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Tears welled in Cassandra’s eyes and her voice cracked. “My grandmother passed away last night. I’m going to need a couple of days off.”
I rushed around the counter and hugged Cassandra. Her grandmother had had a catastrophic stroke a couple of months ago, so the news wasn’t unexpected. “I’m so sorry. Take all the time you need.”
“I hate to leave you in a lurch like this.” Cassandra drew a breath. “Some business partner I am. We’re just getting started and I have to bail on you.”
“I’ll be fine,” I told her.
“There’s something else I needed to tell you,” Cassandra said. “A woman was in here yesterday. She mentioned her sister had told her about Windfall, and she was under the impression it was, as she put it, an apothecary shop. I didn’t think anything of it at first, but I did tell her we’d recently changed our business plan. She asked me if the shop was under new management, or if the same bitch ran it.”
I took a step back, the words hitting me like a slap in the face. “And you told her...?”
“I went with new management, which isn’t a total lie.” Cassandra lowered her voice. “She gave me the willies. Didn’t the woman who started the fire at your house have a sister?”
I nodded, flashing on the image of the beautiful witch who’d locked me in my workroom. I cleared my throat, more from habit than necessity, the way I had for the past month after being hospitalized for smoke inhalation.
Nora’s voice echoed from our encounter yesterday. Be here. Now. I opened my mouth to breathe, my muscles tense. My voice came from far away. “If it was her sister, I hope what you told her will keep her from coming back.”
“I don’t mind telling you I’m glad you and Kyle made up. At least this way I know someone’s watching out for you in case things get ugly again,” Cassandra said. “We’ve all been through more than our fair share this year.”
I took a cleansing breath. “Don’t you worry about me. Go be with your family. Let me know what the arrangements will be, and please tell your parents I’m sorry for your loss.”
She hugged me once more and left. Stuck at the store, I was in a fishbowl if that woman’s sister came back, but my gifts had matured considerably over the summer. I understood my place in the world, and I’d learned to control the skills I had. I’d know if another witch walked into my shop.
As quiet as a whisper, Nora’s voice echoed in my head. Are you safe?
I smiled, considering how often I’d asked her the same question this year, and replied, All is well. At least I hoped it was.
Behind the counter, I stopped to pet Ash’s silky fur. If anything was amiss, she had proven a reliable alarm. My touch turned up the volume on her purr, but she remained curled in a ball on her rug.
Why would Narcy’s sister—okay, I knew that woman’s name—come to town looking for me? And if Narcy had been a witch, like me, wouldn’t the family trait present once in a generation, the way it did in my family? Her sister couldn’t be a witch, could she?
I hadn’t done anything to provoke what Narcy had done to me. She had no reason to want me dead other than to prove she could take what I had away from me. If the woman Cassandra had met was Narcy’s sister looking to cause trouble, I hoped Cassandra had been able to discourage her from coming back.
Time to stop borrowing trouble. I had work to do.
For the moment, my botanicals were well-stocked. The bath salts always sold, but the other oils and fragrances tended to move more slowly in the winter months.
My mind wandered to what Jason had told me. If his wife had visited the shop, why hadn’t she introduced herself? Was she Narcy’s sister? No, I couldn’t fathom such a coincidence. I’d have to pay more attention to customers I didn’t recognize. If Jason’s wife was carrying a daughter who would be born with talents, she might appreciate someone who was willing to help. As for Jason, even after the accusations he’d hurled at me, I was inclined to believe Nora’s take that he was trying to protect his family.
I straightened the racks of Cassandra’s designer clothing and pondered wearing her more urban designs—the sharp angles and bright colors—to help move her stock. Nora had her own style, with her flowy throwback clothing. My style—or lack thereof—had always been simple. Jeans and blouses or tunics.
Wearing Cassandra’s clothes would make me feel inauthentic, at best. While Windfall didn’t do a booming business, we’d made enough to pay the bills thus far. I’d leave it to Cassandra to model her line.
A few orders had filtered in on the website, but I was in no danger of being overwhelmed with work. A message waited in the special request portal.
Over the summer, my sister bought perfume from you called Lily-Pepper. She gave it to me for my birthday. I do love the smell and was hoping for a refill.
My heart skipped a beat. The only person who’d requested perfume all summer had been Narcy. I’d blended Lily-Pepper to discourage her from hitting on Kyle, and it had backfired. Either that, or Narcy had worked magic of her own. If I responded to the woman who’d written, I opened the door for more trouble, and yet I’d always faced trouble head-on.
I stared at the reply screen several moments while I composed my thoughts, and then typed a response.
Thank you for your interest in our products. The fragrance you mentioned is not a regular stock item. Please let us know if there’s something else we can help you with.
There. That was straightforward enough.
Even though I’d only made the aphrodisiac antidote once, the formula was ingrained in my memory. Narcy had gone right for it when I’d put it on the sales table, as if she knew exactly what she was looking for. The perfume had called for thistle, which didn’t have a pleasant aroma on its own, and black pepper. The unusual combination mixed with lily of the valley created a unique fragrance, one which had made Kyle sneeze when that woman had opened it for him to smell.
My computer chimed as a new message arrived in the website portal, a reply from the same customer.
My sister said it was a custom blend. Is that something you can make for me?
I closed the top of my laptop, half expecting the woman to appear in front of me.