He shrugged. “You wanna make an offer?”
“I could do thirty. Even that’s a lot for a snow globe.”
The man made a face and walked back to his chair. “Sorry. I can’t go that low.”
She nodded and stood up. She really didn’t have room in her budget for an eighty-dollar snow globe, not to mention the fact that she’d have to purchase the material for the dress and hire a seamstress. Perhaps it would just be better to find a dress online and order it like Bluebell had suggested.
“I understand. I should be going anyway, it’s getting late. Thank you.”
She pivoted on her heel and began to walk away, disappointed that it hadn’t worked out. And then she heard a noise behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see that the cat had leapt out of the box and was now walking towards the man. A warbling sound came from somewhere deep in the cat’s throat, almost like a song.
Evanee’s eyes widened. Was the cat actually humming a song? She glanced up at the man to see if he was hearing what she was hearing.
Sure enough, his eyes were wide as he stared at the cat, listening intently to her song. When she was done, the man blinked twice and looked up at Evanee as if he was in a trance. “I’ll make you a special deal. One day only. Fifty dollars for the snow globe, but you have to take the cat.”
“I have to take the cat?!” What kind of a deal was that? The cat was beautiful! Why had he said it like that was a bad thing? She’d love to have that cat!
“Yes, she goes with the snow globe,” he said woodenly.
“She is beautiful,” Evanee said calmly, even though she wanted to squeal with excitement. She hadn’t thought for a second that the man would actually want to part with his cat.
He held out his hand. “Do we have a deal?”
She pretended to consider his offer for a moment longer and then finally strode towards him to shake his head. “Yes. Deal.”
4
Evanee nibbled on her nails almost the entire way home from the flea market. She’d been so excited about adopting the sweet furry cat from the flea market while simultaneously getting a good deal on the snow globe that she hadn’t taken the time to properly consider how Prim might react to getting a new sister. After all, she’d been an only child ever since Evanee had found her as a kitten two and a half years ago.
Would Prim like having a new sister? Would she be jealous? Would she act out? Would she get along with the new cat, or would they bicker like sisters sometimes did? Evanee really wasn’t sure what to expect. She glanced down at the seat where the cat sat purring contentedly next to her snow globe. She was a beautiful cat, there was no denying that, and she acted like a proper princess. Evanee noticed that she groomed herself frequently, and she even seemed to primp the fur around her neck as if she were human.
“Hmmm, what shall we call you?” mused Evanee as she drove the last mile home. “Prim got her name because she used to sit all prim and proper on the edge of my bed when she was little. She’d sit and watch me get dressed and put on my makeup and fix my hair. It was like she wanted to get prettied up too. I just know the two of you will be such good friends.” Evanee hoped, anyway.
She tipped her head sideways and looked at the cat curiously. “You look like a princess,” she said. “But I call Prim my princess. That might get confusing.” Suddenly Evanee sucked in her breath. “I’ve got it! Queenie! You look far too royal to be just a princess. I think we’ll call you Queenie.”
The cat blinked up at Evanee, and what appeared to be a smile formed on the animal’s face.
“Do you like that?”
“Meow.”
Evanee laughed. “You’re amazing. It’s like you understand me! Prim never responds to me the way you do. I think we’re going to be good together.”
Pulling into the Woods Rustic Wares parking lot, she parked right in front of the building. Even though she had an entire SUV to unload and she should be pulling around to the loading door in the back, she was more concerned about introducing Queenie and Prim to one another. Evanee tucked her car keys into her purse and pulled it on over her head, then gathered Queenie up in her arms and began to get out of the vehicle. But Queenie let out a yowl and even scratched Evanee’s arm before leaping back into the passenger’s seat to curl up around the snow globe.
Evanee shook her head as she rubbed the small welt forming on her arm. “Wow. You’re really attached to that snow globe,” she said, shaking her head. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
She got out of the car and walked around to the other side. Opening the door, she gathered Queenie again in her arm and then lifted the snow globe with her other hand. “Fine, I’ll take you both inside, then.”
It took some careful balancing for Evanee to open the front door of her shop while carrying both the heavy snow globe and the cat, but she managed. Flipping the lights on, Evanee walked over to her counter and dropped her keys on it, then set the snow globe down.
“Prim? I have a surprise for you!”
Evanee held the furry gray cat under the armpits and stood her up on the counter, staring into her bright green eyes. “Wow. You are something else, kitty. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a beauty before!”
“Meow,” cooed the cat, seemingly in agreement.
Evanee shook her head and then scooped the cat back up again. Cradling her in her arms, she walked around the corner and checked Prim’s bed for her, but she wasn’t there.
“Prim!” called Evanee again. “Come on, sweetie!”
When Prim didn’t come, Evanee looked down at her new cat and cuddled her tightly. “Oh, you are just going to love your new sister. She’s sweet, just like you, and she really is a princess. You two are just going to be the best of friends. I literally cannot wait for the two of you to meet one another.”
And then a tiny voice meowed behind her.
Evanee’s heart lifted. “Prim!” she squealed. With Queenie in hand, Evanee dashed across the room, on a mad hunt for Prim. She was sure the two of them were just going to adore one another. She spotted the tutu-wearing kitty stretching beneath a shelf like she’d just woken from a nap. She blinked at Evanee and Queenie as they approached her.
With Queenie in her arms, Evanee plopped down cross-legged on the floor in front of Prim and put Queenie down. Queenie curled her fluffy gray tail around her body but seemed disinterested in the orange cat. She just sat staring at her, almost uncomfortably.
“Queenie, this is Prim. Prim, this is your new sister, Queenie. What do you think?”
Almost in awe, Prim slowly walked towards Queenie, sniffing along the way. Queenie’s brilliant emerald-green eyes tracked the other cat’s every move. Prim got closer and closer until the two cats were nose to nose. She gave Queenie a thorough sniffing until finally, Queenie was forced to pull her head back. Prim took two more steps forward, invading the new cat’s personal space. Queenie didn’t like that. She stood up and walked away, out of the intrusive feline’s reach. But when she turned, inadvertently giving Prim her backside, Prim did what cats do and promptly sniffed. That was all it took for Queenie to spin around and lash out with her extended claws and a fierce yowl in the base of her throat.
“Queenie!” gasped Evanee. “No, no! Prim’s just curious.”
But it was too late. Prim had already gone skittering away, now frightened by Queenie. She’d never encountered anything with claws before, so that had to be quite a shock to her system.
Evanee sighed and leaned backwards, resting her hands against the cedar floorboards behind her. “So much for getting along.” She gave Queenie a quick nuzzle and then climbed to her feet. “Well, Queenie, it’s getting late. I better start unloading my car. You might as well do your exploring. There are a million hiding places. I think you’re going to like it here. Welcome home.” Evanee kissed her two fingers and then reached down and placed them on her new cat’s nose. “Boop.”
Not only did Evanee Woods run Woods Rustic Wares out of her remodeled barn-tur
ned-fire-hall, but she also lived out of her barn-turned-fire-hall. She’d converted the upstairs makeshift offices into a tiny loft-style apartment. There was a small kitchen with a narrow stove like one might find in an RV, a one-basin sink with only a curtain covering the plumbing beneath it, and a vintage powder-pink refrigerator she’d found at an estate sale. The cupboards were original to the building, but she’d put in some elbow grease and cleaned them up nicely, and then, over the course of a week, she’d painted them antique white and installed new hardware.
The bathroom had been there when she’d bought the place, so aside from cleaning it, there wasn’t much else that had needed to be done. The rest of the space, which had just been one long meeting room, was more than large enough to accommodate her queen-sized bed, her dresser and vanity, and a kitchen table and chairs. Other than that, it had only been a matter of giving the space a good cleaning and then hiring a carpet guy to come in and lay some carpet. Afterwards, she’d added small accessories to make it even more homey.
Though there wasn’t any space in her loft for a “living room” per se, Evanee considered her back patio to be her living room. There she had her wicker settee, her iron end tables, and a fire pit for a coffee table. She spent most of her free evenings there. In the summer, when the days were longer, she read in the evenings. But now that fall had come and waved its magic time wand over the area, the days were getting shorter and shorter and the darkness crept in faster. Evanee had learned to simply use the quiet time to reflect on the day and decompress with something warm to drink before heading upstairs to bed to fall fast asleep before yet another early morning of yoga class and then work.
That evening, Evanee poked at the fire in her fire pit, sending a shot of red hot embers crackling up into the night sky. She sat back down on her wicker love seat and curled her legs up underneath herself. She pulled her farmhouse-plaid throw back up over her legs and pulled Prim on top of her again.
“You’re welcome to come sit with us,” she said to Queenie, who lay on the armchair across from her, watching her and Prim intently, but seemingly uninterested in joining them.
When Queenie didn’t move, Evanee shrugged. “Suit yourself.” She reached back and grabbed her pumpkin spice hot chocolate off the side table and took a sip. “Mmmm. Sooo good.”
It was a cool fall evening, one of the coolest that season. The hot chocolate warmed her insides, and the fire, the blanket, the cat, and the oversized sweater and sweatpants she wore warmed her outsides. She sighed. This was a little slice of heaven. She only wished that she had someone to share it with in addition to her fur babies. That would have made it absolutely perfect.
Putting her mug of cocoa back on the end table, Evanee scooped up her new find from the day. Her snow globe. Queenie had refused to come outside without it, so she’d put it on the end table too. Peering inside it now, she thought the contents almost glowed against the fire behind it. Inside, the young woman’s dark hair shone, and the dress on the form was absolutely stunning. Evanee almost couldn’t imagine wearing a dress as beautiful as that to the Renaissance Festival. She hoped she’d be able to find someone in her list of contacts that was talented enough to make such a thing without a pattern to work from.
Evanee gave the globe a little shake, and the snow danced up around the girl, making her long chocolate-brown hair sway in the water. Something about shaking the globe made her want to shake it again. She gave it another shake, rustling up the snow inside yet again. When the snow finally settled, she peered into the glass orb again. She cocked her head to the side, her eyes slowly widening.
The gown was no longer on the dress form! The young woman that had been standing next to the form now wore the gown! And she wasn’t standing in the same spot anymore; she was now standing in the middle of the room next to her bed, with her arms spread out wide and her gown flared at the hem as if she had been magically frozen in time while spinning in circles!
Evanee sucked in her breath and practically threw the snow globe down onto the cushioned spot next to her on the love seat.
“What the…?” she gasped, staring at the globe.
In a flash, Queenie was up off her seat. She rushed to the snow globe’s side, stood up on her back legs, rested her front paws on the settee and peered into the globe.
Evanee’s heart pattered in her chest as her eyes remained glued to the globe. She felt the skin on her arms and legs prickle. She’d never had any mystical unexplained phenomena happen to her in her lifetime. This was a first, and it gave her the creeps.
“That was super freaky.”
“Meow,” said Queenie.
Evanee looked at the cat and pointed to the globe as if they were now embroiled in a conversation. “That girl is wearing the dress now! I’m sure she wasn’t wearing it before. How crazy is that?”
The cat stared into the snow globe, as if she were actually looking at the girl inside.
Evanee tipped her head sideways as she watched the cat paw at the globe. “You really like that girl, don’t you, Queenie?”
A tiny sound came from what Evanee thought was Queenie. It almost sounded like a tiny cat sigh. A tiny cat sigh?! Now she was really losing it. Cats didn’t sigh!
Evanee shook her head and unfurled her legs from the sofa. “I think it’s been a long day. Yoga. Work. A repulsive man. The flea market. And now this.” She shook her head. “I’ve got to be overtired.”
She lifted Prim from her lap and set her on the ground. Then she tossed her chenille blanket over her shoulder and gave her back and legs a little stretch. “I think we’ll just let this fire burn itself out. I need to hit the hay. Come on, girls.” She headed for the back door. Prim trotted after her as she did every night, but Queenie didn’t want to follow. Instead, she stayed frozen in front of the snow globe.
“You better come in, Queenie. The temperature’s supposed to drop tonight.”
“Meow.” Was that Queenie’s way of telling her that she’d better bring in the snow globe?
Evanee looked down at it, and her skin bristled again. She was kind of scared to touch it now, but at the same time she didn’t want to leave it outside and risk the water inside freezing. Hesitantly, she leaned over and stared at the globe. The young woman inside still wore the dress.
“Creepy,” she whispered.
Queenie looked up at her with her big green eyes and blinked sweetly.
Evanee sighed. “Yes, I know you want me to bring it inside, but I just don’t think I can touch it again after that. That was too weird.”
And then Queenie did something strange. She sprang up onto the settee, next to the globe, and stared up at Evanee before beginning to purr as she’d done at the flea market. What started out as a purr quickly became the full-on melody to a song, warbling out from the back of her throat. It was the same song she’d sung to Evanee earlier in Brattleboro.
Evanee stared down at the snow globe, now entranced. She picked it up. Once she held it in her hands, something inside compelled her to give it another shake. And this time, it was if she couldn’t stop. She shook it again and again. It was almost like she was eating Doritos. Once she ate one, she wanted another, and another, and another! Evanee kept shaking and shaking and shaking until the whole ball lit up like a glow stick. Her eyes widened as she stared into the lit ball. The light was coming from somewhere in the base of the globe. It made the snowflakes inside sparkle like glittery diamonds.
Her skin bristled as words seemed to magically appear, glowing beneath the snow. She held the globe closer to her face to make out what it said. She read the words aloud. “There’s no star too far away and no wish too grand.” She shook the globe again to move the snow. “Shake the snow globe and make a wish. The magic’s in your hands.”
Evanee’s eyes widened as she stared down at the globe. “What in the world?” she breathed.
Prim, who had returned to Evanee’s feet, slowly backed away from her. She felt the globe’s aura just as Evanee did. Queenie only sat calm
ly, watching the whole scene unfold, as if this happened every day. As if girls in snow globes magically put on dresses and the snow globes magically glowed and words magically appeared amongst the snowdrifts inside every day.
Evanee’s hands trembled. She swallowed hard. This all had to be her inner psyche telling her she’d worked too hard and needed to go to bed. Or maybe she already was in bed. Maybe this was all a dream!
But something gave her pause. Something inside of her hoped that it wasn’t a dream. Perhaps it was the inner child inside Evanee. The one that had grown up watching Disney movies where fairy tales were real and magic was real and princesses like her always found their prince. The thought curled the sides of her mouth. But if all of this was real, what would she wish for?
Did she even have to ask?
Of course not! What Evanee wished for more than anything else was to finally find her Prince Charming!
She stared down at the globe and the emotional reality of the situation hit her hard. But, Evanee, it isn’t real! she told herself. Fairy tales and magic aren’t real, and you aren’t a princess. Tears formed in her eyes. She swallowed back a lump in her throat as the tears sprang forth and dropped onto the globe.
She was just about to put the snow globe back down on the end table when that little girl inside of her pushed one more time. What harm would it do to try? And so finally, she whispered aloud, “I wish to find my prince.”
And before she could blink, it began to snow.
5
Evanee’s eyes widened as she stared at the snow falling around her. Still holding the snow globe in one hand, she held out her free hand to catch the falling particles. “Snow?” she breathed in awe.
The snowflakes that fell covered her patio, her entire backyard, and the pine trees that separated her yard from her large garden, and they made her fire dance and sizzle. Scared, Prim leapt into Evanee’s arms to snuggle against the warmth of her sweater.
Snow Way Out: A Mystic Snow Globe Romantic Mystery (The Mystic Snow Globe Mystery Series Book 2) Page 4
