Ticket 1207 Read Free Page A

sad.”
    “You don’t even know her. You’ve had a couple of casual conversations. Have you ever considered that you might be totally let down if you do get to really know who she is?” Vera put her hand on Shawn’s. “I’m saying this because I love you. For all you know, Jill could be a self-centered asshole. You live in your head way too much, and you’ve made this stranger into the woman you want because you like the way she looks. You’re infatuated with a fantasy.” Vera patted Shawn’s hand when her phone rang, then she answered. “Hey, you…”
    Shawn stared at the flame flickering on the candle in the middle of the table where they sat. Everything that Vera had said was true. She was tired of relationships that were unsatisfying and hoping that the right woman would come along. For years, she dreamed about the one who would be perfect, and over time, she’d constructed that woman in her mind. Ms. Perfection had a sense of humor and liked all the same things that Shawn did. She was gregarious and outgoing, the one who would do all the talking on social occasions but would only have eyes for Shawn. She’d be a homebody, someone who liked to curl up next to the fire with a book or lie on the couch and watch movies. This perfect woman would always say the right things and be awesome in bed because they would connect on an emotional and physical level.
    Vera ended her call and motioned for the server again. “I have to go. Dustin’s back in town, and he’s very anxious to see me. Don’t worry about me going to the shop, I may not see daylight for days.”
    *******
    Theo didn’t need a bell on her shop door. Every time it opened, a gust of wind blew in and knocked things off a shelf nearby. She could hear shoes shuffling along one of the aisles, and in her mirror, she could see Jill as she picked up a candle and sniffed at it. “Welcome, nonbeliever.”
    “Do people really buy this shit? Do I even want to know what amorous root is?”
    “If you can’t figure that out on your own, then you need more help than I thought you did,” Theo said as she straightened a few items near her register. “Amorous is pretty straightforward.”
    Jill stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jacket as she approached Theo. “How do you live with yourself?”
    “Just fine when I bathe.” Theo grinned when Jill frowned at her. “You think it’s a sham that I sell things like love potions and healing elixirs. You see it all as worthless, but if you were to go down to Bourbon Street and look in some of those shops, you wouldn’t think a thing about a penis hat. Sure, they fun when you’re drunk out of your skull, but what value does it hold?”
    “Nobody puts their hope in a hat with a pecker on it, especially not me.”
    Theo nodded with a smile. “I shoulda said vagina hat.”
    “You’re putting price tags on lies.”
    Theo jutted her chin. “When folks leave my shop, they hopes are fulfilled. You afraid to hope, that’s yo problem.”
    “I don’t have a problem.”
    Theo noted the defiance on Jill’s face. “So you say. Tell me why you here.”
    “I just wanted to see what Theo Brasseaux’s Shop of Voodoo was all about.” Jill picked up a small cloth pouch. “What is this?”
    “Ground-up goat nuts, it goes into a restraining potion.”
    Jill immediately dropped it back into its spot. “Monkey paw,” she read on another label. “All of this stuff appears to be ground up, so one doesn’t know what it really is.”
    “How does it feel to be so faithless?”
    “Pretty good, my money is still in my pocket,” Jill said with a smile.
    “Keep it there and let ol’ Theo give you a gift.”
    “No, we’re square, you—” Jill’s face fell slack when something wet hit her in the face. “That had better not be ground-up goat nut potion.”
    Theo poured more of the liquid in her hand and tossed it at Jill. “Now tell me what you want.”
    “Nothing.”
    “Liar.” Theo didn’t bother with