Page 132 of The Witching Hours

“I feel butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it.”

“What about beauty?” The adjacent wall was a grid of magazine covers.Elle,Vogue,Vanity Fair, andCosmopolitanfeaturing out of this world air brushings. Anne Hathaway’s glitzy gangsta look. Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins. Margo Robbie, wine aficionado.

“You do realize there’s an insult in that question, don’t you?”

For a fraction of a second, Winkleman looked alarmed. “Of course that is not a personal assessment of your physical presentation. But many people, even the most beautiful, want to be someone else.”

“We all want what we didn’t get?”

He nodded. “Yes. Very astute.”

We passed another partition and stepped into a room that looked like a midcentury London men’s club. Priceless wood paneling. Priceless rugs. Big, comfy, leather furniture in hues the color of pinot noir. A hand-carved bar ran the length of the room and was attended by someone who was clearly at the top of his game. Although, all who entered would instinctively know the house drink was whiskey neat. In the middle of this sumptuous luxury sat a vintage roulette wheel.

“Roulette?” he asked.

“I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to get around to asking if I want the experience of being mega rich.”

“It wasn’t my intention to offer money.” He pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. “Do you want that?”

“No.” He didn’t move and didn’t respond. It was as if he was waiting for an explanation as to why I keep mentioning things I wouldn’t choose. “Just an observation. I mean money isattractive. Obviously. Of course, I do have five thousand dollars that I didn’t have when I came in.”

“On loan.”

“Right. You were saying about roulette?”

“Oh!” He clapped his hands. “You are simply going to love this. If you’re feeling lucky, you can use the roulette table to place a wager with the house. Two for one.” His smile told me he was as proud as if he’d thought of it. And maybe he did.

“You mean, if I win, I get two, um, experiences?”

“Yes!”

“And if I lose, I go away emptyhanded?”

He was nodding enthusiastically. “Why in the world would I trust the ‘house’ to play fair?”

His face dropped. “Play fair?” He sounded sincerely offended, but that’s exactly what a crook would do. “Ms. Campbell. Cheating is simply not done here. It could even be beyond the possible.”

I laughed. “Good one. Cheating is impossible in the Curious Goods store.”

After crossing his arms, he said, “Well, since I have no way to prove the roulette wheel is a legitimate game of chance, nothing more, nothing less, we might as well move on.”

“Look, Winkleman. I like you. I mean, you know, how could I not? You’re likable. But I’ve learned the hard way that my judge of character is faulty. The world is full of con artists who give every indication of being good old guys.” Winkleman said nothing. “Okay. You’re right. This can’t be resolved with talking. Let’s move on.”

“I must say I could count on one hand the number of times I’ve had the opportunity to show a customereverythingpossible. Most people claim their heart’s desire before we reach the end. You’ve taken me through my paces.”

I looked around, feeling a little alarmed that there wasn’t more. I don’t know what I’d expected. That human experience is limitless?

“So, that’s it? We’re at the end?”

“Not quite,” he said. “But we’re close. I have one more thing to show you and it’s different from anything else you’ve seen. Completely atypical to the spirit of the store.”

“Really. What is it?”

“It’s the opportunity to opt out of choosing the ultimate bucket list item and give your experience away to someone else.” I guess he could see by my expression that I wanted to hear more. “You could either choose to give an experience to another deserving individual, or you could name a group to become the beneficiary of your generosity.”

“That’s a little vague. Give me more details about choices.”

“For example, you worry about your father being alone after a lifetime as half of a couple. You might wish the perfect companion would cross paths with him.”