Celtic Magic

  Celtic Magic

  By Amber LaShell

  Copyright 2011 Amber LaShell

  Smashwords Edition

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  Chapter 1

  “Congratulations sweetie, I am so proud of you.” Abby’s father said as he hugged her.

  The day was finally here, her graduation day. She was ready for school to be finished as it was all she had been focused on for so many years.

  “Thanks Dad.” She replied to him, the smile so big on her face, her cheeks were starting to hurt. Her father looked around, seemingly waiting for someone to come up to them, but Abby knew nobody would tell her congratulations or even good bye. She had never made any friends at this college, as everyone else was older and more outgoing than her. I guess that was what she got for taking dual college classes while she was still in high school.

  Everyone else in her class was at least two years older than her, and never having accepted any invitations for parties, felt like the odd man out next to all of them. The only friend that she had made was a foreign exchange student, and she was already on her way back to Sweden. She grabbed her father’s hand and pulled him toward the car, and after a few tugs, he finally followed her, looking disappointed.

  He always wanted her to be more social and make friends, but she was just too shy to talk to anyone, much less giggle and gossip, like most girls her age. She never wanted to be friends with people her age, or even a few years older anyway, she always felt awkward and out of place around them.

  Once they made it back into the car, her father asked her the question that she had been trying to work out for months now.

  “So, Abby, what are you going to do now? Get a job? Go to graduate school?” her finally asked.

  She looked over at him and saw the hopeful look in his ice blue eyes, she knew he wanted her to try and get her Master’s degree, but she was completely done with school, and didn’t plan on ever going back again.

  She sighed, “I’m not sure dad, but I do know I’m not going to go to graduate school.”

  He shrugged his shoulders, “Well, what about a job? Have you thought about where you might want to work?”

  Abby shook her head, “No, all I have been focused on for two years was to graduate, I never really gave much thought to what comes after that.”

  He looked over at her for a few long seconds before saying, “Well, there is something we need to discuss, but it can wait until we get home, I promised you a graduation dinner, so where do you want to go?”

  Abby giggled as he asked this, knowing that he knew where she would want to go, “Dad, you know what my favorite place is, why do you even ask?”

  He laughed, “Okay, Chili’s it is.”

  Abby smiled at him, he always knew her better than anyone else.

  ***

  Later that night while Abby was sitting in her room reading a book, her father walked into her room and sat down on her bed, she looked up at him and noticed that he had a stack of papers with him.

  She sat up on the bed, “What’s up Dad?” she asked while placing a bookmark into her page and closing her book.

  He had a weird serious look on his face and her heart starting pounding as she started to picture the worst things in her head.

  “Abby, we really need to talk about your future plans. There is something your mother wanted me to do after you graduated college, but I just thought I would maybe have a few more years before I had to tell you about it.”

  Abby sat up just a little straighter, he rarely ever talked about her mom, and she was curious about what was written on that stack of papers.

  “I have a contract that she made up for you before she died, and she had very specific instructions on what she wanted you to do after college.” He hurriedly blurted out.

  Abby didn’t say a word, scared that if she spoke he would change his mind and stop telling her about all of this.

  “Well, your mother had a very good friend who owns a new age shop downtown and she wants you to work for her for a couple of years before you decide what your career is going to be.”

  She nearly burst out with laughter at this statement, “A new age shop? Is that one of those places that sells magic candles and things like that?” she asked him, holding back her laughter.

  He sighed, “I know it sounds crazy, but yes, she has a shop called Celtic Magic that sells everything you can think of that is magical or mystical. It is really a very nice place, and there are some really interesting things in there.”

  She blew out a breath long and slow, making her blonde bangs fly up off of her forehead.

  “Okay, what else does that contract thing say?” She asked him.

  He turned his head to the side, as if contemplating what she said, “So you are interested?” he asked her.

  She shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t have anything else planned, and it’s a guaranteed job. But, downtown? Downtown Dallas?” she asked.

  He nodded, “Yes, but it’s really more uptown now, it is off of Lemmon, near Cedar Springs.”

  She was quiet for a moment as she calculated the drive to the shop. They lived in Duncanville, which was a good thirty-five minutes from that area.

  “Well, that is kind of a long drive to make every day isn’t it?” she finally asked.

  He nodded, “It would be from here, but if you take the job, your mother has set aside enough money for you to rent an apartment downtown, in the same building as Jasmine, that is the woman who owns the shop. The apartment is on Cedar Springs, right down the road, and I went and looked at the one she has in mind for you the other day, and let me tell you Abby, it is a really nice apartment.”

  Abby’s mouth hung open in shock; she never expected to hear that her mother had left her anything, much less enough money to rent a place downtown for two years. This was an offer that was just too good to pass up, considering it was better than living with her father and trying to save money that she didn’t even have.

  She looked up at her father and nodded, “Okay, I’ll do it.”

  He smiled at her, “great, you are making your mother very happy, now let’s go over this contract.”

  Chapter 2

  It surprisingly only took a couple of days for Abby to pack everything that she wanted to take with her to her new apartment. It was completely furnished, so all she really needed were her clothes and other personal items she wanted nearby.

  As she walked up to the apartment complex she was surprised at how tall it was, it looked to be at least twenty stories high. When she walked into the office, she was in awe at how grand the place was, everything was trimmed in gold, making it seem like it was a palace.

  She wasn’t allowed to know how much the rent was, according to the contract her mother had put together, but she could guess that it wasn’t cheap, looking at this place. After getting the key from the landlord, she went to the elevator and hit the button for floor eleven, delighted that she would be living so high up, they way she had always wanted to.

  When the elevator doors opened, she looked at the small lobby with only three doors available. She looked back down at the card the office had given her and saw that is said apartment 1101. She looked to the left and noticed that her apartment was the first one there, so she stepped over and with her new key, unlocked the door to her first apartment.

  As she walked around the apartme
nt, she noticed that while it was a basic one bedroom, it was actually larger than she had expected. The kitchen was set in the corner, which was setup really nicely with a breakfast bar that already had two stools sitting in front of it, and a nice large silver fridge.

  She turned and looked at the living room that had a small fireplace with a stack of chopped wood sitting next to it, and a black and red couch and love seat that was hopefully more comfortable than it looked.

  She noticed a sliding glass door next to the couch and she walked over and opened it and was pleasantly surprised to see that there was a nice balcony with two chairs and a small table.

  She leaned over the rail and looked down at the busy downtown streets below her; she was so high the people walking on the sidewalk looked rather small.

  She giggled to herself as she walked back into the apartment and slid the door closed. She turned and walked down the narrow hallway that was decorated with empty picture frames that actually looked really modern and hip, until she came to a door on her left.

  She leaned in and turned on the light, revealing a good sized bathroom that was decorated in black and red, to match the living room she guessed. There was a big claw-foot bathtub that looked great for bubble baths. The sheer size of the bathroom and the fact that it had a claw-foot tub surprised her more than anything; she always thought apartments had tiny little tubs in them.

  She turned the light back off and turned to the door to the right of the hallway and opened it to a very large bedroom, about double the size of her bedroom at her father’s house.

  She rolled her eyes as she saw it was also decorated in black and red, thinking that someone must really like those colors, to make the entire apartment match that way. Just as she was admiring the large walk-in closet, her cell phone beeped and she pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the screen. It was time to go and meet Jasmine down at her shop, which she had seen on the drive in and it was practically across the street.

  She decided to walk over since it was useless trying to go two blocks in this traffic in her car. She locked the door to the apartment and pushed the button for the first floor in the elevator, ready to go and see what kind of place she was actually going to be working at for the next two years.

  ***

  She stood outside the shop looking into the window, seeing things that she hadn’t even heard of before, much less knew what to do with them, and was feeling a bit nervous. She didn’t know why she was so nervous, it was just a new age shop where she would work for a while, but she had this strange feeling that as soon as she walked in those doors, her life would change forever.

  She shook her head, calling herself an idiot as she pushed open the heavy wooden door into Celtic Magic. The bell rang over her head as she walked in she noticed a very tall woman standing behind the counter with her back turned toward her.

  “Be right with you.” She said in a wonderfully deep voice that had a bit of a sing song quality about it.

  Abby didn’t know what to say so she just walked up to the counter and waited for her to finish was she was doing. As the woman turned around, she nearly gasped when she saw how strikingly beautiful she was. She was at least five foot nine, with long hair so black, it looked almost blue and she had big amber colored eyes that were mesmerizing against the stark contrast of her dark hair.

  Her facial features were completely perfect and she looked as though she belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine, rather than behind the counter at a new age shop.

  “Um, hello, I’m Abby Kane. I’m your new employee.” She shyly stammered.

  The woman smiled showing her perfect white teeth, “I should have known. You look just like your mother.” She said in her sing song voice that Abby could now detect had an Irish accent.

  “I am so happy that you took your mother’s offer to work for me, and it has come at such a great time, business has really picked up lately and I need the help. Oh, by the way, I’m Jasmine.” She said, holding her hand out to Abby.

  Abby took her hand and shook it, noticing how white her skin was, almost like her old porcelain dolls.

  “It’s nice to meet you, my Dad told me all about you.” Abby finally said.

  Jasmine nodded, “Yes, he called me the other day to tell me you had agreed to your mother’s contract and that you would be coming soon. I am happy to have you, but honestly didn’t expect to be seeing you for at least another two years, but that’s okay, like I said, I really need the help anyway. You won’t actually be starting here until Monday, as it’s already after lunch time, and I’m not open on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Hopefully with the help here, I will eventually be able to have you run the shop by yourself on Fridays, but don’t worry dear, it will not be until you are ready. Today I will just show you around the shop, give you the employee guide, and then let you get settled in your apartment. Did you have time to go and give it a look?”

  Abby nodded, “Yes, it is a very nice apartment, better than I had hoped, and I was happy to know it was already furnished.”

  Jasmine smiled, “Yes, I paid them extra to have them get it ready and have it furnished for you, it was nothing.”

  Abby was shocked to know that Jasmine had been involved with the money part of this situation.

  “Oh, well thank you. My father told me that you were in the same building. Where is your apartment?” Abby asked her.

  She laughed before answering, “I’m not surprised that Mark didn’t give you all of the details, he always did forget the small stuff. You are in the left wing on the eleventh floor, and I am over in the right wing up on the twentieth floor. It is the penthouse and the apartment takes up the entire floor on that wing.”

  Abby’s eyes grew wide as she imagined how big an apartment would be that was three times the size of her large apartment.

  “Wow, the shop must be doing really well then, to have such a nice place.”

  Jasmine shrugged, “I have old family money, so it’s not a big deal to me. Also, to get to my apartment, you will need a special code for the elevator, and it is in your handbook. You are welcome to come over any time you need to talk or ask questions, anything you need.”

  She looked up as the bell chimed again and smiled. Abby turned around and saw a large group of people walk in together, laughing and talking loudly.

  Abby watched as Jasmine hurried over to the counter and grabbed a black binder and walked back over to her, “Here you go dear, be back here on Monday morning at ten. I don’t open until eleven, but I will show you the ropes before we open, okay?” she asked her.

  Abby nodded and walked out the door, ready to get all of her things into her apartment and then get something to eat, she was starving.

  Chapter 3

  Monday morning came faster than Abby was expecting it to and nearly slept in too late to make it to work on time. When she woke up and looked over at the clock and saw that the time was already nine thirty, she jumped out of bed and threw on the first thing that was in her closet and ran out of the door, barely making it there in time.

  Jasmine was already inside when she got there so she knocked on the door and waved when she looked over at her. Abby watched as she slowly made her way over to the door and noticed how she walked so smoothly it almost looked as though she was gliding, as if her feet never touched the ground.

  Once she unlocked the door, she walked in to the office and started to learn the ropes of running the store. She had already read through the entire employee handbook, and liked how she had things in there that would help with day to day life in the store, like what all the different crystals meant and how to use the candles for magic, things like that.

  She didn’t know how she would get to know enough to eventually be able to open the store by herself, but that was apparently what Jasmine wanted to happen. Either way, she was excited to start her new life living downtown and working at a place that was as cool as this one.

  “Abby, did you hear me?” Jasmine said, interrupting her t
houghts.

  She must have been day dreaming and started to blush when she realized she hadn’t heard a word of what Jasmine was saying to her.

  “No, I’m sorry, I must have been daydreaming.” She told her.

  Jasmine smiled and said, “That’s okay dear, I just said that it was time to open the store, go ahead and unlock the door and turn the sign around for me.”

  Abby nodded and walked over to the door, surprised to see a few people already standing outside, waiting for them to open. She didn’t think new age stores were this popular in Dallas, but apparently she was very wrong. The stream of people was constant throughout the day, and made the time go by very fast; it hadn’t seemed that long when Jasmine told her it was time for her lunch break.

  She walked out of the shop, loving the feel of the crisp air on her face after being in the hot and crowded store. Winter was her favorite time of year in Texas, as it never really got too cold, and the summers were so hot, you had to wait until night time to do anything. She walked down the street, looking into store windows until she came upon a small sandwich shop a few stores down.

  Someone opened the door and walked out sending a wave of air from inside the shop across Abby’s face. She smelled the food from inside and her stomach gave a growl and she realized that she hadn’t eaten anything all day. She walked in and found a seat against the window so that she could watch as people walked by and instantly a waiter came over to her asking what she wanted to drink. She ordered water with lemon and looked down at the menu that he had given her and was delighted to see that they had chicken salad.

  She put down the menu and began to scan the shop and noticed a man looking at her from across the room. He was very cute with light brown curly hair and full lips, and didn’t look to be much older than twenty one. Abby blushed and looked back down at her menu until the waiter came to take her order.

  As she sat eating her sandwich, she could feel him still looking at her so she hurried to finish her food and after paying her bill, quickly walked out of the restaurant and went back to the shop, ready to get back to work and forget about the cute guy looking at her.