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The place was beautiful. Old wood floors sanded to a soft gloss, high ceilings with probably the original plaster moldings. Exposed brick on one wall framing a real fireplace with a honey-oak mantel. The kitchen was small but had granite counters and new-looking stainless appliances. Both bathrooms were likewise updated and gorgeous. Two bedrooms with high ceilings and surprisingly ample closet space — a lot more than I had in my current duplex.
And the storefront downstairs was equally nice. The walls had been faux-finished in a warm reddish umber, and there were more of the same moldings and exposed brick. No display fixtures, but I could order all that stuff once I’d determined what kind of stock I’d be selling.
All in all, I probably couldn’t have found a better place to land if I’d chosen everything myself. If this wasn’t the universe telling me that Globe was the place I was meant to go, I didn’t know what else it could possibly be. The nervous churn in my stomach subsided a little, and I took a breath. I knew what I needed to do.
Love it,I texted Josie.I’ll take it. I’m paying cash; what’s the next step?
For some reason, I’d expected another flabbergasted pause. This time, however, she seemed to be ready for me, because she came back immediately.
You’ll need a ready cash deposit to hold the place, she responded.Then an inspection and a title search. I can set all that up. Once it’s done, you’ll need to send a cashier’s check or wire the funds. I can walk you through all that.
Great,I told her.Go ahead and let me know where to send the deposit.
She texted over the information, and I told her I’d get it to her as quickly as possible. In fact, as soon as I was done messaging her, I called my bank and requested the wire transfer for the deposit. Not too long after that, I got another text from Josie, letting me know the wire transfer had gone through and she was in the process of reaching out to the house inspector.
The place will be yours in less than a week,she messaged.Start packing!
When I saw that text, my hands started to shake. I’d done some crazy, impulsive things in my life, but buying a live/work space in Globe, Arizona, sight unseen probably had to sit at the top of that list.
To reassure myself, I pulled out my Tarot deck again and gave it a good shuffle. I didn’t know what I’d do if the damn thing turned up another Tower card, but I needed to know.
The Ace of Pentacles. Probably one of the most fortuitous cards to turn up in the deck, it generally symbolized wealth and opportunity. I didn’t know if I was going to strike it rich selling pagan paraphernalia in small-town Arizona, but it seemed I wouldn’t have to worry too much about taking a financial bath.
Just to be sure, though….
I pulled another card.
The Lovers. Hmm.
Other than Lucien’s completely unwanted physical interest in me, I hadn’t had much of what you could call luck in the romantic sense. I was always upfront with the guys I dated, telling them how I earned a living and how my metaphysical practices were a huge part of my life, but they tended to bail out as soon as I told them I couldn’t go to the movies that night because I had to stay home and recharge my crystals under the light of a full moon.
A pursuit of any kind of love life hadn’t been my motivation for moving to Arizona, but if that’s what it took to get things to make a turn for the better, I supposed I’d roll with it. I tried to imagine what kind of guy I’d even meet in Globe. Some sort of cowboy type, maybe. There were still working ranches in the area. Or a biker…one of the pictures I’d pulled up in my Google search of Globe had been of a downtown bar called the Drift Inn that had an impressive lineup of Harleys parked in front of it.
Both cowboys and bikers had been in pretty short supply in my life. I hadn’t really imagined myself with either type, but if that was what the universe wanted to throw at me….
Feeling far more hopeful than I’d been a few minutes earlier, I reshuffled the Tarot deck and slid it into its protective velvet pouch. That task done, I stood up and surveyed my living room once again.
This was going to take a lot of work. I had to hope I was up to it.
3
Cats and Curses
Josie Woodrow turnedout to be a plump bundle of perpetual motion, topped by fiery red hair cut into a messy bob. She beamed as she handed the keys of my new home over to me.
“I had my own cleaning gal go through and give everything a once-over, since the place has been sitting empty so long,” she said, standing off to one side as I stood in the center of what would become my store.
To my relief, the place looked even better in person. Or maybe it was only that now I was there in the flesh, so to speak, I could breathe in the vibes of the building, could feel it welcome me to the space. Some people might have said that was my imagination and nothing more, but I knew better. I’d always been sensitive to the vibrations in houses and buildings, and this one was no exception. People had been happy here during the building’s long life.
I had to hope I would be, too.
“It’s hard to imagine someone giving this place up after all the work that was put into it,” I remarked, and Josie let out a sad little sigh.
“I know. But Alison — the owner — had to move back to Rhode Island after her mother’s stroke. At first, she thought she might rent out the place, but then she decided it would be too much work trying to manage a rental property from all the way across the country. So she put it on the market.”
I walked toward the back wall, already envisioning it covered in shelves filled with jars of herbs and essential oils. “What was she going to do with it?”
“Oh, she was going to make it into a tearoom — you know, someplace where you could come and have finger sandwiches and little desserts, that sort of thing.” Another of those expressive sighs, and Josie’s pudgy shoulders lifted slightly. “I was looking forward to it…not that I don’t think your shop sounds very nice,” she added quickly, obviously not wanting to offend me by allowing me to think she didn’t approve of a New Age shop in the middle of Globe’s downtown.
