“We agree with you, but we aren’t dead.” Agnes leaned her head a little more to the side to get a better view out the door. “Uh, oh. Here comes trouble.”
The Divas stopped what they were doing and walked up to the window to see what Agnes was talking about.
Doug and Jim had pulled up behind Sean’s truck. Thankfully, they were all being civil to each other.
“Good!” I clapped my hands together after seeing all my new bead tables and all the boxes Ginger has been storing at her house. All the stuff I needed to open the store.
“I thought I would surprise you.” Ginger wrapped her arms around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. “Come on girls, it’s all the good stuff.”
The last few months we moved the Diva meeting to the hotel room I’ve been renting on the edge of Swanee. The only thing I went back for after the divorce was my beads and supplies. I knew I couldn’t fit into my clothes anymore and that didn’t make me feel good. The only things that did make me feel good and forget about asshole, were my beads.
The Divas loved all my jewelry and one long Diva night, the idea of The Beaded Dragonfly was born.
“I can’t wait to make myself something.” Marlene said and galloped out of the store to see what she could bring in.
One by one, everyone helped carry in the boxes and tables. Sean had replaced the light bulbs and lit the place up. It wasn’t as bad as it had seemed in the dark. After a good mopping, the floors were nice and shiny. Agnes just sat in one of the beading chairs and drank coffee, while Flora and Ginger cleaned the windows.
Doug and Sean were even getting along.
“Agnes, I’d appreciate it if you’d take that nasty sign out of your yard.” Doug walked over and bent down so Agnes could see him.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t take advantage of the elderly and do a job right. A job I paid you for.” She might not see well, but she sure did give him the look of death. “I told you I’d get you back. And I hope I am.”
Jim went over and put a hand on Doug’s shoulder before I had to step in.
Sean had put together the counter and Flora immediately sprayed the glass with cleaner.
“This is going to look gorgeous with all your beads in it.” Flora said, pointing to the freshly cleaned counter.
“Oh, no!” I smacked my palm on my forehead. “I completely forgot to order bead displays.”
Normally a lapidary has hooks on the walls where strings of beads hung for display. But with all of the hubbub of opening the store, I’d completely forgotten.
“What if we hang up those shelves and you could put some hooks from the hardware store in it.” Sean walked over to some leftover shelves that the previous tenant had left behind.
“What?” I asked.
Of all the dumb things Sean has said, this was up there. He might be cute, but he lacked brains.
“Like this.” He held one of the shelves up to the wall.
My eyes bugged when I saw the under.
“Oh, no.” I rolled my eyes.
Sean knew better than to suggest anything with an under.
“I think it looks pretty cool.” Flora held the phone away from her ear.
“Cool? And what do you know about cool?” I stared at Flora.
We divas weren’t the spring chickens they thought they were. I was the youngest at forty-years old. I was far from cool with my elastic pants and a pink pig as a pet.
“That’s something that no other store will have. It’s cool.” Flora inspected it a little closer.
She did have a point. It could be a neat display.
“And there are three of them. They could go along the wall.” Flora ran her hands the entire length of the wall.
“But you’re forgetting that Holly doesn’t like the under of anything.” Ginger said.
Ah, a true best friend. She didn’t forget my fear of putting my hand under anything. There’s just something creepy about the under.
“It’s for business.” Flora stated, and began punching the buttons on her cell phone.
“Fine.” I threw my hands in the air.
It would work for now, anything to get the shop open sooner. If it didn’t work out, I could always order the right things and take the shelving down.
Within minutes, Sean had the shelves up and Jim had returned with the hooks from the hardware store.
“See.” Sean stood in front of the homemade display with pride. “I told you it would be cool.”
“Whatever.” I wasn’t going to admit that he was right, yet again.
Two times in one day was a record for him.
I opened a box of the most beautiful beads I’d ever seen. My beads.
The Divas carefully passed them around, like they were the most precious diamonds in the world.
“Excuse me? Are you closing?” The girl with black hair said while she knocked on the front door.
Her hair was mostly hidden under a cockeyed beret, and the fingers were missing from her gloves.
“I was driving by and I love to bead.” She looked around the shop.
“No, we haven’t even opened yet.” I sat the strand of beads on the counter and wiped my hands down my shirt to get the grim off them. “I’m Holly Harper, the owner.”
Willow came running out of the back and began to sniff at the girls combat boots.
“Come on, Willow.’ I tried to get Willow away from the girl.
“No, she’s cute with her little coat and all” The girl bent down to pet Willow. “I’ve never seen a pet pig before. I mean, I’ve heard of it, but never seen one. I’m Cheri.” The girl stood back up and shook my hand. “I’m going to the community college. I was driving through town looking for an apartment, but stopped when I saw your cute awning.”
Thank God,
I thought. I’m so glad I spent the extra money on the awning. Originally I was going to skimp on the awning and settle for a painted sign on the glass, but Ginger assured me that the awning would be classier.
“Apartment?” Ginger put the cleaning rag on the counter and walked over to Cheri.
“Yeah, I’m not the dorm type and there seems to be nothing for rent in this town.” She picked up a strand of beads that I had sat on the counter.
“We have a nice one bedroom efficiency upstairs.” Ginger pushed me out of the way.
“What?” My mouth dropped open.
My dear, faithful friend wasn’t being so dear and faithful.
“Really?” Cheri’s eyes opened with excitement. “Sounds exactly like what I’m looking for.”
“What a minute. That’s my apartment.” I interrupted.
“Oh, no.” Sean sighed. “She’s not moving back in with me.”
“Don’t worry, that day will never come.” I glared at him. “No there is no apartment for rent. Ginger, what are you doing?”
“Hear me out,” Ginger said. “The more Jim and I thought about it, the more it made sense to us that you live in the cabin and rent out the upstairs for more income.”
Not a bad idea.
“We were thinking how hard it is to stay excited about work when you work and live in the same place.” Ginger grabbed my hands. “We really want The Beaded Dragonfly to be successful and that means you need to come here every day.”
“Plus we need someone to stay in the cabin since we haven’t used it in years.” Jim added.
“I’ll take it.” Cheri chimed in.
“But you haven’t seen it.” Ginger eyes narrowed.
“Come on, I’ll show you up.” Jim took Cheri out of the shop and around the building to the entrance of the apartment.
“Are you sure?” I asked with Bernadine nodding yes behind me.
The cabin was amazing and picturesque. It was surrounded by woods and overlooked the lake. The Divas had a meeting there once. Plus, Bernadine lives right across the lake, making it only a pedal boat ride away.
“Yes!” Bernadine cheered. “Yes. We’d be neighbors!”
It did sound really good for me, but what was in it for the Sloan’s?
“How much is it going to cost?” I questioned her. It was too good to be true.
“Nothing.” Ginger smiled. “You are my friend and I’m able to help you out. The rent from Cheri can go toward getting your shop up and running. Once you get it going, we can talk about rent.”
“God knows you aren’t getting anything out of that loser.” Flora pointed to Sean who was trying to dig his old truck out of the snow.
Doug sat in Jim’s truck with a big shit-eating grin on his face. If Doug really wanted to, he could hook a chain to Sean’s truck and pull it out with Jim’s truck, which had snow chains on it.
Sean knew better, but he obviously couldn’t afford the chains this year.
Swanee always gets a lot of snow during the winter. Although it’s beautiful, it makes it crappy for getting out and about. Hopefully the bored women in the community could discover a new hobby at The Beaded Dragonfly.
Cheri and Jim reappeared and shook hands.
“I guess that settles it.”
Chapter Three
With the snow covered roads, it took an extra twenty minutes to get to Ginger’s cabin. Even though we left around the same time, Jim could plow through the snow with his big snow tires, but the tires on my Focus had a little more trouble.
The gravel drive that led back to the cabin was barely visible because of the snow. If it hadn’t been from Jim’s tire tracks, I probably wouldn’t have found it.
I turned and looked at the gray clapboard, three room cottage I was about to call home.
“Come on in.” Ginger hollered from the front door. “Jim is making sure all the cobwebs are gone.”
Willow loved Ginger, and she had no problem going right into the house for a little rub.
I marveled once inside the three room cabin. The best part wasn’t the wall of windows that overlooked the lake or the fact that Ginger pays someone to squeegee them, but the furniture.
It was fully furnished and the only under in the entire place was the futon and claw-foot tub. There wasn’t a kitchen table to worry about sweeping under, no book shelves to dust under, no unders what-so-ever.
“No unders,” I whispered.
“Exactly. I knew you’d love it.” Ginger winked. “Right over there is Bernadine’s house.”
I followed the lines of the frozen lake over at Bernadine’s massive house that was lit up like a Christmas tree.
“Here’s the kitchen.” Ginger did her best Price Is Right model wave to the other side of the room.
The cabinets in the kitchen go all the way down to the floor. There are bookshelves that are built in.
“Down here is the bedroom.” Ginger walked down the small hallway where generations of Sloans hung in frames.
I followed close behind. This was much better than living over the shop in the efficiency. I’m not picky, and the apartment would’ve been fine.
The bedroom was plain and simple with just a box-spring and mattress. The closet was all I needed for the few clothes I was fitting into