Chapter 15 Divorce Croissants
The Black Cat was thriving; better than thriving.
Shellee called Eloise and gently asked her if she was selling "the cocaine" in such a kind and tentative way, that Eloise was sure if she had admitted to selling "the cocaine" that Shellee would have said, "Well, maybe it's not a good idea, dear, but you are doing such a great job and I appreciate you! ".
People who typically made coffee at home came in daily now to get their fix (of coffee, not "the cocaine") and those who were only weekday regulars were now stopping in on weekends.
It was so busy that Shellee approved Eloise hiring two more full-time baristas to Bess's and Tess's relief.
The young women were more tense than usual; Bess was quieter and Tess had a harried edge to her that had not gone unnoticed.
But the space issue was a problem Eloise could fix.
She smiled at the problem every small business owner wanted to face.
"Hey, Crystal," Eloise smiled at the familiar face. She hadn't seen her in a couple of weeks and the sight of her brought immediate peace. She had on a copper-colored loose sweater with celestial stars and moons stitched along the tops of her shoulders and her silver hair was in loose waves.
"Darling. This coffee shop has become quite a hot topic. You've done a marvelous job."
The praise, especially from this woman, bloomed inside of her.
"That means a lot coming from you. Thank you, Crystal. Do you want tea?"
"Oh yes. Have an herbal with mint?"
"I have a spearmint with dried orange and rosemary," she offered and Crystal clasped her hands in delight.
As she started making the tea, they chatted.
Crystal had been busy taking over the chicken farm that her nephew and his wife were leaving because the money was drying up.
They couldn't pay the property taxes and when their money troubles started to become glaring.
His wife nearly left Crystal's nephew when she found out he'd taken out two loans against the farm for gambling debts.
"What are you going to do with hundreds of chickens that lay eggs full of glitter?"
"Who knows? Isn't that delightful?"
She laughed wishing she knew how to be so open to such an uncertain future as Crystal.
"Now how are you, darling? We're due for a dinner club soon."
"I'm good," she replied thoughtfully. And she was, mostly.
It had been two weeks since the night she sat with Taylor in the graveyard and gave him her secrets.
Nothing else had happened, though it had become a habit to look behind her while walking alone, in darkened rooms at the house, and she had successfully avoided going to the graveyard without someone at night since.
True to his word, the detective sat down and listened to everything she could remember about the man.
She'd had to tell him everything, something she'd not done since she sat in the beige police station in Florida that had smelled like shoe polish, pine sol, and the butting of young and eager officers with the tired and old. She experienced the latter.
As she went back through those memories, and detailing him, she found herself holding her body tightly, her elbows pressed into her sides until by the end of the conversation she was so rigid, her muscles were nearly shaking.
When she dropped her shoulders and let her body loosen, she let out a sigh and knew she would have a headache from the effort.
On her walk home, she'd caught the sight of a soaring hawk above her, the white dappled wings spread strong and sharp against the gloomy sky.
The comfort of seeing the fierce bird was unexpected, but she gathered the comfort and stuffed it in her pockets as she let some of the stress fall from her shoulders with each step until she was back inside the old house.
Ursula had made her a chamomile and willow bark tea with honey for her headache, no prying, but concern clear in her face.
She still hadn't told her about everything that happened in Florida. She needed to. Ursula knew her friend was holding something inside of her that she wasn't ready to release.
But since Taylor took her statement, nothing else had been amiss.
Still, every now and then she got the ghost of his smell and she felt that familiar flare of panic that she had learned to quiet.
"Hey, let's all get together tonight," she said on a whim. The excitement of out-of-the-blue plans with women who had a penchant for bringing out the soul in each other flew through her.
Crystal smiled brightly. "I think that's a great idea!
" Then her face fell the slightest. "I do have to check on a young lady who is going through something, but perhaps she can join us.
" She chewed on a few thoughts as Eloise put a lid on her drink.
"Bess, you come tonight too. My chicken farm at seven tonight.
Bring dessert and tell Ursula to bring her homemade ricotta and a fresh lemon!
Oh, and if I could stop by and grab some flowers?
" She took the tea from Eloise's hand and then she flitted off with Eloise watching her.
"She is one of my favorite people," Eloise said wistfully.
Bess sidled up next to her. "Yeah. She's pretty cool." She could feel the heaviness of Bess thinking. "Maybe I should sit out dinner tonight." When Eloise gave her a questioning look she quickly explained. "I have this project for history and Uncle Jay will kill me if I don't get it done."
The teenager was an excellent student and as far as she could tell, Jenson was nothing but proud when it came to her studies.
Something else was holding her back and she had a feeling it had to do with school, but not the academics.
Bess had never before turned down any dollop of time with The Lost Souls Coven.
She wiped down the bar and said thoughtfully, "Sounds like Crystal will be helping a friend and she could use the support. Do you know who she has to check on?"
Bess shook her head.
Eloise smelled something new. Bess always smelled of roasted coffee beans and old library books but today instead of the pages lovingly touched by time, Eloise smelled the dust that can collect on unread stories.
Ursula was worried about her. As was Eloise; this young woman full of fire and thoughtful words had become dulled embers and quiet. She weighed her words carefully before she lay them on the bar in front of Bess.
"You know, being a teenager is harder than we remember. But I do know that when it comes to other people's opinions about you it can be difficult to bifurcate between opinion and truth. Be careful that the voice in your head is speaking truth."
Bess chewed her lip thoughtfully. She wasn't sure if the message would land. Bess was smart, smarter than most her age. But she was also a young woman who had to learn what it meant to be secure in a world that would do anything to wrap her up in layers of insecurity so that it could hold her back.
Eloise was about to walk away having said her piece when Bess's soft words stopped her.
"Do you think I'll get to taste one of her famous margaritas?" Bess asked in a tentative voice and when Eloise gave her a look she smiled mischievously. Eloise shook her head with her own smile.
"We need to descale the espresso machine," Tess said tersely. She looked frazzled, her skin dull with a few pimples on her chin and Eloise got a whiff of burning weeds and cleaning solution.
"Alright, I can take care of that before my break." Bess's tone was less than gentle.
"Thanks so much," Tess threw back at her before she walked to the storeroom.
"Okay, want to tell me what is going on there?"
Bess rolled her eyes. "She's been more aggravating than usual lately," she said. "And she is super aggravating in normal circumstances. She's like-"
Eloise held up a hand cutting Bess's words off. "Stop. That is your work colleague, and while I know she can be," she sought out words and Bess beat her to it.
"Frustratingly selfish, unkind with her judgement and lacking in reciprocal conversation skills?"
She held up a finger. "First of all, well-said.
It's a little scary that you're only sixteen," Bess smirked before she added, "but secondly, you have a choice to use that overgrown wisdom and be kind to someone who I suspect doesn't have much in the way of relationship and hasn't been taught how to reciprocate.
" Her eyes pinned Bess's, holding her still in that thought for a moment.
Then Bess let out a great sigh, reminding Eloise that she was in fact only sixteen, and she said, "Fine. Her dad does seem kind of the worst."
"He does seem absent," she said softly. Remembering the man's unsure eyes when landing on his daughter.
"Which I believe you would understand," her gentle reprimand and reminder of her own mother made Bess purse her lips.
Then she pulled Bess in for a hug which started with scrunched-up shoulders from the teen then relaxed into a softer hug.
"Alright, I'm out. Want to meet at Lost Souls tonight? "
"Yeah, can I come there after school?"
"Always," she said with a wink and grabbed her things to walk home. She sent a text to their group and within a few minutes all the women were in for dinner at Crystal's pink glitter chicken farm.
At exactly seven, six women stood on the wide, slightly dilapidated front porch of a large farmhouse that looked like it had once been white and was now a suggestion of the pristine color with patches and scraps of the paint missing.
The front porch wrapped around hugging one side of the house where there was mismatching furniture that did not look as if anyone should be sitting on it.
Maybe a cat, but certainly not a human. Sulphur and Georgia had followed them on the fifteen-minute walk and they were now wandering around the porch, sniffing out spots here and there with extreme skepticism.