Chapter Five: Claire
It was a busy day in the shop and, for that, Claire was grateful. Staying busy kept her from overthinking, and plenty of things were plaguing her thoughts. Just a glance at the statues in the corner had her thinking again, and she headed over to them with a soft cloth.
She ran the cloth over Athena’s spotless shoulders as she thought about Desmond. He was an enigma, and it seemed like he took great pleasure in upsetting or surprising her. She felt a mix of intrigue and confusion. She thought this man was one way and at every turn, he seemed to be out to prove her wrong.
“I could use a little wisdom here,” she muttered, making sure there was no dust in Athena’s sculpted hair either. The statue didn’t answer, but she felt better anyway.
The approach of a young girl interrupted her thoughts. “Are you positive this will make someone fall in love with me?” the girl said with a red face. Her two friends were giggling behind her and had been since they walked into the store. Claire could tell they were silly teenagers and had spent the past ten minutes trying to figure out if they would actually buy something or not. She wished they would make up their minds so she could focus on something else instead of their giggling voices.
“Yes. It will cause any existing attraction to focus on you.”
“What if she gives it to another girl?” one of the other girls asked, causing the first girl to blush a deeper red.
“That’s not how the potion works,” Claire said, sighing. “Unless her love interest is a woman, it will be useless. Most of this stuff works by focusing your will and intent, not by itself.” She took a moment to think about the feelings of the blushing customer in front of her and smiled conspiratorially. “Imagine what would happen if anyone who got exposed to a love potion fell in love with the person responsible. I probably spill one of these every week in here, and so far, no one’s fallen in love with me.” She winked, and the girl’s blushes calmed down.
That was how she spent the first half of her day, chatting with customers, preventing teenagers from spending all their money on costly spell ingredients when there were almost always perfectly good substitutes, and in general good shop keeping. There was a lot to making sure the store was running smoothly and that people really understood what they were buying because these weren’t just cute items to put in your house, but things that were supposed to help a person. She made it a personal policy not to sell anything that was purely supposed to cause harm to someone else. She’d never be able to shake the sense of responsibility if something she sold caused a major accident, or worse. All of this fell on Claire, too. It was a day’s work, and Claire was grateful for the afternoon lull.
It was during this slow point that she would take her lunch break, though never closing the store or making herself a glass of tea. She turned to the expensive tea maker Frank and Violet got her in thanks and scowled.
She preferred making tea the original way, with a kettle and a tea bag. Even though it took longer and was more work, she liked it that way. Still, the machine was convenient, and it didn’t take too much of her counter space. Instead of going to the back to heat her kettle on the small burner she bought, she could make herself or a customer a cup of tea or coffee right there. It was far more convenient than her way, and the customers loved it, so she couldn’t complain too much.
She sighed as she took the flat bag of peppermint tea and stuck it into the slot. Just as the machine started spitting out the heated liquid, two men walked in.
“So much for that,” she mumbled, setting the cup aside as she welcomed the two. “Hi, welcome to Crystalline Aurora. Can I help you?”
She wanted to call them a couple but just because they came in together didn’t mean they were actually in a relationship. Something in the way one man hovered beside the other made her sure they were together in some way.
“No, we’re just browsing,” the balding one said, and the other nodded.
“Well, I’d be happy to show you around,” she said. “You two from around here?”
“Yeah. We live around here,” the balding one spoke up again, waving his hand vaguely to the east.
There was no way they were from around here. Claire could see that much from their outfits and their accents. These were not men from anywhere in the greater metro area as far as Claire could tell, but who was she to call them out on the lie, especially when she didn’t know why they were here.
“Well, the locally made jewelry is right there,” she said, pointing to the corner. They barely glanced at it before continuing on to the dragon section.
The dragon section was a lot like a booby trap. Anyone too caught up over there made her spider senses tingle. She watched those people carefully and was extra careful answering any questions someone near that section was asking. She was always very careful not to talk about shifters or even imply with the display that they were real.
Even when she was in company, she knew to still be cautious with what she said aloud. There was nothing incriminating or real in the dragon section. It only had a few books of mythical stories, fake dragon scales, and a couple of miniature sculptures. She had toyed with the idea of not having a dragon section, but all her research told her that she couldn’t have a proper New Age shop without some nod to the popular mythology. No one ever thought enough about it, but the section still made her nervous, just like the guys in the store were making her right then. There was a bad feeling boiling in her stomach.
The bald guy trailed his finger over the scale while flipping through the book. Seeing nothing he liked, he set the book down with an ominous thump. Claire’s stomach clenched as he walked toward her with purpose.
“What do you know about the dragons in this area?” he asked, as though he were about to take notes.
“Excuse me?” she said, stepping away from the counter, though it was the only thing separating them.
“The local dragon population, what do you know about it?”
“I think you’re crazy,” she replied. Whether or not they had information, she did think he was crazy for just walking in and asking about dragons. “Everyone knows these things aren’t real. That’s why they buy them.”
“You know that’s not true,” he said, stepping forward until his stomach touched against the counter. “Besides,” he said, reeking of fake charm, “you don’t strike me as the kind of woman to sell ruses. “
“You don’t know anything about me,” she snapped as she narrowly avoided gesturing toward some of the more implausible divination tools. It wouldn’t do to imply that she thought fortune telling was a ruse since it was her bread and butter in the slow seasons.
“I know your friend Violet just got married to a very questionable character,” he said, smiling though it came across as creepy instead of amused as he leaned across the counter.
“I know you better back away from this counter before I–”
“Hey, you,” Desmond said, sliding behind the counter up to Claire and kissing her on the cheek.
“Hey,” Claire said, not sure how to feel about him kissing her cheek though she was comforted by his presence. She wanted to both push him away and pull him closer. She did neither.
“What’s going on here?” he said, glancing at the man still staring at her.
“Nothing. Just some creep who seems to have no understanding of personal space.”
Desmond took a step forward, and Claire couldn’t help being a little turned on, even though the creep seemed to not get how afraid he should be.
“I know you know something,” the man sneered, unfazed by Desmond’s appearance. “Your little bodyguard won’t stop me from figuring out what it is.”
“Are you planning to buy anything?” Desmond asked pointedly.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” the balding man scowled.
“Yes, I would. In fact, what’s your name?” Desmond said, crossing his arms.
“Gibson,” he said, and looked around the store as if hoping something fell out of the sky.
“If you don’t plan to buy anything, I think you should leave,” Desmond said, sliding in front of Claire. “Now.”
The man huffed. “Fine. Come on, Charles,” he said to the man he came with. “We were leaving anyway.”
Claire waited until she was sure they were out the door and gone before turning to Desmond. “What do you think you’re doing?
Desmond smiled at her like he was delighted to see her so upset and said, “Helping,” as if his actions were self-explanatory.
“Yeah well, the next time you want to help, don’t. I don’t need your help. I was just fine before you came in. Oh, you guys are all the same, coming in, thinking we all need knights in shining armor. Well, we don’t,” she said cutting her hands through the air. “I can be scary all by myself. I don’t need a man by my side to do it. The idea that I need a man, well…it’s just…just a tool of the patriarchy, and I won’t be party to it. Who do you think you are anyway? James Bond? Just because you wear nice suits doesn’t mean you are him. I don’t need saving. I ’ve had my own back for as long as I can remember and if you hadn’t have stepped in I would have handled it, but…thanks,” she said, winded and out of breath.
He smiled and bent to kiss her cheek. “See you around,” he said, and walked out the door, leaving Claire bewildered.
“What is that man doing to me?” she mumbled before grabbing her cup and grimacing when she took a sip of her now cold tea.