Chapter 3
Iclenched my hands. Reina touched my arm, as if to give me strength.
It wasn’t necessary. I felt my lips spread into the simile of a smile. “Hi, Candice. Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials.”
We both moved a little to the side during this scintillating exchange, to let other people, including the two young women and Corvette guy, pass through.
“Thank you.” Candice had the grace to blush a little. “You’re looking great.”
I should have returned that compliment or at least feel flattered that my ex-husband’s fiancée had noticed that I did indeed look darn good since I’d dyed my hair periwinkle blue and embraced my inner witch.
Then again, I was nice but not that sweet. I opted for the next best thing.
“Have you met my friend Reina? Reina, this is Rick’s bride-to-be.”
The two women exchanged polite smiles. It gave me a quiet satisfaction to see Candice’s looks, complete with caramel-hued balayage, fade next to Reina’s raven hair inherited from her Japanese ancestors.
Candice, who was more than 15 years our junior, had youth on her side, but Reina possessed the gift of inner and outer beauty.
The tingling had subsided when I stopped walking, but it was still there, in the background. The object continued to send out its signals to me.
“Hi, Reina. Bex?” Candice repeated herself.
“That much we’ve established.” The words escaped me before I could hold them back.
Again, Candice blushed. “I’m super sorry to ask you, but would you maybe be able to help me?”
“Help you? And where’s your man?” Just because Rick and I were on civil texting terms, for the sake of our daughter, I had no plans to bump into him of all people on my precious crazy coven trip. Or any other time soon.
“Rick’s back home. I’m visiting friends in Cannon Hill, and their friends asked me to arrange a property staging.”
I opened my mouth to stop her. Reina signaled me to let the woman continue.
“I know I’m a million light years from being able to do what you do, and so is Rick, but it would mean so much to the business.
I probably shouldn’t ask this, but if you’d just look at a few things before I purchase them?
I’d pay you, of course. You’ve already done so much when you helped out before. ”
“No good deed goes unpunished, eh?”
“Please?”
“I can’t do it right now. If you place a reserve on the things you’re interested in, I’ll check them out with you tomorrow at 10am. That’s the best I can do.”
To my surprise, she clasped my hand. “You’re a star. Ten o’clock is fine. I’ll meet you at the café?” Was she on the verge of tears? A hot flash surged through my body, distracting me. Obviously, my HRT patches were no match for too close contact with the next Mrs. Rick.
I gently freed myself and moved on with Reina.
The two young women were still around. They stood chatting up a suave CEO-type who outdid Corvette guy in terms of expensive clothing and cars.
I knew both thanks to their proximity, and the Mercedes AMG car key he casually played with, while his attention traveled from the beauties in front of him to his male competition.
The one thing that was unusual about these men was the fact that they’d come here in person instead of sending a minion.
Unless they’d come here to impress the girls.
Reina and I bypassed them and after what seemed like an eternity, I found myself in the booth that had beckoned me.
My hot flash had subsided, which made it easier to appear unexcited while I perused the offerings.
“All these things belonged to my mamma,” the stallholder, a rake-thin woman with an untidy low bun and expensive clothes made to look shabby, said.
To a novice, she must seem like the kind of person who’d sell her wares way below their real value.
To a seasoned buyer like me, her outfit screamed that she’d hiked up prices as far as she thought she’d get away with.
I checked out a silver creamer in the shape of a cow.
“That’s real silver, all the way from England. A gift for Gramma and Poppa, when they wed in 1930,” she gushed.
I made a non-committal noise and took out my jeweler’s loupe.
I didn’t need it to know that the creamer was only silver-plated, factory made somewhere in Asia, and younger than me.
It had the hoped for result though, because she snatched it away from me, checked the price tag, and said, “I think there’s a mistake with the price. ”
I nudged Reina, who picked up a pair of fire-pokers and frowned at the price tag.
When I looked away, I noticed Candice. She inspected a letter opener in the shape of a dagger at the next stall. Either she hadn’t spotted me, or she remembered exactly how the haggling game was played at these fairs. Anyway, she ignored me and Reina.
It took us less than ten minutes to have unnerved the stallholder. I pretend to spot the one item I was here for, a butterfly Tiffany lamp with one shard of glass missing. When I touched it, Ange’s face appeared in my mind. This lamp was meant for her.
The price tag showed a laughably low $80, but as I’d expected, the woman was greedy, but not knowledgeable and she’d been fooled by the damage. She moistened her lips as she saw me reach for my jeweler’s loupe again.
“I’ll give you $60, in cash,” I said.
“Done.” She held out her hand, and I handed her the money.
“If you give me bubble wrap and tape, and a bag, I’ll do the rest myself,” I said. “Then you can concentrate on your other customers.”
I motioned to the young couple who’d wandered over just before I made my low offer. They were most likely the reason she’d accepted in a flash. She wanted to get rid of me before others caught on that in her stall, nothing that glittered was gold. Well, apart from the lamp now in my possession.
I debated with myself if I should stay a little, to see that she didn’t rip off customers. Then again, it wasn’t really my business. At least her merchandise wouldn’t bankrupt anyone.
While Reina carried the bag with my purchase, I sent out my mind. I felt the occasional stray tingle that told me I should take a proper look tomorrow, but nothing so strong it pulled me in straight away.
Harper met us halfway down the next aisle. She peered at the bag. “You too?”
“That’s for Ange, not me,” Reina said.
“Good, because we need to get her out of here within the next quarter of an hour. I made an appointment for us.” Harper turned around and waved. “We’re over here.”
It took Ange a couple of minutes to arrive, thanks to a fight between two would-be buyers who blocked her path.
“Can’t you do something?” Reina whispered to me.
I scanned the two opponents. They were busy lobbing insults but hadn’t reached the fisticuffs stage. On the other hand, arguments tended to spread like a rash, with a crowd around them.
I recited a silent spell in my head and pictured the two angry men singing karaoke together instead of shouting, taking a bow, and hugging it out. Purple sparkles swirled around them.
The shouting stopped. I took a deep breath. Reina squeezed my trembling hand. I had expended a lot of mental energy, maybe too much.
“Bring it in, man,” one of the guys said, and, like in my mental picture, they hugged. To my relief they’d skipped the singing part, at least for now.
“That went from brawl to bro pretty fast,” Ange said, when she finally squeezed past them.
I shrugged. “We got you something. Ready to leave before anything happens to this beauty?” I pointed at the bag that Reina still carried.
“Really? What are we waiting for then?” Ange marched ahead to the exit.
“Where are you going?” Harper asked her as we traipsed after her.
“Our hotel.” Ange turned and took the bag. “I want to see what Bex’s magic has conjured up.”
“We’ll drop it off at the hotel, but you’ll have to open it later,” Harper said. “Unless you want to miss out on the crazy coven becoming the cozy coven.” She winked.
“Say no more.” Ange picked up her pace. I had to trot for a few yards to catch up with her, and so did Reina and Harper.
With the precious lamp still wrapped and safely tucked away in Ange’s room, Harper took us to a secluded spa. One soothing facial and a hot stone massage later, I felt so relaxed, I’d have agreed to anything. The rest of the coven seemed to share that sentiment.
“I’m floating,” Ange declared when we stepped out of the changing room. “Unless our esteemed Bex has put us all under a spell, I say we make this spa a tradition.”
“We will.” Reina rolled her shoulders. “I feel ten years younger already.”
I did a deep lunge, expecting to hear my joints creek. Nothing. I grinned. “This is magic alright, but definitely not mine.” I no longer minded that Cosmo’s good witch credo forbade me making myself over with a spell. A trip to the spa was just as good.
We stopped at a Mexican fusion restaurant for chili and tacos, and then we went back to the hotel.
Before I fell asleep, I realized that not only had I forgotten to worry about my familiar’s well-being or Ms. Vine, I was looking forward to tomorrow.
It would be nice to see that my efforts teaching Candice a few things had paid off, no matter what had happened between us outside those duties.
I chuckled to myself. Had I just mastered the art of making wine from sour grapes?