usually my work looked like what it was—something made of scrap metal. That had its own beauty, and I was proud of my other pieces. But this didn’t look like she’d been made of scrap—hardly looked like metal at all. I’d taken so much care with each section, making everything flow together smoothly.
She sat in a cage shaped like an old-fashioned birdcage, her knees against her chest, her hands gripping the bars. Large wings drooped from her back, the tips brushing the ground outside the bars. Her head tipped forward, her face angled down.
An angel in a cage.
But she still wasn’t finished. And it was killing me that I didn’t know why.
I was running low on time, but I couldn’t deliver a piece that wasn’t done—wasn’t perfect. As she stood, I was proud of her. There was no doubt in my mind it was the best work I’d ever done. But I had to figure out what else she needed. I’d never had this problem before, and it was driving me crazy.
My phone rang, making me jump. Luckily I didn’t have something hot in my hands. Didn’t want to admit how many little burn scars were the result of being startled when I was lost in thought out here.
It was Deanna.
“Hey, Dee.”
“Jameson,” she said. “Please tell me you’re almost finished.”
“I’m almost finished.”
“Are you lying?” she asked.
I cleared my throat. I wasn’t strictly lying. Almost was a relative term, and I was sure once I figured out what she needed, it wouldn’t take too long to finish. I hoped. “No. I’m looking at it now, and there’s not much left to do before it’ll be ready.”
She let out a noisy breath. “Oh thank god. Okay, they’re beefing up security at the opening, what with you being a sudden gossip-celebrity.”
I groaned. “Don’t remind me.”
“Kind of hard to avoid,” she said. “The girl’s pretty, though. You sure you know what you’re doing with her?”
A flicker of anger made me clench my fist, but Dee simply didn’t know the truth. “Yeah, I’ve known Leah Mae since we were kids.”
“Huh,” she said. “Regardless, your client is of course aware of the circumstances, and everyone there will be prepared.”
I still hated that I had to go, but there was no use grumbling about it. “All right, good to know. Thanks, Dee.”
“Sure,” she said. “You bringing her with you?”
“I’d like to.”
“Okay,” she said. “If she was just some sweet country girl from Bootleg Springs, it wouldn’t matter too much. But since she’s Leah Larkin, it does.”
I sighed. “She is just a sweet girl from Bootleg.”
“Right. Well, I’ll have the shipping company get in touch. I have you on their schedule, but they’ll need to coordinate with you for pick-up.”
“Sounds good. Thanks.”
“No problem,” she said. “Talk soon.”
“Bye, Dee.”
I hung up the phone and put it in my back pocket. At least she wasn’t trying to set me up with her niece anymore.
Tonight was poker night with my brothers, so after covering the sculpture, I went inside to shower and change.
POKER NIGHT ROTATED LOCATIONS, and players, but the basics were always the same. Food, beer, cards, and betting. We didn’t usually mess around with big money, especially when Scarlett was playing—that girl always cleaned up. Five or ten to buy in was standard, and the most I’d ever won was a hundred bucks. It was more about having a good time than winning a bunch of money off each other.
Truth be told, I kept my winnings and just kept rotating them in each new game. Sometimes I was up, sometimes I was down, but so far, I always had a bit of poker cash. Reckoned if I ran out, that was my cue to quit going to poker night.
Devlin was hosting tonight, and he had us out at Build-a-Shine. It had once been an old speakeasy, and now you could craft your own moonshine from their impressive selection of flavors. They also had a back room you could reserve for things like poker or birthday parties.