They kept coming, the insults and entreaties to break her parents’ rules, to break the law, to give him things, and when she said no he made her feel as bad as a person could be made to feel. These were all things Beau had said or done. Janey just hadn’t thought about them in a long time. She’d always been good at only remembering the good things. But now she saw Beau for what he really was, not a tortured artist, a near orphan who needed her and depended on her, but as a bully.
Hadn’t it been Beau who convinced her working in the family business would be a death sentence? He’d made fun of Sweet Chocolate their entire lives, joking about how they just made fat people fatter. He made Janey feel that returning home to work at the company just wasn’t an option. It had broken her dad’s heart when she told him she was going to New York to work with Beau instead of home to Charleston after graduate school.
Tears began to stream down her cheeks, but she didn’t feel any more pain, rather a sense of relief.
Slowly, she found her way back to the roof. The silver fox was the only one left upstairs, but Janey felt no apprehension about approaching this stranger. He smiled broadly at her and beckoned her to come closer. She sat down in front of him, their knees touching. Without speaking a word they stared into each other’s eyes. His were a deep and sincere blue. He reached out and grasped both of her hands. She examined a mole on his left cheek in the shape of a very tiny pineapple. Janey could feel calluses on his hands, harder and rougher on the left than on the right and surprising on such a dapper man. His high narrow cheekbones were slightly tanned, and there was a small dimple in his chin. He wore a chunky silver vintage Rolex on his left wrist, and now Janey could clearly see that he was not wearing a wedding ring but had a thin line of white where one might be.
He stared at her just as intensely, but she didn’t feel in the least self-conscious. Not once did she fidget to fix her hair or suck in her stomach. She felt an intense acceptance of herself and her body.
They stayed like that until Stella reappeared. She’d changed out of her jeans and into a flowing gossamer white dress. You’d have no idea the group of them were on a rooftop in Brooklyn. They could have been on a mountaintop in the Andes or on a beach in Brazil. The rest of the folks filed in behind the shaman and returned to new places around the circle. Janey kept the silver fox’s hand in hers. It felt strong.
Stella sat and began speaking.
“You’ve all gone through a process of soul retrieval. The medicine has helped to cleanse you of your negative thought patterns and unblock all of the good energy throughout each of your cells. You’ve taken steps to heal yourself and now you will be rewarded. Lie down, each of you lie down and look toward the heavens.”
Janey reluctantly let go of the silver fox’s hand and lay her head back into the downy cushion behind her. The sky had previously been moonless, but all of a sudden there was a violent outline of bright light shining around a perfect orb of darkness.
“Now is the time for healing and transforming past wounds. You are going to leave here a completely different human being. Let the light sink into each of you. Let the new you emerge from your cocoon.”
CHAPTER TEN
Janey hardly remembered the ride home from Stella’s place. She knew it had been dawn when she sandwiched between CJ and Ivy in the back of an Uber that one of the spiritual assistants had called for them. Their driver was an overweight Polynesian woman with a withering lei hanging from the rearview mirror. There wasn’t much talking, just some giggling as the three women held hands and smiled at one another. When she got home she picked up Boo Radley and kissed him on the snout. Unused to this kind of affection from Janey, the dachshund promptly hid in the closet. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and left her hair in the braid. When she finally lay down she passed out for the entire day, not waking again until the sun was coming up twenty-four hours later. She expected a headache to greet her when she opened her eyes, perhaps some queasiness and anxiety, the basic symptoms of a hangover, but was surprised to learn she felt amazing.
Sunlight rushed in from her east-facing windows. Maybe she should order breakfast in bed. Was there a service that would bring food over and place it neatly on a tray in a perfectly Instagramable shape along with fresh flowers and the New York Times? There must be. And if it didn’t exist maybe Janey should start it. She’d call it Bliss&Bed. She giggled to herself. What a wonderful idea! She reached over to her night table to grab her phone to make a note and quickly examined her new emails. One from CJ: I FEEL FUCKING AMAZING. WANT TO COME OVER FOR BREAKFAST. I THINK I MAY START TAKING BALLET LESSONS. And another from Ivy: “I’m so happy we’re spending so much time together. You’re a beautiful human being inside and out.” She didn’t curse once.
And then an email from someone named Hugh Albermarle.
Dear Janey,
I hope you don’t think this too presumptuous but I asked Stella for your email address this morning and she said you might be pleased to hear from me. We held hands last night. It was wonderful. Want to continue it over dinner?
Hugh
Silver Fox! He’d clearly woken up much earlier than Janey had. Was he asking her on a date? This clearly sounded like a date. Hugh was the second man to ask her on a date in as many weeks. After exchanging a couple of flirty one-liner emails over several days, she’d agreed to have dinner with the juice guy that very evening. She smiled, and perhaps due to her newfound new moon clarity, immediately responded without thinking about it too much.
Dear Hugh,
Not presumptuous at all. I’d love to continue some hand-holding over dinner. Name somewhere delicious.
Janey
Boo Radley always sensed when the doorbell was about to ring, and Janey saw him slink out from the closet and grow agitated.
“Who’s here, Boo?” she asked the straggly dachshund. She really should take him in for a haircut. Miss Lorna had Boo groomed at least once a week, which was probably another reason the animal despised Janey. She forced him to have a bad hair day every day.
And, like clockwork, the doorbell buzzed. Janey hit the intercom to see who it could be.
“Hi. This is Alex from Sprig with your breakfast delivery.”
At first she wondered if she’d somehow conjured Bliss&Bed just by thinking about it. Stella would be so proud. But then she remembered that CJ had promised to find her the very best, the freshest, the most organic and the healthiest daily food delivery service.
Janey opened the door to find a model-handsome college-aged boy dressed as a farmer in light denim overalls and a plaid hunting coat.