I squeaked. I literally squeaked. It was the only sound that would come out of my mouth. My heart pounded in my ears. My vision tunneled until only the table in front of me, and the five occupants and one talking cat, were visible. The rest of the room fell away. If I’d turned my head, I would see nothing but stars and space and sky.
A bubble beyond time and space enclosed us.
This was what dying felt like. I died in my sleep yesterday. Or that headache last week had actually been a stroke, and I’d passed into the great beyond. It was all a horrible nightmare. It was all a fantastical dream.
I wanted to ask. I couldn’t ask. No words would form, and six pairs of eyes watched me, waiting with the expectation that I knew what to do. I opened my mouth to ask questions, to scream, to expel the buildup of pressure causing intense pain that radiated through my throat and down my neck.
Only one sentence came out, and I hadn’t expected to say it.
“Simone Bardot, Acting Division Head for Magnolia Mental Health and Ephemeral Supreme of Magnolia Therapy and Wellness.”
I didn’t even know what ephemeral meant. As if on autopilot, I crossed my hands and placed them on the spiral in front of me.
Though it seemed like the entire process took several minutes, it had all happened before the clock reached the final gong. And as the clock struck six, the space around me cleared. We were sitting at a table again, with all but one chair filled. Brianne and I at the heads, Lauren and Ethan on the right, Gumbo and the Twins on the left.
And the booklet in front of me was no longer blank. Letters printed in a deep green ink floated to the surface.
Magnolia Therapy and Wellness
Monthly Board Meeting
My throat immediately cleared once I’d said the words. I followed suit with everyone else and opened the binder to the first page. It was titledSecond Quarter Recap. I recognized some of the words from my own business accounting. Profit and loss. Annual projections. Blah blah blah.
Brianne read over them. Occasionally, Lydia or Lyra interjected but for the most part they all nodded and appeared to be following along. I turned the page when they did, feeling like I was in some sort of fever dream. Twilight Zone music played in my head.
“The Magnolia Medspa exceeded projected growth beyond the first quarter.” Lydia’s voice reminded me of birds chirping a morning song. Her statements rose and fell like they were lyrics in a poem. As she spoke, she gave me a crooked grin. My stomach danced. She could haveasked me to pull my last hundred dollars out of my wallet, and I would have offered it to her on one knee. “The Mardi Gras recovery treatments were a big hit. Our goal will be to maintain that growth and ensure that at least seventy percent of the new clientele the packages brought in become repeat customers.”
Her smile broadened and her eyes held mine.
“Don’t you think that’s a good number, Simone?” Oh, boy. The way she said my name. I could have purred.
Everything was so topsy-turvy. Ethan and Lauren were shifting uncomfortably in their chairs. Was I supposed to say something? I thought back on what she’d said, something about packages and clients.
Right. Customers. Because this was a business, and I was supposed to own it. I shook my head to clear the fog. It didn’t work.
“How—?” I licked my lips and took a sip of water. “How do you plan to do that? Maintain seventy percent, I mean? Is that a reasonable expectation?”
There. I’d said logical-type words. Go me. Her lips pursed, the slightest deepening of her brow line telling me I’d not behaved the way she expected.
“I know,” she whispered to her sister, who I was pretty sure hadn’t said anything. “We offer beyond excellent customer service. And Lyra and I discussed throwing in surprise complimentary offerings. For example, if they were given a gift certificate and used it for a Mane Blowout, we’d throw in a Claws and Cuticles Manicure while I had them in the chair.”
“That was my idea.” If Lydia’s voice was birdsong, Lyra’s was the melody of every beautiful instrument playing the harmony of the universe at once. It didn’t so much fill the room as it did create the very particles of air I was breathing. My heart fluttered. It literally fluttered like I was a teenager. “A large portion of the Valentine’s packages were to the local werewolf pack’s fated mates. As soon as summer warmed their fur, they redeemed them. And they tip well.”
“I love it. It’s beautiful and perfect.” I heard myself say it, but I wasn’t really there. I was floating in an otherworld where talking about fated mates and manes made sense. Something rushed through the air to tickle me, and I giggled.
“April is traditionally slow when Mardi Gras falls in March. A surprising number of the supernatural practice Lent. But Mother’s Daywas strong, and we began summer treatments in June, so my projections for the quarter held.” She looked my way again, her voice brusque and lovely. “The projections for Q3 are there for you to read. I anticipate a drop now that word has gotten around that we are… in flux.”
“I don’t think we’ll be in flux for very long.” Brianne nodded at me. “If we drop at all, I expect we’ll rebound quickly.”
Deep down, I got the sense that Brianne was complimenting me, or maybe encouraging me. The sneer on Lydia’s face told me she didn’t have the same faith. But I didn’t care. As long as she kept talking.
Instead, she leaned back, and Lyra leaned forward.
“We ran out of purple and green body dyes after Mardi Gras. Plenty of gold, though.” There was shared laughter around the table for the joke I didn’t get. Lyra fluttered her eyes at me as she spoke. I giggled in return. Why the hell was I giggling so much?
“I’ve requisitioned more from the druids. They say House isn’t cooperating. That it doesn’t have the energy to grow what they need. Or won’t.” Her expression shifted as she glared at me. I’d let her down. I had no idea how, but the sadness of it punched me like a fist to the stomach.
“I’m sorry,” I heard myself say. Did she say druids? And that the house wasn’t cooperating? Some of it was getting through, like an insistent alarm interrupting a happy dream. But I just wanted to float.
