Toots raced downstairs, where the girls were still seated around the table in their pajamas, drinking coffee and laughing.
“Mavis, Dr. Pauley will probably be here this evening to examine you. I scheduled an appointment for Wednesday morning, but as soon as Joe learns it’s you, I’m sure he’ll just stop by the house for a brief examination. I can’t wait for him to see how far you’ve come in the last year. And Henry from the bank just so happens to be golfing buddies with your Mr. King. He said he would do his best to set up an account for you so that you can purchase the material you need.”
Toots felt like a fairy godmother when she delivered the good news.
Mavis’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “I don’t know how I can thank you. You’ve already changed my life so much as it is.” Mavis stood up, walked to the other side of the table, and gave her dear friend a hug.
“Don’t thank me just yet. He said he would try his best,” Toots claimed, then looked at her watch. “I’ve got several business-related matters on my agenda today. What about the rest of you? Any plans?”
Toots made a quick mental note to ask Pete to get her three sewing machines out of storage and fix whatever needed fixing so Mavis’s orders could be filled without too much of a delay. It was times like this that Toots wished for the old days, when people didn’t expect things to arrive in the mail a day after they’d ordered them.
Ida spoke up. “I’m going to see about taking a driving test so I can get my driver’s license. I really enjoyed getting behind the wheel of your car yesterday.”
Toots looked as though she had been slapped in the face. “Are you telling me you don’t have a driver’s license?”
“I never had to drive in New York City. Thomas always had a limousine at my disposal, and of course, there were always those nasty taxicabs. So to answer your question, no, I’ve never had a driver’s license, but I plan to change that, starting today.”
Sophie pounced on that like a cat on a fish. “You’re joking, right? Are you telling us that at sixty-odd years of age, you’ve never had a driver’s license? Remember, I lived in New York City, too, though I never had a limousine at my disposal. I did take a few taxi rides, and I practically lived on the subway. Hell, I didn’t even own a vehicle, yet I had a driver’s license. I bet they won’t even issue a license to someone your age, especially a first timer. And you actually drove yesterday?”
Sophie shook her head, bewildered that Ida had the balls to get behind the wheel of a car without a license. Yet in another sense she was kind of proud of her for taking the initiative to try something new, something she’d never dared before.
“Mavis wouldn’t let me drive all of the way home,” Ida stated.
“That’s because I still value my life,” Mavis informed the rest of them.
“Maybe she wants to hurry up and join Thomas, find out who killed him,” Sophie added.
“I’m sure your face must be next to the word tactless in the dictionary,” Toots responded to Sophie’s barb.
Almost absentmindedly, Sophie flipped her the bird yet continued to get her digs in. “She could’ve killed someone, right, Mavis?”
Ida remained silent while Sophie verbally reprimanded her.
Coco, the queen of all dogs, yapped from her palace in the corner. Mavis hurried to the pooch’s side, where she picked her up and brought her back to the table. “I think it might be wise to invest in some driving lessons before you even attempt to get your license. She did give me quite a scare yesterday as we were coming back from town. Just look at it as an adventure, right, Toots? Though I guess you should ask how long we’re going to remain here in Charleston before you attempt to arrange for lessons,” Mavis said to Ida.
They all focused their attention on Toots, their unofficial leader. “As I said before, there is no time limit or any immediate plan to race back to LA. As long as Abby is safe, and the paper is running smoothly, we can stay here in Charleston for as long as we want,” Toots assured them. “Anyway, I’m sure Bernice loves our company.”
“You know I do. It’s just the extra work that I hate,” Bernice joked.
“Bull. If I remember correctly, I’m the one that makes your coffee, makes your toast, and what is even worse, I serve it to you,” Toots said as she refilled her mug of coffee. “I’m going outside to smoke. Sophie, you ready to huff and puff?”
Sophie grabbed her pack of cigarettes from the table. “I’ve already smoked six cigarettes today, but my lungs are craving another shot of nicotine.”
Together, they escaped through the back door, where they sat down on the steps. Toots lit up, inhaled heartily, and Sophie followed suit.
“You really think you can get that fabric for Mavis?”
“I’m not sure. Henry can only try. If he isn’t able, we’ll just use plan B,” Toots said between puffs.
“And what exactly is plan B?” Sophie asked.
“Damned if I know. I haven’t dreamed one up yet,” Toots shot back.
“Let me know as soon as you do. This means a lot to Mavis. I can’t believe the change in her. And Ida, of course. Hell, I can’t believe I’m chasing ghosts, talking to dead people.”
Mimicking the voice of the little boy who starred in the movie The Sixth Sense with Bruce Willis, Toots said, “ ‘I see dead people.’ ”
Sophie gave her a playful punch on the arm, then crushed her cigarette out in the ashtray on the bottom step. “You think it’s funny? You’re the one that got all this ghost business started in the first place. If you hadn’t bought that million-dollar dump in Malibu, we wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”
“I’ll have you know, I paid three point eight million for that dump and tens of thousands more to spiff the place up. That tacky purple and pink was scary. I’ll bet Lucy and Desi were spinning in their graves when that Pop-Tart bought their mansion and turned it into a hooker haven.”
A former pop star had lived in Toots’s Malibu beach house, with purple and hot pink as the color scheme, mirrors on the ceilings, and a guitar-shaped mirror in one of the bathrooms. The word hideous didn’t do the place justice. It had taken a few weeks to clear out the house and make it halfway livable, and in doing so, they’d stirred up the spirits, or this was what Sophie had explained to her.
After the first night in her room, when she’d seen those four clouds clustered around her bed, Toots instantly became a believer. She didn’t need anything more to convince her there was another dimension. She had been smart enough not to share this newfound discovery, as some would think she’d lost her marbles. It was a good thing she had Sophie, Mavis, and Ida to corroborate this newfound wisdom. Who would’ve guessed a year ago she and her best friends would be where they were today? Talk about unpredictable.
“We better get inside. I promised Mavis I would help her stitch a few dresses, and I intend to do just that,” Sophie said. “You do have an extra sewing machine around here, I hope.”
“Actually, I have three, and don’t ask me why or where they came from. I’ll have Pete get them, oil them, whatever they need, but remember, Mavis is about out of material. We can’t make clothes without the cloth,” Toots said as she followed Sophie back inside to the kitchen.
Bernice was busy at the sink, washing dishes. “Before you ask, Mavis took that yapping dog out front, and Ida said she was going to search for a driving instructor on the Internet,” Bernice said matter-of-factly.
“Good job, Bernice,” Toots said, dragging out the words. “You’re becoming a true mind reader.”
Toots’s cell phone rang as she headed upstairs to shower and dress. She had to meet Jamie at the bank before lunchtime to finalize their agreement. Toots couldn’t wait to call Abby to tell her she was now partners in a bakery. Abby would like that, she knew.
But what would she say when Toots finally told her she’d also bought The Informer a year ago, when Abby was in fear of losing her job? She didn’t think her daughter would be pleased one little bit. Abby was exactly like her father in
that respect. Independent and a go-getter.
“Henry,” she said when she saw his name appear on her cell phone’s caller ID. “I didn’t expect you to get back to me this quick. Is something wrong?” Toots entered her bedroom, tossing her shoes off as she crossed the large room to get to the bathroom. With the phone stuck to her ear, she listened as she stripped down to her birthday suit.
“Tell me this isn’t true!” Toots practically shouted into the phone. This was not good news at all. “Of course, Henry. Yes, I understand. No, she won’t try to harm herself. We have a plan B,” she said, then clicked off. Toots just didn’t have a clue what plan B actually was.
Yet.
Chapter 15
At the end of what had been a very long day, Toots had accomplished much more than she’d anticipated, way more than she’d had on her shit-to-do list. She met Jamie at the bank, finalizing their deal, promising her that as long as she tried her hardest, Toots would stand behind her, and that she alone would be responsible for running the bakery. Not only had Toots gained a new business, but she’d gained a new friend, as well. She went with her gut instinct, trusting she’d made the right decision. However, with all her connections and her money, she wasn’t able to perform the miracle that Mavis needed. She dreaded giving her the bad news. As a last resort, she decided to call Catherine at home. Maybe she knew a way around the normal purchasing procedures. Toots scanned through her address book, searching for her number.
She picked up on the first ring.
“Catherine, it’s Toots. I hate to bother you at home, but I’m desperate.” Toots went into great detail about Mavis and her dilemma, even though Catherine was pretty much in the know since Mavis had been in her shop yesterday.
“Is there a way around this? Do you have any connections at all?” Toots said, practically begging.
The silence from the other end caused her nerves to twang like an out-of-tune piano.
“There might be a way, though I’m not sure if it’s worth the effort,” Catherine said.
“Something is better than nothing,” Toots replied.
“Hear me out first,” Catherine said. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I am. You never heard this from me. Is that going to present a problem?”
“Absolutely not. Shoot,” Toots said.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I like your friend Mavis. I used to date a man by the name of Frank Dunhurst. We broke it off a year ago. Frank wanted to date other women at the same time, and I was not comfortable with that. To make a long story short, Frank was a major womanizer.”
“Okayyy,” Toots said, curious where this was leading.
“Frank is the head of security for Jay C. King’s,” Catherine continued.
“I see.” She didn’t, but it was worth hearing her out. “How can this help Mavis?”
Toots heard Catherine’s deep sigh over the phone. “Frank is easily distracted. If Mavis wanted to make the moves on him, she might distract him long enough for one of your friends to get in his pants. . . . No, I mean in his pants pockets to search for the keys. He works the night shift.”
Toots couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It wasn’t out of the question yet. “So you’re telling me we might have a chance to get our hands on the keys to this warehouse if we find someone who is willing to seduce Frank?”
An image of Ida flashed before her eyes. This might not be a bad idea, after all. It was risky, yes. She didn’t have a clue as to how Mavis would get in and out of the warehouse with a few bolts of material, but that was just a minor detail. She now had a half-assed plan B. Sort of.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Catherine said.
“Any clue how to do this?”
Catherine’s laughter made her smile. “If you don’t know by now, Toots, something’s been missing in your life.”
“I don’t mean that. I meant how do we get inside the warehouse to get to Frank? Mavis said you told her the security there was equivalent to that of Fort Knox. What do you propose we do? Blow the place up?”
More laughter. “Not exactly. I wouldn’t want to see you and your friends spend the remainder of your lives in prison. Like I said, you will have to distract Frank. Do something to bring him to the front gate.”
Toots had a vision of Ida driving the Town Car through the gates naked. Impossibility certainly wasn’t out of the question anymore. Hell, they conversed with ghosts. A simple man should be a cinch.
“I’ll think of something. Thanks, Catherine. You’ve helped, big-time. I owe you one,” Toots said.
“Just don’t help anyone else lose weight, or I’ll be out of business. Remember, I cater to plus-size women,” Catherine said.
“It’s a deal. I’ve just sunk a ton of money into a new bakery. I’ll see that my skinny friends visit often.” Toots ended the call with a grin on her face as wide as Mavis’s ass used to be. This was almost as thrilling as owning a tabloid newspaper. Maybe a bit more, if she were completely honest with herself.
A tabloid newspaper, a fashion designer, and a bakery. And she couldn’t forget Sophie. A medium. After all, she did speak to dead people. Never in a zillion years had she imagined her golden years would be quite this exciting. She realized now why they were called the golden years.
Downstairs, in the formal living room, Pete had set up four square tables. Where they came from she hadn’t a clue and didn’t care. He’d oiled and primed her three barely used sewing machines, placing each one on a table. He’d moved Mavis’s machine downstairs so she could sew with the rest of them. It resembled a mini-factory, minus the sweaty, overworked, and underpaid laborers, although they might be sweaty and overworked before things were done, and three of them weren’t getting paid anything at all.
Mavis and Sophie leaned over their machines, each with several colored straight pins hanging from her mouth. Coco’s palace had been relocated next to the fireplace. Bernice went home for the night, explaining she was expecting a call from her one and only son. Toots knew the call would never come. That was another story, one that would only break poor Bernice’s heart. One could always hope, Toots thought.
“Aren’t we a bunch of busy little worker bees,” Toots said as she observed Sophie and Mavis at their machines.
Mavis removed the pins from her mouth. “Not for long. I only have enough material left to make one more complete outfit. Then I’m done. That will leave me about thirty more orders left to fill, unless a miracle happens. I’m going to have to refund these poor people their money. FedEx will pick up the orders I’ve filled first thing in the morning. After that, I guess I’ll have to hang up my CLOSED sign,” Mavis said.
“Not so fast. I just got off the phone with Catherine. She has an idea, and I think it might work, even if it’s a long shot. Still, we have nothing to lose. You want to hear what it is?” Toots asked.
“Of course I want to hear it. If there’s even the slightest chance that I can save my business, I want to hear it. What’s the plan?” Mavis asked.
Toots seemed almost hesitant to tell her what Catherine had suggested. “This is way far off the mark, but I think it’s doable. Sort of.”
Sophie spit the pins out of her mouth and into her hand. “Then spit it out,” Sophie said, laughing at her own play on words. “Don’t keep us in suspense any longer.”
“Where is Ida?”
“She’s in her room, downloading the South Carolina driver’s manual from the Internet. She said she was going to start studying before she took driving lessons because she didn’t want to appear stupid. Personally, I think it will take much more than a driving lesson to wipe the stupid off Ida’s face.” Sophie grinned.
“That’s a mean thing to say,” Mavis quipped.
“And you’re looking at a very mean and evil woman,” Toots said, sending daggers Sophie’s way.
“Damn straight,” Sophie said, still grinning.
“I know you’re talking about me,” Ida said as she marched into th
e formal living room. She held a stack of printed papers as thick as a phone book against her chest.
“You didn’t say you were going to get War and Peace. I thought you were simply going to download a driving manual,” Sophie said.
Ida plunked the stack of papers down on the end of the sofa. “This is the driving manual.”
Now that three of the most important people in her life were gathered in her living room, Toots figured it was now or never. “I was just going to ask you to come downstairs. I have something I want to discuss with all of you.”
“You bought another business?” Sophie teased.
Toots rolled her eyes. “No, I haven’t bought another business, you silly ass. What do you think I am? Crazy?”
Sophie stopped the sewing machine long enough to look her directly in the face. “I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to. It’s written all over your face. Besides, you’re not a very good liar.”
“The hell you say. I kept Walter’s abuse hidden from you for most of my life. I did a lot of lying, scheming, and sneaking in my day, so do not tell me I’m not a good liar.”
That immediately sobered Toots.
Poor Sophie. No wonder she was as hard as a coconut shell. She’d had a rough time for most of her married life, putting up her defenses, trying to get through each day without a slap on the face or a broken arm. Toots needed to remember that, and so did Ida and Mavis.
“Okay, you’re an excellent liar. Are you satisfied?”
“Say what you have to say,” Sophie said.
“Before I was so rudely interrupted, I was telling Mavis and Sophie I spoke with Catherine on the phone. Seems she used to date a guy named Frank Dunhurst, who’s head of security at that warehouse that’s holding Mavis’s material hostage.” Toots let her words sink in before she continued. “Apparently, Frank is a man whore.”
All eyes focused on Ida.
“How dare you? I’m not a whore! I just happen to like men.”
Sophie snickered. Mavis cupped a hand over her mouth. Toots simply rolled her eyes, praying they wouldn’t get stuck in an east-west position.
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