Chapter Twenty-Two
Faye was waiting for us by the front door. Bainbridge’s was closed, of course, and its windows were dark. It was still Christmas Day. The shoppers had all gone to their holidays and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow with their gifts to return.
She was dressed in a powder-blue coat that cinched at the waist and fanned out to pleats that ended in a white faux-fur trim. The section of skirt that showed below the coat was similarly colored, and she wore a matching powder-blue hat that was also trimmed with the white faux fur.
When Josh and I were within arm’s reach, she embraced us both even though we were holding mannequin parts. More of Tanner had come apart on our journey.
“Oh, you did it! I knew it. You two sweethearts—literally!”
I blinked at her. “What did we do?”
Her smile was bright and beamed all over us like a force. “You found your love. You lifted it up. You brought it back inside you, and now you’re filled to the brim with it.” She glanced at Josh. “Both of you.”
My gaze snagged on his. Confusion reigned.
“Come inside,” Faye said as she unlocked the front door of the store. “We’ll put those mannequin pieces away, and I’ll explain.”
“Thanks,” I said. “That would help a lot.” Though really I doubted there could be any explanation that could account for the things I’d seen today.
She led us past racks of clothes and around shiny counters. I knew before we reached it that we were heading for the storage room across from the display window—the location of Tanner’s and my first date, the place where I first met him and spoke to him. Back when I was surprised he’d talked because a moment before that I’d mistaken him for…
A mannequin.
Oh my gosh. Had I known this deep inside all along?
Faye stood by the storage room door and gestured us in. “If you’ll just set him down inside.”
I placed Tanner’s arm on the floor where he was standing the first time he spoke to me, and Josh set the rest of him next to it. I couldn’t help feeling guilty—like I was a tiny bit complicit in Tanner’s murder.
Faye must have read something of my thoughts on my face because she laughed, a bright, tinkling sound, and patted my arm. “Oh, there’s no reason to be sad, Margot. You didn’t do anything wrong. He was never real.”
“Um…what do you mean? Tanner was totally real. I had my tongue down his throat, like, three different times.”
Josh coughed into his hand.
“Sorry, Josh.”
Faye glanced at him sympathetically. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. She was actually kissing you.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Um, no she wasn’t. I would have been aware, I assure you.”
“I really wasn’t,” I seconded.
“You kind of were, dear.” Faye’s smile was apologetic. “You see, when true soulmates are in love but can’t be together, the magic of the mannequin helps untangle the problem and clear their path to a happily ever after.”
My jaw dropped as my mind scrambled hard to make sense of what she’d just said. With his wrinkled brow and tightened lips, Josh looked equally thrown. In love? Soulmate? Happily ever after? And someone calmly talking aboutmannequin magicjust didn’t make any sense.
Faye puffed out a frustrated laugh. “Didn’t you ever notice how much Tanner looked like Josh? You did that, Margot. It’s why he came alive for you.” At my blank stare, she hurried on. “Your love for Josh projected Josh’s likeness and personality onto Tanner.”
“No wonder I couldn’t stand the guy,” Josh quipped. “Also, I just want to point out that apparently youloveme.”
Faye grinned. “And you love her, too, which is why you also saw him as a real person when the rest of the world saw an inanimate dummy.”
Josh rubbed his jaw. “Wait a minute now. So when I was fighting Tanner in the restaurant, everyone there saw…”
“You rolling around with a store mannequin? Yes. Yes, they did.”
Josh’s face paled. “No wonder they were all staring.”