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Maybe his mouth quirked ever so slightly at the overly tragic tone of her voice. “We’ve been discussing it. Attendance has dropped off the past few years, and we’re wondering if it’s still worth the effort.”
“But it brings so much to the town,” she protested. “Maybe all you need to do is advertise a bit more.”
His expression didn’t change. “I’ll bring it up with the elders. We’re going to have to make a decision soon, either way.”
Josie’s bright blue eyes lit up in a way that I was already learning to dread. “You should have Selena cast an abundance charm for you!”
“I don’t think — ”I began, but she waved a hand, even as the twitch at the corner of Calvin’s mouth turned into a lopsided smile.
“I’ll take it under advisement,” he said, then nodded toward me. “Nice to meet you, Selena. You’ve got a great store here.”
And before either I or Josie could say anything else, he headed off toward the refreshments.
I tried to keep the accusation out of my voice as I remarked, “Well, that could’ve gone better.”
Another of those dismissive hand waves. “Oh, it went fine. I think he likes you.”
“I kind of doubt that.”
She chuckled. “Oh, but I know Cal, and you don’t. He’s not the type to give compliments if they’re not justified. I can tell he’s impressed with the store.” Her voice lowered, and she added, “He’s single, in case you were wondering.”
“I wasn’t,” I said crisply, even though that was a flat-out lie.
“Mm-hmm.” Apparently, Josie wasn’t buying it, either. “Never married. I don’t know why. I guess he was just waiting for the right girl to come along.”
Having delivered that remark, she sent me a knowing glance and then headed off toward the refreshment table as well, although — to my relief — she didn’t approach Calvin Standingbear, but instead stopped to talk to a couple around her own age, although they weren’t nearly as flamboyant.
A woman I didn’t know was waiting at the counter, a crystal-embedded healing candle in one hand, so I hurried over to take care of her purchase. Several other people followed after that, including a pair of girls who looked as though they were probably still in high school. With much giggling, they bought a deck of moon oracle cards and a few of my smaller, less expensive crystals, and I wondered how serious they intended to be about their purchases.
But at least they’d served as a useful distraction, and by the time I was done taking care of them, I looked up to find that Calvin Standingbear had already left the building. I couldn’t quite prevent the stab of disappointment that went through me when I realized he was gone, even though I tried to tell myself it was kind of silly to be upset that he hadn’t hung around. Even if he had any interest in me — and I had no reason to believe he did — an open house at a New Age store with a few dozen people milling around wasn’t exactly the best setup for an intimate conversation.
Hazel Marr came over to the counter, greenish eyes glinting with amusement. “I see you met the resident stud.”
“What?” I asked, trying to play dumb.
She crossed her arms with a jingle of silver bangle bracelets. When she wasn’t dressed in old jeans and a paint-spattered T-shirt, she could give me a run for the money in the bohemian wardrobe department. Tonight she was wearing a tie-dyed tank dress with a bright pink cardigan on top. “Calvin Standingbear. You were looking at him like a Weight Watchers junkie might stare at a piece of chocolate cake.”
So much for trying to act nonchalant. “Was I that obvious?”
“Probably not to everyone,” she replied, obviously trying to take pity on me. “But I’ve felt that same expression on my own face, so I suppose that made it easy to recognize.”
“Did you ever go out with him?”
“Calvin? No.” She laughed, a rueful little chuckle that couldn’t quite hide her disappointment at the situation. “The San Ramon Apache keep to themselves. I mean, they come to town to do their shopping or to go out to eat or have a drink, but they don’t mingle much. I’m not a Globe native, but I’ve lived here for seven years now, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of any of them dating or marrying one of us honkies.”
“‘Honkies’?” I repeated.
Hazel grinned. “Well, whatever Native Americans call us white folks. Anyway, I’m pretty sure Calvin’s a lost cause, but that doesn’t mean I don’t try to get an eyeful whenever he crosses my path. Looking never hurt anyone.”
No…unless your brain started manufacturing all sorts of unlikely scenarios as a result of that so-called “looking.” I wondered what the hell Josie had been thinking by being so transparent in her introductions. During one of our conversations, she’d told me that she was born and raised in Globe, that her family had been there for generations, so it wasn’t as if she didn’t already know about the standoffish behavior of the San Ramon tribe. Had she somehow thought a witch from L.A. might have a chance where none of the local women had?
Again, not the sort of conversation I wanted to have in that kind of crowd. I filed my questions away for later and said, “I guess I’ll join you in looking. So far, I haven’t seen a lot of prospects in this town.”
Hazel still appeared more amused than anything, so I guessed she wasn’t too disappointed by the lack of local dating prospects. “No, if you were looking for hookups, you would’ve done a lot better to stay in L.A.” Her expression turned speculative. “What made you choose Globe?”
There it was. I knew she’d been pondering that question ever since she came over to the shop the first time to give me an estimate for the ceiling murals. Of course, she’d been too polite to come out and ask, but I was sure almost everyone had been wondering the same thing. I’d told Josie that I was tired of Los Angeles and wanted to get out of the big city to someplace where I could see the sky and get some fresh air, but Globe still seemed like an odd choice. Someone with my interests would’ve done better to move to the New Age haven of Sedona, or even the Verde Valley, which got a lot of tourists because of the wine industry there.
Obviously, I couldn’t tell Hazel that I’d ended up in the out-of-the-way mining town because both my pendulum and my Tarot cards had guided me there. Or maybe I could. I’d already gone full woo-woo for everyone to see, so it wasn’t as if she’d be terribly surprised by such a revelation.
