Sandy tipped her head back and laughed. “Pastor, I’m only doing this to prove you’re wrong about The Perfumery. Nothing crazy will happen. I’m sure Donna’s just been reading too many women’s magazines and thinks that by standing up for herself it will make you respect her more, or something silly like that.”
Pastor Byrd’s forehead wrinkled. “Well, I guess there’s nothing to lose. It’s not like I have to live with you.”
“Who knows,” Sandy said with a wink. “Maybe it will put a little life back into our relationship.”
Pastor Byrd’s face reddened with embarrassment, and he covered his ears. “Too much information, Sandy.”
“I’ll go over my lunch hour today,” She said. “The sooner we can put this all behind us, the faster we can get to the bottom of Donna’s behavior. Would you like me to talk to her for you? See what she says?”
“That might be a good idea. Woman to woman,” Pastor Byrd agreed. “She’s more likely to confide in you than she is me. She seems to think I’m the anti-Christ right now.”
“I’ll invite her to ride with me to book club on Wednesday night,” Sandy said.
“Fine, fine,” Pastor Byrd said absently. “I’ve got a meeting with the roofing company for an estimate on those shingles that blew off in the windstorm last month.”
He gathered his paperwork and stuffed it into his briefcase. Sandy smiled at him and nodded. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Pastor Byrd. You’ll look back on this in a few weeks and laugh about it.”
He raised an eyebrow at her and put his hat and coat on again. “I hope you’re right, Sandy. Though, I seriously doubt I’ll ever find any of this funny.”
At a few minutes before noon, Sandy slipped on her coat and grabbed her handbag. She’d been trying to find an excuse to get over to The Perfumery, and this was the perfect reason. The day was chilly, but she decided to walk the few blocks rather than drive.
Sandy was a plain woman in her mid-thirties. She’d never been married but had been with Carl for seven years. Lately, their personal life had become a little ⦠predictable. A trip to The Perfumery would kill two birds with one stone. No pun intended.
The front door to The Perfumery was propped open when Sandy stopped in front of the glass-fronted shop. She took a deep breath and slipped inside.
Francesca glanced up from the mortar and pestle where she had been grinding fresh herbs together with some essential oils to create some a new scent. She had a dream that told her what she needed to make, that it would make the perfect aroma for the perfect person. Francesca often had dreams like that, and if she’d learned anything in her thirty-six years, it was to never doubt her dream visions.
“Hello,” Francesca said to the thin woman with carrot orange curls. “Welcome to The Perfumery.”
Sandy smiled and said, “Hi, thank you.”
“I’m Francesca Duchesne,” Francesca said, offering her hand.
“Sandy Davidson,” Sandy said, shaking Francesca’s hand. “Nice to make your acquaintance.”
Francesca inhaled a slow, deep breath, taking in the scent of Sandy. Sandy wanted to spice up her sex life. Francesca grinned when she realized why she’d been told to create a pheromone-based oil.
“Come, let me show you our newest creation,” Francesca led Sandy to the other side of the shop. “I think it has your name written all over it.”
Sandy nodded, looking this way and that to take in all of the curious, yet beautiful bottles on display. There had to be hundreds of them. She breathed in the heady scents and relaxed.
“This place smells divine,” Sandy said quietly.
Francesca smiled knowingly. “How nice of you to say. I guess after being in here day in and day out, I don’t even notice anymore.”
Francesca strained her newest creation into a bottle and handed it to Sandy. “Here, tell me what you think.”
Sandy sniffed. “Oh, my wow. This smells yummy.”
“I thought you might like it,” Francesca said with a laugh. “All of our products are non-toxic, but I wouldn’t ingest any of them. No matter how yummy they smell.”
Sandy dabbed some of the perfume behind her ears. “This is very nice. Not too overwhelming, subtle. I’ll take it.”
Those were the kinds of sales Francesca liked to make. No haggling over the price. Sold with one whiff. “Great! Would you like a box?”
Sandy shook her head. “No, I’ll just stick it in my purse.”
Francesca rang up the sale and cautioned the woman, “Remember, as with all of our products, a little dab goes a long way. Use it sparingly. Otherwise, you might just have to fend off all the men in town.”
“I don’t think I’ll have to worry about that,” Sandy said with a chuckle. “Men don’t ever seem to notice me. There’s only one man in my life. If he likes it, then it’s worth its weight in gold.”
Sandy hummed to herself all the way back to the church. She didn’t know what all the fuss was about, Francesca Duchesne seemed like a really nice person. There had to be some other reason for Donna Byrd’s sudden change of personality. Pastor Byrd could be hard to get along with, and Sandy imagined he might even be a dictator at home. She never thought about it before, after all, she didn’t have to live with him.
Pastor Byrd narrowed his eyes at Sandy when she walked into the office. She hung her coat on the peg and smiled at him.
“Did you find anything out?” Pastor Byrd asked.
Sandy shook her head. “Nothing out of the ordinary, if that’s what you mean.”
The scowl on Pastor Byrd’s face deepened. “I hope you didn’t buy anything while you were there.”
“Of course not,” Sandy lied. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. Besides, it wasn’t any of his business. If her new perfume made Carl an animal in bed, Sandy would return and buy a gallon of the stuff. Maybe he’d finally get around to proposing.
She giggled to herself at the thought. Sandy was a sensible woman. She scolded herself. You should know better than to put such trust in a perfume. If Carl hasn’t asked you to marry him in seven years, a little bottle of perfume isn’t going to get him to pop the question.
“I sent you over there to spy on them for me, and you come back smiling like a lunatic,” Pastor Byrd said with a heavy sigh. “No matter, they’ll dig their own graves soon enough.”
STARLEY’S GOING TO HOMECOMING
Starley walked down the hall toward Rue’s locker. Students stopped to stare at the new Starley Duchesne, and she had to admit, she liked all the attention.
“Holy hell,” Rue said. “You look hot.”
Starley blushed and turned in a circle. “You think so?”
“Nope,” Rue said. “I know so.”
“Thanks,” Starley said with a laugh.
“So, has Beau seen you yet?” Rue asked.
Starley shook her head. “No. I just got here and came straight to find you.”
“What? Why? Girlfriend, if I were you, I would have strutted up and down these halls,” Rue said. She put her hand on her hip and jutted it to the side before flipping her hair over her shoulder dramatically. “You need to walk the walk and talk the talk.”
Starley put her hand over Rue’s mouth. “Stop! People are starting to stare.”
Rue pried Starley’s fingers from her face and giggled. “I’m sorry, but you do look really hot. If Beau Byrd doesn’t ask you to homecoming now, then that boy has a serious problem.”
“Come on, let’s get to class before we’re late,” Starley said.
Starley began to worry that Beau wasn’t at school. She hadn’t seen him all day, and she’d picked her best new outfit to wear. She had spent extra time on her hair, getting it styled the way Kosmo had shown her. Juliette had helped her with her makeup, teaching her how to apply shadow and liner, so her new deeper blue, contact enhanced eyes popped.
And Beau wasn’t there to see her transformation.
Starley stood in the lunchroom line lost in thought when Ru
e bumped shoulders with her. Starley followed Rue’s gaze and came face to face with Beau. She felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment.
“Starley?” Beau asked incredulously. “I almost didn’t recognize you. I was about to ask Rue who her hot new friend was.”
“Hi, Beau,” Rue said. She nudged Starley forward. “Starley say hello to Beau.”
At that moment, Starley wished she could sink into the floor and disappear. “Hey, Beau, I didn’t think you were here today.”
“Were you looking for me?” Beau asked.
“No, yeah, maybe,” Starley stammered.
“So, why were you looking for me?” Beau asked.
“I wasn’t really. I just hadn’t seen you around, that’s all,” Starley said.
“Oh, I thought maybe you were going to ask me to the homecoming dance, or something,” Beau said with a cocky smirk.
“Conceited much?” She took a sandwich and a bottle of water from the cooler and put them on her tray. Beau fell in line behind her, and she felt his eyes on the back of her head.
“You mean you don’t want to go to the homecoming dance with me?” he teased.
“I didn’t say I didn’t want to go with you. It’s just that if you’re waiting for me to ask you, that’s probably not going to happen. I’m a traditional kind of girl,” Starley said. She picked up her tray and walked away from him.
She hoped she looked more self-assured than she felt ⦠because she felt like her insides were about to explode like a piñata. She slid onto the bench across from Rue and sat on her hands to keep them from shaking.
Rue leaned close and asked, “So? Did he ask you yet?”
Starley shook her head. “No! Now stop, will you?”
Beau never sat at the same table as Starley, so when he slid his tray onto the table beside hers, her stomach did a triple somersault. When he rested his hand on her arm, she got lightheaded.
“Starley, all joking aside,” Beau said seriously. “Would you do me the honor of going to the homecoming dance with me?”
“I don’t know, Beau. I’ll have to check my social calendar,” Starley bluffed. She avoided looking at him for a few seconds. Finally, she allowed her eyes to drift in his direction. “Oh, hey, turns out I’m free that night. I’d love to go to homecoming with you.”
He gave her arm a little squeeze. “Great,” Beau said. He took a deep breath and blew it out.
Rue cleared her throat, bringing Starley and Beau back to the present. “As much as I’d love to sit here and watch you two make eyes at each other all lunch hour, I have some very important things to discuss with Starley.”
Starley’s eyebrows pinched together. “Rue, rude much?”
“That’s okay, I have to go study for a test this afternoon,” Beau said. He stood and smiled at Starley. “I’ll catch you later.”
All Starley could manage was to nod. Her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth. As soon as Beau was out of view, she took a big gulp of water. She turned to Rue and grinned ear to ear.
“I can’t believe he finally asked me,” Starley said.
“I can’t believe it took him so long to ask you,” Rue said. “Now you won’t have to return that dress you bought.”
Starley’s mouth dropped open. “How did you know that?”
Rue giggled. “Ha! I didn’t, but now I do. I just guessed that when you went shopping, you might have gotten a dress.”
“I didn’t want her to buy it, but she insisted,” Starley said. She took a nibble of her sandwich.
“So, what’s it like?” Rue asked. “I can’t believe you haven’t told me about it already.”
Starley took a deep breath. “I honestly didn’t think Beau would ask me to homecoming. I figured Juliette and I would just have to return the dress, and there wasn’t any point in me mentioning a dress I didn’t have.”
“I’m coming over to your house right after school, and you’re going to show me the dress,” Rue said with a grin. “Honestly, I think I’m more excited about this than you are.”
“I’m still in shock,” Starley said. She stuffed the rest of her lunch into her mouth and stood to dump her trash.
“I seriously was beginning to wonder if you were going to have to ask him,” Rue said shaking her head. “Honest to God, that boy is cute and all, but sometimes he can be so clueless.”
Starley laughed. “I can’t wait to tell Francesca and Juliette. They’ll be so stoked.”
WHO WROTE THE BOOK OF LOVE
Juliette sat on a stool in the back room at The Perfumery and pored over the spell book. She ran her finger down the yellowed pages.
“What are you looking for?” Francesca asked.
“I have no idea, but I’ll know it when I find it,” Juliette said.
Francesca heard the bell over the door ring and turned to see who it was. She smiled when she saw Rue and Starley come into the shop.
“Hello, you two,” Francesca greeted them. “How was school today? Anything exciting happen?”
“Oh, nothing much. Beau Byrd asked Starley to homecoming. She said yes. You know the usual,” Rue said with a shrug. She took an ornate bottle from the shelf and smelled it. She wrinkled her nose. “Ugh, this smells like dog crap.”
Juliette came out of the back room. “Did I hear you right? He finally asked you to homecoming?”
Starley floated around the room like a butterfly. “Yes. My first dance.” She stopped abruptly, and panic crossed her face. “I can’t dance. What was I thinking? He’ll dance with me, and I’ll probably cripple him for life by stepping all over his feet.”
Francesca snickered. “In that case, you better let me show you how to dance. Juliette has two left feet.”
“Thanks a lot,” Juliette murmured. “I’m going to back to my spell book now. I don’t need this kind of abuse.”
“You know I’m just giving you a hard time, Juliette,” Francesca said. She grabbed Starley by the hand and twirled her around.
Francesca started showing Starley some basic dance moves and Rue peeked over Juliette’s shoulder at the spell book.
“What are you reading?” Rue asked.
“It’s a very old and powerful spell book that’s been in the Duchesne family for hundreds of years,” Juliette said, barely looking up from what she was reading.
“Powerful? Sounds serious,” Rue said.
Rue was extremely interested in whatever had been written in that book. But every time she got close enough to have a look over Juliette’s shoulder, she closed the book.
“I mean it, Rue, this stuff is not something to play with,” Juliette said. “For you or Starley.”
“We had a new customer today,” said Francesca. “I don’t think she knew that I knew who she was.”
Juliette narrowed her eyes. “Oh, yeah? Who?”
“Sandy Davidson stopped by, and I gave her the crystal vial of pheromone-infused perfume. You know the one, Juliette?” Francesca asked.
“Yes, I know exactly which one. That’s like the most powerful attractant we had. And anyway, who the heck is Sandy Davidson?” Juliette snapped the spell book shut and gave Rue a warning glare.
“Sandy Davidson is Pastor Byrd’s private secretary,” Rue piped up. “And why would she need an attractant or whatever you called it? She’s been with Carl forever.”
“I never know why someone needs what they need, I just follow my nose,” Francesca said. “I honestly think Pastor Byrd sent her in here to spy on us. Well, the jokes on him, because it worked in our favor this time. Sandy will be a good person to have on our side.”
“What are we choosing sides against,” Starley asked. “I should probably know these things if I’m going to homecoming with the enemy’s son.”
“Don’t worry, Starley,” Francesca said quietly. “There’s nothing to be concerned about.”
“Maybe Starley should try a little magic on Beau,” Rue suggested.
“Why would I need to do that? He already asked me to the dance,�
�� Starley pointed out.
“Yeah, but, if he really, really likes you, he might be able to sway his dad into backing off,” Rue said.
“I’m not afraid of Pastor Byrd. He’s got his hands full with his wife, right now,” Francesca said. “He can’t prove anything. He’s only assuming he knows what’s going on.”
“What if Sandy starts singing like a canary?” Juliette asked.
“She’s not going to. She’s going to have her hands full with Carl. And as long as Sandy’s happy, she’s not going to believe a word Pastor Byrd has to say. At least nothing negative about The Perfumery,” Francesca said.
When Juliette and Francesca went to the front of the shop to lock up, Rue grabbed Starley by the arm. “Come here,” she whispered.
“What?” Starley said.
Rue dragged her over to the spell book. “You need to get your hands on this book.”
“The spell book? Why?”
Rue sighed and stared up at the ceiling. “I swear for such a bright girl, you can be kind of dense sometimes. Why? I’ll tell you why. Just think of all the stuff we could do with a century’s old spell book.”
“I don’t think we should mess with it. I don’t know about you, but I’m not interested in incurring the wrath of karma,” Starley said. “Come on, let’s go.”
Rue didn’t say anything, but she had a gut feeling that Starley might change her mind, soon. Until then, she’d just have to be patient.
“Okay, fine,” Rue said with a heavy sigh. She shook her head. “All that potential greatness is just staring us in the face and you’re going to let it slip through our fingers. That thing could very well be the book of love.”
“Did anybody ever tell you you’re a drama queen?” Starley asked.
GREEN IS NOT YOUR COLOR
Starley felt like she’d been walking on clouds all week. It was really good to be in a town where she belonged. Opening up and letting herself have a best friend, and even a maybe boyfriend. It was all so surreal. If anything happened to screw it all up, she’d be devastated. She’d had her doubts about Prosperity when they first arrived, but not anymore.
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