Goddess of Light (Goddess Summoning #3)(6)

"Thank you, Eddie. That will adequately cover the expense of being away from my studio for a week."

The limo slid to a smooth halt. Robert opened the door and helped her out. Pamela studied the outside of the huge building while Eddie extracted his bulk from the car. The exterior relief of The Forum was simple. It looked like an enormous white marble block with hidden columns forming most of the decoration. Not bad, she thought, even tasteful. If this was an indication of the interior of the shopping mall, she could expect long, clean lines and understated elegance. Challenge? She wanted to laugh out loud. As Vernelle would say, this job would be as simple as selling feather boas to g*y guys.

"The Forum is through here." Eddie led the way through a plain set of white double doors, moving with a surprisingly spry step for such a big man. "I delight in this entrance," he explained to her as they walked down a stark white hallway that looked like it should belong to a large furniture warehouse. "It always makes such an impression. I like to suppose that I'm leaving one world and entering another." His chuckle was deep and infectious. "But mayhap that is because I create worlds for a living. So, you tell me, Pamela." His eyes sparkled as he opened an ordinary-looking fire door for her and gestured magnanimously that she should precede him. "Behold, The Forum!"

Sweet mother of God, was Pamela's first thought. Her second was that she needed to close her mouth. Then she was caught up in a vortex of sight and sound. People crowded what had been built to look like the pretend streets of Rome. Emphasis on the word pretend. It was tacky beyond belief. She and Eddie had emerged between stores that emblazoned Versace and Escada in gilded letters meant to imitate ancient Rome. But instead of evoking old-world elegance, it reminded Pamela of a cartoon caricature. It was like someone had taken a crayon to history and architecture.

"Spectacular, isn't it?" Eddie boomed.

"The... the ceiling has clouds painted all over it," was all she could manage.

Delighted, he nodded. "It is the exact effect I want for the ceiling in my home. Do you see how they have it lit?" He pointed up. The mock facades that fronted the stores were tall, but they did not reach the domed ceiling. It was obvious that atop the fake roofs were spotlights that shined up, illuminating the pretend clouds. "As you see, right now it appears to be midday, which is what I wish for my home. I want it to be perpetual daylight, so that I may write in an eternal sun."

"Oh, God..." The words escaped Pamela's lips before she could think to reclose her mouth.

Eddie's laughter rumbled between them. "You had no idea it would be like this."

"No idea," she agreed numbly.

"Come! The best lies before us." He quickly checked his watch. "We must hurry. There are only five minutes left before the show begins."

"The show?" Pamela forced herself to stop gawking and hurried to catch up with him.

"Yes! It is what I want you to create as the centerpiece of my home. The spectacular fountain."

"You want a fountain inside your home?" Her voice was pitched to be carefully optimistic. She loved water features and believed they were an important part of creating positive chi within a home. Her mind was already whirring... she would hire an excellent artist and create... she glanced up and tried not to grimace... a tasteful version of the sky blue and cotton white paint-by-numbers scenery above them. Then she would offset that garishness with a fabulous fountain. Perhaps one imported directly from Italy. Eddie would like that, after all, The Forum was a play on Rome, so it would be natural to want a fountain from...

They turned to the left, and Pamela stumbled to a horrified halt.

Opening up in front of them was a monstrosity that spewed bubbling water and naked gods and goddesses. Pamela could feel her head shaking back and forth as if it didn't belong to her. It was atrocious. Huge marble horses lunged from the lighted pool as water frothed around them. Zeus or Poseidon or some other naked god stood atop a platform holding a pointed trident as he stared sternly down at the billowing water. Against one side of the fountain diners sat in little cafe tables of an obviously popular Italian restaurant. Pamela wondered how they could hear one another over the roar of the erupting water.

"No, no, no, not this fountain," Eddie touched her back, guiding her easily past the wet hulk. "I have no need for an imitation of Trevi. I want something truly unique."

Relieved, Pamela gave him a weak smile.

"I do not like that, either," Eddie said as they hurried by The Disney Store, which hosted a life-sized Pegasus sticking out of the top of it. "A winged horse seems a little too much to me."

Pamela nodded silently. A winged horse was "a little too much," but a domed ceiling painted to look like the sky lit with eternal sunlight wasn't? She set her jaw. She liked a challenge. Really. She was an excellent, experienced interior designer with a keen sense of taste and style. She liked eccentric clients. No, she reminded herself firmly, she didn't just like them, she preferred them. There was no project so weird or tacky or bizarre that she couldn't take it and whip it into something tasteful and refined.

A crowd of people milled in front of them, from the middle of which a tall man's raised arm caught Pamela's attention.

"Ah, there is James. He has chosen an excellent spot."

Eddie tucked her against him as he plunged into the crowd, propelling them forward like a whale cutting through a school of guppies. When they reached the tall man, Eddie pushed her forward. A little short of breath, she smiled a greeting, but the expression died on her face as she realized where they stood.