The Hidden - Jessica Verday [64]
I nodded.
“Here you go.” She handed it off, and then caught sight of what was in my hands. “What’s that?”
“Um … Halloween costume?” I replied.
“Okay.” She looked at me like I was a bit crazy, then shrugged and turned back toward the line. I peeked over her shoulder. “What did you pick?”
“Since you’re going with the sexy red dancer dress, I went with one of those too. We’re going to bring a little Latin flare to the Hollow Ball.” She held her dress up so I could see it. It was super short, matte black, with ruffles that zigzagged along the hem and up one side.
“Niiiiiice,” I said.
She stepped up to the counter to pay, and I moved behind her. I couldn’t see who was at the register, but I recognized the tone. “Will this be all for you today?” a bored female voice asked.
My head whipped up. “Aubra?” I moved out of line so I could see her.
She gave me the barest hint of a smile. “Hey.” Then she turned back to Beth. “Cash or charge?”
“Charge.” Beth sat her purse up on the counter to dig through it, but it fell over. A tube of lip gloss and the perfume sample I’d made her went rolling. “Sorry,” she said, but Aubra was already reaching for the perfume.
“What’s this?” She opened it and sniffed.
Beth pointed back to me. “Abbey makes perfumes. That’s an exclusive one she made for me.” She said it with such an air of superiority that I had to hold back a grin.
Aubra smelled it again. “Smells good. Vanilla.” She capped the tiny bottle and reluctantly gave it back to Beth, who was standing there with her hand out.
“Can you make one of those for me, too?” Aubra asked, looking past Beth and directing her question to me.
“For a price,” Beth replied before I even had a chance to open my mouth. “Of course, it won’t be this blend exactly, since it’s an exclusive. But we can work something out.”
I cast an amused glance between the two of them.
Aubra nodded at Beth, then rang up her purchase. She motioned for me to move forward next, and I placed the red dress on the counter, being careful to hold on to my white dress. She tallied up my total, and I slid some cash across to her.
“So when can you make a perfume for me?” she asked, putting my dress into a plastic garment bag.
“Uh, I guess whenever,” I said.
“There will have to be a deposit,” Beth broke in. “Half of the formulation fee up front, and the other half on delivery.”
“How much will that be?”
“We’ll get back to you,” Beth said as she smoothly reached across the counter and picked up my dress. “Come on, Abbey. We have to go.”
I shrugged at Aubra, and followed Beth outside.
“That was awesome!” she exclaimed, turning to grin at me as we walked to the car. “Can you believe it? She is so totally sold on that perfume.”
“I need to hire you as my salesperson,” I joked.
“You’ve got that right.” Beth agreed. “I never liked Aubra. She’s such a bitch. We’ll have to jack up the formulation fee to include an I-hate-you charge.”
I laughed at her. “We can’t do that. Besides, I’m not even sure I can make her a perfume.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s hard to make perfumes for other people. Especially when I don’t know them that well.”
“But you don’t really know me. I mean, not super well. And you made me one.”
“That was different.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.” I struggled for words. “It just … was.”
“You can totally do this, Abbey. I’ll pimp you out to a bunch of other people I know too. They’ll eat it up.”
“I’m going to need that shop space sooner than I thought,” I mused absentmindedly.
“What shop?” she asked.
“My shop. My mom paid the rent for a year on a storefront downtown as an early graduation gift. So I can start Abbey’s Hollow.”
Beth turned to stare at me. “She did? That’s sweet!”
“Yeah. I just didn’t think I’d ever get the chance to actually follow through.”
“Why not?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Well, complicated or not, I just scored you your first client, sister, so I’m thinking I need to become your partner.”
I stayed silent on that one,