Read Online Body Bags & Blarney by J.D. Shaw - Free Book Online Page A

when
she flew down to Florida over President’s Day weekend with a photographer she
had met while working at Clara’s a few weeks back.” Stephanie recalled. “He
paid for the trip and got her a job modeling in a fashion show down in South
Beach. As luck would have it, Johnny Guido happened to be attending the fashion
show as his family’s business provided the jewelry for the models to wear. You
know it must be true love because she changed her relationship status on Social
Butterfly to ‘it’s complicated’.”
    “Oh, I hate
that status option.” Vivienne rolled her eyes. “If your relationship is that
hard to define, why even mention it?”
    “Exactly.”
Stephanie grinned. “She also has this annoying habit of posting pictures of
herself with ten hashtags after it.”
    “I don’t even
know what those are for, but that still annoys the hell out of me.” Vivienne
laughed.
    Stephanie
paused on one of Alexis’ posed photos on Social Butterfly. It was a still photo
from one of her modeling jobs. “I just wish that I could look that glamorous
for once.” She sighed. “Like Cinderella waiting to go to the castle ball.”
    Vivienne
snapped her fingers. “I need you to call Nouveau You Salon for me.”
    “Sure.”
Stephanie picked up the phone. “Did they order something?”
    “No.” Vivienne
continued. “We’re making two appointments to get some fairy dust sprinkled on
us before tomorrow night’s ball.”
    “Oh, I’d love
to but my books for the spring semester ate up most of my rainy day fund.”
Stephanie sighed. “But I’ll make one for you.”
    “You don’t
believe in your fairy godmother?” Vivienne put her hands on her hips and picked
up a whisk. “Is my wand not impressive enough?”
    “Oh, Vivienne.”
Stephanie gushed. “You don’t have to do this.”
    “Yes I do.”
Vivienne waved the whisk at her. “All you have to do is believe.”
    Stephanie
blushed. “You are so kind to me.”
    “And you are
the best assistant I could ask for. So, let’s close up early tomorrow and have
a girl’s afternoon at the salon before Kathy’s party.” Vivienne walked over and
lightly tapped her on the head with the whisk. “We all need to believe in the
power of magic.”
    “I do now.”
Stephanie replied as she dialed the salon. She excitedly asked about booking
two appointments for Friday afternoon and then her enthusiasm faded. “Well, I
understand. Thank you anyway.” She hung up the phone. “They’re all booked for
tomorrow.”
    “No way.”
Vivienne shook her head.
    “It was a nice
thought, though.” Stephanie got up from the stool at the front counter. “I
better start another batch of Irish soda bread.”
    “I’m sorry,
Stephanie.” Vivienne set the whisk down.
    “I still
believe in magic, though.” She gave a little smile and walked back into the
stockroom to get supplies to make dough.
    Vivienne
wasn’t about to let their moment slip away so easily. “Well, it’s a good thing
that my magic is real.” She whispered and set the whisk down on the counter in
the work area.
    She hurried
over to the computer and moved the mouse pointer over to a folder on the
desktop display named ‘Recipe Backup’. She double clicked on the icon and it
prompted her for the password to unlock it. With a few clicks of the keys she
accessed the folder contents which had several custom recipes stored for safe
keeping and another file named ‘M1’. When she opened that file, the screen
filled with spells she had transcribed into the computer from her magical
grimoire. Beginning with the time reversal spell she had discovered back in the
fall, she made sure to add each newly decoded magical incantation to the
database as a backup, should the real thing ever go missing.
    Her magical
homework was often ignored in lieu of running her bakery, but over the past few
months she had made an effort to devote at least three nights a week to magical
studies. The fruits of such labor had yielded about