Welcome to Spicetown

by Sheri Richey

  “I went by Saucy’s right before midnight. He thought someone was lurking around his property. You know Denise Ivy has had some problems over there on Sage Street, too. I think we need to increase patrols around there for a bit,” Conrad said as Wink nodded. It may just be kids but a car might tone them down.

  “Sure thing, boss. I’ll let the guys know,” Wink backed out the door and headed down the hall with Hank.

  Saucy’s truck was a Ford, but he had no reason to be at a business after hours. He wondered if Saucy had decided to start his own patrolling of the town and maybe that’s why it was warm when he stopped by last night. No reason to lie about that though. It probably had nothing to do with fireworks. Saucy wouldn’t steal anything. That just wasn’t in him.

  §

  Cora went back to City Hall and let herself in the back door. There were no employees in today because of the holiday and she thought she’d just take advantage of the silence and type up her notes. Anything she could do today would make tomorrow easier.

  The hall had a different feeling when she was there alone. The big lobby echoed her footsteps when she walked across the highly polished wood floor and the high wooden counter looked bleak with no computer monitors glowing. She saw a large vase with red roses sitting on the end of the counter that she hadn’t noticed yesterday. There was a card with Amanda’s name on it clipped to a plastic spike. They were still fresh and open so they must have come late yesterday and she had forgotten to take them home.

  The floor creaked as she walked around the counter and headed to her office. The sun was bright today, so she opened the large heavy venetian blinds and let the light fill her office. Turning on her computer, she dug out the lists from her large satchel. She had made some decisions she needed to commit to writing for the coming year. One of the things she wanted to add back to the budget was a firework display for the fourth of July and she hoped to unveil her statue of John Spicer at the same time. She was going to contact the sheriff tomorrow and ask about the New Year’s Eve display. Conrad obviously didn’t want to talk about it, but she’d rather the county handle that next year so she didn’t have to budget it. The theft may lead the county to decide they didn’t want to hold the event again. Cora would use that as an excuse to find out what happened. She wasn’t at all ashamed of being more than a little curious.

  Chapter Four

  Ivy’s Oils & Organics was a small shop on Fennel Street just two doors down from the Fennel Street Bakery. Denise Ivy had opened it last summer primarily to market essential oils, which she strongly believed could cure any ailment. She soon found she needed an additional draw and added organic lotions and soaps to her offerings. Her attempt to make the store a success had cost her all of her savings.

  As the bell over the door chimed, Denise slapped on her happy greeter face to try it one more time. “Welcome to Ivy’s Oils. Is there anything particular I can help you find today?”

  Two ladies entered cautiously and looked around. Denise’s heart sank because they were older ladies she didn’t think would be open minded enough to try her natural remedies, but the scented soaps might work on them.

  “Oh, no. We’re just looking around some. It smells lovely in here.” The taller lady smiled sweetly. Denise thanked them and they walk over to the soaps and lotions as she expected.

  Her mother had warned her not to move back to Spicetown and said opening this store was a mistake. Her friends and family didn’t feel she could be an effective sales person.

  Denise didn’t know the best way to busy herself when customers were browsing. Should she try to talk to steer them toward products they needed or should she leave them alone? Maybe she needed to be bolder.

  “Have you ladies ever used essential oils? They are really helpful as natural remedies.”

  The two ladies looked at each other in puzzlement. “Why, no. I wouldn’t know what to do with them,” the taller lady said looking quizzically at her companion.

  “Well,” Denise sighed and took the plunge. “They can treat bug bites, help with cold symptoms, moisturize your skin, scent your home safely and improve brain focus and clarity. Do you need help with any of those things?”

  “My goodness,” the shorter lady exclaimed. The bright red scarf tied around her neck brought out her rosy cheeks. “I thought you just used them to make these soaps.”

  “They can be used to scent products. I have a recipe over here that shows how you can make your own gel air fresheners for your home. They smell divine and there are no toxic chemicals in them for you to breathe in, like when you buy air fresheners at a store. It just takes unflavored gelatin and salt.” Denise handed them a free copy of the recipe. “You can add food coloring for effect, but the oils are suspended in the gelatin and stay smelling wonderful for months.”

  “Now, Libby,” the taller lady said. “You love your scented candles. You could make something like this. It looks simple.”

  The smaller lady considered it. “But what scent do I use?”

  “Oh, you can pick your favorite or you can combine them,” Denise said excitedly. “I love the pumpkin pie scent in the fall and a flower garden in the spring. What scent of candles do you usually choose?”

  “Oh, I got all kinds. Maybe some springtime might be a good thing. I’m about ready for the winter to lift.”

  Denise pulled the lavender, geranium and grapefruit from the display and opened each sample display bottle for her to smell. Then she offered her a gel candle in a mason jar to smell the three together. “This is what it makes,” she said proudly.

  “Hmm, I don’t know if I’d ever get around to doing all that,” the smaller lady said, shaking her head.

  Denise’s hopes deflated, but she fought back. “You don’t have to mix anything. If you find a fragrance you like, you can just use a single oil.” Denise reached for the clove, but the lady curled up her lip, so she picked up the lavender again. “Lavender is one of the scents that improves concentration and focus. It’s also very calming. You can make scented gel from this and also put a couple of drops on your wrist or neck to relax your body and sharpen your mind.”

  “I’ll give it a try, young lady,” the smaller lady said with a wink and a smile. Denise felt relief flood her tense shoulders. Maybe she could do this after all.

  The taller lady bought a body lotion, and she sold the scent to her friend putting a few informational handouts in the bags along with their products. She felt strongly education was all that was necessary to convince people they needed these oils. They had changed her life, and she wanted everyone to benefit as she had.

  After seeing the ladies off, Denise wondered how she could find a voice in the community to tell people about these great products. There had to be somewhere she could find a platform to teach. Now that she’d found a way to cut some costs with her products, she might succeed if business would improve.

  As Denise tidied the shelf, she congratulated herself again for taking the risk to repackage the lower quality oils to sell for crafts. The increased margin made a big difference in her bottom line.

  This little lady with the red scarf might never even use her oil or if she did, it would just be to make an air freshener, so she sold her the diluted low-quality oil. This might be the only way she could keep the store open. Denise told herself she didn’t feel guilty at all.

  §

  Bryan Stotlar threw another log on his fire and went in the kitchen to warm up his coffee. With the holidays over and no snow in the forecast, he didn’t have anything urgent to tend to. He sat down and watched the cat curled near the fireplace; he wished he had been born a cat. Life was so easy for cats. No complicated social interactions, no politics to work around or feelings to hurt. They ate when it was available and slept it off. He would love a simple life like that.

  Turning his family land into a tree farm had seemed a great idea when he was twenty. Now the reality of how limiting it was weighed on his heart. He had struggled with several options for the f
uture and decided the only practical thing was to expand the concept into a full nursery of plants and increase his knowledge of landscaping.

  To add to his despondency, his date last night with Amanda Morgan hadn’t left him feeling confident. Everything seemed to go so smoothly until they got in his truck and he couldn’t think of anything to say. She had a bubbly personality and tried to keep the conversation engaging, but Bryan couldn’t keep up his end of the deal. He was nervous about driving, about parking, about whether she was warm enough, about whether she wanted the radio on and his inner voice was making fun of all his petty concerns. By the time they were seated at The Barberry Tower for dinner, his confidence was gone.

  Although he had experienced this deflating loss of personality before in other encounters, it had never mattered so much. Amanda was really important to him. She was the first woman he had ever worked so hard to connect with and make an impression.

  As their food arrived at the table, Bryan remembered his mother’s words to him when he was in high school. Ask her about herself and talk about her interests. Girls want to know you want to know them.

  Fueled with positive nostalgia, Bryan asked her about college, about her wishes for her future, about her job and her favorite things. Once again, his mother had saved him. Funny how he never listened to her when she was alive.

  Amanda’s tales had been foreign to him. She had lived a very different life. He hadn’t gone to college and hadn’t participated in parties or events as Amanda had. Living on a farm didn’t provide him with fascinating stories to tell. He enjoyed hearing about her life, but he couldn’t relate to it. Bryan had nothing to add, so he nodded often and withdrew further.

  The time passed, and he hadn’t even remembered to enjoy it. He had let his anxiety consume him and instead of relishing those precious moments of sharing a meal with Amanda Morgan, he had conceded defeat before they even left the restaurant.

  Arriving at the county fairgrounds had relieved some pressure from him because Amanda was friends with a number of people in the gathering crowd. Acquaintances from school and from City Hall were seeking her out. She never seemed to hesitate to engage with people, even those she had never met before. Floating around the crowd to greet others, she always returned to him. She tried to be polite, but each time they were quickly interrupted by another reunion.

  Learning that the fireworks display was being canceled was a relief. His vision of snuggling with Amanda in the cold and getting a New Year’s kiss were pure fantasy, so ending the evening earlier was saving his dignity. He was horribly disappointed, but not in the event cancellation. He was disappointed in himself.

  Cats never had these problems.

  Chapter Five

  “Good morning, Jimmy,” Cora called out as she stomped her feet on the doormat inside the back door of City Hall. Jimmy Kole’s office was nearest the employee’s entrance in the back of City Hall because all the city street department workers came in and out frequently. They could be a little messy at times.

  “Morning, Mayor,” Jimmy called back as she hung up her coat. “Happy New Year!”

  “You sound ready to get started,” Cora said looking in his doorway with a smile. She enjoyed his eagerness and willingness to try new things. She needed new vigor around her because the City Council was full of old stuffy citizens that criticized every proposal she brought and feared every whiff of change. Jimmy loved a new challenge and always embraced change. He would make an excellent council member someday.

  “I am. I’m sure you have lots of new ideas to go with the new year.”

  “I have a few I’m considering. We’ll have a meeting soon and see what we can do.” Cora had a twinkle in her eye and felt energized just with the brief conversation. Her staff was just the opposite of the City Council. They were excited by a challenge just as she was. She would enjoy that as long as she could.

  “Good morning, Mayor,” the girls at the counter said as she entered the lobby. Everyone was cheerful and sharing stories about their New Year’s Eve. They immediately asked her if she’d heard about the fireworks cancellation, looking for details about what happened. She was curious about that, too. She promised to share if she found out details and the girls returned to their workstations still chattering like little birds.

  “Good morning,” Amanda said as Cora walked through her office to get to her own. “I hope you had a nice holiday.”

  “Yes, it was a nice break. And how was your New Year’s Eve?”

  “Well, the fireworks were canceled, but I had a nice time. Do you know what happened?”

  “No, I just heard they were canceled. So, what did you do instead?” Amanda hadn’t directly shared the information that she had a date with Bryan Stotlar, but she must know Cora had heard from the other employees. “Did you and Bryan have a nice evening?”

  “Yes, it was just cut short. We went to dinner and I really don’t like fireworks much anyway, but it kind of messed up the date.”

  “Well, that can be fixed with the next one,” Cora said smiling to see if Amanda reacted favorably.

  “I don’t know if there will be one. It was kind of awkward.”

  “Come on in,” Cora motioned to her to go in her office with her so they could sit down. Amanda looked like she wanted to talk and it really wasn’t something she could do with her own mother, so Cora didn’t mind standing in. Amanda’s mother, Louise Morgan, ran a hair salon in town and anything shared with her mother went viral around town.

  “So, what was awkward? Did you two not get along?”

  “Oh, no. It wasn’t that. I was just nervous, and I talked constantly. He couldn’t get a word in and I talked about myself all night. Looking back, I’m just so embarrassed. I don’t know what got into me. When he found out the fireworks were canceled, he just took me home. He didn’t say anything about seeing me again.” Amanda put her head down in her hands. “I don’t think I can even face him.”

  “I don’t know Bryan well, but he seems relatively shy and quiet. It’s hard to read other people’s mind, but it’s even harder to do that with people who don’t talk much. I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as you think.”

  “Trust me. It was.” Amanda looked up smiling and shaking her head as the humiliation lingered.

  “He was probably nervous, too. You turned him down the first time, so he might have been on edge about that. I bet he was relieved you were talking, so he didn’t have to think of something to say.”

  “Maybe,” Amanda said thoughtfully. “He did ask a lot of questions like he really wanted to know about me. We’ll see.”

  “Why did you turn him down the first time?” Amanda seemed to care about the impression she made, so this wasn’t a simple date, as she’d first thought.

  “I really didn’t. I mean I didn’t mean to,” Amanda said holding her hands up in disbelief. “I thought he was joking and again, I got nervous and blabbered something that made him think I was saying no. I just made a mess of things then too.”

  “He tried twice then. I bet he tries again, too,” Cora said with a sparkle in her eyes. Amanda was especially cute when she was nervous and blabbering on, and the possibility of young love warmed Cora’s heart. She remembered that nervous twittering it gave her when Bing came near. Bing always made her giggle like an idiot and she would regret it later but repeat it the next time he paid any attention to her. She missed Bing so deeply that it hurt.

  “Oh, well,” Amanda sighed and stood up. “What’s on our agenda this year?”

  “Well, I’ve been working on that but I’m not ready to set the agenda for the Council meeting yet. I will be soon, but I need to do a bit of research yet.”

  “I’ll let you get to it, then. Let me know if you need anything.” Amanda turned to go back to her desk.

  “If you see Chief Harris come in, let me know.”

  “Okay,” Amanda said as she shut Cora’s door.

  Cora thought again about Bryan Stotlar. She knew she had him as a student years
ago, but she just couldn’t remember a thing about him. She always remembered her students, either for positive or negative reasons, but something about each of them. It was very unusual for a fifth-grade boy to sit in class for a full school year and not make a good or bad memory for her.

  Of course, she had known his parents. Bing had always enjoyed visiting their farm even though they didn’t live within Spicetown city limits. He had always told Cora about his visits even though she rarely went with him. He made all the townspeople her personal friends too, just in the retelling of all his encounters.

  Some of that had changed with Bing’s passing though. The death of a spouse was not like any other loss. It had changed the rhythm in her daily life. Her comfortable routine was gone. The way she woke up in the morning, the meals she ate, the events she attended and her circle of friends had all changed. She had been handed a life she did not want, and she had to change to fit into it. She had taken his job in the hopes that it would keep some of him with her but being mayor of Spicetown had taken on a whole new meaning with Cora behind it.

  With Bing gone, she always turned to Connie. Conrad Harris had been her husband’s choice for Chief of Police and he had shared much of Conrad’s professional past with Cora so she had an unfair advantage. She knew him before they ever met. Connie was someone she could always share thoughts with in complete trust. She kept his thoughts, and he kept hers. Consequently, they knew each other well, although most people didn’t realize that.

  Chapter Six

  Conrad showed up late to work because he had patrolled late into the night. That niggling feeling was still there, and he had wanted to see what was happening around town on his own. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Wink to handle things, but there were still things that Wink didn’t know.