Reflection Point

chapter NINE





As Savannah’s chin dropped, the salon door opened and Celeste Blessing swept inside. “Hello hello! I’m so sorry I’m late.”

Caught off guard by both Gabi’s revelation and Celeste’s appearance, Savannah grimaced. Judging by the other women’s reactions, it must have been a particularly vivid expression. Idiot! You’re here to sell something to Celeste Blessing, remember? Must you always shoot yourself in the foot?

Celeste carried a canvas tote bag sporting the Angel’s Rest logo, and she set the bag on the salon’s checkout counter. “Oh, Gabriella, I love that color. It’s A Good Mandarin Is Hard to Find, isn’t it? That’s my favorite summer orange.”

“I love it, too.” Gabi wiggled her toes.

“And that’s a luscious red you chose, Savannah. So lovely with your skin tone. I’m afraid I can’t wear pretty reds like that. The color just washes me out.”

Savannah smiled, but she suspected it looked sickly.

Celeste continued, “So, Gabi, are you all settled in at Nightingale Cottage?”

“I am. I love it so much you might never get rid of me.” To Savannah she explained, “I’ve rented one of the cottages at Angel’s Rest for the summer. It’s perfect for me. One bedroom with a small living area and kitchenette, which is exactly what I need because I’m not much of a cook. Best of all, it’s steps away from Angel Creek, and nothing soothes me like the sound of a babbling brook. If the job works out and my mother decides to move here, too, I’ll look at getting something more permanent.”

“You’re going to love the job,” Celeste assured her. “Zach is a great guy, and Ginger Harris says he’s a good man to work for.”

“I like Zach a lot.”

Something in her tone caused Savannah to look at Gabi closely. Was she interested in him? After her never-date-a-cop talk?

Gabi continued. “He’s so much like my brother Max that it’s scary. I get along with my brothers as a rule, so I think I’ll work with Zach just fine.”

That didn’t sound like a romantic thing. When Savannah realized that the emotion she felt was relief, she grimaced.

Celeste smiled beatifically. “I predict that Eternity Springs will work its magic on your entire family.” Turning to Savannah, she said, “Shall we adjourn to the Tranquillity Room? I think it offers the best surroundings for your presentation.”

“Whatever you’d like, Celeste. I’m ready.”

Nerves fluttered in Savannah’s stomach as she picked up her sample bag and followed Celeste to the Tranquillity Room, where every feature and item of decor contributed to an atmosphere of peace and relaxation. Savannah took a moment to study the square-shaped waterfall that fell in thin lines from the ceiling to a fountain in the floor. “Oh, that’s nice,” she said. “The entire room is simply lovely.”

“Thank you. Our favorite landscape architect did the design for me. Gabe Callahan uses water in his designs extensively, and when he suggested this fountain for our Tranquillity Room, I had to have it. There is so much symbolism in water, don’t you agree? Cleansing, renewal, rebirth. Plus the sound of falling water brings me peace.” Winking, she added, “And makes me want to pee.”

That startled a laugh out of Savannah.

“The ladies’ room is right through there if you need it.” Celeste gestured toward a door. “Now, what do you need for your presentation? If we sat on the sofa, will the coffee table work?”

“That would be perfect.” Savannah discreetly wiped her sweaty palms on her slacks as she took a seat on an overstuffed sofa and reached into her tote. “With your purpose in mind, I’ve developed four unique scents, each with two subsets designed to appeal to males and females. For today’s presentation, I have incorporated the scents into shampoo, conditioner, soap, and lotion. Remember that I have a full spa line, so we can incorporate your chosen fragrance into those products, too.”

Celeste sat beside Savannah on the sofa and laced her fingers. “This is so exciting!”

“The scents are color-coded. For today’s purposes, let’s call the blue caps the Sky fragrance, whites the Cloud fragrance, yellows Wildflower, and greens Forest.” Savannah pasted on a salesperson’s smile and began placing her products in eight rows of four on the coffee table, soap lying on pieces of parchment paper, and clear two-ounce bottles with caps of blue, white, yellow, and light green. Each soap and cap had an M or F drawn upon the top. “Once you choose a fragrance, we can develop colors and packaging that suit each scent and purpose.”

“Excellent. Where do we start?”

With her products arranged on the coffee table, Savannah said, “I suggest we begin with the lightest, airiest scent. This is Cloud.” She picked up the small bars of white soap and handed them to her customer. “One idea I had is to mold the soap cakes into the shape of an angel’s wing.

“Cloud?” Celeste asked, bringing the female sample to her nose for a sniff. “Oh, how lovely.” She tested the male version. “Oh, my. This is perfect. It’s Michael.”

Savannah started to ask her what she meant by Michael, but Celeste had already moved on to the next samples, her concentration focused on the scents. Without looking up, she said, “See the gold notebook beside the lamp? Please use it and take notes for me, Savannah.”

No sooner had Savannah picked up a pen than Celeste began to dictate. “Cloud is a winter fragrance. Names are Michael and Zuriel. The color is pearl—and I do love the angel wing idea. Forest will be our autumn scents—Raphael and Tabbris. I’ll want them aspen-leaf yellow. Wildflower is spring and a new life, green. Hmm … names must symbolize rebirth. Perhaps Gazardiel and—”

“Can you spell that, please?”

Celeste did so, then continued. “Sky is summer blue, Mihael, M-I-H-A-E-L, and Gabriel. Blue, like Zach Turner’s eyes, like my eyes.”

She turned to Savannah. “These are all lovely. Just what I had hoped for. You’ve produced exactly what I wanted, dear.”

“I’m so glad.” Savannah allowed her smile to blossom. “Although I have to admit that I missed exactly which fragrance you preferred.”

“Why, all of them, of course.”

Savannah blinked. “All of them?”

“I admit it’s more than I had planned, but you’ve done an extraordinary job, Savannah. I couldn’t be more pleased. Where did you learn your craft?”

“My grandmother.” Savannah’s heart was singing. Her soaps and lotions in Angel’s Rest! It was all she could do not to dance a jig, but in that moment she’d never missed Grams so keenly.

“Tell me about her, dear.”

Savannah swallowed the sudden lump of emotion that had formed in her throat. Then she shared a little about the woman she’d so loved with this woman who so resembled her grandmother’s once-upon-a-time best friend. “Her name was Rebecca Rose Aldrich. She was my maternal grandmother, and I called her Grams. My parents lived in Atlanta when I was born, and we’d go visit her every summer. She lived up in the Great Smoky Mountains in northern Georgia. On her mountain, actually. My mother was her only child, but when Mamma married my dad and moved to Tennessee, Grams couldn’t bear to leave her home.”

“Children grow up and leave. It’s the way of life, but that doesn’t make it easy.”

Savannah paused then, her thoughts spinning, her grief as raw as the moment she’d been told the news that Rebecca Rose Aldrich had passed. “My mother died when I was eight, and my father and brothers and I … well … we just fell apart. When I was sixteen, I got into trouble. Dad sent me to live with her. Grams turned my life around.”

“I’m sure you were a blessing to her, too.”

“I tried to be.” Her lips gave a quick, sad smile. “I was a sponge, a city girl who knew little about the country. She taught me how to garden, how to sew. How to make soap. That’s how she made her living. The nearest town was halfway between two tourist destinations, which made the little general store there a perfect pit stop. Grams sold her lotions and soaps in town.”

“So you are following in your grandmother’s footsteps. What a lovely tribute to her.”

“She was a wonderful person. My rock.”

“I imagine she’d be proud to see what you are building here in Eternity Springs.”

“Yes, I think she would.” Savannah picked up one of the soaps—the Cloud fragrance, which was a derivative of one of her grandmother’s original recipes—and a fierce sense of accomplishment swept through her. “It makes me happy to use the gifts she passed on to me to support myself.”

“How long ago did you lose her?”

Savannah spoke past the sudden lump in her throat. “Three years. It’s been three years now.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss, Savannah. You mentioned other family? Your father? Brothers?”

Savannah didn’t want to open that particular can of worms, so she simply said, “I’m on my own.”

“Well, that’s not the case any longer, is it.” Celeste reached over and patted her knee. “You have new friends. New people who care about you. And perhaps a budding romance?”

“Romance!” Savannah laughed nervously. “Why would you say that?”

“I enjoy mountain climbing as a sport. I was out climbing the other day and had a good view of the roadway when I saw you wrestling with that flat tire … and our sheriff.”

Savannah winced and wished she could disappear.

Celeste’s blue eyes twinkled. “Zach Turner is a very nice man. He needs someone in his life.”

“Well, it won’t be me.”

“Now, Savannah, what do you have against Zach?”

Other than the fact that he’s a lawman? A lawman who knows my secrets? A lawman who kisses like the devil himself? “I don’t like his eyes. He has blue eyes. I don’t like blue eyes.”

“Aha! Is it the color of my eyes that causes you to react so negatively when you see me?”

Embarrassment washed through Savannah, and heat stung her cheeks. She straightened her samples on the table to keep her hands busy. “I’m so sorry about that, Celeste. I’m mortified you noticed.”

“You sometimes look at me as if you’re sucking a lemon.”

Savannah shut her eyes briefly, then opened them. “Please accept my apology. You look like someone I used to know, and I react to that person, not to you.”

“I gather this someone didn’t treat you well?”

The words flowed out before Savannah could stop them. “She destroyed my life.”

“Oh, dear.” Celeste leaned toward her, her gaze solemn. “I’ll be happy to listen if you’d care to share.”

Savannah was tempted. With Zach knowing the truth, it was bound to come out sometime. Wouldn’t it be better if she controlled the how and when?

Maybe. But she wasn’t quite ready to take that leap right now. “Thank you, but I’m trying to put the past behind me and look forward.”

“Yet every time you look at me, you see …?”

Again, despite her decision to zip her lips, the name spilled from her mouth like bile. “Francine Vaughn.”

Now why in the world had she done that? It was as if Celeste smiled at her and syllables rolled off her tongue. When Celeste repeated the name thoughtfully, Savannah couldn’t stop a shudder.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever met a Francine Vaughn,” Celeste said. “Was she a professional acquaintance of yours? A friend?”

“A neighbor who claimed to be a friend.”

“Ah. I see. That’s why you’re wary of making friends in Eternity Springs.”

“I’m not wary of making friends,” Savannah protested, sitting up straighter. “I’ve joined the softball team, haven’t I? I’m wary of losing friends.”

“Why would you say that?”

Because Zach Turner is going to tell everyone that I’m a jailbird.

Celeste picked up a blue-capped shampoo sample, the one she’d named Mihael, and seemed to have decided to change the subject. “This is the scent you are wearing this morning, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“You wear it quite often. I believe you wore it the day I first met you.”

“It’s my current favorite. I tend to wear a scent for a time, then move on to something else.”

“Are you familiar with Mihael?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Mihael is known as the angel of loyalty. She leads us to friends who are trustworthy and loyal. I believe it’s no coincidence that you wore her scent when you came to Eternity Springs.”

Oh, jeez. Angels? Really?

Savannah knew she shouldn’t be surprised. All she had to do was look at the woman. Celeste Blessing wore angel earrings and an angel wing necklace. She rode a Honda Gold Wing motorcycle, for heaven’s sake. She named her resort Angel’s Rest. Why wouldn’t the woman believe in angels?

“Allow me to share a piece of advice, Savannah. You can trust the friends you make here. They won’t betray you. They won’t let you down.”

“I’d like to believe that.”

“You can believe it. You have found a good place in Eternity Springs. You can have friends here, a home here. A life here. Perhaps even a love here. You’ve left those who betrayed you back beyond the front range. Don’t let your past blind you to the truth. Eternity Springs is true blue, Zach Turner is true blue.”

“He’s a sheriff.”

“And a pretty good kisser, from what I’m told. So, girlfriend …” Celeste grinned wickedly, elbowed her in the side, and teased, “Dish. How was his kiss? On a scale of one to ten?”

Recognizing the baiting as Celeste’s way to lighten the mood, Savannah made a zipping gesture over her mouth. “Sorry, I don’t kiss and tell.”

“Not even to your girlfriends?”

A pang of regret pierced Savannah’s heart. “Honestly, Celeste. I don’t know. It’s been a long time since I’ve been kissed. Even longer since I had girlfriends.”

“Well, you can’t say that any longer, can you? From what I saw, Zach kissed you thoroughly, and I know for a fact that you now have at least a half-dozen women you can count as girlfriends.”

Yearning washed through Savannah, fierce and hot. She wasn’t ready to deal with the whole idea of Zach, but friends … oh, how she longed to have friends. Real, true women friends around whom she didn’t have to guard every word.

Real, true friends who would stand by her once they learned her deepest secrets.

Celeste’s smile was gentle, her touch on Savannah’s arm feather light. “Friends are like kisses, blown to us by angels. You’re one of us, now, Savannah. Trust that. Trust us.

“Trust yourself.”