Just so that everyone knows this is continued from Chapter 1 titled Abracadabra. So, if you've read Abracadabra already, this is the next chapter. Thank you for reading! :)
Chapter 2
White Magic
Mid-May morning sweetness steaming off the blooming jasmines lining the post office building, Desi pulls her shades down over her eyes, curtly nods a polite "Hello. How are you today?" to the elderly gentleman who was holding the door for her at the entrance.
Looking up to the reverberating beat of her flip flops patting and tapping onto the tiled floor, "Yes ma'am! What can I do for ya today?" the post office clerk chimes as if he were bored with the question.
"I need to pick up a certified letter please."
"Okay, ya got your notification ma'am?"
"Sure!" Desi reaches inside the little pocket in her bag and retrieves it. She habitually pushes her sunshades to the crown of her head, "Here ya go!" Desi harmoniously beamed back at him.
The clerk gives a quick glance and says, "Okay ma'am, this is a package pick-up. Someone sent you an overnight package."
"Really?" she hears his fingertip thump the counter onto the slip of paper. Desi silently chastises herself for not looking the notification over and realizing that herself. Just like pixy dust, anticipation suddenly dusts her fantasies that Lucas had not only surprised her with something special but he had had it sent over night first class delivery too! The word jewelry popped into her mind when she saw how small the card board box was, Desi fights the urge to run to her car after signing the slip of paper and thanking the clerk.
It was just a few fast moments before Desi was smiling uncontrollably, cocooned within the private confines of her car and forcing herself to behave and not open the package as if she were a little girl again at Christmas time. As soon as she pulls the sealed flap open, she recognizes the familiar peppermint citrus aroma wafting out. Perplexed as she thought there was no way a bottle of perfume was going to fit in that small package. "What the hell?" Desi gasps her thoughts out loud when she pulls a vaguely familiar pair of worn pink lace trim thongs that had been sprayed with her favorite summertime perfume from the small package.
"What the fucking hell?" The words seemed to halt on the back of her tonsils as she swallows hard with eyes wide while she stares down at her hand and realizes exactly what pair of panties she's holding. Desi's intellectual mind began sparkling with a blended mix of energies called guilt, lust, and weird while her intuitive mind fast forwarded back to one person, Andre.
A trio of no fucking way, wow, and whew were the next simultaneous thoughts floating into her psyche as she made a swift decision based on fear to stuff the pair of thongs back into the box where they came from then Desi stuffed the box as far down into her handbag as she could and put the pedal to the medal all the way home. Oh fuck did Lucas say he was coming home tonight or tomorrow? Feelings of being ill at ease grew thick in her belly as she drove home while hoping and praying Lucas wouldn't arrive home till tomorrow. Knowing full well that an empty driveway meant she was home alone, some of Desi's old jitters vanished into thin air when she pulled into the vacant drive in front of her house.
In an instant as if her feet took flight, Desi is standing in front of her dresser in search of her cell phone. Speed dialing, she glances at her reflection in the mirror biting her thumb and whispers, "Pick up Lucas. Pick up."
"Fuck." She mouths without saying it, hangs up and her cell phone immediately rings back the second she does. Way, she thinks. Meticulously, she waits for the caller to appear on the screen before answering. Wow, she whispers a yes! Lucas was returning her call. Whew, and she's blowing out a small breath of relief. "Hey baby."
"Hey babe. What's up?" Lucas spoke to her in his usual I'm too busy to talk so make this quick pitch.
"Hi love, I know you're busy but I just wanted to know when you were headed home before I make any more plans." Desi held her unholy thoughts to the back of her mind, silently hoping that Lucas wasn't reading them.
To her relief, Lucas was so busy that all he had time to tell her was that he wouldn't head home till the following night. After a quick I love you and bye, she hung up and reached down to retrieve her bag. Sitting down on her bed facing the bay window, Desi opens her bag and fumbles to the bottom until she finds the small box. Despite the fact that the certified notification she had received announcing the arrival of the package was checked sender unknown, Desi slowed her nervous hands down long enough to look the package over one last time for a return address. There was none.
"How the fuck can this be?" Desi spoke her thoughts out loud.