A Date With Fate (20 page)

“Stella, they’re perfect! I love them. Thank you!”

“You’re welcome. They reminded me of your eyes. Sammy made them. Isn’t she good at jewelry design?”

“She
is
good.” Without thinking, I put on the earrings. I went over to a mirror hanging on the wall right inside my office door to check them out. I curled my hair behind my ears and turned my head, this way and that, to catch the sparkle in the light.

“We should talk with Sammy about selling her jewelry here.” I idly mused, thinking about Stella’s talented best friend. “What do you think, Stell?”

Stella came to lean against the door frame “Sure, we could do that. Those look super cute.” She got a perplexed look on her face. “I just noticed something. This is probably the first time in my life I’ve ever seen you without earrings on all ready. What are you, psychic or something?”

I watched my blue topaz eyes widen in the mirror, and saw my Pretty Pink Just Kissed lip stained mouth stay closed. I felt tongue-tied, although Stella had no way of knowing why I had no earrings on. I had no facile answer for such an easy, simple question. I felt like a complete idiot standing there saying nothing.

Stella’s straight eyebrows drew together. “Why are you looking so strange? What’s wrong?”

A voice behind her at the door inquired, “Who’s looking strange?”

It was Anna. Stella and I both turned to her. I was relieved at the interruption until Stella said, “Can you believe Bel had no earrings on this morning and won’t tell me why?”

“Wait a minute…” I protested, but Anna overrode me.

“What do you mean? She’s got earrings on, Stell.”

Stella’s arms were folded and her platform shoe was tapping. Her eyes narrowed. She was on the scent, but still confused.

“These are earrings I just gave her as a gift, Anna. She didn’t have any of her own on to begin with, and she keeps staring at me like she’s guilty of something when I asked her why.”

Anna peered at me suspiciously. I shrugged and went for clueless. Without hesitation, I threw Stella under the bus. I did a circular motion with my finger near my head, signaling Stella was a kook.

This is what I get for shaking up my routine, and for having a nosy niece that keeps an eagle eye on me and knows all my ways. No wonder I have no children of my own if this is the peppering you get for not wearing a pair of earrings one damned day. All because I had a lousy sleepover, I have resorted to lying to my niece and best friend.

“I saw that!” exclaimed Stella, laughing. “I’m not nuts, and you’d better tell us what’s going on, or I will drive you crazy until you do. You know I can do this…”

I did indeed. Relentlessly single-minded as a rat terrier was another trait she, no doubt, got from one of my sisters. I learned a long time ago, Stella was not a female you could depend on to take a hint and shut up in public when you didn’t want her to pursue a delicate subject. Nuance and subtleness were not words in her vocabulary. You had to drag her off to the side and threaten her with bodily harm to get her to be quiet if there was something she had sunk her teeth into and wanted an answer on. I either had to come up with a quick explanation after screwing up my timing so bad, or spill the beans I had Luke upstairs. Then I’d really be in for a waterboarding session.

“Okay, then. I will tell you why I have no earrings on today.” I pulled my hair back with one hand, blowing out a heavy breath in defeat. Both Anna and Stella watched me suspiciously from the doorway of my office.

I bent my head in shame. I confessed in a quiet, dignified voice. “I have a prescription drug problem that I have been trying to kick. My hands were shaking too much to fit any earrings through the holes in my ears this morning. See?”

I lifted my head and held a hand up, letting it quiver and tremble in the air between us all. “Are you two happy now?”

Anna and Stella looked at each other, then at me, and then back at each other. They went hysterical at the same time. They held onto each other. They screamed with laughter and made mean-girl comments about my acting skills. I sat in my office chair, swiveling gently and smiling contentedly, while they were busily whoopin’ it up at my expense. I cast a quick look at the clock. 9:59 AM and counting.

“Ah, Stella love, I hate to interrupt your bonding moment with Anna here, but I do believe it’s time to open the store?”

“Damn!” Stella cried as she ran out of the office. She called back over her shoulder, “I haven’t forgotten this, Auntie.”

“Thanks again for the lovely presents!’ I called after her.

Anna plopped down on the moss green, velvet loveseat near my desk. “Okay. What are you holding out on, Junior?”

“Forget the earrings. I think some serious stuff is going down. I’m very worried, actually. Bob Crookston was here earlier, and you will not believe what has been going on with his wife, Cheryl.”

Anna’s cocoa-brown eyes were shaped round, but now they got huge. Her eyebrows rose high under her long bangs. She sat forward expectantly. “Why? What’s going on?”

I stood up, needing to stretch. The only two hours of sleep was catching up with me. I also wanted to get out of Dodge before Luke sauntered in. His untimely appearance would ruin my clean getaway after all my hard work not telling on myself that he was upstairs.

‘Geez Louise.
How late would the lazy man sleep on a Saturday, anyway?
’

“How about I fill you in as we drive? Are you ready to go now, or do you need a few minutes?”

Anna jumped up again. “Give me a couple to make sure everything’s in order with Trent. Did you know the Ladies of the Lanes bowling league are meeting here today at one o’clock in the Garden Room?” Stretching my arms towards the ceiling, I paused to give her a look. She laughed. “Of course you did.” She snapped her fingers. “Oh, and do not let me forget to tell you my news, too. It’s the main thing I wanted to tell you this morning when we talked, but you got me flustered with the puny penis thing. Thanks again for that, by the way.”

I smiled, reaching over and shutting down my PC. “My pleasure. Okay, hurry up and we’ll talk in the jeep.”

“The catering is no biggie. Trent’s got it covered for today. It’s coffee in urns, bottled waters, wraps, and a variety of cookies. They’re good to go.”

I perked up at the mention of cookies, my stomach growling. That handful of walnuts seemed like years ago and the lip stain wasn’t very filling. “What kind of cookies are we talking?”

“The kind that makes your ass big, Junior. You can’t have any for free.”

Laughing, I followed Anna out into the store. She took off to Laissez Fare to talk with Trent. I could see the big guy was already at work making drinks for a couple of younger girls.

Trent looked my way. He did an exaggerated double take, grinned widely, and held both hands to his heart. In return, I drew a heart in the air with my two forefingers, and pointed at him with a small smile. The two girls, they were barely in high school, followed his glance over to me and scowled.

Trent Christensen is twenty-three-years old, grew up in Northfield, and has worked with Anna at the Fare since it opened two years ago. He’s currently training to be a Pastry Chef at the Minnesota Institute of Arts Culinary School in South Minneapolis. I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Anna partnered up in the future and expanded the business. I’d be interested in backing them to start branding and packaging their own recipes for sale locally—maybe wholesale and retail distribution. I put aside the idea for further consideration to discuss with Anna.

Trent’s very attractive; like a giant Teddy bear. He stands a solid six-five. He has a curly mop of black hair, and dark blue eyes that have a way of twinkling slyly at you even when his mouth wasn’t smiling. He’s a large boy, but you want to cuddle him. Women of all ages love him. Men find him harmless. Like the two girls glaring over at me from the Fare, both ideas make me laugh. Trent has the greatest, if the weirdest, customer service skills. I like working with him just to hear what may come out of his mouth next. The customers get a kick out of his conversational gambits, too.

Stella was over helping a customer in the Sci-fi section. I recognized the younger guy since he’s been in the store often lately, but haven’t met him yet myself. Stella seems to help him whenever he’s browsing. I chuckled to see her talking and smiling animatedly while gesturing emphatically with her arms like she’s a full-blooded Italian, instead of predominantly Scots and German.

I looked to my left. I saw Larissa Butler down at the end of the checkout counter ringing up a single book purchase. That was some fast shopping, but I knew from experience there were certain people that weren’t bookstore browsers. Sacrilegious, I know, but there you go. They entered the store, went directly to the new book section, grabbed their book of choice, and vamoosed.

Larissa’s a part-time employee and a friend of Jazy’s from back in high school days. I’ve known her casually forever, but not really known her well until she started working for me last summer.

She had married young and moved out of state. I hadn’t seen much of her for several years. She came back to Northfield after a particularly nasty divorce about eighteen months ago.

The older man who’d swept her off her feet and married her turned out to be a monster, not Prince Charming. He’d been terrorizing Larissa by beating the crap out of her for years because he was insanely jealous and possessive. Larissa’s a knock-out. She’s tall and slender, has a heart-shaped face, big, crystal blue eyes, and perfectly straight, thin blonde hair. She’s also so sweet-natured and harmless you can’t even hate her for being beautiful. It would be like hating rainbows or white, fluffy clouds.

As for smarts, Larissa’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer. While a sweetheart, most of her limited conversation and interests revolve around cute, baby animals. Since my sister Jazy is horse crazy, I can only guess that was the reason for their teen friendship.

Larissa is a woman whose life took a horrifyingly wrong turn by hooking up with the wrong man. If life was fair, she would have an adoring husband who doesn’t blink an eye she’s a boring dimwit because she’s so sweet and beautiful. They’d have three shy children she’d dote on with all the baby love in her heart, and a house full of kittens.

Instead, she’d been living a nightmare for years with a man who beat her up regularly for her every supposed infraction. Thankfully, her parents finally figured out what was going on, helped get her out of that life, and got her some professional help. She left her crazy ex, took back her maiden name, and has moved back home to get her life on track. The ex has been serving time for assault. Not for beating Larissa, but from going nuts on some poor trucker at the MacStop gas station off 35W in Lakeville when stalking Larissa last year after the divorce.

I hired Larissa when Jazy told me her story and asked for my help. I was appalled when I realized the extent of the damage this girl has suffered. I didn’t even know her that well, yet I could see the dramatic difference in her personality and confidence.

Months after being home with her folks, when Larissa first came to talk with me about a possible job, she was still a shell of her former self. Skeletal thin and dull-eyed, submissive and subdued, she was broken and pitiful.

During the interview, I took one look at her and every fiercely protective, maternal instinct I didn’t know I possessed came roaring to life. I spoke to her softly and gently about our shared past, a light banter to put her at her ease. After several minutes of this, I was rewarded with quick, furtive glances of eye contact. After I spent a half an hour telling her cute, g-rated stories about the store and our lives with NanaBel, she was able to watch me talk, sat up straighter, and actually smiled cautiously once or twice. When the hour interview was over, she was softly talking with me. The tiny, spark of hope I saw in her gentle eyes made me want to lay my head down on my desk and weep like a baby for all she’d endured. The scars I caught a glimpse of on her thin arms under the cuffs of her blouse, some faint white lines, others angry red circles, made me want to repeatedly punch a wall.

Maybe not a perfect choice for an employee in sales, but I was determined she was going to succeed at Bel’s. She could have a place here for as long as she needed or wanted. Once I worked through the process of getting her trained and comfortable, Larissa’s turned out to be a good, dependable employee and part of the Bel’s Books family.

It appeared routine and steadiness were key for her, so I made sure she did the same duties every shift. I pushed her to learn new things, but slowly and surely with no pressure. Working a Saturday shift was new for her. Her normal schedule was during the week days, usually when I was working. I think she felt safest with me around.

She’s looking much healthier these days. Larissa’s on the timid, quiet side by nature. Gradually, she’s gaining back some confidence and some much needed weight. She’s no longer rigid with internal fear when a man comes near her in the store, or jumps in terror if a book is dropped with a loud smack. She seems content working at Bel’s Books. I believe the upbeat, fun atmosphere is having a soothing, beneficial effect on her battered spirit. The older ladies and young mothers love her. They probably feel like they’re being assisted by a shy Cinderella, you can almost hear the cartoon chirping birds and talking mice.

After her customer left, I walked down to her. “Howdy, Ms. Butler, what’s shakin’ today?”

Larissa doesn’t like being hugged, and I can relate to that. For some reason, she loves double high-fiving. It makes her giggle. Her giggle sounds like a squeaky, little mouse, and that makes me giggle. She said my giggle sounds like I just did something naughty, which makes her giggle more. I have no clue what she means by naughty, but when you look into her eyes and see the child-like innocence shining back despite what she’s gone through; I don’t think our concepts of naughty are remotely the same.

“Hello, Anabel.” Gigglefest over, she motioned grandly to the store at large. “I’m keeping it real today.”