Ink and Shadows(Secret, Book, & Scone Society #4)(11)

June grunted. “Please. This is my sixth decade on this earth. The only things that can seduce me are a comfy chair, a good bottle of wine, and a movie starring Denzel Washington.” She pointed at the surrounding shelves. “And books. Not all of them. To me, getting lucky is reading something so magical that I’m put under that book’s spell. That book owns me. I can’t think about anything else until I finish it. And I can’t think about anything else for days afterward. And the next book I read is doomed. It can’t take the place of the magic book. But I keep reading. I keep reading because I know that feeling will come along again.”

“You should put that on a throw pillow,” Estella said.

“If I could make it fit, I would.” Nora smiled at June. “I loved every word you just said. That’s how I want people to feel when they see our window display. I want them to fall under a book spell.”

Hester jumped up. “Put on some music, Nora. Let’s make some magic.”

Later, while Sheldon, Estella, and Hester hung a backdrop of shimmery midnight blue, June and Nora transformed a pair of faceless, genderless, poseable mannequins into women of power.

June’s woman wore a loose red skirt woven with filaments of gold, a beaded leather belt, a white peasant blouse, and a shell necklace. A headscarf covered part of her long, black wig.

“She’s rocking the Native American, African, and Romany look,” she said, standing back to admire her work.

Nora’s mannequin wore the black and red skirt of a flamenco dancer and a T-shirt embroidered with an evil eye inside the hamsa hand of protection. She had Buddhist prayer beads around her wrist and a Celtic knot tattoo on her bicep. A gold laurel wreath crowned her wig of curly brown hair. “Middle Eastern meets Celtic meets Spanish meets Greco-Roman.”

“Our dark-haired story stirrers,” June said.

Seeing the distant look in her eyes, Nora lightly touched her arm and asked, “Are you thinking about Bren?”

“I can’t seem to stop.”

Nora understood why her friend was having a hard time shaking last night’s encounter. June had been estranged from her son, Tyson, for most of his adult life. She’d made a mistake at work that had ultimately cost him his college scholarship. Afterward, he said that he’d never speak to her again. He moved to LA where he became a small-time drug dealer. And a user. He rang in his thirtieth year by stealing from a much bigger dealer. After losing the money, Tyson traveled across the country. He planned to steal from his mother, but he was arrested instead.

Sheriff McCabe had Tyson transferred to a secure treatment center. It was an hour away, and June visited whenever she could. There was nothing she wanted more than to reconnect with her only child.

“Are you seeing things through Celeste’s eyes?” Nora guessed.

“Yeah. If Bren was my child, I’d want to know about last night. We should tell her.”

Nora nodded. It was the right thing to do.

“Tomorrow is Soothe’s grand opening. I’ll swing by with a good luck dollar. I still have the dollars people gave me when I opened.” There was a smile in Nora’s voice when she said, “Hester’s was the best. She drew a picture of a donut over Washington’s face and taped the bill to a bakery box.”

June didn’t look impressed. “I’m assuming there was a donut inside.”

“A cinnamon bun, actually. The sweetest, stickiest, most delicious thing I’d ever tasted. I think I fell in love with Hester a little bit that day.”

“I don’t know how her man stays so thin.”

Nora carried her mannequin into the window. “He has the metabolism of a hummingbird. He can eat and eat, and none of it sticks. Lucky bastard.”

“It won’t last,” said Sheldon, patting his round belly. “I was thin once too. In, like, 1967.”

“I wouldn’t change a thing about you.” Estella kissed him on the cheek and turned to Nora. “We all want you to see the final result as if you were a customer, so find something to do in the back until we come for you.”

Nora took out the trash and washed their wineglasses. She wiped off the counters and the coffee table. Finally, Sheldon appeared at the readers’ circle.

“Go straight outside. Do not look at the window,” he commanded.

Nora moved through the store and out to the sidewalk, where the rest of their friends waited.

“Keep facing the park!” Sheldon shouted. “I’m just turning off a few lights. Would you look at that? The Fifth Avenue of Miracle Springs is back! Hold on, Nora.” A few seconds later, Sheldon took Nora’s hand and whispered, “Turn around, bright eyes.”

Nora turned.

The window practically thrummed with magic. The centerpiece was a faux cauldron positioned over LED flames. Flowers, birds, dragons, cats, and butterflies spewed out of the pot. Because they were made of white tissue paper, the shapes looked ethereal. Ghostlike.

The books featuring magical women stole the show. Thanks to clear acrylic shelves affixed to the back wall and a halo of white lights encircling each book, they seemed to float in midair. Sheldon had enhanced this illusion by positioning color-changing nightlights behind the cauldron. Nora stared as the shadow shapes shifted. The women stirring the cauldron shimmered with life. The books glowed.

“Thank you,” Nora cried, hugging each of her friends. “This is incredible. I just hope I ordered enough books because this display is going to draw big crowds.”