Age Before Beauty

by Virginia Smith

  But an examination of her new sales report revealed a disappointing truth. She had not sold as much as she thought. Though she’d conducted a couple of big events, when she totaled up all the sales, she was averaging less than a hundred and fifty dollars per party. Her cost on the product was 50 percent, which meant her profit was less than seventy-five dollars per party. Considering the number of hours she spent preparing for each one and doing the follow-up work, she didn’t want to think about how much she was making on an hourly basis. A look at her expenses showed her that she wasn’t as close to becoming profitable as she’d hoped. In fact, she was still a long way from breaking even.

  The phone rang, and she jumped up to grab the extension on the nightstand before the second ring. Her youngest sister’s voice cut her off before she could even finish saying, “Hello?”

  “Listen, you have got to stop calling my co-workers. It’s getting so I can’t walk into the break room without someone telling me you’ve left a ton of messages on their answering machine.”

  Allie winced at the irritation in Tori’s voice. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t called anyone except Heidi, and that’s because of her makeover party.”

  “So you haven’t called Diana or Fran?”

  “Well, yes, but they came to Heidi’s party, not yours.”

  “Doesn’t matter. They all know you’re my sister, so when you start acting like a used car salesman, they blame me.”

  Allie dropped to perch on the edge of the bed. “I’m not acting like a used car salesman! They all indicated on their customer cards that they might be interested in hosting a party themselves. I’m just following up like any good businesswoman would do.”

  A grunt of Tori’s aggravated breath sounded through the phone. “Do me a favor, would you? Stop trying to do business with the people at my office. It’s becoming awkward for me. I wish I’d never had that party for you.”

  Tori really sounded angry. Allie had never heard that edge in her voice before. Mom did say the other day that Tori was under a lot of pressure at work. The last thing Allie wanted to do was cause more stress for her sister, even though Sally Jo insisted constant follow-up was the only way to ensure that your business continued to expand. “Sure, Tori. I won’t call any of your friends anymore if you don’t want me to.”

  “Well.” Tori relented a bit. “You don’t have to go that far. You can call the girls at my apartment complex. Carrie booked a party, didn’t she?”

  “It’s tomorrow night, in fact. I thought you might be there.”

  “I have to work.” She lowered her voice. “Honestly, Allie, this job is starting to get to me. I didn’t get out of here until after nine last night and had to be back for a meeting this morning at eight thirty. When I get home, I’m so keyed up I can’t sleep.”

  Allie knew what she meant. Sometimes she lay in bed at night, and all she could think about were a million and one things she wanted to do with her business. But that would calm down after she got everything running smoothly. Maybe Tori’s job was the same.

  “Are you in the middle of a big project or something?”

  “Yes. There’s an account my new boss is trying to land, a big one.”

  “Then maybe when it’s over things will calm down for you.”

  “Maybe.” She sounded uncertain. “I hope so. Listen, I need to go. Uh . . .” A pause. “Thanks for understanding about the phone calls. Sorry I was snippy.”

  Allie smiled. “Hey, if you can’t be snippy with your big sister, who can you be snippy with?”

  After she hung up, Allie stayed on the bed and stared at the phone. Her closing words to Tori held a lot of truth. A girl knew where she stood with her sisters. After all, they were stuck with you. No matter how ill-tempered or annoying you acted toward them, they couldn’t divorce you. And they always forgave you when you came to your senses.

  She heaved herself off the bed and returned to her computer. She wanted to do one more thing before Eric got home. Her new credit card allowed online account access, and she wanted to cross-check that against the records of her purchases. Just to make sure everything balanced out.

  The computer took a second to pull up her account after she entered her user ID and password. When it did, Allie let out an involuntary cry of alarm. The balance displayed on the screen was huge, much more than she thought she’d spent. That had to be wrong. She clicked the link to display the detail and scanned down the list of transactions. Had she used the card that many times? A quick review told her that every one of the purchases on the list were valid.

  She collapsed against the back of the chair. Why hadn’t she kept a running total of her expenditures? She didn’t have any idea they would add up to so much money.

  If Eric found out, he would be furious. Allie glanced furtively behind her at the door. He would be home any minute. She clicked the logout button and closed the window. The computer’s wallpaper picture appeared, a shot of Joanie at four weeks, but this time it failed to bring a smile to her face. She needed to book a lot more parties and hope the ladies bought stuff she had in inventory.

  Besides, she didn’t need to worry about Eric’s reaction. She lifted her chin. This was her business. She could handle it on her own without having to answer to him.

  A touch of alarm twisted her stomach as her gaze fell on all the products on her shelves. She forced her muscles to relax. She could handle this. So what if she had to make a partial payment to her credit card for a couple of months? Though she hadn’t planned on doing that, it wasn’t a total disaster. At least the interest was tax deductible. Wasn’t it?

  15

  Eric was pulling out of the parking lot after work on Wednesday evening when his cell phone rang. A group of costumed trick-or-treaters stood on the sidewalk, waiting to cross the street behind his truck. He didn’t take his gaze off the road to read the caller ID. Instead, he stuck the earpiece into his ear and punched the Talk button so he could shift gears safely as he talked.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Eric, it’s Ken Fletcher.”

  Ken had become a fixture at Allie’s family dinners every Sunday afternoon for the past few months since he and Joan started going out. He was a doctor at the hospital emergency room, and seemed like a nice enough guy, but too religious for Eric’s taste. “Hey, Ken. What’s up?”

  “I’m looking for someone to give me a hand with the auction Joan and I are doing next week. Maybe she mentioned it to you?”

  He’d heard Allie and Joan talking about some sort of fund-raiser thing going on at their church, but he hadn’t paid much attention. “What kind of help?”

  “I need someone with a truck and a strong back to give me a hand moving some furniture that’s been donated. Can’t get much in the trunk of my old Probe.”

  Eric got that request a lot. Having a pickup was like an open invitation every time someone moved or bought something big. He didn’t mind. “When do you want to do it?”

  “Tomorrow night, if that’s okay. It’s the only night this week I’ll be off.”

  Thursday night . . . Allie mentioned something about a party or a meeting or something. Mother probably wouldn’t mind watching Joanie for a couple hours. “No problem. I’ll get off around five. You want to come by the dispatch office and we’ll go from there?”

  “Sounds good. Thanks. See you then.”

  Eric pressed End and took the earpiece out of his ear, then downshifted as he turned into their neighborhood. The clock read just after five and already he saw several small groups of kids running from house to house up and down the street with bulging bags clutched in their hands. He remembered Mother making him finish his dinner before she’d let him go trick-or-treating when he was a kid. These days it made sense to get home before dark, which was a shame. The world wasn’t as safe anymore. Even a small town like Danville had its share of crime, though thankfully it wasn’t as bad here as in the bigger cities like Lexington or Louisville. That’s one reason h
e and Allie had chosen to live here.

  He pulled into the driveway and got out of the truck. A brisk wind blew across the grass, stirring up the earthy smell of fallen leaves. The weather was cold enough to wear coats and jackets, but he didn’t see many on the neighborhood children. Who wanted to cover up their costume with a coat? A group of kids brushed by him as they ran up the front sidewalk and climbed the porch steps. The door opened, and Allie stepped outside, a big bowl of candy in her hand and a wide smile plastered across her face. Eric watched as she exclaimed over the costumes and dropped candy into each bag. She was so great with kids, and she obviously liked them. Why didn’t she want to stay home and be a full-time mom to Joanie?

  The kids left their house and ran across the yard to the one next door. Allie smiled, waiting for Eric as he walked up the porch steps.

  “You should have seen the last group,” she told him. “There was this tiny little boy in a cowboy hat almost as big as he was. It kept falling over his eyes.” She slipped her free arm around him. “In a couple of years, we’ll get to take Joanie.” Her eyes sparkled.

  Eric kissed her. “It sure is good to have you here when I get home.”

  She stiffened and stepped away, her expression suddenly cold.

  “What?” He spread his hands. “What did I say?”

  “Why do you have to start out by taking a shot at my job?”

  Eric shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. I was just saying it’s good to see you.”

  “That’s not what you said.”

  Why was she so touchy lately? He couldn’t say a word without setting her off.

  “Well, that’s what I meant, but I don’t mean it anymore.” His voice came out louder than he intended.

  Allie’s gaze dropped as she looked at something behind him. He whirled to find three preteens dressed like punk rockers standing a few feet away. They stared at him through eyes as round as giant gum balls. Great. Here they were, standing on the front porch and shouting at each other in front of the neighbor kids. He clenched his jaw and turned back to Allie.

  “You have customers,” he said through gritted teeth as he stepped by her into the house.

  Allie came from the nursery into the living room and slipped onto the center couch cushion beside Eric. Joanie had just finished her last meal of the evening and was fast asleep in her crib. Betty’s bedroom door was closed. The television played some stupid sports game, of course, but Allie chose to ignore the rise of frustration when Eric didn’t take his gaze from the screen. She saw his jaw bunch, so she knew he was still angry with her.

  She had to admit he had a right to be. She stared at the television without seeing anything on the screen, super aware of Eric’s tense body beside her. She had been a shrew this evening, defensive because she’d just realized how far in debt she’d gone. His comment about having her at home rubbed her the wrong way, and she snapped before she thought.

  She steeled herself, then said the words she found so hard. “I’m sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusion earlier and barked at you.”

  He didn’t look at her. “You didn’t jump to the wrong conclusion.”

  Allie narrowed her eyelids. “You mean you were taking a potshot at my job?”

  His voice sounded as tight as his jaw. “I didn’t think so at the time. Now . . .” He turned his head to look at her. “Yeah, I think I was. I’ll admit it. I don’t like your job. I wish you’d quit.”

  Allie forced herself to remain calm. At least he was looking at her and not the stupid television. “I thought you said you supported me in this. I thought you understood how important it is to me.”

  “I thought so, too, before I knew what it was going to be like.” He cocked his head and his voice lost a touch of its hardness. “Allie, I thought you wanted to stay home with Joanie instead of taking her to a babysitter.”

  “I do! She isn’t in daycare, is she?”

  “Only because my mother is here.” Eric glanced toward the bedroom door and lowered his voice. “You’re taking advantage of her. I don’t think you even want Mother to leave anymore.”

  Allie leaned away from him, hurt. “You’re taking just as much advantage of her as I am. You let her fix breakfast for you every morning and pack your lunch like you were ten years old. You’ve asked her to watch Joanie a couple of times too. The deal was that I’d stay with the baby during the day and you’d watch her at night when I had a party or a meeting. You left her with your mother Tuesday night while you went to Molly’s house.” She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice as she spoke Molly’s name, but she didn’t entirely succeed.

  If he heard her tone, Eric chose to ignore it. “You’re gone most nights before I get home, so if Mother wasn’t here, you’d have to hire a babysitter.”

  “My mother—”

  “Has a job and a life. You can’t expect her to arrange her life around your party schedule.” Allie opened her mouth to react to his wording, but he held up a hand. “Sorry. Your work schedule. And you’re right, I did tell you I supported you in this job. That was before I knew that I was going to lose my wife.”

  “You haven’t lost your wife.” Allie couldn’t hold his gaze. This was the first night she’d been home this week.

  “Yes, I have. You might be a stay-at-home mom during the day, but you’re not a stay-at-home wife.” He covered her hand with his, and Allie felt his warmth seeping into her cold fingers. “You know I want you to stay home all the time, but if you insist on working, I wish you’d go back to your job at the state. At least then Joanie would get to see both of her parents at the same time.”

  She moved her hand away. Why did she even tell him about Gina putting her on a leave of absence status? Better if she’d kept her mouth shut.

  Should she give up on Varie Cose? Put Joanie in daycare and return to the steady paycheck? She’d have to come clean about her debt to Eric, and they’d take a huge loss financially. And what would she do with all that expensive inventory?

  No. She couldn’t. She was too far into Varie Cose to quit now.

  She raised her head and locked eyes with Eric. “I can’t quit. I’ve put so much work into this business. I’m making a lot of progress. Things will calm down once I’ve established a good client base and gotten a few people signed up as consultants under me. I won’t have to do as many parties then, because I’ll get a percentage of their sales. That’s where most of Sally Jo’s income comes from.”

  Eric held her gaze, and for a moment Allie saw the same sadness in the depths of his eyes that she saw so often in Betty’s.

  “I hope so, Allie.”

  The slow way he shook his head before he turned back to the television shot a chill through Allie. She had never heard her upbeat husband sound so pessimistic. His tone reminded her of . . .

  She stood abruptly. “I’m going to bed.”

  He spoke without looking up. “I’ll be there in a while.”

  Allie fought against tears as she closed the bedroom door. For a minute there, Eric sounded just like her father. She rested her forehead on the door, her throat tight. From now on, she needed to focus on signing up new consultants instead of just booking parties. She had to pay off her debt and become profitable soon.

  16

  On Thursday morning Allie did laundry. It was the one household task Betty hadn’t taken over. Though she had offered, Allie refused. There were limits to her comfort level in the household tasks she gave up into her mother-in-law’s eager hands. Washing her underwear was one of them.

  As she folded the last of Eric’s T-shirts and placed it at the top of the neat stack on her bed, the doorbell rang. She glanced at the clock. Darcy called earlier and asked if she had any four-ounce bottles of Stay Clean Spray. A customer wanted one quickly.

  She tossed a burp pad over her shoulder and picked Joanie up off the bed. “Come on, sweetie pie. Maybe Darcy brought a friend for you to play with.”

  Sure enough, Darcy stood on the doorstep with her ba
by in her arms. At least, Allie assumed there was a baby bundled in the giant wad of blankets she carried. As Allie opened the door, a cold breeze swooped into the house. She stepped sideways so Joanie was behind the door, protected from the wind.

  Darcy rushed inside. “Brrr. It’s cold out there. I think it’s going to snow soon.”

  Allie shut the door behind her. “I wouldn’t be surprised, but it won’t stick. Not yet, anyway.”

  Darcy peeled off a couple of layers of blanket and dropped them in the chair. Beneath them Brandon was still invisible inside a puffy winter coat with a hood and built-in mittens. When Darcy turned him in her arms to face Allie and Joanie, his little face peeked adorably at them from within the hood.

  Allie held Joanie against her torso and pointed. “Look who’s here, Joanie. Brandon came over to visit.”

  Joanie could care less. She didn’t seem to notice the little boy, but Brandon sure noticed her. A smile lit his face, and he let out an ear-piercing screech.

  Darcy winced. “He’s started doing that in the last week. I know it’s a growth phase, but I wish he’d get over it.”

  Betty emerged from the depths of the guest room and stopped just behind the chair nearest the doorway. She watched them in her expressionless way.

  Allie did the introductions. “Betty, this is my friend Darcy and her son, Brandon. Darcy, this is my mother-in-law, Betty Harrod.”

  Darcy smiled and dipped her head. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Harrod.”

  Betty inclined her own head, then looked at Allie. “Would you girls like a cup of tea or hot chocolate? I got sugar free at the store the other day. Only fifty calories per eight-ounce serving.”