“Just concentrate on your questions,” I told them. “Imagine you’re writing the words in light or smoke above the table.”
They grew silent as they focused, and a picture began to take hold.
“You two did meet at an art festival a couple years back. It was in town, too, practically across the street. Stacie, you were attending with a friend, and Pete was helping someone – a cousin, perhaps – man his booth.”
They both looked at one another in surprise and then back at me, nodding, their eyes eager.
I continued. “Pete, you felt a spark right away when you saw Stacie, but there was hesitance on her part. You’d just gotten over a bad breakup, and didn’t want to date anyone right away. But you bought something, and Pete slipped a business card with his phone number written on the back into the bag. She was going to throw it away, but didn’t. Some weeks later, you found the card and decided to give Pete a call.”
“How do you know that?” Stacie asked. “That’s so specific. It’s spooky.”
I shrugged. “You two radiate so much loving energy that it’s easy to read.”
“Can you tell us about our future?” Pete pressed.
I returned my gaze to their palms and saw happy times, with little drama or turmoil, and they’d live many years in the same cozy house, raising a couple children. “You two have twins in both your families,” I said, looking up. “You’re going to continue the tradition.”
“Do you know if we’ll have boys or girls, or one of each?” Stacie asked, her eyes glittery.
I shook my head. “No, that much isn’t clear. The energy is kind of lavender, so it could be one of each, but since the future isn’t solid like the past, it’s harder to tell.”
Just as I grew certain their lives would yield no real drama, I sensed a commotion in their hands. It was unnatural, unsettling and external. I could not discern if it was temporary or permanent. I squinted deeper at their hands, but it had passed as quickly as a ray of light flashing across a wall.
I shook my head to dislodge the thoughts.
“Is everything okay,” Stacie asked.
“Yes,” I lied. “I just was trying to get a clearer picture, but sometimes it’s more of a general feeling than a concrete certainty. It’s like chasing after something that doesn’t want to be caught. The future isn’t ready to reveal itself.”
“Because it’s something bad?” Pete asked.
“No,” I answered. “It’s just harder to see what isn’t yet here.”
22
AFTER THE READING, the pair smiled at one another as they looked around my shop. Stacie sniffed treat-scented candles and sought Pete’s opinion: Did he prefer a hazelnut- or a cinnamon-scented one? As they chattered together, Plenty and Jordan returned.
Plenty quickly flounced over to her preferred spot behind the cash register and threw her legs up on the counter, and promptly took a couple more photos of herself – one where she looked surprised, and another where she looked pouty. “Well, that sucked,” she sneered.
“I don’t know. It wasn’t a huge haunted house, but it did have a couple good scares,” Jordan said.
“That was so small-town and so boring. They should pay people to go through it, not the other way around.”
“You screamed a couple times.”
“More because I knew that’s where they expected me to scream. I was doing Tedd –”
“Freddie,” Jordan corrected.
“Freddie a favor since he gave us free tickets,” she finished.
“How kind of you,” Vanessa offered.
“I think I’ll go back tomorrow and fill out a customer satisfaction form and give them some advice. We have some really big haunted houses around Detroit. I could offer some real pointers. Then he could charge more money and make something of himself.”
“It’s a family business,” I said, opting to try to smooth things over. “They’ve had that place open for decades and do all right. It’s not meant to scare someone so badly that they wet their pants. It’s more geared toward kids and tweens, and a lot of grownups go through for a quick lark. It’s fine as it is.”
“It’s fun on a date, too,” Vanessa agreed. “Ethan and I have gone through a few times and enjoyed ourselves.”
“That shows what you all know,” Plenty snapped.
“Freddie was nice enough to offer you free tickets, so why not just be happy about that?” I said.
“Oh, whatever.” Plenty pulled out her compact and began fussing with her makeup once more.
“Does she ever stop doing that?” Vanessa whispered to me.
A second later some light flashed in front of Pete’s eyes. I looked to see where it was coming from, but the source didn’t seem obvious.
My cousin suddenly stood and stretched languidly, a bored expression on her pretty face.
Pete’s gaze landed on Plenty and I saw something had shifted in his eyes, the happy glimmer snuffed out. He dropped Stacie’s hand, and eagerly reached out to clasp my cousin’s forearm, holding it in both of his. “I’m thrilled to meet you,” he said, not letting Plenty go, his eyes both dead and hungry all at once. “I think you must be the most beautiful-est woman I’ve ever seen.”
Plenty preened under the compliment. “Well, that’s sweet of you,” she said, smiling, tossing her hair over her shoulder in a practiced gesture. She tried to extricate her hand from his. When she finally succeeded he tried to snatch it back before she slipped behind the counter.
He leaned closer and began peppering her with questions. “Are you from around here? Are you seeing anyone?”
“I’m visiting my cousin,” Plenty replied, as she inclined her head in my direction.
“Fantastic. I hope you’re staying for a while so we can learn one another.”
Learn? I looked at Vanessa. “He was speaking normally a few minutes ago,” I whispered to her.
“Yeah, his tongue seems to be tied all of a sudden,” she agreed.
“Pete!” Stacie landed her hands on her hips and shot him an annoyed look. “This isn’t funny.”
Pete ignored Stacie and resumed his intense study of Plenty. “So, what’s your name?”
“Plenty.”
My cousin backed a couple steps away from Pete, but he shadowed her, refusing to allow more than a few inches of space to divide them.
“Plenty?” He sighed. “You’re plenty beautiful,” he chuckled. “But I bet you hear that all the time. Tell me, did it hurt when you drove from Heaven?”
“What?” Plenty looked confused. “Drove? Don’t you mean fell?”
“Sure. Right.” Pete looked unfazed. “So are you sleepy, because you’ve been running through my head all night.”
“Um, it’s day time,” Vanessa cut in. She gave me a curious look.
“Whatever,” Pete said, never taking his unblinking eyes off Plenty. She kept inching away, yet he stuck close.
Stacie’s expression grew dark and she patted at his arm, trying to get his attention. He brushed her hand away. “I’m busy here.”
“Honey, this isn’t funny, if this is some kind of joke,” she laughed, making a feeble attempt at humor. She reached out to pull him back and he slapped her away, making hard contact with her forearm. She yelped in pain and a red welt quickly became apparent.
“Are you okay?” I asked, stepping closer. I picked up a cold bottle of water on the counter and pressed against it the tender spot. “Has he ever done anything like this before?”
Stacie shook her head, her eyes welling with tears.
Pete continued to shadow Plenty. “Please, not now. Jesus, I think I blundered … I mean, made a mistake,” he muttered, more to himself than anyone in particular.
“You are making a mistake,” Stacie fumed. “I’m starting to wonder if I made one, too.” Her cheeks were growing bright pink with fury.
“No, I did make a mistake. Maybe we should head back to the courthouse first thing tomorrow morning and get this show canceled.”
Stacie’s face blanched while Plenty’s expression grew more keen. Something was seriously off here.
“Show?” Vanessa mouthed to me. “Is his brain scrambled?”
I shrugged as I made my way over to her. “Try and get Plenty out of the shop,” I muttered under my breath. She nodded and went over by the window for a moment, pulling out her phone.
“Oh, Plenty? Fiona just texted me. They want you over at the house.”
Plenty didn’t seem inclined to move, even though Pete was crowding her. “I’ll go over there later.”
“Try harder,” I mouthed to Vanessa.
“Oh, wait. She says Wyatt is coming over soon, too. He’ll be over in fifteen minutes.”
“What?” Plenty jerked up and made her way to the door in panic. “Really? I need to get ready then.”
Pete tried to follow her as she left, and she stumbled a bit as she tried to evade him. I stepped in front of him to block. He seemed so eager it put me to mind of some farm animal wanting to rut and mate, the longing was so intense. For a moment I was certain he’d shove me aside to pursue Plenty, but I flicked my index finger between his brows and said, “Pete: Focus.”
He blinked and seemed uncertain, as if he was trying to make sense of his surroundings. I flicked again, this time harder, and he froze in place.
“She’ll be back in a few minutes,” I told him.
“But who is this Wyatt guy?” Pete said, his fists clenching at his sides.
“He’s her hairdresser,” I improvised. “She’s such a good customer that he’s coming by to do her hair. And when I say hairdresser, I mean hairdresser, if you catch my drift.” I winked at him in a conspiratorial manner.
Pete relaxed slightly. “Will she be back soon?”
I nodded. “Of course. She just needs a bit of time. As soon as he’s done, she will return.”
He calmed a bit more.
“Vanessa,” I said. “I baked some wedding cookies. They’re behind the counter. Please bring them over.” She complied without question. As Pete opened his mouth to say something else, I took one of the powdery confections and jammed it in his mouth, slapping my hand over his maw. “Try one of these. It’s your wedding day, after all, and your bride is here with you.” He fought it for a moment, then began to chew and swallow. He blinked a couple times and seemed more like the man who entered the shop with his bride. I patted his cheek and squeezed his jaw between my hands, forcing him to focus on me. I turned my gaze to Vanessa, “Go make some of that tea, the one with the rose petals in it.”
She dashed into the back room, and as I guided Pete to have a seat by the small table where I did readings, Stacie stood in place, alternately fuming and fighting off tears.
Vanessa quickly returned with a small pot of tea and two mugs hooked in her fingers, and began pouring a cup. “Tea for one, or two?” she asked. “I brought two cups, just in case.”
“That’s good. Make it two.”
I guided Stacie to the small table in the corner. She seemed reluctant, but I managed to nudge her there. She sat down and crossed her arms over her chest, her young face pale with anger.
“What was that all about?” she asked Pete.
“First, drink some of the tea,” I instructed. “And each of you have a cookie.”
“I’m not hungry or thirsty,” Stacie said. “Tea and cookies isn’t going to fix what this jerk just did.” She looked down at her forearm, which was bright red, and rubbed it tenderly. “Maybe we should go and get it annulled. Or ‘canceled,’ like he said. Why on earth would he put it that way?”
“I’m not sure. Something short circuited, I guess. As for annulment, yes, you have that option,” I said, “but first, have a sip of tea. And let me ask you: Has anything like this happened before?”
Stacie shook her head. “No. Never. Pete, I know, has maybe admired a pretty girl in a movie or something, but he’s never acted like this. It was like … well, I can’t even explain it. It was like he was under a spell or something.”
Vanessa and I shared knowing glances.
“What was that?” Stacie asked. “You two just gave each other these weird looks.”
“Sometimes there’s a bit of the unexplained at work. Let’s put it that way,” I turned my attention to Pete, who was eating another cookie. His eyes seemed to have lost that crazed edge. “Pete, what were you feeling when this … impulse … took over.”
He shook his head, trying to clear away the remaining cobwebs. “I don’t know. It was like I forgot myself, I guess. It was like something in my brain told me that skinny blonde girl was something I wanted.” He turned to Stacie, the full weight of his actions catching up with him. “Honey, I’m sorry! I don’t know what happened there. It was like, well, you know how excited I was about getting a motorcycle?”
Stacie nodded, her expression softening somewhat.
He continued. “It was like I wanted to buy her. Or steal her, even. Like she was a motorcycle, or some new hunting gear, or something for my car.”
Stacie furrowed her brow in disdain. “Like, what? You wanted to own her?”
“I know that doesn’t make sense, but it was kind of like that,” Pete said. “It was like when you’re drunk and you do or buy something on impulse, something you wouldn’t even consider if your head was on straight.” He coughed out a sob and buried his head in his hands.
Stacie ran over to him, kneeling by his side. “What? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know,” he said. His eyes were watery and red. “I just felt really awful is all.”
“Like you felt guilty?” Stacie pressed.
“Not exactly. Well, guilt,” Pete said, “but also all these conflicting feelings pulling me in a million different directions. It’s like after being exhausted and feeling hopeless. I can’t really explain it. I’m also sorry I hit you. I didn’t mean to hurt you, baby.”
I topped off both their teas and urged them to eat more cookies. When Stacie drank a bit of her tea and took a bite of the treat, I relaxed a bit, and shut the curtains around the newlyweds and left them alone for a moment.
“What was that?” Vanessa hissed.
“I’m not sure,” though I had my suspicions. “It seemed to have started with Plenty.”
“It was like a light switched on and the kid was gone. You could see he was all gooey about his girl, and then, poof, he was ready to knock Plenty over the head and drag her by her hair to his cave.”
“That’s one way to put it,” I mused.
“Does Plenty do witchcraft,” Vanessa asked.
“She dabbled a bit when I was in high school, but never had the concentration to do anything serious. She did bring up glamouring the other night, however.”
“How so?”
“She saw a book on my coffee table about it, and it caught her interest.”
“Let me guess. She wants to make herself look like the girl every guy wants.”
“Something like that, I suspect.”
“Did you do any magic with her?” Vanessa asked.
I shook my head. “No. You know I don’t like magic that manipulates appearances or feelings.”
“I know. I suspect she has no problem with it, though. And where did she get that compact? That didn’t seem to go with her taste.”
“My mother gave it to her when she saw it in a box of stuff.”
“You don’t think it was cursed, do you?”
I thought for a moment. “I don’t think so. Mom more than likely would have felt something was off and would have sniffed it out if it was the case. She’s sensitive to objects when they have an excess of energy, be it good or bad.”
“Your cousin didn’t even seem to mind all that much that Pete was ready to toss Stacie to the side.” She glanced at the curtain. “What about the young lovebirds? Will they be okay?”
“I think they will be. The tea has some healing ability, to make people see what’s real, and the cookies, well, they’re mostly flour, sugar, butter and almond
s. But they’re wedding cookies. It just seems like they’d be fitting for the newlyweds. He did seem to be coming out of it after the tea and treats.”
“Why was he crying, though?” Vanessa asked. “That was weird and uncomfortable.”
“I think it might have been a reaction to coming out of it. And it seems like he really loves Stacie. Maybe he just felt bad being ‘away’ from her, even if it was for a few minutes. Once Plenty left and I got some tea in them, they both started returning to normal. She seemed to be forgiving him, and he seemed to be looking at her again like she was the love of his life.”
Suddenly we heard a mug thump down onto the floor, and a chair scraping. Vanessa and I turned in unison toward the closed curtain. We heard moaning and smacking sounds coming from beyond. We gingerly approached together to check on the pair. I extended my hand to pull back the drape and peer behind it when we heard a belt being unbuckled and a zipper being unzipped. I released the curtain like it was on fire, and Vanessa and I stealthily hopped away.
The moaning grew louder as Pete growled, “I’m going to eat you like a cookie.”
“Well, I guess he’s been forgiven,” I muttered.
“I should say so.”
Some moments later Roger came into the store bearing a tray full of steaming to-go cups of cocoa.
“Cocoa for my cutie,” he smiled. “And for the rest of you, too.”
“Well, what a lovely surprise,” I said, grinning as I reached out to give him a hug and kiss.
“I stopped by Emily’s. She fixed us some drinks. Vanessa, Em said that you would want a white chocolate cocoa,” he said as he handed one to my blonde employee.
“Oh, that sounds perfect,” she said, accepting the drink with a smile.
“And, Poppy, Emily says you would want an orange co … what is that sound?” He turned his head toward the velvet curtain. “Is someone watching a porno behind that curtain?” He began to make his way to the drapes but I cut in front of him. He furrowed his brows at me. “Seriously. What is going on back there? You’re running a store, not a cat house.”
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