5 A Charming Magic (2 page)

Her long lean fingers reached out and grabbed the bag. The bag fell and splashed into the water.

“Oops.” She put her hand over her mouth. “I guess I didn’t have a good grip.”

“Arabella.” Mary Lynn gasped and reached into the water to get the bag. She held it up. The wet herbs inside the bag had stained the cheese cloth bag and drips of black splattered on the floor.

“Oh Grandmother!” Arabella grabbed the bag and disappeared to where she had come from. The clunk of the bag echoed when she tossed it in the trash.

“I’m so sorry,” Mary Lynn profusely apologized. “She’s having a hard time moving here.”

“And why exactly is she here?” I asked.

“Grandmother?” Arabella’s voice had changed into a sweet voice. If I hadn’t had my interaction with her, I would have been fooled by the innocent tone. “If we are ever going to get the shop opened in five minutes, I’m going to need your help.”

“I’m sorry.” Mary Lynn wrung her hands as she shook her head. Quickly she turned and rushed back to her granddaughter.

Arabella’s head popped up above the back display shelf. Her eyes caught mine. She glared a moment too long before the evil grin crossed her face.

“Be sure to tell Oscar to stop in for a free flower.” She held up a red rose and twirled it in her fingers before she lifted it to her nose. “Oh, and I’d be more than happy to give you my leftovers for your little cure shop especially if I’m going to take your leftover.” She winked and disappeared back behind the display table, not wasting a moment to start clipping away.

Chapter Three

“My leftover?” I stomped my way out of the shop and through the gate, nearly knocking right into Petunia Shrubwood. “Oscar Park is not a leftover! Over my dead body!”

“Whoa!” Petunia stepped out of the way, the bag of bugs dangling from her wrist. Patience and her ostrich did another fly by. “First, Patience. Now you?” She shook her head.

I glared at her and stepped off the sidewalk into the street. I kept walking. My eyes set on my shop.

“Her leftovers over my dead body!” I screamed over my shoulder. “
Arabella Paxton.”
I curled my nose when I said her name. My hands fisted at my side. “I will just keep getting my herbs from KJ.”

Potions, bad potions, and things I could do to Arabella whirled around in my head. The wind whipped up along with my thoughts. The leaves blew up and around my body before twirling up to the sky like a tornado. KJ was the Native American I got my ingredients and herbs from when I ran out.

Beep, beep.
The honking horn nearly made me jump out of my skin.

“You better get out of the way.” The window rolled down and Oscar Park popped his head out. He held up a cup of coffee. “You look like you need this!”

Relief settled in my soul and the tension left my shoulders. I didn’t need coffee. I needed him. Just looking at his bright white smile that led up to his twinkling blue eyes, made anything wrong melt away and fade off.

“Park.” My charm bracelet jingled as I pointed to a parking spot right in front of the shop. I had ten minutes before I had to open A Charming Cure, and I couldn’t think of any better way to spend it. I walked toward him.

“Yea, you definitely looked frazzled.” Oscar looked at his watch before he got out of the car. “And it’s only nine a.m.” He laughed and held out the cup of coffee from Wicked Good.

“Yum.” I could smell the delicious fresh java he had bought from the shop a couple of doors down.

Wicked Good was owned and operated by one of my dear friends, Raven Mortimer, who happened to name a homemade pastry after me, June’s Gems.

“Don’t think I forgot this too.” Oscar winked and retrieved a green and pink Wicked Good bag from the front seat of his car.

“You are a life saver.” My mouth watered at the chocolaty treat inside the bag.

“Oh dear.” The voice came from the sidewalk causing Oscar and I to look over. “I didn’t realize this was so heavy.”

Arabella stood on the sidewalk next to the most amazing flower sculpture I had ever laid eyes on. Her leg was cocked to the side and her hands were planted on her slim hips. Her long black hair flowed over her shoulder as she tilted her head as if she was confused.

Her eyes slid over to us, catching Oscar’s attention. When they made eye contact she smiled. Her eyes narrowed and she pointed to him.

“You,” her voice purred. “You look like a big strong man that can help me.”

“Of course.” Oscar wasted no time handing me his cup of coffee.

“No!” I protested while trying to juggle the cups and the bag. Oscar stopped. There was a puzzled look on his handsome tan face. “I mean, no to holding all of this.”

“I’ll be right back,” he said.

He might be right back, but his heart might not be. I lowered my eyes and glared at her. She didn’t take her eyes off of him. As a matter of fact, I swore I saw her look him up and down with a wanting look only another woman would know.

“That’s amazing.” Oscar pointed to the design.

Arabella had taken a body form and used hot pink flowers to make a flowing skirt. There were fabric butterflies strategically placed all over the bodice of the silhouette and in the flowery hair Arabella had created. It was beautiful, but I would have never told her that.

“Thank you.” Arabella dragged her long fingernail down Oscar’s muscular arm, sending my gut into a fit of rage. I knew exactly what she was trying to do. “You must be Oscar.”

Oscar blushed. I rolled my eyes.

“I’m Arabella Paxton.” She spoke loud enough for me to hear her and held her hand out for him to take.

Oscar did something I had never seen before. He took the tip of her fingers, like you would see in an old movie, bringing the back of her hand to his lips and he kissed it.

“Nice to meet you.” His country accent sent her into a fit of laughter.

“Aren’t you a true southern gentleman?” Arabella pulled her hand away and held it to her chest.

Ahem
. I cleared my throat raising both my brows.

“I guess your girlfriend is summoning you so if you could help me get this up the steps and position it for the world to see and want to come in to check out our grand opening.” She turned and sashayed her way to the spot where she wanted Oscar to put the flowery arrangement.

My mouth dropped.
Disgusting,
I thought as I watched her butt swing side to side and Oscar’s eyes follow.

“June?” Oscar laughed. “June isn’t my girlfriend. She’s my best friend.”

“Oscar does not live in Whispering Falls!” I hollered over to Arabella so she would know he wasn’t a spiritualist. Technically he was, but now he wasn’t. No. Thanks. To. Me.

Mewl.
Mr. Prince Charming shared my disgust. He stretched his paws out in front of him and shook each back leg before he darted up the steps of A Charming Cure.

“I guess you are right.” I looked over at Mr. Prince Charming. It was time to open, but if I knew Mr. Prince Charming like I knew I did, he too wasn’t happy with Arabella’s sudden need when we both knew she was capable of handling a little mannequin of flowers on her own.

“So where do you live?” Arabella’s soft sweet voice echoed down the street right into my ears. I cringed hearing her.

“Locust Grove.” Oscar was being charmed by her sudden interest. “It’s just right outside of Whispering Falls. Where are you from?”

As I walked up the steps to the shop, I glanced down sliding my eyes toward Oscar, trying to be sly like a fox, only Arabella was waiting for me to look at them.

“I’m from another spirit…” she paused and bit her lip. “I’m from up north.”

Oscar lifted the mannequin with one hand. Arabella stood behind him placing her hands on each of his shoulders as if she was steering him up the steps where she wanted the large floral arrangement to go.

“You sure have some great muscles.”

I nearly gagged hearing her flirt with him. Surely he wouldn’t fall for it and would see right through her. I put the coffees on the ground and jiggled the door handle a couple of times to prolong my painful torture of listening to Arabella try to woo Oscar.
If she only knew,
I laughed out loud. There was no way he was going to fall for someone like her.

“I have to stay in shape being the sheriff of Locust Grove, ya know.” Oscar sounded smitten, but there was no way. No way. There had better not be a way. My eyes narrowed. 

God golly. Was he really falling for that crap Arabella was feeding him?

“Sheriff?” Arabella squealed. “I love a man in uniform.”

Oscar set the flowered mannequin exactly where she was pointing. He glanced over at me. I jerked my head to the side so he would know I was telling him to come on.

“Speaking of work.” He rubbed his hands together before he pointed over to A Charming Cure. “Nice to meet you…” He searched for her name, apparently already forgetting it.

“Arabella Paxton.” She put her hand out for him to take. Again, he did that thing where he kissed her freaking hand before he dropped it and skipped down the steps. She hollered after him, “Oscar, you are more than welcome to stop in anytime.”

“Are you kidding me?” I asked under my breath when he trotted through the gate and up the steps of A Charming Cure.

“What?” He picked up the coffees as I unlocked the door. “It took you a while to open the door,” he observed. “Or were you being nosy?”

“Me? Nosy?” I scoffed and felt for the light switch just inside the door.

Mr. Prince Charming darted into the shop once the lights illuminated the space and jumped on the counter, his favorite spot.

“Yes, nosy you,” Oscar joked and made his way back to set the coffees next to Mr. Prince Charming. “Interesting.” Oscar picked something up off the counter next to Mr. Prince Charming’s paws. “I see your crazy cat is still up to his old ways.” He held something in the air for me to see. “One of these days someone is going to catch him for stealing and he will be out of lives then.”

Oscar’s voice was white noise. My eyes zeroed in on the shiny thing dangling between his finger and thumb.

Normally I would rush around the shop and straighten the red tablecloths on all the round display tables, or refill and reposition some of the potion bottles that held my homeopathic cures, but not today.

I ran back to see exactly what Oscar had picked up. Yes. Mr. Prince Charming was good at giving me a charm. But only when there was going to be some sort of danger.

I took a deep breath and held out my hand for Oscar to drop the shiny item into it as I tried to tap into my intuition. Nothing. Nothing alarmed me that there was something bad going to happen.

Rowl!
Mr. Prince Charming hopped off the counter and darted underneath one of the round display tables, nearly toppling a few of the bottles over.

It was another charm. Another charm to add to my ever-growing charm bracelet. 

 A dove sitting on a round thin piece of gold. The round piece looked an awful lot like a wedding ring.
Wedding ring?
I glanced up at Oscar. I smiled.
A wedding ring
.

Was it a sign? Did this have anything to do with my past history with Oscar? The romantic history he didn’t remember?

It all happened on my tenth birthday. Darla, my mom—a single mom—spent all her time running her homeopathic cure shop, A Dose of Darla, out of a booth at the Locust Grove Flea Market and she didn’t have a ton of money to spend on my birthdays. Cake, card, and a candle from the flea market was as good as I was going to get. After all, it was my tenth birthday, not some big milestone like sixteen. And the cake…it was a “manager’s special” cake that read
Happy Retirement Stu
. Darla didn’t bother scraping it off or pretending it wasn’t a manager’s special. Don’t get me wrong. It was a treat. Sugar snacks of any kind weren’t allowed in the Heal household except on special occasions.

It was that same day that Darla was at work and I was at home hanging out with Oscar—yes, he lived across the street. Even then I was in love with him. Like any stupid boy, he didn’t notice. Still, that day, was a day I will never forget and probably the best birthday I had ever had.

The pristine white cat jumped up on the porch wearing a worn-out collar with a turtle charm dangling off it. He had to belong to someone. A stray cat would have never been that clean, especially a white one. It looked like he was from a fairy tale, so I named him Mr. Prince Charming.

Oscar and I had spent countless hours trying to find Mr. Prince Charming’s owner, but no one claimed him.

To beat the band, no one but Oscar knew that I had prayed so hard for a charm bracelet from Darla. There was a girl at school who had one. Every time I heard the jingle of her charms when she raised her hand and saw the beautiful silver slither down her small wrist, I grew green with envy. After school I would check my face in the mirror to make sure I wasn’t green. I was so envious.

Oscar had even given me his mom’s old bracelet for a birthday gift. It was the only thing he had left of her. Oscar’s parents had died in a car wreck, leaving him orphaned like me.

Technically I wasn’t orphaned because I had my mom, but she worked so much, it was like I was orphaned.

Anyway, since no one had claimed Mr. Prince Charming, I knew he was mine and so was that turtle charm. Oscar fastened the charm on his mom’s bracelet with a bread tie and put it on my wrist. It was the best birthday ever, until every year after Mr. Prince Charming always brought me a charm to add to my bracelet. It was like he was magical.

It wasn’t until I grew up and moved to Whispering Falls did I realize Mr. Prince Charming was in fact magical. Sort of. He was sent by the Whispering Falls Village Council to keep an eye on me. After all, I was a spiritualist and didn’t know it. So the charms he gave me were protective charms.

Now when he gives me a protective charm, it’s a good indication that something was going to go haywire. This was no ordinary charm. It was a wedding ring with a dove.

“June? Earth to June?” Oscar waved half of a June’s Gem underneath my nose. I blinked, bringing myself back to the present where I now lived in Whispering Falls after finding out I was from a spiritualist family with an uncanny talent of being able to concoct crazy ingredients to heal people, not to mention my talent of an amazing intuition.