Page 79 of Ashes of Us

Danica pulled up to the Mystical Emporium a little after six on Halloween night.

She had left the office a bit early, but it still took over an hour to get into Salem and navigate the number of trick-or-treaters that clogged the streets.

Emilia had been texting her pictures of her outfits all afternoon, and Danica had to admit that they were very beautiful, even if they weren't necessarily her style of clothes.

Jynx's Phoenix-inspired line incorporated a lot of burnt oranges, reds, yellows, blacks and dark greys with floaty, asymmetrical fabrics and long flowing lines, while Raven's Siren-inspired line was done in shades of blues, greens, light greys and whites.

It also had the floaty, flowing lines to the fabric, but the only way Danica could think to describe it was beach bondage, with ropes of pearls or netting used as embellishments.

Both lines ran the gamut of casual to more of a high-fashion, fantasy feel, though, and it did seem like there was something for everyone.

After she finally managed to find a parking spot, she half walked, half jogged up the sidewalk and entered the store, which was packed.

Pausing to catch her breath, she looked around for someone she recognized, finally spotting Raven.

Or at least, she thought it was Raven since she was wearing a long, elegant dress from the Siren line, and hurried up to her.

“Hi! Sorry, I'm late, traffic...” She trailed off as Raven turned and smiled broadly at her.

“No problem! Salem is a bitch to get around on Halloween, I'm impressed you're here already.” The low husky voice confirmed her suspicions that it was Raven, and she followed her as she motioned for Danica to follow her and led her through the crowd to a bookcase in the back, pressing up on one of the shelves so a door opened and led her through.

The noise of the shop dropped off significantly as the door closed behind them.

“This is where our offices, staff room, and stock storage are.” She explained as she led Danica to a large room with two sewing tables, walls with shelving holding numerous bolts of fabric, sewing forms and mannequins and two desks with huge computer setups.

“Here's your rack with your outfits.” Raven came to a stop next to a rack of clothing with her name on it and next to a rack that had Emilia's on it.

There were six other racks of clothes, three of them mostly empty and the names had been taken off them.

“There are a couple of different outfits for you to choose from, just wear whatever you're comfortable in.

You get two twenty-minute breaks, one at eight and one at ten, fifteen minutes to rest and five to change into the next outfit.

Emilia gave us your sizes and a general idea of what you normally wear, but if something isn't fitting properly, send me or Jynx a text with a picture of the clothing and if you need to go up or down a size, we'll bring it to you.” She pointed to a whiteboard that had her and Jynx's names on it and their phone numbers.

“When you're ready, just come on out and wander around the store. Each piece of clothing has a brief description, including where to find it and the price, so you can direct people to it if they ask. Any questions?”

“No?” Danica let out a bemused chuckle and shook her head.

“I mean, it all sounds straightforward and I'm sure I'll figure it out.” Raven patted her shoulder and said she was sure she would do a great job.

She then left her to change behind a screen they had set up near the racks.

Figuring Emilia owed her big time for this, she grabbed a pair of jeans and a top from the phoenix line and changed into them quickly, leaving her clothes and purse on the rack.

Out on the floor, Danica walked around, saying hello to everyone as she came across them in the crowd, but everyone was busy and could only talk for a few minutes.

The evening went by quickly once Danica got into the swing of things.

The store was beautifully decorated, and she enjoyed checking out the new stock and people's outfits and costumes as they came and went.

Emilia was in her element and was talking to everyone who gave her a second glance.

Danica was pretty sure that over half of Raven and Jynx's sales were due to her praising the clothes.

By the time midnight rolled around, Danica was exhausted, and when someone tapped her on the shoulder while she helped one of the staff pick up some of the trash around the store, she thought she was dreaming when she turned and saw Alex standing behind her.

“Hey,” She murmured, reaching out and lightly poking his arm to make sure she was actually seeing him. “Why're you here?”

Grinning, Alex took the garbage bag from her and held it open. “Xavier was picking up Emilia, and I tagged along because I figured you'd be exhausted and would appreciate someone else driving you home.”

“Oh my god.” Danica felt her whole body relax.

She had been dreading the drive back to her place and had honestly debated asking Antonia if she could crash on her couch.

“You're a lifesaver.” She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his waist as she leaned her forehead on his chest. “And the best.” Alex chuckled as his arms went around her shoulders, and he gave her a tight hug.

“Come on, let's get the rest of this garbage cleaned up and get you home.” She felt him duck and kiss the top of her head quickly.

“You look ready to collapse.” Sighing, Danica released him and nodded.

With his help, they finished her section quickly and added the bag of garbage to the pile by the stock entrance in the back.

“Give me two seconds to change and grab my things.” Danica stretched as she walked to the office.

“Don't change on my account.” Alex leaned against the wall and folded his arms with a smirk. “You look incredible.”

Danica glanced down at herself. She was in a shirt and skirt combo from the Siren line in light blue that she thought was cute but had no idea where she would wear it again.

“Thanks.” She knew immediately that she was blushing because of the heat in her face and ducked her head to hide it as she went through the door.

She could hear his low rumbling laugh as the door closed and knew he had clocked the redness.

He would occasionally make comments that let her know that he thought she was attractive, especially after the wet, silk robe incident in Charlotte and as they became closer and more comfortable with one another.

He also seemed to get a kick out of making her blush and would sometimes make very blatant comments that were meant to throw her off and make her flustered.

She had yet to find out what embarrassed him, not for a lack of trying, but he would either laugh, agree with her, or shrug it off when she said something she thought might have that effect on him.

As she quickly changed her clothes and collected her things, she thought back to a conversation she had with Cecil the week before, when they finally got around to going through the garage and organizing it so he could start working on cars again.

It had taken a while to get the special permission from the city to open his garage.

Now he was working on getting the right insurance, registrations, and licenses, but things were progressing quickly, and he wanted to be ready to open when he got everything together.

She asked him if he had heard anything about Amy, and he let her know that Amy had reached out and apologized to him for the way she had behaved.

“She didn't ask to get back together, actually, she made it very clear that she considers what I did, leaving her and coming to stay with you, a huge betrayal.” He scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Never mind that she was the one who told me she wanted a divorce, but anyway, she couldn't find it in her heart to forgive me and wanted to continue with the divorce process.”

Danica shook her head, laughing. “Wow, there is a level of delusion there that is way higher than I would have thought possible.”

“Right?” Cecil grumbled under his breath as he helped her empty Jasper's toolbox, dividing the tools into three piles: what he wanted, what she wanted and what they were going to give away.

“Anyway, at least now she's not fighting me on selling the house or the division of assets.

She's very magnanimously agreed to sign the GTO over to me, which I'm sure has nothing to do with the fact that she found out marital assets are divided evenly between spouses here.”

“So where is she going?” Danica asked curiously. “Into the seniors' village?”

“Yeah, we already made the deposit, and the place is available on the first.” He pulled open the last drawer and started emptying it.

“Whatever, I hope she's happy there. Or as happy as she can be anyway.

I've come to the conclusion that she's not really capable of that and hasn't been since Jasper discovered how his dick worked at fourteen.”

Danica suppressed her snort of laughter.

She could see how Jasper's dating would have sent Amy into a spiral of unhappiness; she clearly hadn't liked having to share him.

They worked in silence for a little bit, and then Cecil cleared his throat.

“I uh, I met someone.” Seeing Danica's look of surprise, he shrugged sheepishly.

“I've actually known her for a couple of years.

She's been bringing her car to my garage since she first moved here, and we became friends, nothing that crossed lines or anything, but she also drove a GTO, so we would talk when she came in for maintenance or whatever. She reached out and offered her condolences about Jasper after she saw his obituary, and we met for coffee when I got back from New Hampshire. Turns out, we have more in common than just cars.”

“We're taking it slow. The most that's happened is a hug.” Danica could tell Cecil felt guilty about finding someone he was interested in so soon after his marriage ended. “But I really enjoy spending time with her.”

“Well...” Danica took a deep breath as she sat back on her heels. “Then I think you should keep spending time with her.” She couldn't fault him for what he was doing when she was leaning heavily on Alex and enjoying her time with him. “Everyone deserves happiness.”

Cecil smiled sadly at her. “Yeah, you included.” He cleared his throat.

“You were never really happy with Jasper.

You loved him, but I could see he drained you.

It's hard loving someone who isn't on the same page as you are with everything, and in a lot of ways, I think your relationship and marriage to Jasper was a case of both of you wanting certain personality traits the other had. You wanted to be more carefree, more relaxed and easier going, and he wanted to be more responsible and in control.” He reached out and patted her hand. “A classic case of opposites attract.”

Danica laughed. She had to agree that was a pretty succinct summary of her relationship with Jasper.

“I think, if Jasper had lived, you guys would have figured out a way to make things work, but it would have taken a lot of patience and work.” Cecil continued, standing up and holding out his hand to help her to her feet.

“And I'm not saying relationships and marriages should be easy or that you shouldn't have to work on them, but it shouldn't be hard, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah.” Danica nodded, understanding what he was saying. “I understand.”

She wasn't exactly sure, but to her, it sounded like Cecil was trying to let her know it was okay to move on and find someone who was better suited to be with her.

Grabbing her things, she took a deep breath and glanced at the door.

The more time she spent with Alex, the more she knew Cecil was right.

Jasper had allowed her to have fun, to relax and be more in the moment, but their relationship had been a lot of work and involved a lot of patience on both their parts.

In contrast, with Alex, things were easier and came more naturally.

Hoping she wasn't imagining things, she left the room and smiled when she saw Alex still in the same position, leaning against the wall, waiting for her.

“Ready?” He straightened up and dropped a casual arm around her shoulders as they walked out.

“Very ready.” She leaned on him a little, her feet aching after spending the better portion of six hours on her feet in heels. They said their goodbyes to Antonia, Raven and Jynx, and she pointed him in the direction of her car. “Did Emilia and Xavier already leave?”

“Yeah, he texted and said he had to practically carry her to the car, she was so exhausted, and they'd see us later.” He held out his hand. “Keys, please.” Danica found them in her purse and handed them over to him.

“Thanks for coming to get me, you didn't have to.” She murmured as he unlocked the passenger door for her.

“No problem. Trick or treating was fun, I got to wear a poorly fitting Iron Man costume, and Benny made a great Captain America.” He grinned as he helped her in.

“Delilah was an adorable Wednesday Adams, and Xavier was a not-so-cute Uncle Fester.

Unfortunately, Gracie wasn't interested in wearing her costume but was happy to sit in the wagon and put the costume on Indie.” He passed her his phone and closed her door as Danica smiled, flicking through pictures of Indie wearing Gracie's bee costume.

When he got in, she passed him back his phone. “Make sure you send me those.” She murmured, putting her seat back a little and making herself comfortable. She was about to close her eyes when Alex passed her his jacket.

“Have a nap, I'll wake you when we get home.”