“Dear God in heaven, I thought the angels were coming for me. My time had arrived!” Mrs. Wunderlich’s hands were in the air.
But Juliette barely had time to decipher the nature of the noise because something akin to a jackhammer joined what had to be a drill. The sound levels astounded, and she covered her ears, mystified. The strip mall she rented space from had three businesses in a row, and she’d been told nothing about any scheduled construction. That was a courtesy the landlord had always afforded them.
“You’re gonna be just fine. Don’t you worry,” Juliette shouted, then watched her remaining browsing customers make a straight line to the door as if pursued by angry wasps. This wasn’t good. “I’m gonna go see what’s going on,” she said, gesturing over her shoulder as she headed for the door herself. A mass exodus on her busy Tuesday? Disastrous.
“Be careful!” Mrs. Wunderlich called, following her out. “It sounds like a suburban war zone out there.”
“Just a little construction,” she called back, but the noise drowned her out, which was frustrating, but not as frustrating as the lost business.
The retail space next to The Station had been conveniently empty since the cake decorator with the poodle paintings moved to Spain to live with Markel, the muscular love of his life. While Juliette missed the three tiny white dogs he brought to work with him each day—Lorna, Luna, and Carl—they were surely sharing a doggy churro and soaking up the sunshine. But it seemed like something new was definitely going on next door, and she was interested in finding out just what. And why all the noise in the middle of prime business hours?
“Excuse me?” she asked the man with the low-hanging tool belt tugging on his faded jeans.
He killed his oversized drill. “Yeah?”
“Is there a new establishment going into this space?”
He looked at her like she’d just requested a piggyback ride when he simply didn’t have time. A sigh. A shoulder droop. He pulled a folded sheet of yellow paper from his pocket. “Says here we were contracted by, uh, Candy. Wait. Make that Cotton Candy.” He shoved the form back in his pocket, crushing it in the process.
Interesting. A confectioner? That tracked, keeping with the whole dessert theme of the location. Maybe the space came with the right layout. She didn’t mind the idea. Maybe this new store would bring in more foot traffic than Cake For Days had. Maybe they’d scoop ice cream or make fresh chocolate in addition to their signature cotton candy. She could imagine the wonderful aromas wafting through the walls already. Perhaps it was an entire candy shop, which would be great for browsers to both stores. Greeting cards and a box of chocolates? A match made in heaven. She was liking this reciprocal relationship idea more and more.
“I’m getting a candy shop next door,” she told her best friend Cherry Atwater over drinks, a local porter for her and a white wine for Cherry. Thomas, her ex-husband, had been across the bar when they’d arrived but would likely abandon his football game and join them at some point.
“As in fresh chocolate? You are the lucky person of the day. In every bar, there’s always one of those.” Her eyes lit up like a five-year-old on water playday. “Think of all the sinful splurging I do when I visit you.”
“I was actually waiting for something good like this for The Station. It drastically needs a bump.” She shrugged. “I don’t know. I felt it in the air. That a change was coming my way. Maybe this new next-door neighbor is it.”
Cherry nodded with full-on passion. “If the candy place is anything like the one in Willy Wonka, then I’m visiting daily. I wonder if he’ll sing.” She grabbed Juliette’s wrist. “Did you see a ladder on wheels?”
“Who’s singing?” Thomas asked. His dark brows dropped as he attempted to follow the fast-paced conversation. He was generally a pretty serious-minded person, which is why they’d lived in such tepid harmony. Very few waves. “I’m late. Bengals are breaking my heart.” He slid the porter that matched Juliette’s onto the high top.
Juliette squinted. “Sorry about the Bengals, pal, but I think Cherry’s literally assuming the candy man from the Wonka film is going to break into song each time she arrives at the new shop going in next to mine.”
Cherry rubbed her hands together. “That would be sexy. I might gain weight, which I’m great with.”
“The candy man is not sexy. He’s cherublike and jolly.” Juliette was laughing, though, because that’s who Cherry was, innocent and good. If she could bottle half of Cherry’s benevolent approach to life, she’d surely be a happier person with probably lots more friends.
“Don’t tell me the candy man doesn’t get naked on occasion,” Thomas said with a casual shrug and grin. “He probably has a candy partner somewhere. Maybe even a sugar sidepiece.”
Cherry leaned in. “This is getting good. They probably pour chocolate on each other.”
Thomas nodded, mirroring Cherry’s lean. A strand of his dark hair fell onto his forehead. It was longer these days than the neatly trimmed haircuts he always sported when they were married. It looked good on him. “Oh, I know they do. C’mon.”
“You’re encouraging her.” Juliette winced through her laughter. “It’s getting disturbing. You cannot sexualize beloved characters from my childhood.”
“What do you think the Cat in the Hat does for pleasure?” Cherry asked. “Winnie the Pooh doesn’t even wear pants. I could take that places.”
“Don’t.” Juliette held up a finger. “We’re wildly off topic and careening into the land of traumatic.” But she was enjoying herself, loving these kind of laid-back evenings with these two.
“She’s not into sex that much,” Thomas said as if it was truly unfortunate news.
“Incorrect. I’m a lesbian, Thomas, we’ve covered this. I adore you, but an asterisk applies to our marriage. May it rest in peace.”
He shrugged. “There is that.” Juliette didn’t take too many risks in life, but facing the fact that her sexuality and her marriage didn’t match was at the top of her big moves list. Everyone had their standout moments, and that one had been hers. All in the past now.
It was Cherry’s turn to laugh. “One day Juliette is going to find the woman of her dreams, and I have a feeling they’re going to smolder.”
It was a nice thought. She smiled wistfully. “Just call me Winnie the Pooh. Who knows?”
Cherry always had her back, and she appreciated the gesture of encouragement. Even if she knew that she would likely never smolder with anyone. It wasn’t in her nature to get all hot and bothered. She wouldn’t mind a companion, though. Hand-holding, kissing on the couch, quiet evenings together. Sex was important, too, but it wasn’t a driving force in Juliette’s life. It was really nice when it happened, though.