Chapter 13 #2
“That’s awful.” Indigo picked up her phone and dialed. When she put the phone down, she said, “He can be there within the hour.”
“I’m not sure that will be good enough for the Dragon Lady, but it’ll have to do. Thank you.” Prim pressed her palm over her eyes and sucked in a shaky breath. “It’s been a day.”
“I can see that. Anything else I can do?”
“No. I’d better get back. Thanks again. I just needed a safe place to fall apart for a minute.” Prim hugged her sister, clinging to her for a long moment. When she let go, she straightened her shoulders and put on her professional face.
It was time to once again face the music, no matter how much she didn’t want to.
“I’ll walk you out,” Indigo said. As they exited the door, Indigo asked, “How is it going besides the light fixture?”
Prim didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to admit to the chanting or the unexplained magic that seemed to be targeting the film producer. It was too humiliating, so she just shrugged and kept it vague. “McKenna is pretty demanding, as one might expect, so it’s been… challenging.”
Indigo slipped her arm through Prim’s and walked with her back to the yarn shop. And as much as Prim appreciated her support, all she could think about was ditching her before the chanting started up again.
“I’ll be fine,” Prim said. “I just needed a safe place for a mini breakdown. You know how it is.” She forced a smile.
It was clear Indigo wasn’t buying what Prim was trying to sell because she narrowed her eyes and said, “I’ve never seen you this stressed before. Maybe you should just back out of the film deal if it’s causing this much havoc.”
“If only,” Prim said, dreaming of the peaceful days before McKenna and her crew had shown up. “I can’t kick them out after the contract I signed with the studio. It’s time to pull on my big girl pants and suck it up.”
The door to Tangled Up in a Spell opened, and Viv, Prim’s employee, came running out, looking a little frantic.
“What happened now?” Prim asked, nausea taking over.
“I think it’s best if you don’t go back in there today,” Viv said. “McKenna has finally calmed down, but when your name comes up, she spirals and starts ranting about the contract and threatening to call the lawyers.”
Prim stared at the storefront. “What am I supposed to do, just not go back in while they are filming? I can’t not take care of the store.”
Viv bit down on her lower lip. “Maybe just let it go for today. I’m here. I can take care of closing down the register and stay to lock up after they leave for the night.”
“An electrician is on the way. I have to be here for that,” Prim said.
Indigo shook her head. “No, you don’t. Viv can have him call me, and I’ll handle it. Besides, he’ll be billing the store anyway. You don’t need to be here to pay him. I think Viv’s right. Go home. Relax. Tomorrow is a new day, and hopefully the Dragon Lady will have calmed down.”
Prim had to admit that they were right. If she didn’t need to be in the store, she probably shouldn’t be.
Not after what had happened. And Viv was more than capable of handling the business end of things.
Slowly she nodded and said, “Call me if—oh shoot. I don’t know where my phone is. I’m going to need to go look for it.”
“I’ll do it,” Viv said and hurried back inside.
Indigo pulled out her phone and tapped the screen. It rang and rang and rang until it went to voice mail. She did it again and again until Viv came back out, shaking her head.
“It was nowhere to be found,” Viv said.
“I was calling,” Indigo said with a frown. “Did you not hear it?”
“No.” Viv looked at Prim. “Are you sure you brought it in today?”
“I’m pretty sure, but honestly, I just don’t know. Maybe I didn’t.” She scoured her brain for any memory of her phone that day. The only one that came to mind was when she got the text from Dante that morning. “I could have left it on my kitchen counter, I guess.”
“Check at home. If you don’t find it, we’ll do another sweep of the store tomorrow,” Viv said.
Prim nodded and watched the other woman disappear back into the store.
“I guess that means you have the afternoon off,” Indigo said, obviously trying to make it sound like a good thing.
“Yeah. I think I’ll go home, look for my phone, and try to take a nap before my date tonight.” Nap? Yeah right. Not after the Schlong Pox Girl chant at the store. She’d be lucky if she didn’t end up curled in a ball, sobbing on her floor after the day she’d had.
“Date?” Indigo asked, her eyes lighting with interest. “With Dante?”
Prim nodded. “I’ll tell you about it later. Thanks for your help.” She kissed her sister on the cheek and then took off, relieved for the escape.
Unfortunately, Prim’s phone wasn’t at her house.
And she’d left her laptop at the store, so she had no way of contacting anyone.
Though in her current state of mind, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.
If she had to talk about her day, she was sure she’d either blow something up or burst into tears.
Feeling restless, she decided to run a few miles on her treadmill, and then afterward, she took a long hot bath before primping for her date with Dante.
She had to admit that the exercise combined with the bubble bath had really helped ease a lot of her tension.
She still had plenty of anxiety around the events that day, but at least her muscles were no longer tied up in knots.
At 5:45, clad in a pretty floral wrap dress, Prim slipped on a pair of high heels that did miraculous things for her legs and then headed over to Dante’s house.
When she pulled into the driveway and didn’t see his 4-Runner, she frowned.
Was he home? There weren’t any lights shining from the house, but she hadn’t expected there to be since Dante had told her the owners were traveling.
The only light shining anywhere was the one over the entrance to the garage apartment.
Maybe Dante was home. She supposed it was possible that he’d parked in the garage.
Praying she didn’t twist an ankle, Prim carefully made her way up the stairs.
Butterflies took over her stomach when she got to the door and knocked.
Silence.
She knocked harder and louder the second time, wondering if he just hadn’t heard her.
When her knock went unanswered a second time, she pressed her ear to the door, trying to listen for any clues that he was home.
Nothing.
She was just about to check and see if the door was locked when she heard a car coming up the driveway. But instead of a 4-Runner, it was the one and only Befana Bay police cruiser.
Frowning, Prim teetered her way down the steps and waited until the police officer got out of the car.
“Hey, Joe. What’s going on?” she asked, recognizing him immediately. Joe Quinton had been the sheriff of Befana Bay for the past few years, and he was often seen downtown, talking to the business owners so he could keep his thumb on the pulse of town activity.
“Ms. Easton,” he said with a tip of his hat. “I’m very sorry about this, but I’m here to inform you that you’re under arrest.”