"I don't know about you, but I have a clear winner."
I had to admit that the shorter dress was my favorite out of the two, too.
“I mean, maybe. You don’t think that’ll be too much for a funeral? I want to be respectful. It’s not exactly a red-carpet affair.”
Karen snorted. “If you think this is what people wear on the red carpet, then we have a lot more work to do. It’ll be fine. You want to look cute, don’t you?”
I looked down at my Converses. Looking cute wasn’t something I really cared about these days.
“I guess.” I grabbed the sleeve of the short dress, flipping the tag over. My eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as I glanced at the price tag.
“Um, please tell me why we can’t just use some magic to make a dress appear out of thin air?” I whispered. What was the point of being a witch if you still had to pay retail prices?
Karen just shrugged. “You could if you knew how to hand-make the dress. Were you a dress designer in a past life, by any chance?”
Frowning, I let the sleeve go and checked out the price of the other dress.
“The jury’s still out. Maybe I should go with the longer one… it’s probably cheaper.”
“I don’t understand why they make the one with more material the cheaper of the two,” she replied, looking around to the girl who was now flipping through a magazine.
“Probably because it’s kind of ugly,” I offered, checking out the weird neckline on the other dress. Still, it wasn’t that ugly. And it was cheaper.
Thrusting the shorter dress into my hands, Karen turned me around until I was facing the fitting room. “Here. Just try it on, okay?”
The bell above the door chimed as a small group of women milled inside, chatting and laughing amongst themselves.
“Welcome to Glitzy’s,” the salesgirl called out with the enthusiasm of a rock, earning an eyeroll or two from the middle-aged women.
I pulled the red velvety curtain closed behind me and looked at the dress once more. It really was nice. It was just too bad it was so expensive.
“And no coming out until you’re wearing it!” Karen added from outside the changing area.
The entire back wall of the change room consisted of a mirror, so I could see my entire body once I’d have the dress finally on. I hung my purse on the little hook on the wall next to it, and unzipping the back of the dress, I first tried to step into it, realizing that wasn’t about to work so well over my hips.
I slipped the bottom over my head, trying to find my way to the lacy opening of the dress. Thankfully, the dress fit better this way, and I slid my arms into the lacy sleeves, careful not to tear at the delicate material.
The last time I bought something this nice had been, well, never.
I turned to the side to make sure I didn’t suddenly look like I was busting out of a sausage casing or anything. I had to admit, I didn’t look too bad at all.
The bottom was flouncy enough to feel comfortable, but the lacy top across my shoulders and arms were just enough to make me feel as though I had some class. It looked a little funny with the Converses, but I knew there was a pair of ballet flats somewhere in my closet that would go well with it.
Pleased with how it looked, I was just about to open the curtain when it moved and I jumped back in surprise, only to realize that it was just the curtain billowing out from someone going into the fitting room next to me.
“That’s going to be too small for your hips, Millie, I can already tell you,” a lady’s voice piped up from the other side of the thin wall. “Why don’t you go the next size up?”
Someone else, probably Millie, scoffed.
“Thank you very much, Bev. How kind of you to say. Why don’t you just hush and let me try the darn thing on?”
I bit my lip to keep from giggling over the squabble.
Bev seemed to have completely ignored Millie’s request and kept right on with it.
“I think the black one might be better than the pink one. It’ll hide a little more in the middle.”
There was a groan. “Well, of course I’m going to get the black one, you ninny! We’ve got that memorial service to go to for Lisa tonight!”
So I wasn’t the only one dress shopping for the memorial, it seemed. I stopped to slip off my shoes, happy with how much less goofy I looked in bare feet.
“I wonder if that Jeannette is going to be there. You know, I heard she came back to town a few days ago, even before what happened with her mother. I thought it was a little funny considering it’s the middle of the semester, and a Monday, no less. Shouldn’t that girl be at Stanford?”
“Oh, didn’t you hear, Bev?” Millie’s voice dropped until she was whispering loudly. “She got expelled! I can only imagine Lisa hitting the roof when she found out, especially with the two of them always butting heads.”
Someone sighed. “No, they certainly didn’t get along very well, did they? And that husband of hers! Now that Lisa’s gone he’s free to marry that tramp of his. The young one, you know? I think her name’s Anna or something.”
“Terrible man. Always running around on poor Lisa while she did everything for that family. I remember before she and Kayla started up that wine glass business of theirs, Lisa was always working, always serving on boards and helping out with different charities. And then he goes and treats her like that, shame on him. She was way too good for the likes of him.”
“Oh my stars, I forgot to tell you, sissy! I heard from the …” Bev’s gravelly voice dropped until I could barely make out every other word. “Lisa’s body… unnatural… testing… It was botulism!... No, you dummy… The other one…”
Frustrated from trying to strain to hear the rest of the conversation, I racked my brain for the spell Karen had done earlier for us to listen in on Callie. “Amplo Aurisroa!” I whispered. I was pretty sure that was right.
I let out a squeak, almost falling out of the room sideways, caught up in the red velvet curtain and nearly pulling it off of the curtain rod above as I looked at my reflection in the mirror.
“Are you okay in there?” Karen called out, her feet shuffling closer to the curtain. “Do you need help?”
“Uh, no, no, I’m fine!” I shouted, my voice wavering. I looked at my reflection again, just to make sure it was real. Yup. This was definitely happening.
I looked like some kind of rat with huge red ears standing out clearly against the wavy hair on either side of my head.
I ran my hands over my huge ears, my face and ears both burning with embarrassment and panic. What on earth had I just done?
“Actually, I do need some help,” I mumbled through the curtain, pulling it back only to find Karen no longer standing right outside of the fitting room. “Karen?”
I couldn’t poke my head out too much further for fear of anyone noticing my giant ears, so I reluctantly undid the back of the dress and slid it up over my shoulders until it met some major resistance around my head.
“Ugh! Seriously?”
Wincing, I lifted the neckline over one ear at a time, exhausted by the time I’d hung it back up on the hanger. That was way too much exercise just to get in and out of dress, if you asked me.
Once I was dressed, I peeked back into the main floor of the shop, making sure no one was around before I hurried out of it, the dress still draped over my arm. There was no point in trying to fix my messed up spell—I’d have to find Karen. Even if I knew she’d never let me live it down. Ever.
“Oh, it’s you.”
My face paled as I realized someone was talking to me, and it wasn’t Karen. Thank goodness I’d made sure my giant ears were still hidden. The woman talking to me was older, probably in her sixties, with beady eyes and a look on her face so sour that I was sure she’d just finished off a lemon.
“Sorry?” I replied, confused. I had no idea who she was.
“You’re the new girl Barbara hired to try and stay relevant. Hmmph. She’ll do anything to get one
up on me, won’t she?”
Not only did I not recognize the woman, I definitely didn’t like the way she was talking about Barbara. I shook my head.
“Sorry, I don’t have time for this, I need to find my friend,” I muttered. “Karen!” I called out into the store.
Luckily for me, Karen appeared a moment later, and the older woman, realizing she wasn’t really welcome to intrude on my life anymore right now, stalked off. I opened up the curtain to show Karen what I’d done.
“Sorry, I had to go to the—” she stopped short the moment we made eye contact. Or, more accurately, the moment she made eye contact with my ears. Karen’s brown eyes opened much wider and she clapped her hand over her opened mouth in vain attempt to hide the laugh that had already spilled out. “Oh my god, what did you do?”
I yanked her into the dressing room behind me, shoving the curtain closed behind us.
“It’s not my fault. I was trying to do that spell I heard you do earlier and it, uh, didn’t work out so well.”
She just shook her head, still giggling. “Oh boy. That’s hilarious.”
“Just fix it, already, will you?” I hissed at her, holding my hands over the huge things protruding from my head.
Karen whispered a new spell under her breath and the hair fell back to place over my ears as they shrank down to normal size. I felt them again, just to make sure, until I was satisfied.
“Thanks,” I said sheepishly.
Karen raised an eyebrow at me. “And who were you trying to snoop on, Miss Nosy?”
I leaned in. “There were a couple of women in the fitting room beside me, talking about Lisa.” I explained to her what I’d heard while trying on the dress, pausing when a frown crossed her face. “What?”
“I just wonder what Jeanette did to have gotten kicked out of Stanford. It must have been something pretty bad. And I’m willing to bet that those ladies were right, and that Lisa was super mad about it.”
“I’d be, too, if she were my kid. Stanford tuition isn’t exactly cheap,” I replied.
Karen glanced down at the dress draped over my forearm and nodded to it.
“How did it fit? I wanted to see it, but I had to go to the bathroom.”
I chewed my lip, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “It was okay. I mean, I liked it.”
“If you liked it then I bet it fit you perfectly. Excellent! You’re getting it, right?” she asked. “You’d be crazy not to.”
“Or less broke,” I corrected her. “But yeah, I’m going to get it. Oh! I almost forgot. This weird lady came up to me just now, before you came out of the bathroom. She left when I called out to you.”
She grinned. “Probably to take a selfie with you and those ears. You should have kept them, then you could have been in the Guinness Book of World Records!”
“No,” I snapped. “I shouldn’t have. And that’s not what she said. She was actually pretty rude. About your mom, too. Talking about how I was the new girl Barbara hired to stay relevant or something.”
Karen laughed as she looked around the shop, stopping when her eyes landed on the woman.
“Her?” she pointed.
I nodded.
“That’s just Evelyn Durst. She owns the other souvenir shop in town, didn’t my mom tell you?”
“I don’t think so. I had no idea there was another shop.”
She laughed, shaking her head as we moved up to the counter. “No, she wouldn’t have, I guess. She’s just an old brat. Evelyn, I mean. Not my mom. Anyway, she’s always totally awful to us, not that it really bothers either one of us. I don’t think she’s ever liked my mom, and I essentially don’t exist whenever she’s around. Which thankfully, is hardly ever. I wouldn’t worry too much about her. She just has this really old-fashioned idea about hating your competition. She’s essentially harmless.”
The more people I met in Rosemary Creek, the more surprised I became. I had no idea the souvenir shop business could be so cut-throat!
Chapter 11
With the memorial set to begin in less than half an hour, Karen and I finished getting ready and headed upstairs to the main level of the house. Barbara was seated at the large kitchen island, sipping the steaming mug of tea held in her hands.
“You girls look lovely,” she remarked with a soft smile.
“Aren’t you coming, too?” Karen asked, sliding her stockinged feet into a pair of low heels she’d brought up.
Barbara, who I realized was wearing a long black dress and matching black shawl, nodded. “Lisa did a lot for this town. I thought I’d pay my respects accordingly.”
The three of us piled into my personal favorite vehicle ever—Barbara’s silver Lexus SUV—and took off for the Hillside Golf & Country Club in nearby Rose Hill, where the Lion’s Club was holding Lisa’s memorial.
The iron gates that led up to the circular drive of the country club were open, accepting everyone as they drove through. Soft music played somewhere in the background as we walked into the clubhouse’s main lobby, and I spotted a handful of people I recognized as regulars at Creekside Trinkets, milling around and waiting for the doors of the banquet hall to open.
You could almost smell the money that went into the upkeep of Hillside. The staff, impeccably dressed, serving finger foods to the crowd of people. Huge displays of gorgeous flowers dotted the room, and expensive art lined the walls. And that was without even including the sheer opulence of the room itself. A grand staircase in the middle led to an upper level, and large beams of dark wood across the ceiling gave the place a very classy look. A huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling cast warm light on everyone, the crystals twinkling as the light caught them. I knew Agatha, the town’s only florist, must have been having a field day with all the wreath and display orders.
Barbara was swept up into a smaller crowd of women, giving us a little wave before joining in on their conversation. Karen and I decided to head over to the guestbook where an older picture of a smiling Lisa Lim was prominently displayed in a black frame.
I waited until Karen had finished with the pen for the book and added my name underneath.
"Oh, look at this," Karen whispered, pointing down the table at where a number of other pictures of Lisa were set up. In them were pictures of Lisa volunteering at the local food kitchen, as well as several of her cuddling cats at Gilly Mills. Even Karen was in a couple of them with Lisa, smiling up at the camera with a bunch of furry kittens in her lap.
"That was a fun day," she said, the hint of a smile on her face. "Lisa had just gotten over the flu, and what was the first thing she did? Threw on a pair of sweatpants with absolutely no makeup on at all mind you, and drove right over to the shelter. She couldn't stand to be away from the cats any longer. She ended up adopting a couple of the kittens in our laps, too."
"Not a dog person, hey?"
Karen shrugged. "Not by choice, she was just allergic to them. She loves all animals, but cats are definitely her favorite. Were," she sighed, turning away from the pictures. "I'm going to run to the bathroom really quick. Be right back."
I walked around the rest of the room, waving and chitchatting with a few of the people I knew, even snagging one of the little fancy plates of gourmet ham and cheese sliders, repeatedly smoothing down the front of my dress. Of course I would do something silly like spill a bunch of food down the front of my brand new, gorgeous dress before running into Ken.
Speaking of Ken, I was beginning to wonder where he was. He had mentioned he was going to be at the memorial, especially with his mom being one of the main organizers of it. Maybe he had to work late or something.
"Well, I don't recall seeing you around at all."
Confused, I slowly turned around to see if whoever it was who was speaking was talking to someone else. Nope. They were talking to me.
James Lim – I recognized him from the only photo on the pile in which he appeared, one of his wedding day – with his expertly trimmed mustache and all staring at me, one eyebrow suggesti
vely arched. He looked surprisingly happy considering the circumstances of this memorial.
"I'm sorry?"
He cleared his throat, bowing his head slightly. "I'm James Lim. Lisa's husband. And who might you be?"
"Taylor Dean," I offered, looking around for Karen or Barbara. The man was already giving me a creepy vibe.
"Taylor Dean," he repeated slowly, smiling at me. "It's truly a pleasure to meet you, Miss Dean." James Lim took another step forward, encroaching further on my personal space. "And did you know Lisa?"
It was only after glancing over James Lim’s shoulder to see if there was anyone I knew nearby that I realized we were in very much a remote part of the room with him edging me further into a corner. The hair on the back my neck stood on end.
"No, not personally. My best friend works at Gilly Mills, so she knew Lisa pretty well. I'm here for moral support, I guess you could say. And I've heard very good things about your wife, so I thought I should pay my respects."
His eyes narrowed at me, but he didn't lose the smile which made it even creepier. "I see. Yes, Lisa will be missed. I'm sure very much so by the staff at Gilly Mills, no less. She did devote quite a bit of her funds, to them in case you weren't aware."
I nearly jumped out of my skin when he reached out to place his hand over mine, as if he had any right to.
"It has been a grueling week, Taylor. With all the plans to be made, and having to deal with my daughters, of course. It's just been such a mess, I've barely been able to keep my head on straight." He took another step closer to me, his voice dropping. "I must say it's so nice to meet a new face in town. We don't get very many of those here."
It occurred to me that no matter how disgusting and creepy James Lim was, I might have been able to get a little bit more information out of him — anything that might help find out what really happened to Lisa. So I swallowed the bile forming in my mouth and tried to smile.
"Yes, I've been in town for a little while now. I've met quite a few people, but not everyone. I really wish I could've met Lisa, though. She sounded wonderful woman."
Poison and Pinot (A Paranormal Cozy Mystery) (California Witching Book 2) Page 6
