Chapter 16
With pizza and nachos to share and sodas in front of us, Sam and I enjoyed the evening’s entertainment.
Tonight, the stage belonged to a magician and her assistant, a ventriloquist whose dummy had until recently been relegated to an attic, until the owner moved to Serenity Springs and the family decided to have a clear-out.
All three performers were seniors at the local high school, and Harper had allowed them to try out their acts in front of an audience before they went on to represent Willowmere in a countywide talent show.
I divided my attention between eating and applauding. The ventriloquist had a few problems with syncing the dummy’s actions to his speech, but with a little more practice he’d be a strong contender.
The magic act already had the effortless look of a seasoned performer. The tricks might not yet have been Las Vegas worthy, but the magician and her beaming assistant pulled off every sleight of hand without breaking a sweat.
The third act came as a surprise. Ms. Vine propelled Jimmy onto the stage and in an easy chair, with a table and a waiter glass next to it. He lifted his hand to blow kisses into the audience, or rather, in my direction.
“And now, in a world premiere, I’m presenting to you Mr. Jimmy Hill,” Ms. Vine declared in a voice that carried without the microphone she put in front of Jimmy. Reina wheeled up a keyboard on an adjustable stand and placed it so that she and the instrument faced the entertainers.
I snapped my jaw close. As expected, Ms. Vine had changed her sensible relief librarian cardigan and slacks for her sequined evening jacket in pink and purple and black velvet pants.
But how on earth had she convinced down-to-earth Jimmy, who devoted most of his energy on his green house, since kneeling and stooping over flower beds had become too difficult, to dazzle in a midnight blue dinner jacket and a sequined cap matching Ms. Vine’s jacket?
“I can’t believe it,” Sam uttered.
Harper, who’d been busy giving instructions to her bar staff, came over. “What do you think?” she asked him. To me, she said, “Ange and Nick are on their way. They don’t want to miss this.”
Sam moved his lips as if to try out the right words. “No. Nothing. I’m speechless.”
Reina started playing. It took a few bars until I recognized, “That’s Amore”. Granted, Jimmy couldn’t quite compete with the Dean Martin version, but he had a surprisingly strong tenor voice, and for his age, cut a dashing figure.
“That was their song, his and mom’s,” Sam said.
Ange and her husband arrived just before the second song, a duet with Jimmy and Ms. Vine, singing “The Very Thought Of You”.
Silently, Ange and Nick took their seats at our table and listened with the intense focus these two singers deserved.
When they finished, a tear glinted in Ange’s eye. “That’s something else,” she said to me.
I agreed. “I had no idea Jimmy was so talented.”
We all turned to Sam.
“Neither did I. I mean, sure, he and mom used to sing along to show tunes on the radio, or on the tv, but honestly, I haven’t heard Dad croon in ages.” He gaped at his dad, who took a breather while Ms. Vine whispered to him.
“He wanted it to be a surprise,” Harper said. “Ms. Vine roped in Reina for a few music classes at Serenity Springs.”
Sam’s brows knotted. “What’s that got to do with my dad?”
Harper jumped up. “I forgot your drinks, Ange. Be back in a sec.”
Ange opened her mouth. I gently kicked her under the table. Harper obviously didn’t want to answer the question.
She didn’t have to. By the time she returned to our table with a bottle of white wine, glasses for all of us, and a couple of sodas, he’d put two and two together. “Dad’s considering moving, right?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Harper said. “All I can tell you is that according to Reina, he’s having a blast when she’s teaching him and Ms. Vine, and a few others. Why don’t you ask him?”
We fell silent, because the music started again. Halfway through “One For My Baby”, Jimmy’s voice faltered and he coughed. Reina paused, until he signaled her to pick up the tune again.
“Bravo,” Sam shouted when the last note faded. He jumped to his feet, and, to my relief, he took a step back to applaud wildly. Otherwise only a spell could have saved Ange and me from being hit by his swinging elbows.
Reina and Ms. Vine helped the star of the evening off the stage. Jimmy met his son halfway across the room and hugged him tight.
“That’s so sweet,” Ange said. “Shall we leave them to it or were we interrupting a date?” She winked at me.
“The answers, in their correct order, are yes and no.”
“Good. He’s a nice man but you deserve to discover the real you without any romantic entanglement, now that you’ve put your ex in his place,” Harper said.
Nick cleared his throat. “If you’d rather have a no holds barred girls’ night, I’m happy to join Jimmy and his son.”
“Don’t be silly,” Ange said. “Unless you want to check on Jimmy’s health and need an excuse?”
Nick planted a kiss on her head. “Still the smartest woman in the county.”
“And?” She twinkled at him.
“And the sexiest, funniest, most adorable. The rest I’ll tell you in private.”
“Correct answer.” Ange waved him off.
He laughed as he moved out of the way, only to be replaced by a less welcome sight. Linda had turned up again, like a bad penny. Her high heels clicked like castanets on the wooden floorboards, and her figure-hugging dress was half-covered by what I hoped was a fake fur mink coat.
Given the late spring temperatures outside and the balmy ambience inside, her dress choice was obviously meant to impress – or to kill, although she might be the victim if she overheated to the point of spontaneous combustion. I silently cackled at my own wit.
Ange moved a few inches closer to me as Linda stopped in front of me. Up close, her face had a sheen and flushed tinge that owed nothing to her make-up and all to mother nature. Unless I was mistaken, Linda was going through a heck of a hot flash.
Her next words confirmed it. “I’ve run out,” she said through gritted teeth and grasped for my hand. I removed it from the table and put it in my lap.
She tore off her coat and flung it over a chair, exposing naked arms. Her mehndi popped on her pale skin.
“Nice henna tattoo,” Ange said. “I just got one myself. Did you choose a template?”
“Of course not. It’s all done free hand.”
“So it is. I think I’ve spotted a tiny smudge.”
“You have?” Linda clapped her hand over it before she returned her focus to me. “You have to help me.”
I arched my eyebrows at her. “Good evening to you, too.”
Linda’s flush intensified. Ange kicked my ankle.
I sighed. “What do you need?”
“More of your Midlife Magic tea. I’ll pay you.” She picked up the coat and fumbled a credit card out of a hidden picket in the satin lining.
“There’s no need for that. If you want to repay me, donate money to the animal rescue, or another good cause.” That way I was sure I didn’t violate the “thou shalt not profit of your powers” rule but instead contributed to the community. Plus, it gave me moral superiority.
She leant so close that I shrank back. “Tonight?”
“I’ve got to prepare the mixture. Tomorrow’s the earliest I can do.”
Her hands clenched and unclenched.
I felt an unexpected surge of pity. “I’ll have it ready by 10am. Where’s your husband? I haven’t seen him.”
“We’re going out for dinner. He had to finish an online meeting with a gemstone merchant overseas, so I said I’ll be here.”
I took her coat of the chair and handed it to Harper, to hang it up, and said to Linda, “Why don’t you sit here, while you wait?”
As I’d counted on, Ange caught my drift. She also urged Linda to take a seat and moved herself, so she shielded Linda from sight.
Ms. Vine, Jimmy, Sam, and Nick came toward us too.
I had to hurry. Tuning out the noise, I went deep into my mind and conjured up the image of Linda, in a summer breeze on a wildflower meadow.
The grass was cool under Linda’s feet and the gentle wind lowered the temperature to a blissful degree.
The flowers perfumed the air and she stood there, arms spread wide …
I came back to the room, only to see Linda fling her arms in happy abandon. I corrected my mental image before she hit anyone. My spellwork apparently needed a bit of fine-tuning.
Despite that, Cosmo would have been proud of me if he’d observed the change in Linda. The red sheen had become a pink glow, the hands were relaxed, and her lips curled up at the corners in a genuine manner.
“I must have been overdoing it. Sitting down really helps,” she said.
“And a cold drink.” Ange poured her a glass of iced water.
Ms. Vine, who’d secured the table next to us that had become free while I was chatting with Linda, divided her attention between us and Jimmy. She gave me a tiny nod, as if to approve my use of magic for menopausal relief.
Sam took a place between his dad and me.
“You don’t have to fuss,” Jimmy told him.
“Nobody’s fussing, Dad.”
Jimmy harrumphed. “Then what’s the doctor doing, taking my pulse every two minutes instead of dancing with his lovely wife?” His grin took the sting out of his words.
Nick promptly let go of Jimmy’s wrist. “I wish all my patients were half as healthy as you.” He pulled Ange to her feet.
After Jimmy and Ms. Vine’s performance, Reina had started a playlist on the jukebox. I’d barely registered the music before, nor the small dance floor created by pushing tables to one side.
Ange gave in.
Linda still had a half-smile on her lips. I was wondering if I should add another spell, in case her husband wondered if she was on drugs.
Jimmy nudged his son. “You should be dancing too.”
“Maybe later, once we’ve gotten a few things cleared up.”
To me and Reina he said, “Dad’s considering giving up his house and moving into the retirement home.”
I gaped. “Why would you do that? Nick just said you’re in great shape.”
Jimmy stroked my hand with his. Apart from age spots on his skin and gnarly joints, it could have belonged to a much younger man.
“Because now is the right moment,” he said. “It wouldn’t be right to wait until I’m on my last leg, and having my boy take care of me. And you would.” He turned to Sam. “Now I’m still fit enough to have some fun with my old pals. Valerie Vine and I have been talking about it for a good while.”
“But your house? Your garden? You spent a lifetime lavishing love on every inch,” Reina said.
“And it won’t be wasted, not if Sam moves in, or I find a nice little family paying a bit of rent.”
“You’ve thought it all through, without talking to me?” Sam swallowed.
“You’d only have dropped everything to be my live-in helper. This way, we both have our freedom, and you can come visit just as much as you do now.”
Ms. Vine took over. “He’s right, you know.
I’ll do the same thing when the time has come for me.
Doing the things we love and learning new skills is going to keep us young, and when that isn’t enough anymore, we’ve had a chance to make a home at Serenity Springs instead of being uprooted at a stage when we can’t adjust any longer. ”
She gave me a poignant glance. Did her attitude have anything to do with her decision to find and train a replacement soon? I wished she would tell me, but the Blue Moon was not the ideal setting for a heart-to-heart.
Sam took his dad’s arm. “Is it okay if I take you home now, for a real talk?” He gave me an apologetic shrug. “Call me if you need my assistance again.”
“Sure. And thanks.”
“That’s what friends are for.”
Jimmy struggled to rise off his chair, until Ms. Vine handed him his cane.
Linda watched them leave. I wondered how much longer it would take her husband to pick her up for their dinner. Hopefully soon enough to make the spell last all through their meal. Linda was a pain in the backside, but so was menopause.
Garth Chiltern sauntered in when Ange and Nick returned from the dancefloor.
I thought I saw him register their intertwined hands.
For an instant, he looked sad, before he smiled at his wife.
Was Linda’s husband wanting what Ange and Nick had?
In that case, he and their couples’ therapist had their work cut out.
I set off home, too. Sleuthing and spells took their toll on me.