Read Online The Heartbreak Messenger by Alexander Vance - Free Book Online

it open. “See?”
    It was a picture of Ty and a girl with big hair making kissy faces at the camera as one of them held it out to snap the photo.
    â€œAnd where can I find her?” I asked.
    â€œShe works the desk down at Chic Clinique on Fifth. She always smells like the shampoo of the week.”
    â€œUh, right. Well, a lot of guys want me to take the girl chocolates and flowers.…”
    â€œNah, none of that. She’s got allergies for, like, everything.”
    â€œOkay.” In my mind I could see the carnations wilting away in my room. “Well, then…”
    â€œBut I do have a song.”
    â€œA what?”
    â€œA song, man. It’s our song. Hers and mine. It’s something special, and I wrote it myself. I want you to sing it to her. Kind of a going-away present from me.”
    â€œWell, I’m not much of a singer.…” Understatement of the year. Mom actually asked me not to sing in the shower.
    â€œNo worries. Powerful lyrics like this sing for themselves. Poetry. It’s all about what’s here that counts.” He thumped his heart with his fist. “It goes like this.…”
    Every once in a while life hands you a surprise, something you never could have guessed was going to happen. A high-schooler serenading me on the junior high blacktop was one of those things.
    â€œYou see the moon, You see the star,
    But me alone, I won’t go far.”
    Ty didn’t hold anything back. His voice warbled and rose up and down like he was serious stuff in a recording studio. I glanced around to see a few stragglers still leaving the school grounds. I tried to look natural, which was hard since Ty had some hand motions and arm waving to go with those powerful lyrics.
    â€œYou have my love, you are my fire,
    Like the sun above, you’re my desire.
    Ba … by.”
    He savored the final note like it was a piece of creamy European chocolate. “You got that?”
    â€œUm, close enough.” My screechy rendition would mostly be unintelligible anyway. “Now about the money…”
    â€œOh, and there’s one more thing, Heartbreaker. My ring.”
    â€œYour ring?”
    â€œYeah, she’s got my class ring. The one with the red stone in the middle. She wears it everywhere. But since we’re going our separate ways and all, I’m gonna need it back.”
    What did he think I was running, a singing repo service? I’d heard that the customer is always right, but after the Carmen Mendoza business, I was a little wary about getting close enough to grab a ring. “You sure you need it?”
    â€œYeah, man. I paid good money for that ring. Just give it to Marcus when you got it. He knows where to find me.”
    I charged him thirty, since love songs and ring retrieval were a little outside of my normal job description. He was cool with that, except that opening his wallet to get my cash brought LaTisha into view again, which meant an encore performance. I hummed along.
    *   *   *
    Chic Clinique was just a few blocks from Mick’s, so I went to the garage to drop off my things first. Rob and Abby were already at the picnic table, notebooks out.
    â€œHey guys,” I said as I tossed my backpack onto the table. “I need to run an errand. I’ll be back in a few.”
    Abby looked a little disappointed. I figured it was because we had an English assignment due the next day and she wanted help with it. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll be quick.”
    I made my way over to Chic Clinique, a small shop squeezed between an all-oak furniture store and an Army surplus outlet. I put my face up to the window to see several customers in swivel chairs, and several employees doing hair and nails and whatever else they do in places like that. None of them looked like the photo of LaTisha.
    I started to turn away when I saw the receptionist desk crammed into the front