Friday, March 26, 2021

New release sample: QUITTING THE HERO BIZ

 "I have a spa, back home. Facials, manicures, pedicures, massages, sauna."

"You do all that? Multi-talented. And probably overworked." Angela gestured with a tip of her head toward a corner of the main room. Jane saw a white wrought iron bistro table and chairs.

Definitely overworked, but nothing I can admit to you.

Angela chuckled as she went behind the counter. "Iced green tea with ginseng and honey?"

"That sounds lovely, thanks." Jane settled down at the little table. "Umm, actually, I don't do all those things. I have people who come in and provide services. I have plenty of room in my store, so... Most of what I do is make appointments and sell all sorts of teas and creams and bath salts. The good kind, the legitimate kind," she hurried to add.

"Of course. I wouldn't expect anything else." Angela came back to the table with two glasses full of ice and two tall bottles of iced green tea in Jane's favorite brand. 

Was there room behind the counter for a cooler and glasses and ice? She shrugged away that consideration. Things happened at Divine's Emporium and it was wiser not to ask questions. Answers might destroy the wonder, the sense of "anything is possible."

"We could use a spa like yours. If you ever consider coming back home to Neighborlee, I know just the place. The old Spindelmutter building. Lots of room, three floors, and the third floor is an apartment. You could add a whirlpool and expand your offerings to include exercise clothes and such."

Jane took the information from Angela and chatted about the possibilities. She had actually been thinking about expanding her merchandise to include clothes and homeopathic treatments. Who was she hurting by playing along? It was a good cover story.

Although, a niggling sense of warning crept through her after just a minute or two. Essentially, she was lying to Angela, and Jane vaguely remembered some unspoken law that no one ever crossed Angela or tried to steal from Divine’s Emporium.

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