“Hmm, yes; well, I’m fine. Amazing to see you back. Going into work today, are you? I’m not sure if you will have much of a fan base, or even a customer concern, after your—shall we say—leave of absence?”
She was fishing, and I was not having it. “Well, thank you so much for your concern, Gladys. Now, if you will leave me to it, I have to get sorted for the start of the day.” I turned back to the store, sorting my keys on the ring. I didn’t owe this woman anything. I was sure as hell not going to let her ruin my day before it even started. I was done with her and this ring-around conversation.
“Oh! There was another matter I wished to speak with you about, Nicole.”
I heard her impossible shoes scuffling along behind me as she tried to stop me before I snuck inside the shop. I rolled my eyes. Could anything else prolong this entrance I had been so excited to make that I hadn’t even been able to sleep last night? I longed to be back in my shop, surrounded by art and vintage. I longed for my familiar inspiration to kick-start my heart and let the ideas fly so fast my hands couldn’t keep up. I took a breath.
Patience.
I looked back to Gladys, who was pulling a young girl out from behind her now. I was taken aback, as I hadn’t even noticed her earlier behind Gladys’s girth. I was curious if she was somehow tucked under her day dress somewhere.
“It’s just that this is my niece, who is staying with me through her school term. She comes from the city. Her parents, poor things, are at their wits’ end with her, aren’t they, Marissa? Running with the wrong crowds, you see, and causing all sorts of grief and trouble on her poor parents, and the kindest I can call that is quite unladylike.” She looked down on this poor girl. Marissa blushed and looked away, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. “I was hoping she could work part time with you in your shop, after her studies, of course. She could help with cleaning and ironing or anything else you could find for her to do.” Gladys blinked at me through her bottle-cap glasses, waiting for my retort.
I sighed. I was so tempted to take this young girl with mousy brown hair and quick eyes into the shop with me and serve as her mentor. Save her from the torments of Gladys.
Marissa was all polka dots and legs. She wore spotted pants on her giraffe-length legs and a plain dark top splashed with white dye. She would have been taller if she didn’t hunch her back and keep her head down. She tucked her hair constantly behind her ear as she took in the world around her. She was fidgety, unsure of herself or anyone.
I froze Gladys and her monologue in pursuit of pawning off her niece to me. I knew Gladys’s motive without having to look deeply. She didn’t know the first thing to do with a teenager. This way she would feel she had done something, and if Marissa didn’t change for the better while in her care, she could blame me.
No, I didn’t care about Gladys’s intentions. I needed to see clearly into Marissa. What was she after? Was she just a nervous mouse?
This was a new test I learned from the trio. I was weary of people now. It may seem pitiful to say or hear, but I had been charged too high a price before for letting the wrong people in my life, and that would not happen again if I could help it. Teenager or not, I needed to see for myself and not just take Gladys’s word for it. Trust, but verify.
I looked inside of new people now. I felt them and looked for the dark edges or the potential for evil. No one was perfect; everyone was tainted in one way or another, which was absolutely fine. But I needed to look to save my family from another Lou.
I dipped down deep into that soul of hers. I looked behind her eyes and took a glimpse at what was written on her heart. For the most part, everything was pastel, which told me she was shy, timid, and afraid, for some reason. It was easy enough to see she was a witch in the making. How perfect that Gladys would be the one raising her. But no; that wasn’t what was troubling her.
I stole away deeper, and then I saw what I had hoped not to find.
A seed.
It was small, so small I almost missed it, but still, it was there—a tiny black seed nestled deep within her. The potential for evil. There was a storm cloud like vapour surrounding it, a sign it was being fed—it was growing.
I closed my eyes and focused on drawing it right out into the open. It wormed its way forcefully out into the air and vibrated as it sat just above my hands, hovering. It was black and turning over on itself. The circumference of the thing was not large, but it was in its infant stages. I remembered back to the camping trip when I had pulled the slimy and black evil creature out of my chest cavity that Lou had planted in me. I looked at the young girl named Marissa. God, she would have been destroyed had it stayed inside of her.
With my other hand, I set it on fire, and it screamed almost soundlessly, and it disintegrated into ashes that were then carried away on the breeze.
I pulled out and slid my palms off each other. I tossed my hair back and snapped my fingers. Gladys and Marissa came out of their trances.
“I’m sorry, Gladys and Marissa. I have all of the help I need. Why don’t you get her to help in your store, Gladys? That way you can be of the best influence. After all, there is no one more important than family, and that’s what families do—they take care of each other.” I smiled, all teeth, at the gawking Gladys and smiled more sweetly and apologetically to Marissa. I then sent her a message telepathically.
It is very nice to meet you, Marissa. Maybe one day we can be friends. Until then, understand I will keep an eye out for you.
Marissa stared at me with eyes as wide as saucers.
I smiled again. Don’t worry. You will get the hang of it.
I blew a kiss to her with the power of hope and strength to stay away from the darkness from now on. With that, I turned back to the door of my shop.
It may have been cold of me as I left them standing in the street with mouths agape, unsure of what had just happened, but that was okay. I had every right to practice safe friendships. I would not just be anyone’s mentor, either. I had realized another thing after my time with the trio: I was in constant learning still and probably would be for a long time. Teaching I would reserve for an older version of myself. For what could I offer a grasshopper if I was only opening the confines of my own cocoon?
This was one of my priorities now. I would forever be careful of who I allowed in our lives, and I would stop those who try to hurt us. It was important to keep the toxic people out in order to save ourselves. Toxicity of a new friend almost destroyed me and my family. It took my best friend, Hunter, and had forever marked Joel. This was how it must be.
I would keep a distant eye on Marissa. I would watch her growth and see from there. If she proved me wrong and changed her path to be as good a person as she could, then I may just take her under my wing one day.
But, alas, if she kept accepting those dark seeds and they grew enough to overcome her, I would be there too.
I stepped into my little place in the world. I was welcomed by the tiny silver bell at the top of the door, which I swear had a more joyous note this morning. I flicked on the lights with a flirtatious finger and looked around as everything slightly stretched and yawned awake after a good night’s rest. All the dresses and coats, the jewels on display under the counters of the till, the shabby floral curtains with metallic lace I made myself—they all came alive in surprise and wonder to see me. I felt so welcomed and proud of myself in this sweet little place. I realized instantly how very much I had truly missed coming through this door over the past months.
I thought humbly, It is such a small place in this world, but it is ginormous in mine. I loved that shop, from the textured ceilings all the way through every piece of merchandise, to all the creative displays in front, to the mint wallpaper, even down to the floor under my feet that I still could not decide on fully. Right now it was linoleum still; Reg must have been so relieved in my absence that it stayed the same for so long, a sparkling luminescent silver with an industrial texture. When you walked and looked down at
your feet, you half believed you were walking in the galaxies. It was unique, but maybe it was time for a change—
I stopped myself in my tracks. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the flooring. It was perfect. I now decided it was wistful yet continuous, becoming a deep flow of galaxies and stars with colour suggestions of entering a more mystical world, if only you could just figure out how to be absorbed by it.
Maybe everything seemed too much, too loud and overboard in design, or your eyes felt drunk on the overwhelming decor they tried to relay sensibly back to the brain. But all of a sudden, it made sense to me. It all came together in that moment, and I finally let go of my grip on decor struggles. It was a one-of-a-kind place, as all my spaces I had ever occupied had always been. Suddenly there was nothing wrong with any of it; only so much was right.
As I slowly walked around my shop to get reacquainted, I found myself so glad I had come in earlier in the morning before Reg and Piper arrived, just so I could have some time with my shop to myself. It had been so long since I’d had a moment to myself—even at home. I was never out of at least one person’s sight at all, especially Jasper. You would think the bathroom would constitute alone time, but after five years of marriage, this wasn’t an issue, and dignity was communal.
I crossed the floor and sat in one of my antique Louis XV-style French chairs at the folding table by the dressing rooms. I sat and soaked it all in. Regina and Piper had kept the store in immaculate condition with tedious care while I was away. I appraised their “Girl’s Night Out” theme for the mannequin display of floral miniskirts matched with skull-and-crossbones cardigans and was really quite impressed. Every surface was clean from the dust and fingerprints of all the touchy people leaving behind any kind of mess that was on their hands that day. The purses and clutches puffed out their chests in confidence on the shelves behind the till as my gaze stole across the room. The jewelry sparkled with flirtatious flare from beneath the glass counters when my eyes reached there next. Even the heels and flats did a quick tap-tap in anticipation of the start of another shopping day, especially since their owner was back, having returned from a war.
I let my eyes quench themselves to so many things I held dear. In my mind’s eye, I thought of an array of mannequins wearing huge, floppy hats with ribbons or sashes draping down their backs from gigantic bows that could match cute little gardening aprons in full- and half-length styles. It would be perfect for harvesting season.
I grabbed my sketch pad out of my purse and began scribbling the ideas down in fashion drawing. My creativity flew off from there when I recalled the skating leaf on the drive over and started to dream up headbands for the coming winter season in all colours of faux fur. I could take some of the coats from last season and attach faux fur to the collars too. Perhaps I could take it another step and do matching faux fur miniskirts…
I was getting myself so excited with new prospects as my pencil ran over the pages that I had to stop for a second and let this sink in. I put the sketchbook on the folding table. It felt so damn good to be creating again! I was returning to me, in my full, true colour. I let my excited hands flap for a bit, and then I calmed myself in order to say a silent prayer of thanks to the universe and to God.
I then gave myself a gentle pat on the back. It had been such a hard battle. Had I ever truly believed I would be able to come back here and be this woman again? A happily married woman? An artist? A designer? An accomplished witch?
Never mind all that now. I shook it off. It was what it was, and now I was here, and I was me. A shop owner who loved to garden and might have had a few tricks up her sleeve to put to good use for good people from time to time. My eyes needed to stay focused on this day I held in my hands and not what I’d left behind or even on what tomorrow may bring. I was resolved.
The shop shifted ever so slightly, as if finally relaxing after sitting on an edge for so long. It touched my heart.
“I love you too!” I called out to the store. I smiled to myself as I sat back in the plush velvet. I ran one hand along the velour of the armrest, and the other caressed the moulding on the wall next to me. I looked on with the warmest love in my heart for a few moments, with my legs crossed and one high heel kicking idly away. This was my other sanctuary. My peace of mind was now complete.
Then, as if on cue, the door tinkled its merry silver bell to announce the arrival of Reg and Piper. They were talking animatedly as they removed their purses and coats about two hot guys they’d encountered on their girls’ night out at the Blue Brewer the night before.
Their well-played mannequin display must have inspired them to let life imitate art, I thought with a smile. They hadn’t noticed me yet, so I was able to eavesdrop a little longer—and quite innocently, I may add.
“Oh, Reg! I couldn’t sleep a wink after I got home last night! So much fun! I so hope they call us to double date again, because I was thinking—honestly, Reg—I think this Jeremy is the one.” Piper was bouncing around more excitedly than Izzy with a wad of tissues recreating her version of a snowstorm, until she got to the last part, when she widened her eyes and got her serious face on to express her absolute sincerity about meeting “the one” for the tenth time.
“Piper, I don’t believe I can handle too many of those nights. I’m an older woman, remember. Besides, I’m sure you will meet another Mr. Right in a week’s time if you don’t hear from this one again.”
Piper’s face dropped a little as she searched Reg’s face for a different answer. Reg let her shoulders fall and smiled sweetly at our funny Pipes.
Butterflies flew off Piper’s shoulders as her usual temperament came over her like a cloak of faith and gratitude. Piper was never too easily deterred.
“I certainly don’t mind being your—what did you call it?—your wingman?” She gave Piper a wink as she turned to hang her coat on the rack. Piper grinned devilishly before she turned to the shop. She kept chattering away as she hopped from rack to rack, effortlessly arranging sizes.
Reg stopped and covered her eyes. Piper closed her mouth and rushed over to guide her to a chair. I was about to make my presence known then, but I soon realized what was going on. Reg was pretending to have a vision.
“What is it, Reg? What do you see? Oh, tell me, tell me, tell me!” Piper was breathless and anxious.
“I see a tall, dark stranger coming into this very shop on this very day. He brings with him crowds of people. They are all naked and in dire need of clothing…” Reg spoke with a rising voice like a vampire in an old movie; all that was missing now was that eerie chamber music.
Piper was mystified and bowed to the floor.
Reg burst into laughter when she realized Piper was in total belief and hanging onto her every word.
Once Piper realized the joke was on her, she patted Reg’s arm and pouted.
I thought I saw Reg roll her eyes as she got up and turned to open the till, but she quickly recovered with a light laugh.
My hand was on my mouth as I tried to stifle the giggling fit that was threatening every fibre of my being with breaking out. I couldn’t take it anymore! I wiggled my head, and as I did, happy sparkles threw themselves out from my hair and fingertips as I stood and burst into laughter. Reg and Piper whipped around to look at me in shock. Then we were all laughing so hard we were on the verge of tears. By the time we were finished, we were embracing and crying in gratitude and relief. The circle had been completed. The bell chimed merrily as a fresh new crew of customers entered the store. The dresses puffed out and brightened in hope as their sleeves rose in welcome, the crinolines whisking this way and that.
I took a breath and wiped the happy tears from my face.
It was time to start a new day.
s
The Lightning Witch Page 21
