The right woman would make all the difference. The right
woman would change her parents’ minds.
Chapter 2
Dani
Danica Davis recognized the girl for what she was. A local,
not a tourist. She moved with too much confidence not to call
New Orleans her home, but her beautiful face was pinched
with uncertainty as she pushed open the door, meaning she
didn’t venture into places like this often. Dani was willing to
bet that the girl, no, the woman, was NOLA born and bred and
did what she could to avoid the most touristy parts of the city.
She moved like the air, her lithe form breezing about the
store, flitting like a bird from one touristy item to another. She
was vibrant and fresh, like a spring day before the real heat hit
the city. Her yellow sundress with the cotton eyelets matched
her sandy gold hair, which she had done up above her head in
a bun that was purposely messy. She wore almost no makeup,
had huge eyes the color of cornflowers, a smattering of light
brown freckles across the bridge of her thin nose with the tiny
upturn at the end, and lips the same shade as coral, but she
wasn’t wearing any notable lipstick.
Dani leaned on the counter by the register. It was glass and
had assorted crystals and stones inside. The larger, more
expensive ones. She kept little baskets of the smaller ones on a
stand in the middle of the store. Soft music played in the
background, a chanting album Dani found relaxing, and
customers seemed to think fit the spiritual or “other”
atmosphere of the store.
Someone had called it that once—a stuffy middle-aged
woman with blonde extensions down past her curvy butt, way