A Pour Way to Dye (Book 2 in the Soapmaking Mysteries) (6 page)

“
I couldn’t get much out of
him,” I admitted. “But he said we needed to call Kelly. I’m not at
all sure that means the news is good, are you?”

Mom hesitated, then said, “Benjamin, I
honestly thought you would have called her first. Haven’t you at
least talked to her about the situation?”

“
Of course I have,” I
protested, not admitting the exact time I’d called her. “She’s
looking into it.”

“
And you need to as well,
Benjamin. This has to take priority over everything else. Don’t
worry; I’ll have Cindy teach your class this afternoon.”

My youngest sibling had agreed only recently
to teach, but she had requested a few more training sessions under
my tutelage before she took over alone. I’d planned to help her
during my hand-milling class later that day, since it was a process
I loved to teach. “She can observe, but it’s my class,” I said.

“
Son, I know how important
teaching is to you, but it’s vital you fix this fence problem
immediately.”

I wasn’t about to back down. “I’ve got good
people on it, Mother. I’m teaching the class. As soon as I’m
finished, I’ll get right back to it, but this is important to me,
too.”

Her sigh was clearly audible. “Fine, teach
away.”

“
I will,” I said as I hung
up. I could have gotten Louisa or Kate to teach for me—they were
both good at it—but I enjoyed my classes, and I loved keeping my
hand in soap-making, even as an instructor. It wasn’t just a
vocation for me, it was an avocation.

When I got back to Where There’s Soap, I was
pleased to see that the parking lot was full, and only one of the
cars belonged to the Perkins clan. When I walked in, there was a
healthy crowd inside, and I recognized some of my students from
past classes. I ducked back into the classroom to prepare for the
day’s lesson when Kate joined me.

“
Thanks again for pointing
me in the right direction,” I said as I retrieved the hand graters
out of a box and set some of them out on the five tables of the
classroom. It was a nice space, with room for supplies and
materials, microwaves and hot plates for melting soap, and plenty
of room to work.

“
Was he mad at me?” Kate
asked.

I grinned. “He wasn’t all that happy with you
until I told him I had to practically torture you to get the
information. I kind of think he was proud of you for holding out as
long as you did.”

The relief on my sister’s face was obvious.
“Thanks for that.”

“
Hey, it’s the truth.” As I
started lining up some of the oils, fragrances, and other additives
we’d be using, I added, “Is Cindy around? She’s helping me with
this class today.”

Kate nodded. “She’s coming in a second. In
fact, I’m to give you express orders not to start without her. What
did you say to her to get her to change her mind about
teaching?”

I shrugged. “I guess it’s just part of my
charm.”

Kate frowned. “There’s got to be more to it
than that.”

I threw a clean dish towel at her. “Thanks
for your vote of confidence. You’ve delivered your message. You can
go now.”

She tossed the towel right back at me. “Oh,
there’s one more thing. There’s somebody out front who’s been
asking about you.”

I glanced at the clock and said, “I don’t
have time to talk right now. I’ll have to speak to them later.”

“
Believe me when I tell you
that you’ll want to see this visitor before she gets away. She’s
tall, a brunette, and prettier than you have any right to expect.
Believe it or not, she seems to be very interested in my big
brother. You’re still dating Kelly, aren’t you?”

“
As far as I know.” I had to
admit, Kate had intrigued me.

I started for the door, and she said, “Hey, I
thought you had a class to teach.”

“
I do, but I can’t be rude
to our customers, now can I? Would you mind finishing the setup for
me?”

She grinned at me as I walked out of the
classroom. “I guess I could, since you’re dealing with a
customer.”

“
Wipe that smirk off your
face,” I said with a smile of my own. Who in the world could be
visiting the soap shop and looking for me? It didn’t take long to
find out. Waiting just outside the classroom door was a tall,
curvaceous woman I instantly recognized.

“
Diana? What are you doing
here?” Diana Long owned and operated a mystery bookstore in town
called Dying To Read. I’d had some dealings with her in the past,
and we’d gotten along from the start. Her long brown hair was
always pulled away from her face, showing off her big brown
eyes.

“
Hi, Ben. You talked so much
about this place the last time you were in the bookstore that I had
to come see for myself.” There was a twinkle in her deep brown eyes
that made her appear to always be up to something, and a smile just
waiting for an excuse to burst out.

“
And you trusted the place
to Rufus?” The young man in question was her assistant manager and
head clerk, a college student with an inordinate fondness for
murder and mayhem.

“
Are you kidding me? He’s
constantly complaining that I’m never gone from the bookstore. I
think he’s been planning a coup from the first day I hired him.
He’s in absolute heaven.”

Cindy came toward us, tapping her watch as we
made eye contact, then walked into the classroom. I said, “Listen,
I don’t mean to be rude—I’m thrilled you came by—but I’ve got a
class to teach.”

She nodded. “I know, I’m signed up for it. In
for a penny, in for a pound.”

“
Excellent,” I said. “If
you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some last-minute prep work to do. I’ll
see you inside.”

“
I’ll be there,” she
said.

When I walked back into the classroom, Kate
and Cindy were standing there waiting for me.

“
We’re not sure we approve,”
Kate said.

Cindy added, “She seems nice enough, but we
were under the impression you were dating Kelly.”

Kate shot back, “And you know how we feel
about men who date more than one woman at a time.”

“
Slow down,” I said. “Diana
and I aren’t dating. She runs Dying To Read, and I happened to
mention the soap shop the last time I was there.”

Kate shook her head. “She’s not here for the
soap, big brother.”

“
Maybe the soapmaker,” Cindy
added with a grin.

“
Enough, you two. I’ve got a
class to prepare for.”

Kate pointed to the front. “Everything’s
ready. We’ve got loads of time to talk more about this.”

I glanced at the clock and saw that we were
two minutes away from beginning. “I’ve got a great idea. Why don’t
we start early today?”

“
Chicken,” Kate
said.

I pretended to study my class list. “Funny, I
don’t see your name here.”

She smiled at me as she left, and Cindy said,
“We were just teasing.”

“
I know. You do realize I’m
interested in Kelly, and just Kelly, don’t you?”

Cindy hugged me. “Ben, everybody in the world
knows that. That’s why we’ve been teasing you. Do you honestly
think we’d be that cruel if you weren’t? Okay, don’t answer
that.”

I ignored her as I opened the door and
announced, “For those of you registered for our soapmaking class,
it begins in two minutes.”

Diana was the first one inside, taking a seat
by my desk. Was there any truth to my sisters’ teasing? I certainly
found her attractive enough, and we’d hit it off from the start.
Maybe if Kelly wasn’t in the picture, I conceded. But she was, so I
dismissed the speculation and watched as the others came inside.
Two people on my list, names I was well familiar with, weren’t
there yet, but I waited as long as I could, then started to close
the door.

“
Hang on,” a voice I knew
called out.

“
We’re coming,” the other
said.

Herbert and Constance Wilson, two of my more
interesting students from the past, rushed to the door, both nearly
out of breath.

“
You’re late,” I said with a
grin.

Herbert said, “I was ready an hour ago. She
couldn’t decide on what to wear.”

“
Herbert Wilson, that’s not
fair and you know it. My first outfit would have been fine if you
hadn’t spilled root beer all over it.”

“
You joggled my arm, woman.
It wasn’t my fault. Besides, no one would have noticed. You were
wearing your brown pantsuit.”

“
I would have known,”
Constance replied.

I knew from experience that this could go on
for hours, and I had a class to teach. “If you two are ready, let’s
go in so we can get started.”

The older couple walked inside and scanned
the room. Before they could say anything, I said, “You’ll have to
sit back here. Hope you don’t mind.”

They took a seat at one of the back tables,
and I heard Constance say, “If you hadn’t been so clumsy, we would
have gotten our spots from before.”

“
Be quiet, woman, the man’s
trying to teach.”

It was a bit of a blessing that the Wilsons
were sitting in the back. Maybe I’d miss Herbert’s whispered
critiques of my lessons, but I doubted it.

“
Welcome,” I said as I stood
at the small teacher’s table in front of the room. The five long
tables were nearly full, and I marveled yet again how many people
in our community had embraced soapmaking. The walls of the
classroom were lined with shelves containing everything from
abrasives to volatiles, and four microwave ovens were anchored in
each of the room’s corners. We used the microwaves instead of
stovetops for much of our melting, but we also had hot plates we’d
need today. Cindy stood in back where she could get a good view of
my lesson.

“
Today we’ll be learning one
of the basic methods of soapmaking. It’s called hand-milling or
rebatching, and some of the finest soaps in the world are created
with this method. Hand-milled soaps have a finer texture than other
soaps, and they last longer, too.” I held up one of the standard
generic white bars of soap and said, “This is our first building
block in creating an individualized and unique soap. Don’t think of
this bar as a finished product, because it’s just a beginning
ingredient.” I put the soap down, then held a container of dye up
in one hand and a baggie filled with oatmeal in the other. “For one
of our first soaps, we’ll be using some simple additives, but it’s
amazing what you can come up with once you learn the basics of this
process. There’s a combination that will do just about anything you
want, if you just know the right ingredients to add.”

“
I want to look forty years
younger,” an older woman in back tittered.

“
You’d have to be wrapped up
in a baby blanket if you did,” I said, and the class laughed right
along with the two of us. “Seriously though, there are soaps that
reduce stress, increase energy, help insomnia, and even ones that
actually clean your hands.”

“
What about noodles?”
Constance asked from the back of the room.

“
Someone’s been studying,” I
said, and she smiled. “We’ll be using soap noodles in our next
class,” I told everyone, “so we’ll go over them then.”

“
But what are they?” an
older man asked.

I called out, “Cindy, would you mind grabbing
a few bags and passing them around? Class, this is my sister Cindy,
and one of the best scent-makers to walk this planet.”

My sister shot me a cold look as the
classroom pivoted in their chairs to get a look at her. She had no
other choice but to retrieve a few bags of the soap noodles and
pass them out. As the class looked at them, I explained, “These
noodles are extruded from the same formula as our basic bar of
soap. While it’s true they are easier to work with since the
hand-milling step is skipped, I think it’s important to build your
first soap from the beginning of the process. There’s a history in
hand-milling soap that goes back hundreds of years. Cindy, would
you mind passing out the soap bars so we can begin? I’ll distribute
the trays while you do that.”

My sister came forward and started doing as I
asked. I offered her a smile and said, “Thanks.” As I passed out
trays to catch the shavings of the white base soap to each student,
I noticed that Diana was watching me. Well, I was the teacher. Why
shouldn’t she watch me? Blast my sisters for planting the thought
in my head that she might be interested in me.

“
Use your graters and reduce
the soap I gave you,” I told them. “It’s just like grating cheese.”
As they worked the soap down to shreds, I said, “Watch those
knuckles. We don’t want any impurities in our finished
products.”

After everyone had a neat pile of soap
shavings on the trays in front of them, I said, “Now is where the
fun begins. For today, we’re all going to make the same type of
soap together to learn the process. Tomorrow we’ll be using soap
noodles,” as I said that, I nodded in Constance’s direction. “Then
in our final class we’ll be experimenting with individual soap
blends. Now it’s time to gather the tools and ingredients we’ll
need for today’s session.” I’d thought about handing everything out
at the same time, but I wanted them to get a feel for the soap on
their hands before we complicated the procedure. As I moved from
station to station on the long countertop, I distributed measuring
bowls, wooden spoons, hot plates, pots, and other equipment. Once
those were passed out, I gave each of them premeasured containers
of water, dye, and fragrance. Finally, I handed out small bags of
oatmeal and molds I’d made from sections of plumbing pipe that were
perfect for our needs.