Read with BonusRead with Bonus

Chapter One

Chapter One

J

essica scrunched her nose. “You really weren’t kidding about the whole snack thing, were you?”

Charity called from her office. “Have a seat! No use being uncomfortable during the meeting.”

Jessica’s gaze swept the table. She didn’t know what the hell Charity thought this meeting was going to be like, but Jessica was prepared with notes on the samples she had been given. She took in the wine sitting on the table and what looked to be a meat and cheese sort of plate.

No wonder Charity’s got thighs.

Jessica placed her notepad on the table and sat in a chair. She scanned the boutique, taking in its quaint nature. The few Halloween designs that were up and around the shop. The sparkling cobwebs and the pumpkin-scented...well, everything. She took in the bright walls and the shiplap that toned everything back. She crossed her long leg over her knee, trying to wait as patiently as she could for Charity, who had apparently turned this business meeting into a friendly little get-together.

Hope she doesn’t expect it to stay friendly for long.

Jessica checked out the boutique’s walls. The shelving was nice. At least, she thought so. It still wasn’t her taste. It wasn’t as modern or as tasteful as her salon, Siren’s Locks. But, for what Charity tried to pull off, she figured it wasn’t that bad. It was bold and put together, like Charity. Brightly colored, yet somehow a little too organized, like Charity. Jessica’s eyes fell to the meat plate and grimaced. She did not make it a habit of eating anything with meat in it.

Learn your clients, Charity.

Charity walked out of her office. “I’m really glad you could make it. Please, don’t wait on my account. Dig into the snacks, if you’re hungry.”

Jessica sighed. “I don’t eat meat.”

Charity’s eyes whipped up. “Oh. Well, I have some bananas in back. I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“Take it as a lesson. Always learn your clients.”

“Well, usually I don’t have to know whether or not they’re vegetarians.”

Jessica shook her head. “I’m not a vegetarian. Meat simply doesn’t agree with me.”

Charity eased herself into her chair. “Well, I could unwrap the cheese sticks if you want me to.”

“The by-product lingers.”

Jessica watched Charity as she picked up her small plastic glass of wine. Jessica leaned back, studying the woman in front of her. Charity was a pushover. That much she had learned over the course of her interactions with the woman. She was bright and bubbly, and way too concerned with being put together. She had this odd temperament that sat somewhere between “don’t touch that” and “get off my lawn.”

Jessica couldn’t stand pushovers. The trait made people seem more like children.

Charity smiled. “I take it your pad has some notes for me.”

Jessica nodded. “Yes, I’ve got some suggestions for your product samples.”

“Then hit me with them.”

Jessica quirked an eyebrow. “Well, for starters, we have to change the label again.”

“No.”

Jessica narrowed her eyes. “No?”

“The label won’t be changed. It’s formatted and designed the way it is for a reason. Changing the label last time is what got us into trouble with some of your clients. The label stays as it is.”

“But it—”

“I said ‘no,’ Jessica.”

She drew in a deep breath. “Very well. Moving on. While your product was better than last time, there are still a few things I want to tweak. Like the base smell, for instance. I know you handed me pumpkin flavors and whatnot for the fall season, but I don’t douse my salon in pumpkin the way...most people do.”

Jessica’s eyes panned around the salon before coming back to Charity’s stare.

“Do you have something a little more muted?”

Charity shrugged. “Like what?”

“I don’t know. A decent apple scent? Maybe some cinnamon tossed in there?”

“Actual cinnamon throws of the pH balance of my product.”

Jessica nodded. “Oh.”

“Everything in the bottles I handed you were perfectly formulated. I’ve tried every concoction of scents, aromas, and essential oils to give you the product handed over. You either like it, or you don’t.”

Jessica nodded. “So, you can’t do even a nice apple and honey, maybe?”

Charity shook her head. “Honey throws off the viscosity.”

“I meant simply the scent.”

“The scent of honey interacts weird with one of the products in the bottle. Gives off a very alcoholic kind of smell.”

Jessica bit down on her lip. “Well, what if we—?”

Charity set down her glass of wine. “Look, Jessica. I’m very glad you thought my product was better this time around. But going forward, I’m going to stand by what I said in my boutique that day. I don’t think we need to be doing business together, so we won’t be.”

Jessica’s eyebrows rose. “Oh?”

“Oh. Yes. We simply aren’t compatible regarding business, and that’s fine. Not everyone is. I respect you as a business owner and what you’ve accomplished. But, I will not be doing business with you.”

Jessica folded her arms over her chest. “Then, why the wine and the inedible cheese if you were simply going to say ‘no’?”

Charity sighed. “I wanted to give us one last chance to work this out. One last chance to come to some sort of mutual agreement on my products. But, when you started in on the label again, my mind made itself up.”

“I’m very particular with what goes onto the shelves of my salon and into the hair of my clients.”

“As you should be. But, my products won’t be the ones lining your shelves or dancing their way into your clients’ manes.”

Despite the odd change of events, Jessica felt her respect for Charity grow. Putting her foot down like that. Sticking to her guns. Not allowing anyone to change her mind. Something was different about Charity. And Jessica caught onto it. Her gaze traveled over the woman. Her posture was straight. Her eyes were steady. Her hands were folded in her lap and the tone of her voice didn’t waver. Charity had gained confidence from somewhere.

Finally.

It was about damn time.

Jessica nodded curtly. “Fair enough. Thank you for allowing me to come in and speak with you.”

Charity picked up her wine again. “Join me for a drink.”

“I have a lot of things I have to get done. Even though you’ve closed down early, apparently, my salon is still open until ten for a few respected clients.”

“And I’m sure you blocked off the entire hour to speak, correct?”

Jessica drew in a deep breath. “Yes. I did.”

Charity grinned. “Then stay and have a drink.”

Despite rolling her eyes, Jessica picked up the wine in front of her. She brought it to her lips for a taste, and there was a nice little oomph to it. She gazed at the wine bottle on the table before picking it up. She memorized the label of it, committing it to memory for when she found herself in the wine gallery downtown.

Charity cleared her throat. “Do you ever think about death, Jessica?”

Jessica’s eyes slowly panned up. “Say what now?”

“You know. Death. The end of it all. What that might mean for someone.”

“Not particularly, no. I have plenty enough to deal with during my days. No use in fretting over dying. I guess.”

Charity shrugged. “I used to be under the assumption that death was just...death. Darkness. A done sort of state, if you catch my drift.”

Jessica quirked an eyebrow. “Listen, I really have to get back to—”

“What do you think death is?”

Jessica took a long pull from her wine. She was going to need it to force herself through the conversation.

She sighed. “I think death is just that. An end. A final outcome after suffering day after day in this pathetic world.”

Charity nodded. “What if I told you it wasn’t?”

Jessica rolled her eyes. “Does this have a point? I get that you’re going for the whole Halloween vibe, but I’ve never been into the holiday.”

Charity giggled. “I’m almost done, I promise. What I want to say is that we can always learn lessons from things in this life we can’t explain. Death is one of those things.”

“Did you have a near-death experience or something?”

“Several of them, actually.”

Jessica scoffed and stood up. “Okay. I’m done.”

“Sit.”

The command in Charity’s voice caught Jessica off guard. She slowly eased herself down into her chair and threw back the rest of her wine. She reached for the bottle and poured herself another glass, then swirled it around in the plastic glass that sat against the palm of her hand.

Charity nodded. “Death has a way of changing people. Death has a way of teaching lessons that others really need to know. My best friend experienced it. I experienced it. And now, I want you to experience it.”

Jessica cocked her head. “You’re about to murder me, aren’t you?”

Charity giggled. “No. I’m not about to murder you. But, I do wish you the best of luck in your business. And I hope you never set foot into my boutique again.”

Trust me, I’m not.

Charity raised her glass of wine. “To prosperity and good reputations. And also, lessons learned.”

Jessica quickly tapped her glass with Charity’s before throwing her second glass of wine back. She set the plastic cup down and gathered her notepad, then quickly stood from the chair. She practically lunged at Charity’s front door. She wanted to get out of there as quickly as she could.

Jessica raised her chin. “Good luck with your business.”

Charity cleared her throat. “And good luck to you, too, Jessica.”

Jessica felt rattled inside. Really, truly rattled. Something she hadn’t felt in years. She pulled out her cell phone as she made her way to her car, texting her best friend, Sarah. She wasn’t going back to her salon. The tingling on the tip of her tongue from the wine kept reminding her of the odd encounter with a woman she still wasn’t sure wouldn’t murder her that night. She shot a text message off, telling Sarah to stay at the salon and to close it down for her. And to help herself to the tip jar up front as penance for her late night.

Jessica slipped into her sleek silver Audi convertible and raced through town. She made her way to SoHo. Back to her penthouse apartment, which she had purchased, with one of the best views of the area. She’d always loved SoHo. The fabulousness of it all. The chic shops and the dark colors and the modern flair. She pulled into the small parking garage of her building and quickly parked her car. She felt the wine on her empty stomach starting to kick in. She felt the world underneath her feet undulating as she walked. She stepped into the elevator and crept herself up to the top. Back to the safety of her penthouse apartment she adored more than her salon.

She punched in the code to open the elevator door and was greeted with the extensiveness of her home. Five thousand square feet with windows lining the entire front wall of her place. Jessica had done very well for herself. Her salon took off in its first five years and she had become the premier go-to for hair treatments and makeup in all of New York City. She was in the middle of franchising a new location in Hollywood. All the way across the country. She had garnered influence with Hollywood’s A-listers, and some of them had been begging her to set up in the area.

So, she went out on a limb and did it.

Jessica’s feet slid across the onyx marbled floors of her apartment. The elevator doors closed, and she drew in a deep breath. The scent was nothing. Absolutely nothing. No artificial fragrances. No sprays to clog up her air ducts. No phony smells to try to give off the impression of clean.

Jessica grinned. “Home sweet home.”

She hung her purse up on the white coatrack near her door. She slipped her peacoat off, hanging it up before she kicked off her pumps. She slid them underneath her coat. Out of sight, out of mind. Her bare feet padded against the pristinely waxed floor as she made her way to the kitchen, filled with stainless steel appliances.

It was time for her to start her nighttime routine.

Jessica pulled out all the ingredients for her bedtime smoothie. She tossed them into her blender and ground them up, grinning as she did so. She poured it into a glass and stood over the sink, chugging it back and feeling the effects of the wine slowly dissipate. Her white granite countertops contrasted the raven floors and the stainless steel figures nicely. She rinsed her glass out, stacking the dirty dishes into the washer before turning it on. It didn’t matter if she only had a few things in there. She couldn’t stand anything that wasn’t clean. Just as things stayed sanitized in her salon, so did things in her apartment.

It was why a maid came through three times a week to clean for her.

Jessica made her way for her bedroom and slipped out of her clothes. She tossed them into the hamper, then headed for her bathroom. She never wore an outfit more than once before washing it. It wasn’t a habit she made as a child, and it wasn’t a habit she would instill within herself as an adult. She walked into her bathroom, turned on the light, and was greeted with the industrial lighting and the white granite countertops that sat against sleek gray cabinets with chrome fixtures.

She started in on her routine. Two hundred brush strokes through her long raven hair. After she worked all the knots out, she braided her hair down her neck. Down her back. Until there wasn’t a flyaway in sight. She put a plastic cap over her head and tucked the braid in, then turned the water on in her shower, and stepped right in.

She had each knob programmed exactly where she wanted it, and they never moved.

Jessica started with her back. Her scrubber soaped with unscented bubbles as she raked it up and down her skin. She washed it once. Twice. Three times before she moved on. She rinsed the scrubber off and then grabbed a loofah, placing the same unscented soap onto it, and lathered it up.

Then one by one, she washed herself down.

Her neck, three times. Her arms, three times. Her pits, three times. She worked her way down her body, washing every part of herself three separate times. She rinsed herself off and got out of the shower. But not before making sure every last soap suds had swirled itself down the drain. She stepped out and reached for her sleek black towel. Fluffy to the touch and one that wrapped around her twice.

It was time for her skin-care routine.

She stood on the mat in front of her sink and coated her skin in the finer things in life. She exfoliated with a scrub, which had flakes of gold in it, before putting a rose gold moisturizer on top of her skin. She finished everything off with her wrinkle cream before she patted her cheeks, feeling how taut her skin had become.

Jessica drew in a deep breath. “Beauty is hard work.”

She unraveled herself from her towel and hung it over the side of her hamper. She pulled out a silken nightgown and slid it up her body. She kept her hair in its braid and slipped against the crisp, clean sheets of her king-size, four-poster bed.

Her eyes closed as the sounds of SoHo soothed her to sleep. Like they did every night.

But not without the funniest sensation in her stomach that kept creeping up on her.

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter