divorced divas 02 - crimped to death (3 page)

“He wants to take me back to court to stop the alimony because I opened Second Cup.” Bernadine slipped her bangle bracelets on her wrist. “It’s bad enough he moved back here, but to take me back to court.”

I slapped my weigh-in chart on the counter for Charlie to gawk at. Charlie tapped on her computer keyboard and didn’t pay any attention to me like she did Bernadine.

“Step up,” Charlie said in a monotone voice.

“And to think that he sold that Ft. Myers house for over two million dollars. He doesn’t need the piddly money he gives me each month.” Bernadine brushed her hair behind her ears. “I told Flora to call in her favor that her ex-ass owes her because I was going to hire him as my lawyer.”

“That is a great idea,” I said and stepped up on the scale.

I held my breath wondering if air weighed anything.

“Get off.” Charlie tapped on the computer before she wrote on my paper. “Down a pound.”

“Yay!” Bernadine hopped off the chair. “I think I found it.” She winked and patted her belly. “I guess the smells from the café are making me gain. I swear I haven’t ventured from my healthy eating.”

Bernadine had a perplexed look on her face like she was contemplating what she had said. She pulled a Ziploc baggie full of carrots and celery out of the zippered pocket of her jumpsuit jacket. She always carried a Ziploc baggie full of some sort of veggies. And somehow Willow always ate them, leaving little for Bernadine.

“Oh, Bernadine.” Charlie’s happy chirp was back. She pulled a little brown wrapper from underneath the counter. “Here is Barbie’s latest fat-free dessert. We hope you decide to carry it in Second Cup.”

Excitement twirled in my stomach, or maybe it was starvation twirling, but I couldn’t wait to get my sample of Barbie’s new treat.

Barbie was one of those icons who had the one name like Madonna, Beyoncé, Cher. Barbie.

She was Ms. Food Watchers herself. She owned and operated Food Watchers. Lately she had ventured out into decadent desserts and gave samples out to the attendees. There was a display of them in the lobby of Food Watchers and Bernadine had started featuring a few in her shop.

I stood there waiting eagerly for my sample. Bernadine popped hers in her mouth.

“Delicious.” Bernadine closed her eyes and chewed slowly. My mouth watered. She licked her fingers.

“I’m sorry,” Charlie said apologetically and I actually thought she meant it. “I’m all out.”

“No problem.” I waved it off and followed Bernadine into the meeting room up to the front row like we did every week.

Me, I’d stay way in the back. Last seat in fact. But not Bernadine. She likes to be front and center
. Everywhere.

“Why am I gaining weight?” Bernadine wiggled her fingers and winked hello to a few other members.

“It’s only a pound.” I sat down and waited for the big show to start. “We can walk that off.”

“If you find time away from
Donovan Scott.”
Bernadine winked right before the lights dimmed and the disco ball in the center of the meeting room was turned up to high.

The mirror ball swirled around. The reflection darted off the excited members’ faces as they clapped, hooted and hollered in anticipation for Ms. Food Watchers to make her weekly appearance.

“Is everybody ready?” A loud voice boomed over the intercom.

Every single person had a big smile on their face, as if some Hollywood megastar had just walked into the room. Enthusiastically, we clapped to the beat of the music. A couple of people let out a few hoots, hollers, and double-finger whistles.

The clapping and swaying was infectious. Raucous music was blared and the mirror ball stopped to make room for the streaming spot light. They rotated in the center of the room.

My toes began to tap like they had a mind of their own.
Well, a little sway too and fro isn’t going to hurt anyone,
I thought.
When in Rome.

The members in the center aisle parted as a tall, blond, gazelle-like Barbie made her way through the crowd. She held a microphone in one hand and greeted her eager, food-deprived acolytes with the other.

Ms. Food Watchers.
Envy chilled through me as my eyes traveled up her legs to her cinched waist and ending at her big happy smile.

“Hello!” She sang out when she got to the front of the room and hopped up on the small stage right in front of Bernadine and me. “Is everyone ready to lose some weight this week?”

I had to shield my eyes from the glare of her pro-white dentals.

Bernadine nudged me. “She’s going to Henry’s practice now. Damn,” she leaned a little closer to me, “he never got my teeth that white.”

“I said,” she repeated as if the yells and screams that rattled the place weren’t loud enough, “Is everybody ready to lose some weight?” Barbie pumped her fists in the air and the crowd erupted in even louder cheers.

“I swear this is a cult,” I leaned over and whispered in Bernadine’s ear.

She probably didn’t hear me. In true cult style, Bernadine’s eyes were locked on Barbie as she cheered and fist pumped right along with the rest of them.

 

Chapter Three

 

On nights of beading classes, I closed the shop around a quarter to six. That way, it gave me time to move the tables a little closer together and get out bead-boards for each beader along with their own set of tools.

“1,2,3,” I counted out the crimping tools from the shelf in the storage room. I needed twelve all together.

The crimp tool was the most important beading tool in my opinion. It was the instrument that squished the crimp bead or other findings to complete the beading project.

“I’m back,” Marlene yelled from the front of the shop.

Marlene tended The Beaded Dragonfly while I went to my Food Watchers meeting. When I got back, she left to go get Agnes Pearl. Marlene lived with Agnes. Agnes hired Marlene before Marlene’s high heel planted on the ground when she first came to Swanee.

Marlene needed a job and Agnes was looking for an “Agnes keeper”, someone to keep her company, though Marlene did things like go to the grocery for Agnes and picked up around the house. Saying Marlene was cleaning Agnes’s house was a stretch.

At a spry eighty-five years old, Agnes probably took care of Marlene instead of the other way around. Especially since she had that new eye surgery and she can see like a teenager with perfect vision.

“I’ll be out in a minute.” I grabbed a few more items like the Acu-flex beading wire.

I found it to be the most durable wire when making jewelry and I wanted to make sure I let Margaret and her friends use the best of the best for their Wine and Bead class. Margaret McGee spreading the word and wearing my designs was better than any paid advertising I could have ever done.

“I told her to go for more money.” Agnes Pearl adjusted her turban. Today’s choice was bright yellow with a green plastic emerald in the dead center. “He is a low-down dirty dog if you ask me.” Agnes nodded and hugged Cheri as they exchanged the news about Bernadine’s situation.

Nobody was asking her. But that was what you had to love about Agnes. She was old and like most old people, she spoke her mind.

Cheri lived in the apartment above The Beaded Dragonfly. She was a local college student who not only worked a few hours a week for me for extra money, but she loved Willow. Bless Cheri’s heart, she was a savior. She took Willow for her daily walks while I was busy around the shop.

Cheri adjusted the beret on the top of her head. She was so pretty with her straight brown hair and blunt bangs.

Don’t be cruel
. Cheri’s phone belted out. She looked at it. Her big brown eyes popped. “Oh, I gotta take this.” She disappeared into the storage room.

Cheri was fun and young. She was the fly-by-your-seat Diva who had gotten married at the age of nineteen in a quickie wedding in Vegas by. . .you guessed it, an Elvis impersonator. The next day her annulment was just as quick, making her a Divorced Diva.

“What do you think about that jerk?” Agnes Pearl asked me. Her eyes narrowed.

Without asking her whom she was talking about, I knew. Henry Frisk. He was a jerk for showing up in Swanee after he hated it, suing Bernadine yet again, and taking business from Kevin Russell. Kevin had been the only dentist in Swanee for as long as I could remember. He never had to worry about competition. Until now.

“I heard Dr. Russell confronted him at the Barn Dance meeting last night about how Henry was stealing Dr. Russell’s clients.” Agnes picked at the wispy pieces of hair sticking out of her turban next to her ear.

“Did they really?” Flora’s head was tilted to the side. Her cell phone was wedged between her ear and shoulder. “Hey, gotta go,” she said to the recipient on the other end. She sat her designer handbag on the table and planted her butt in the chair next to Agnes. “Dish.”

“You should know more than us.” Marlene put small five-millimeter sterling silver round beads in small bowls for me. “Damn,” she murmured when a couple bounced off the glass.

“Marlene!” I groaned as I watched them bounce right into
The Under
. “I hope you know that I’m putting cleaning The Under on your to-do list.”

“Whatever.” Marlene shrugged. She and I both knew she wasn’t going to bend over, ass in the air, for stray beads. A man. . . maybe. . .beads. No.

The jingle bells rang over the shop door. Margaret and a couple of her bridesmaids came in.

“Hi girls.” I waved them in. “Sit anywhere. I’m just getting all the wine and beads ready.”

“So, this is what you do?” Charlie from Food Watchers walked in with the group. 

“You two know each other?” Margaret’s voice raised in excitement. “Holly Harper is the best jewelry designer ever,” Margaret squealed and grabbed Charlie’s hand dragging her to an empty table next to the gossip sessions some of the Divas were having.

 “Anyway, I was at Second Cup when Henry came in and told Bernadine that she was going to get a subpoena to go back to court. And. . .” Marlene looked around, she leaned over the table so Flora and Agnes could hear her. “He said something about a life insurance policy about to come due and he was glad she wasn’t getting a damn dime.”

“He said damn dime?” Agnes asked.

Marlene nodded.

“He’s got more nerve than Carter’s got liver pills.” Agnes Pearl was steaming.

Agnes Pearl was not one to mess around with. She was the wealthiest widow in Swanee. She might be a couple cups of crazy, but she never messed around when it came to money.

“I told Flora she needed to call your ex.” She pointed her long acrylic nails toward Flora.

“Marlene,” I interrupted. “Can you help me with the refreshments?” I asked on the way to the storage room where I had to make room for Cheri and Willow.

“I’m going to take her for a quick walk.” Cheri held Willow’s leash in her hand.

Willow was so proud; she high-stepped out into the shop until she saw Marlene coming toward us.

Weak, weak, weak
. She tried to dart into
The Under
of the closest shelf; her butt wouldn’t fit no matter how hard she tried to wedge herself and besides the leash wasn’t long enough.

“I’ve been craving ham all day! Get me the salt shaker.” Marlene cackled before she disappeared in the back.

“Don’t listen to mean old Marlene.” Cheri bent down and patted Willow on the head before Willow scampered out the door as Bernadine came in.

With the wine almost gone and the energy level of the bead shop on acceleration, I announced that the class for this week would be ending in about fifteen minutes, which was around nine p.m.

You would think three hours was plenty of time to string an entire jewelry set, but not with chatty Margaret and her group of friends. Along with her group of six and the six Divas, we had a full house.

The jingle bells chimed over the door.

“Sorry ladies,” Sean apologized when he looked around the room. He held up one of the red gems that went with the chandelier he had wired and put up earlier in the shop. “I found this in my truck this afternoon and wanted to be sure to attach it.” He flashed his million-dollar playboy smile. “It’s a beauty, but not to its full potential if not all the pieces are there.”

Ugh. 
And this was why I could never date him again. Sean never knew when to turn on the charm around other women, causing them to fall at his feet.

“Hi, Sean.” Charlie stood up and held the beading wire by the end. The uncrimped side.

Ping, ping, ping.
One-by-one all the beads that took her three hours to string hit the tile floor and found their way into the different
Unders.

“No!” I scrambled to the floor as Willow made a mad dash out of the storage room to gobble up all the round gems. Cheri grabbed her. The beads were lost to
The Under
.

“There goes some profit.” I threw my hands in the air and then stuck my hand out for Sean to give me the damn piece so he could get the hell out of here. “I’ll attach it.”

Granted, I probably wouldn’t take the time to get the ladder and do it, but I wanted him out as quickly as possible. He was creating all kinds of havoc.

“I could never let you get up on a ladder, Hol.” Sean quickly grabbed the ladder and was halfway up.

There wasn’t much I could do but shoot darts at him out of my eyes and hope he’d fall off the ladder. Not hurting him of course, but a broken leg that would keep him away from me. Away from the female society. Was that too much to ask?

“Oops.” Charlie playfully shrugged and walked over to the ladder. She held onto the ladder as he climbed up. “I can hold it steady.”

He looked down, straight into her cleavage. He smiled.

“Thanks, Charlie.”

“I wondered when I was going to see you again.” Charlie shuffled her feet, tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and shrugged her shoulders toward him.

“Two hands.” I gestured out in front of me like I was holding on to the ladder. Charlie was too busy flirting to even realize she didn’t have one single finger on the ladder.

“How about tonight?” Sean ignored me, hung the gem on the light and did a little hop off the ladder.

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