255

The woman Zinnia'd been waiting for stood at the doorway, a couple of paintings leaned against her leg. The artwork was as depraved as it usually was: lacerated lips dripping with red, a piano linedancing on a pair of smooth, slender legs. Noemi smiled at her when she noticed her staring.

"Damn! Hate it when you do that float-in-like-a-ghost thing. Say something when you come in, wouldja?" Gracja said. She and Lucio popped up from where they were sitting to exchange greetings. Kisses on each cheek. Something about the flamboyancy of it made Zinnia look away.

"I take it no one bought anything today?" Lucio asked. His words were muffled around his lollipop.

"Nah, I made a good 20 off of the flowers. A cat helped me. Gorgeous little thing, that one." Noemi said. She shrugged off her jacket, carelessly dumping it on the floor. Her dress was tight to her body, the corset top more than accentuating her features. "He didn't do anything but lay there but that was enough to get people's attention. Cats are king."

"'Course it'd be the flowers that sold. You've got a good eye for those." Gracja said. "That 20 should be enough for some more oil. Supply's getting low."

"Your little friend stopped by." Noemi placed the paintings in the corner of the room. Just their addition alone seemed to brighten up the place. That taunting up-tick at the end of her sentence was enough for Zinnia to know Noemi was talking to her.

"Who?"

"The heiress. You should've seen her. She was looking at the piano legs so hard I thought she was going to ask for its measurements next." Noemi said. "Kinda like what you just did. Since y'all so hungry, y'all should meet and eat." The joke made Lucio and Gracja explode into a fit of laughter again.

"Great joke." Zinnia clapped slowly. "It was as great as your terrible art no one wants to buy."

That got Lucio and Gracja to scream "oooh" in unison.

"Don't mind Z. She's just hangry after a century of not being touched."

"Funny you of all people should say that when we all know you've got cobwebs growing down there."

Lucio pounded his fist on the floor. Gracja couldn't hold it together anymore.

"I'm sorry, which one of us went out with a girl who gave us a coin on a string and called it a bug necklace?"

"It's a beetle!" Zinnia clutched her necklace.

"Mmhm, right. Which of us went out with the supermodel?"

"She wasn't a supermodel just because you painted her. She was a cheesemaker!"

"At least she knew the difference between a coin and a bug, like, damn, what the hell is that? Glad you dumped her." Noemi paused for dramatic effect. "Oh, wait a second, you didn't dump her. She dumped your ass."

"It was a mutual decision," Zinnia said, "unlike you and the cheese girl who got tired of all your stuff."

"Stuff? Can you not say the word 'shit'? Are you like two years old?"

"Two years is longer than any relationship you'll ever have."

"Enough is enough!" Gracja cried. "You're killing us."

"Yeah, let's take care of things before Lucio spits out another tooth. Gracja and Lucio, mind giving us some space?" Noemi asked them.

255

255

255

255

255