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Anthony couldn’t remember the last time he had been so apprehensive. Of course, there were a lot of things he couldn’t remember, so for all he knew, this level of anxiety might not be entirely uncommon. Still, there was something about what he was preparing to attempt that had him on edge with the feeling that he might not escape unscathed.
He pulled up Nina’s number on his phone so she would be one finger press away if he got into trouble. There was no guarantee she would answer if he called, but it was the best he could do under the circumstances.
Ultimately, there probably would have been more dithering on his part, but Muriel was watching him curiously through the bookshop window, so Anthony screwed up his courage and pushed into the record shop, trying to remember not to be too acerbic.
“Anthony!” Maggie was always so happy to see him. She shone like a little beacon of sunshine and it rubbed him the wrong way.
It was a close thing to bite back the sarcastic quip that tried to trip off of his tongue, but he managed to snap his teeth shut on it and give her a smug grin instead.
“What can I do for you?” She asked brightly.
This was the hard bit. Anthony wanted to growl and snap and scowl to hide his real intent behind his carefully cultivated façade of ‘flash bastard’. His old self, as much as he remembered it anyway, wouldn’t have thought twice about it. It was the sort of character trait he didn’t think he could foster as much these days. For all that he was aware that his self imposed forgetting had freed him from something dark and terrible, it had also strangely tied him down to this one place and these people specifically. They helped to keep him grounded and gave him a reason to pull himself back together again when he started to fray around the edges. For all her sweetness, Maggie had strength too, but Anthony didn’t want to be the reason she had to reach for it. Nevermind the fact that Nina would skin him alive if he was ever careless enough to cause Maggie pain.
“Yeah, right, okay,” he started, hoping his riveting preamble made it obvious that he was there on business. “Stop shoving these through my letterbox.” Anthony tossed a small pile of cheques written in Maggie’s carefully hand onto the counter near the till.
“But… but that’s my rent. For the shop. I have to pay the rent.” She still looked hurt, despite Anthony’s efforts to avoid exactly that.
“That’s not true.” This is where Anthony needed to tread lightly. He was skating out onto thin ice in the personal history department. The bookshop was familiar to him. It resonated with him. But he had very few actual memories set there and nothing but the name, A. Z. Fell, for the original owner, which was a good indication that he was missing for a reason. In all likelihood, it was very important that whoever he was, he needed to remain unknown. “The previous bloke kept meticulous records. I know you came to a new agreement before he buggered off.”
He saw the moment that she started to panic. She knew it was dangerous territory too. Anthony turned away and pretended to flick through a row of records to give them both space from the threat.
“Eight pounds seventy five in store credit buys 8 months rent, yeah?” If he was the praying sort, he would have been begging the Heavens above that she would just accept it and let them all move on. But Anthony did not pray. He used to shout at God from time to time, but somewhere along the way he’d given that up too.
“That was just a thing Mr.–” She caught herself.
It wasn’t strictly necessary. Anthony knew what name had graced the entrance to his bookshop prior to the grand re-opening. He appreciated her for the effort anyway.
“That was a thing he did when business was slow, to help tide me over. Sales have started to pick up recently, I can pay the old rate again.”
He should have known she would be difficult about it. Most of the shops on Whickber Street had seen a slight uptick in revenue recently, but Anthony had paid special attention to the record shop when he started his prosperity project. It was important that he stay busy, for his own sanity. He told himself that was the main reason he did any of it. Finding new ways to drive internet traffic away from the big corporate sites and to the small, independently owned record store had been a fun challenge. The shop itself was eclectic enough that he’d also managed to create some buzz about it being a notable place for in-person visits. His new personal challenge was to see if he could keep ramping up the level of customer interaction and spending without it becoming obvious that there was an outside influence at work.
With a sigh, Anthony turned back to face her, but leaned back against the display to keep distance between them. “The point is, you had an agreement with the previous owner and I am required to uphold it.” It took some of the fun out of his scheming if a portion of the profits were ending up back in his own pocket. Especially when he had no need for the money.
“We never actually signed anything, though,” Maggie insisted as she twisted the small pile of cheques between her fists, bending them horribly. She was becoming distressed.
Things were getting out of hand. With a grunt of frustration Anthony fished his phone out of his jacket and dialed his last hope at salvaging the situation.
It rang four times before Nina finally answered. “I’m busy. What do you want?” She snapped at him.
It was a sure sign of his own emotional state that Anthony didn’t point out that he could see her shop was currently free of any patrons. He had actually specifically timed this encounter to occur when she was likely to be free. “Apparently, I am incapable of handling my responsibilities as a landlord. Could you please come to the record shop and sort this out?”
“What did you do?” Nina’s voice was sharp and suspicious, but he could see her already moving towards the coffee shop door.
“Why does it have to be me? Why do you assume I’m the one causing problems?” It was such a relief to have something else to focus on that he latched onto the bickering with more intensity than it deserved.
“Because I love Maggie and you like to wind people up,” she responded absently as she stuck a sign to the door before slipping out and locking it behind her.
“I like to wind you up,” Anthony countered, relieved in the knowledge that she could set this whole sorry situation back to rights.
“Goodbye, Anthony.” She said flatly as she hung up the phone and swept through the door into the shop.
They both turned to Maggie who looked for all the world like she might be on the verge of tears.
“What did you do?” Nine growled at him with more heat this time.
“He won’t take my rent.” Maggie’s accusation was said so plaintively that Anthony already had his hands up to fend off the oncoming storm.
“I’m trying to honor the final arrangement she had with the previous owner,” he countered quickly. “A landlord can get into all sorts of trouble trying to change up rental agreements when he takes over a property.”
“It wasn’t an official agreement,” Maggie whispered to Nina, desperate for someone to listen to her side. “He just took some records and said he would forgive me the back rent I owed in exchange. We didn’t sign anything.”
For some reason the word forgive made something ping painfully in Anthony's chest. He turned and moved towards the back of the shop, pretending to peruse more of the vinyl on offer while he fought off the urge to flee the shop and be done with the whole mess.
“Maggie, love,” Nina’s voice held more kindness now. “He’s trying to be nice.”
“Not nice!” Anthony rounded on them and stalked back to the front of the shop. “I’m undermining the foundations of capitalism is what’s happening here. Not to mention the poor tax auditors that are going to twist themselves into knots trying to figure out what sort of backwards scheme of evasion I’ve concocted this time.”
He rocked to a halt, losing momentum under their twin gazes. Maggie looked delightfully cheery now that she had been clued in. Nina’s look held a more mocking fondness that made it clear he was being judged for his bad excuses.
“Are we good then?” Anthony asked, letting his usual snark back in his voice now that Nina was present to serve as a buffer between him and Maggie.
“If that’s what you prefer,” Maggie said tentatively, glancing at Nina to see if she’d gotten it right.
“It’s not about preference!” Anthony insisted, realizing he was still playing a losing game. “I’m just honoring the existing agreement.”
Nina had the audacity to snort at him.
“Here!” He snapped up a record that was close at hand and glanced at the price tag. “Hozier. That’s nearly 24 months rent. Tally it against your ledgers and don’t think I won’t be back for another one in 2 years time.” He swept out of the shop with what little remained of his dignity, muttering to himself and trying not to pay attention to the little flicker of satisfaction that he felt about getting the whole situation squared away.
Despite everything else that he was or might have been, he still loved spreading just a little bit of chaos out into the world. If that led to pleasant consequences for those around him, for the people who, for whatever reason seemed to want to look out for him too, well, that could hardly be helped.