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  “Mayor? If you’d like to follow me, I’ll go ahead and shampoo you. Louise will be ready for you soon.” Cora looked up blankly for a moment. She didn’t think she knew this young woman.

  “Tara? Is that you?” Cora beamed once she recognized her as a former student.

  “Yes, it’s me,” Tara said meekly with a flush to her face. Pale and thin with pink hair now, Tara had been a chubby be-spectacled quiet child.

  “I didn’t know you were working here.” Cora followed Tara to the shampoo bowls.

  “I started in October,” Tara said as she draped a plastic cape across the front of Cora and released the chair to lower her back to the bowl.

  “I guessed I’ve just missed you when I’ve been in here.”

  Cora relaxed and shut her eyes. She enjoyed the feel of the warm water and the lather working through her hair. It was one of those rare moments when all her plans and lists completely left her mind. Perhaps the permanent solution worked like the aromatic essential oils. She thought of nothing but the soothing massage and the comforting scents—and then Saucy.

  Why Saucy would be coming out of the alley? There was nothing down there and no parking spaces either. It was rather odd. She couldn’t imagine where he’d been or why he’d been there. There must be more to that man than she knew.

  Returning her to an up-right position, Tara wrapped a towel around Cora’s head and directed her to her seat in the front of the salon to wait for Louise.

  “What have you heard about that, Cora?” Louise hollered over the hair dryer running beside her and Cora’s head jerked around.

  “What? Heard about what?”

  “The fireworks thing,” Louise yelled. “What happened New Year’s Eve?”

  “Oh, I haven’t heard anything,” Cora said dismissively. “Just whatever is in the papers.”

  “I heard somebody stole them,” Karen Goldman said from three chairs down. “I think they stole them right out from under the sheriff’s nose.”

  “Really?” Darlene Kendall leaned forward and looked at Cora. “We should have just done our own. Don’t you think so, Mayor?”

  “It was unfortunate,” Cora said, wishing the topic away, “But things happen sometimes…”

  “Chief Connie never would have let that happen,” Karen Goldman said indignantly. Karen was fiercely loyal to Conrad Harris for finding her seven-year-old son when he bicycled away too far one day. She had called him in terror and Conrad had driven around until he found him playing several blocks away. Too far for him to have gone, but in no danger. Karen told the story all over town repeatedly.

  “Did everyone have a nice holiday otherwise?” Cora interjected, hoping to move to another topic.

  “My Jeffrey was home for Christmas,” Darlene’s eyes darted towards Tara at the front desk writing in the appointment book with the phone pinched between her shoulder and her ear. Jeffrey was Darlene’s youngest son who was away at college.

  “He called on Miss Tara over there,” Darlene said pointing, “and they got together.” Her mischievous smile relayed her wishful thinking. She wanted her son to come home after he graduated and settle down in Spicetown. Her other children had grown up and moved away.

  “Well, my Amanda had a New Year’s date with Bryan Stotlar,” Louise said with a tone of disbelief.

  “Really?” Darlene said. “How did that go?”

  “I don’t know. She never tells me anything,” Louise said looking at Cora. “How did it go, Cora?” When all eyes turned to Cora, she was mildly flustered.

  “I think it went fine,” Cora stammered. “I mean the fireworks were a disappointment, but I guess it went fine.” Cora couldn’t help it if Louise had failed to keep her daughter’s confidences and Amanda refused to tell her anything personal anymore. She didn’t want to be in the middle of them.

  “He seems like a nice guy,” Karen said. “Kind of quiet. Keeps to himself.”

  “Yes, but he has a nice place,” Darlene interjected. “We bought our tree from him this year. He’s fixed it up a lot and I think he’s getting ready to do more work out there.”

  “Well, I don’t know much about him,” Louise said. “His mother used to come in here but she was Sharon’s customer. She seemed nice, but I never talked to her much.”

  “Amanda’s doing a wonderful job at City Hall.” Cora hoped to turn the conversation around. “You should be very proud of her.”

  “Oh, I am.” Louise swept the cape off Darlene’s shoulders and spraying the back of her hair with hair spray. “She loves working up there.”

  Darlene and Louise finished their business and Darlene walked toward the counter to pay just as Louise motioned for Cora to come to her chair.

  “It was nice to see you, Mayor,” Darlene called out from the door. “You take care.”

  “Thank you,” Cora said waving. “You, too.”

  Louise spun Cora around until she was facing the mirror and began to pull the comb through her hair roughly. “So, color today? A little trim?”

  “Yes, please.” Cora sat back in the chair as Louise went to the back for the color.

  “You know,” Karen Goldman said leaning forward to catch Cora’s attention. “I heard Bryan Stotlar is doing some business with Denise Ivy in that organic oil place.” She nodded as if she was insinuating something unscrupulous was afoot.

  “I hadn’t heard that,” Cora said innocently. “I was in Ivy’s Oils & Organics just the other day. It’s an interesting place.”

  “I haven’t been, but I hear Bryan’s selling some stuff or she’s selling some of his stuff in the store now,” Karen said sitting back in her chair as Louise approached.

  “Maybe he enjoys the oils,” Cora said smiling. “You’d be surprised. A lot people have started trying them nowadays.”

  “Trying what?” Louise said as she returned and began sectioning Cora’s hair with her comb.

  “Essential oils,” Cora said, thinking again of Saucy.

  “Oh, Amanda loves that stuff. She’s always got something shooting out of that machine of hers. I never know what my house will smell like from one day to the next.” Louise was always gruff in her exterior approach, but Cora could tell by her smirk that she enjoyed the oils too.

  “Yes, we have them at the office now and I’m enjoying it.” Cora turned her eyes to Karen. Louise was holding her hair so she couldn’t turn her head.

  “You should go up to Ivy’s and look around. It’s a cute place.” Cora preferred to encourage local business rather than local gossip. “Bryan runs a snowplow for the city, so we see him occasionally, too. I don’t know much about his tree business though.”

  “I hear he’s getting into that organic stuff now, so he’s selling something there that he grows. I don’t really know what, but he’s supposed to be into that now, too.” Karen busied herself in the mirror and shut her eyes tightly as her stylist misted a fine layer of hair spray across her bangs. “I guess that’s the in thing now.”

  As Karen made her way to the counter, Louise looked at Cora through the mirror. “So, what do you know about this guy? Is he okay? He’s older, isn’t he?”

  Cora knew she was asking if she should approve of Amanda dating Bryan and Cora wasn’t sure of that herself. “I don’t know him well, Louise. He’s not chatty when he’s in the office so I couldn’t say one way or the other. Amanda seems to like him.” That was as far as Cora would go. She didn’t want Louise adding her own interpretive spin to it.

  “She hasn’t mentioned him since New Year’s so maybe it was just a onetime thing,” Louise said shrugging. Cora nodded very slightly as her head movement was still limited but she had said all she was going to on the subject.

  “You know,” Cora said in another attempt to control the topic, “when I was walking over, I ran into Harvey Salzman.”

  “Saucy?” Louise said with a chuckle.

  “Yes, but he was coming out of the alley between Fennel and Clove Street. I was in such a hurry, I couldn’t chat, but I
can’t imagine why he’d be down there.” Cora brought this up primarily because if something was going on, Louise would know about it. It could be dicey talking to Louise sometimes.

  “I saw him drive down there last week, too. I think maybe he’s working at one of those stores part-time and parking back there. I honked at him one day when I saw him pulling out. It was right after quitting time. I meant to ask his sister, June, about it when she came in.”

  “That would make sense,” Cora said. “I just thought it odd. There’s nothing much down there.”

  “He’s pretty fond of the bakery. I’ve run into him in there. Maybe he’s helping them out,” Louise suggested and let the topic drop. Cora made a mental note to ask Conrad about it.

  “How is June?” Cora asked. “I haven’t seen her in a long time.”

  “She doesn’t get out as much anymore. She’s had some health problems, but she still cooks Saucy dinner every Wednesday night and tries to keep him on the straight and narrow,” Louise said chuckling. “She’s done that every Wednesday since Saucy’s wife left.”

  “Well, that’s nice of her,” Cora said as Louise set the timer for her color and motioned for her to move to a side chair. Cora picked up a magazine and settled in to wait a bit while Louise moved a young boy into her chair for a cut just as the front door bell jingled.

  “I think she’s having some financial problems.” Louise tossed a glance over her shoulder at Cora. “I heard she’s been selling off some furniture and doing some alterations for folks. Things must be tight.”

  Cold air rushed into the salon and Cora saw Denise Ivy talking to Tara at the front desk. She had something in her hand she was showing to Tara as Tara nodded and smiled. When Denise turned around, Cora smiled and greeted her as Tara approached Louise. Although Tara spoke softly and tried to ask Louise a question privately, Louise didn’t have a subtle response.

  “What? What’s this?” Louise yelled over the hair dryers and looked at Denise as she approached.

  “Sorry,” Denise said. “I don’t mean to interrupt your work. I can come back if another time would be better.”

  “It’s always like this,” Louise snapped as she paused with the hair clippers turned off. “What can I do for you?”

  “I’m Denise Ivy and I own Ivy’s Oils & Organics on Fennel Street.” Denise paused hoping Louise would acknowledge the store, but she said nothing. “I just wondered if I could leave a flyer on your counter about my store. It’s a recipe to make a facial scrub and a coupon.”

  Louise frowned and didn’t answer immediately, but finally nodded and turned the clippers back on. “Sure. That would be okay.”

  “Thank you,” Denise said meekly and handed the stack to Tara. “I won’t keep you. I appreciate it,” she said as she waved and walked towards the door.

  “I enjoyed your oils,” Cora said to distract Denise from Louise’s sour response. She felt sorry for Denise. Louise had not been very welcoming, and it was challenging to walk into a business of strangers and ask for their help. Louise was not easy to approach.

  “Oh, good,” Denise said smiling. “I’m so glad you enjoyed them. I hope you come back soon.”

  Cora just smiled and waved as Denise went out the door. Cora could tell marketing was a struggle for Denise. She was very engaging when she talked about the oils. It was obvious she believed strongly in their benefits and enjoyed promoting them if she had a receptive audience but approaching new people to engage with them was a chore for her.

  When Cora was called back to Louise’s chair, Louise talked the entire time about her oldest son. She had seen him at Christmas and her grandchildren had visited too. Cora was able to just nod and listen without any commitment. As she left the salon, she took one of Denise’s ads with her.

  Chapter Twelve

  Bryan grabbed his jacket and ran for the front door when he heard the delivery truck honk outside. This was delivery day for all the new supplies he had ordered and his heart raced as if it was Christmas morning. Directing the driver to pull closer to the greenhouse, he unlocked and lifted the wide sliding door so the items could be moved inside easily. There were bags of soil and fertilizers, all sizes of planters, trees, seeds, tools, bare-root plants, and display stands all wrapped tightly away from the cold winter breeze.

  Once the truck left, he spent the morning opening and checking all the contents. He assembled the display stands he’d place outside in spring and organized all the planters on storage racks. As he worked, his imagination was rolling everything out for spring with painted signs and the bustle of customers. It energized his mood and busied his hands until all his troubles were forgotten.

  As the sun set and the temperature dropped, Bryan went in to scrub the dirt from around his fingernails and his stomach told him he had forgotten to eat all day. After looking through his pantry he filled a pot with water and turned it on to boil. Selecting ingredients for sauce, he added everything to a saucepan and pinched a few herbs to toss in.

  He had developed many cooking talents in the pursuit of expanding the sale of his herbs. He was no longer lost in the kitchen and found recipes easy to follow. Over the years, he had settled on what pleased him most and was able to prepare almost all of his mother’s dishes as well as she did.

  He wasn’t comfortable sitting in restaurants alone and he couldn’t routinely tolerate fast food, so learning to cook had been a necessity and a challenge. Fortunately, it had also entertained him for several months.

  Just as he was straining the water from the boiled pasta, his cell phone rang. Glancing at it, he saw it was Denise Ivy calling and he sat the hot pan in the sink to grab his phone.

  “Hello?” Bryan was surprised at the call. Denise had never called him before.

  “Hi, Bryan. It’s Denise Ivy at the store. I hope you don’t mind my calling, but there was a lady in the store today asking about your plants and I didn’t know what to tell her.”

  “No, that’s fine. What did she want to know?”

  “Well, she bought what I had and said she needs six more. She asked about going out to your farm, but I told her you weren’t open until March. I didn’t know what to tell her.”

  “That’s true, but if I’m here, I don’t mind helping her.”

  “I didn’t want to just give her your number without asking first. I just didn’t know what to tell her. I have her phone number if you want to call her or if you want to bring in more plants, I’ll call her so she can come back by.”

  Bryan preferred the latter option, but that wasn’t very good customer service. The products were his, and it wasn’t Denise’s problem.

  “I’ll give her a call and see if I have what she’s looking for. Thanks for letting me know.”

  Denise gave him the phone number, and he called the customer back. She wanted six more mint or sage plants, which he had, but she needed them before the weekend. He promised her he would bring them into Denise’s store the following day for her so she didn’t have to drive out to his place. He needed to go into town tomorrow anyway to pick up his check at City Hall. He wanted to see Amanda when he went in, but he didn’t know how she would react to him. He hoped she would be friendly and not try to avoid him.

  §

  Walking in the office door several days later, Cora moaned as she breathed in deeply. “Hmm, it smells heavenly in here. It’s almost closing time, and it’s still going strong. What did you say that was again?”

  “Bergamot,” Amanda smiled and lifted her chin to breathe deeply. “I brought it from home.”

  “I love it. Can you get Vitamin C from breathing it in?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t think so.” Amanda held up the bottle for Cora to see.

  “I’ve never heard of it, but I like it,” Cora said walking into her office to set down her stack of notes and her handbag. “The others didn’t seem to last all day, but maybe it’s because I’ve been out of the office for a bit.”

  Amanda walked into Cora’s office and put her m
ail in a tray by Cora’s monitor. “No, It’s Ivy’s oils. I tested them and they aren’t pure so they just don’t last as long.”

  “Aren’t pure?” Cora said puzzled. “You mean they aren’t real essential oils? How do you test them?”

  “They’re oily,” Amanda said shrugging. “When I opened the bottles to set up the diffuser, they don’t have a plastic dropper like mine and I got some on my hands. They leave an oily feeling and they shouldn’t. At least most of them shouldn’t. I think Ivy’s oils are cut with something to dilute them and that’s why they don’t last as long as mine.”

  “Hmm,” Cora said. “That’s odd. The whole time I was in the shop she kept saying all of her oils were pure and organic. Doesn’t the bottle say it’s pure?”

  “It does, but the bottles are odd, too. They’re tinted like they should be but the purple labels keep coming off. I had to tape one of them to get it to stay. Maybe I got it oily with my hands when I opened it, but most essential oils aren’t like that. A few are oily, but not Bergamot or Lavender.”

  “Well, I guess we’ll need to order your kind when we run out. That’s a shame.” Cora sat down behind her desk. She liked to support local business, but she didn’t like someone selling her inferior products and trying to deceive her. Perhaps Denise doesn’t know as much about her own products as she boasted, she thought.

  As Amanda turned to leave Cora’s office, Conrad walked in. “Hi, Chief,” Amanda said as she walked around him to leave the office. “You snuck up on me.”

  Conrad chuckled at that and patted his stomach. “I don’t get away with that much anymore.”

  “Hey, Connie. Have a seat.” Cora turned on her desk lamp to brighten things as the day was dreary and the sun setting already. “Amanda was just telling me an interesting story.”

  “Really? A story about what?”

  “Well, you know those oils we bought last week at Ivy’s? We’ve been running the little machine out there.”

  “Yeah, I can smell it. You can even smell it in the lobby.”

  “Today you can,” Cora said, “but that’s because this one is what Amanda brought from home. She said the oils Denise sold us weren’t pure even though the label says they are. They’re diluted with something and the ones we used last week didn’t smell that strong. They didn’t last all day either.” Cora waited for Conrad’s response but when he said nothing, she leaned forward on her elbows and peered at him. “Do you think she knows that? Do you think she’s intentionally misleading people?”