Chilly Little Thing (Book of Desires)

Chapter 1

M ost people didn’t have to obsess over Christmas candles, but Lily wasn’t one of those people.

On this afternoon in late November, she took a huge bite of her turkey and cheddar sandwich as she stared at her laptop, flipping through her Etsy site, tweaking things as she went. She needed to add a new Christmas candle before the week ended, but she actually didn't have one yet. Not the candle. Not even the formula. Her creativity had stalled out on her. So she chewed slowly, piddled on her laptop, and half-stared into space while she was supposedly on lunch. She got no actual lunch break because on weekdays she worked alone until her high school student employee came breezing in after classes. Instead, she did what she did most days: ate her homemade sandwich and napkin full of potato chips at the counter, ready to sock it away in case anyone came in to buy something.

Not a great idea to take such big old bites in this scenario, though, because she nearly choked when the tiny golden bell above her door chimed, alerting her to a potential customer. She managed to swallow the momentarily lodged chunk of food. When she looked up with only a rim of tears in her eyes from the ordeal, she eased back in her stool a bit while giving a happy wave to her shop neighbor.

Betty Booth and her husband Ralph owned the bakery next door and had for a good fifty years. The older woman shuffled forward slowly, a broad smile on her deeply wrinkled face even as her back stooped slightly. "Workin' hard or hardly workin'?" she called mid-shuffle and cackled at her own joke. A joke she used at least once a week but one Lily still found amusing.

"Just lost in my thoughts. How's your day been?"

"Lordy, long. These feet can't hold up like they used to." Lily jumped up to bring her stool around the counter for Betty at her words, but the older woman shooed her away. "No need, but I thank ya. Not staying long. Just came by to drop off one of these before we close up shop."

"Already sold out?" Betty and Ralph made a finite amount of cookies, donuts, and pastries every day, and the shop closed promptly whenever they sold out. Somehow, even in their small Appalachian town, it usually happened around lunchtime, especially when everyone craved a tasty Christmas cookie.

Betty nodded as a gentle yet satisfied smile stretched across her deep mauve painted lips. "Always the way of it come Christmas time. We make more now, but still run out right quick."

Lily nodded. She usually sold more, in person and online, come Christmastime, too. Partly because Holly Hollow, the tiny Eastern Kentucky town where they lived, decided to run with their name and make it a cute Christmas shopping destination filled with artisan storefronts in a retro downtown area. "Downtown" consisted of a strip of cute shops about four blocks long, so not huge or anything, but filled with character, especially at Christmastime.

To be honest, she'd sold a good bit this holiday season, but not nearly as much as last year. Her online sales had taken a big dive. COVID created a lot of business havoc, but it'd made her go online and brought her a good bit of new income in the past four years. Except for this year for some reason.

No, if Lily were honest with herself, sales dipped because of her lack of inspiration. She’d become known for new, innovative candle scents using unlikely combinations of local, fresh ingredients. This year, for some reason, come October, she just couldn't get it together. The creative juices weren't flowing. Now she stared December full in the face and she had no new Christmas candle. Not good.

"Anyways, love, wanted you to try this one." Betty thrust a waxy white bag toward Lily, shaking it when she didn't automatically grab for it.

Lily opened the crinkly paper to find a lovely Linzer cookie, star shaped, with a star cut out in the middle, red jam peeking through the sprinkling of powdered sugar. She held it up in her hand, admiring the art of it as the smell of berry goodness hit her full force. Her sandwich long forgotten in the face of a delicious Betty cookie, she took a bite as the old woman watched with a smirk on her face. Bright, deep fruity flavor burst on her tongue and buttery cookie snapped back, mellowing the tart with sweetness.

"Dang it, Betty." she managed to say after the first bite. "That's awfully good. What's that jam? I get cranberry, but also something else."

"Wild blackberry, handpicked in the deep woods and jammed this summer."

"You have more energy than me," Lily said in wonder at all Betty still did at 70-plus years old.

"Ppsshh, child. You just need a reason to get up and go." She stopped and looked around the shop a moment before adding, "Found ‘em just on the edge of the national forest, deep in a hollow about a mile out from a gravel road Ralph likes to wander. I’ll write out more directions for you real quick.” Betty swiped a piece of paper from the counter and a pen from Lily’s holder and started scribbling as she talked about turning down this road and driving past this landmark and so on. She pushed the directions at Lily. “You go have a look this weekend. Kickstart your brain a bit."

Apparently Betty also knew things weren't too hot with her this holiday season. Not like it wasn't obvious, when her shop bell wasn't ring-a-linging too often and her delivery pick-ups hadn't picked up.

“Except, maybe you shouldn’t head out there today, what with dark coming on so early this time a year. Been hearing odd things of late about the deep forest.”

“Oh yeah?” Lily asked, only half paying attention because she focused on another bite of the beautiful cookie in her hands.

“People talk about seeing a white bear in the woods.”

The oddity of that statement forced her attention away from the cookie. “White bear?” Brown bear, sure. They’d been more abundant in recent years. “You mean like a polar bear?”

Betty raised her hands and shook her head. “I ain’t seen nothing, mind, but like I said, people talk, and a few have said they’ve seen a big, hulking white beast when they got a little too deep in them woods.”

Hard to believe, seeing as polar bears were exclusive to the arctic, but Lily shrugged at the information. There were a lot of things stalking the deep dark of Appalachia, and anyone from there could tell their own stories about strange things they saw or heard when out and about in the forests.

“Could it be a werewolf?”

“Doubt it. They’re territorial, and their territories never stretched this far east or north for the Kentucky or Tennessee packs.”

Lily nodded in agreement. Of all the facts people knew of werewolves, which wasn’t much given the history of humans and supernaturals, one of the two constants was that werewolves ran in packs in specific territories they maintained and stuck to without fail. Could one wander? She supposed. But also seemed just as likely some other, unknown creature roamed there. Lily felt certain there had to be more in this world than what people already knew.

"Welp," the woman said, clapping her hands together on a sharp crack, causing Lily to jump out of her internal thoughts of supernaturals and Appalachian mysteries. "Heading out now. Me and Ralph need to close down and go on home."

"Thanks for the treat, Betty," Lily called as the woman shuffled away. She waved her thanks off as she shuffled back out the door as the mailman, Jed, held the door open for her.

"Deliveries, Lily?" He asked after Betty cleared the way and he placed her mail on the counter.

"Yep. A few at least. One sec." Lily left her lunch, and the beautiful cookie, on her counter and made her own shuffle back to grab the few deliveries she had for the day. Not much, but at least it was something.

"L ILY!" Isa screamed, in that way only teenage girls can—shrill and loud and so very effective.

She took the time to run her hands under water and scrub hard, though not for the full recommended 20 seconds. She didn't want the yell to come again. Drying her hands on a tea towel as she hurried out of the back room she called her lab, Lily surveyed the scene.

Her candle shop was bright and airy and minimal, even with the Christmas decorations now trimming the place. She’d gone with a Scandinavian design vibe when she opened a few years ago: white walls, bright and shiny pine floors and shelves, and white-cloth draped tables with enough space between them to move comfortably and experience the scents. With something like a candle shop, Lily figured you needed space to really make sure the smells mingled as little as possible.

For the season, sprigs of fresh holly and pinecones from the surrounding forests were added, along with big loops of twinkling white lights where wall met ceiling. A few pops of red velvet ribbon here and there added color. It appeared clean, fresh, and festive all at once, something she thought of as a brand of sorts for Lily’s Lights.

Right then, standing in the middle of all the minimalistic good-time Christmas vibes with the perfect mix of teenage indifference and dismissal on her face, Isa stared down Madison.

Lily gave an inward groan at the sight. Not at Isa. She loved her. Isa worked part time. She came in for a few hours after school three days a week and all day on Saturdays. She was kind, smart, liked to keep busy, and made good sales.

No, the issue was Madison. Honestly, Lily's thoughts on the woman waffled far too often. She thanked the Christmas spirits the woman had taken over bookkeeping for her a few years ago because Lily hated math in all forms. Having Madison take it on was a godsend for her tension headaches. Dealing with Madison's sometimes snooty attitude and gossipy ways, however, tested her at the best of times. Isa had zero patience for the lady, regardless of her connection to the shop, and let her lack of patience be known without fail. Hence the stare down.

"Hey there, Madison. What's up?"

"Hi, Lily. Kinda dead in here, right?"

Lily gritted her teeth at the dig, but carried on. "Need something?"

"Yeah," she said, digging into the massive Micheal Kors tote hanging from her left shoulder. She pulled out a printed sheet of paper. "In the new year, I'm switching over to different software. I'll need you to connect your POS with it so I can pull all your info when needed. Here’s the instructions.”

"Sure thing," Lily said, looking over the paper Madison handed her quickly to see they didn't seem too complicated.

"Shouldn't be a problem for you," Madison said with a sniff. "Speaking of, you seen the Booths? They ain't never open."

Isa sneered and looked about to say something, so Lily jumped in quick to save them the hassle of a snipe fest between Isa and Madison. "They sold out early again. They'll be at home, though. You can stop by there. Or, if you like, I'll drop a copy to them tomorrow morning."

Madison waved a hand in the air. "Don't bother. They'll need to be talked to. I guess I'll just come by earlier tomorrow." She took Lily in for a minute, giving her a solid up and down. Lily knew what she saw. The ankle-length beige shirt dress with the denim apron she and Isa both wore as a sort of shop uniform hugged her soft body nicely but was likely wrinkled this late in the day. The comfy and practical—meaning not too pretty—brown leather flats she wore didn’t add pizzazz to her outfit. Her thin, brown hair always started neat in her bob in the mornings, but throughout the day it turned a little more and more disheveled, no matter what she tried to do with it. Her face was pale, round, with a matching round button nose, topped with a bright dimpled smile and round, gray eyes the color of winter clouds. All and all, nothing to sneeze at in Lily's own estimation, but Madison always found fault wherever she looked, be it at Lily or around the shop, where she focused her eyes next.

“No new scent this season?” The question held hints of curiosity and accusation, something Lily didn’t want to deal with right then.

“Nope. Not yet.”

“Little late,” Madison muttered as her shiny, pointed-toe black boots tapped against the blonde wood floors.

“I have plans,” Lily said, then latched onto Betty’s plan for good measure. “About to go out this weekend to gather some new ingredients.”

“Hmm,” Madison hummed, as if she didn’t exactly believe her.

Isa sucked in a breath and Lily knew full well if she started, Madison would get an ear full of teenage girl tirade, so she patted her arm to stop her before she let loose.

“Very well. Let me know when you have new stock. And be mindful out there. Been word of bears and such around. Maybe don’t go out alone.” That right there kept Lily from fully disliking Madison. She came off as snooty, judgy, and a little too big for her britches, but she could also be considerate at surprising times. Glimmers of what Madison could be if she let go of the judgement.

Lily also thought it odd that twice in one day people came in her shop talking bears, but she pushed it aside. Any worry of bears paled next to her worry for making her holiday sales a success. "Anything else going on?"

"Nope," Madison said, her word popping before her smile turned a little sharp. "Saw Ryan today. Just added him as a client, in fact."

Lily's body locked at that bit of info, more so than any talk of bears. Ryan was her ex. Her one serious ex-boyfriend. They'd dated in high school and through most of college. He went off to law school in Lexington when they were both in their mid-twenties. She had dreams of marriage and babies. One day she decided to surprise him. Surprise him she did, because she caught him in bed with someone else.

She'd said nothing, simply walked out the door and out of Ryan's life. He'd harassed her for a bit, pleading for another chance before his words turned sharp and ugly. It got bad enough, with the insistent calls and following her around and cornering her in public, that her older brother Michael stepped in and made him stop after threatening him with a beating. She hadn’t needed her brother’s brand of help in the seven years since, but Michael worked on an oil rig in the Gulf now, and she didn't need the problem of Ryan again. She just hoped he was over it all, like her. Or as much as a woman could be after something like that happened. Her heart didn't ache any longer, but it was shaped different now for sure.

"He came back here?"

"Yep," Madison said with another annoying pop. "Sure did. Set up a law office right down the street there. Doing estate and probate stuff. I'm sure you'll see him around."

"Sure," Lily said, but added nothing else, making her face morph into her bland sales smile. Madison stared back, but when Lily didn't participate further, or give her more ammo to talk about with others, she shrugged.

"Okay then. See you around, Lily. Isa."

Isa gave a huff in response but Madison had already turned her back, click-clacking on heeled boots out the door.

"That lady," Isa gritted out.

"Helps me out a lot," Lily finished.

"Still. Why's she gotta be so hateful? Talking about Betty and Ralph in that tone when they're sweet as pie. Bringing up Ryan to you. She's a bitch."

"Hush," Lily said, but the laugh in her voice betrayed her true thoughts. "She does us a service."

"Which you pay her to do. You don't pay her to give her mouth."

"True," Lily whispered then sighed. "Everything good out here?"

"Yeah, sure. Slow, but fine."

Slow wasn't good this time of year. It needed to pick up more, which meant she needed to get her butt back in the lab. "I'll be in the back, yeah?"

Isa nodded and fussed with the center display of basic pine-scented candles. Lily moved to the back to try to come up with new inspiration, thoughts of Christmas candles, new software, holiday shopping season, exes and bears crowding her mind.