After having lunch with her brothers, Charlotte does some window shopping. Any gifts she was going to buy, would be shipped back to England to her friends there. She didn’t have anyone she kept in touch with here in her hometown.

Most of the people she knew here either moved away or were living under new identities after their surgeries. There was a new store that sold unique items that weren’t here seven years ago. She steps into the store and is immediately hit by the scents floating around in the store. It wasn’t a bad scent, but nothing she had smelled before.

“Welcome to Wicked Candle & Spice Haven.” A woman with short white hair and an angelic face wearing a silver pentagram necklace appears from behind a wall of books.

Charlotte looks at the woman and smiles. The woman reminded her of a woman she knew back in England who had rented her a room in her family home. The woman seemed to know she wasn’t a true woman but treated her like one and even suggested a few things that she should improve.

“This is a nice store. How long have you been here?” Charlotte noticed the woman had an Irish accent to her speech.

“Going on four years now. It was through my first year, but the people around here finally accepted my little store.” Cassandra was proud the people around the town finally accepted her store.

“Well, I don’t know how anyone could ignore the wonderful smells floating around in the air.” Charlotte loved how the place smelled.

“Thank you. So, how can I help you today?” Cassandra looks at the auburn-haired woman standing before her.

“I’m just browsing today. What type of spices do you sell?” Charlotte wonders what type of spices Cassandra sells.

“I sell, every type there is. If it's on the market, I sell it.”

“Man, you must have a good supplier.” Charlotte knew some spices were hard to get.

“I do. Before I decided to settle down and open my store. I traveled the world for years establishing suppliers and seeing the world.”

“That must have been nice. Weren’t there countries or areas you had to be careful, being a woman?” Charlotte knew there were some countries where being a woman and alone was dangerous.

“There were some countries where I had to hide who and what my gender was, but I managed to explore those countries with help from trusted friends. What type of work do you do?” Cassandra was curious.

“I’m a musician from England.” Charlotte knew her British accent came through in her speech.

“So, what brings you to Rexburg?” Cassandra was curious about this woman.

“Keeping a promise, I made to someone special to me.” Charlotte knew if her grandmother hadn’t asked her to return and try to make up with her family, she wouldn’t have.

“That person must have been someone special to you.” Cassandra could sense the person Charlotte was speaking about was special to her.

“She was.”

“Why don’t I give you a tour of the store.” Cassandra hopes this young woman will be a returning customer.

“I would like that.” Charlotte follows Cassandra around the store and listens to the description of spices on display.

By the time Charlotte checks out of the store. She had ended up spending over a hundred dollars on a unique collection of spices and several nice-smelling candles. Some of the spices reminded her of her childhood where she spent baking and cooking with her grandmother before she left.

By the time Charlotte arrived home. The sun was going down and she couldn’t wait to get out of the clothes she had on. As she was getting out of her rental car. She spots a person wearing a grey sweatshirt and a pair of patched blue jeans leaving behind a piece of paper at people’s houses.

When the person entered the gate at the house. The person stops and looks at her. She noticed the person had their hood up and had a bruised right eye.

“Can I help you?”

Jamie looks at the auburn-haired woman standing on the porch she is going to leave a piece of paper. She tries to hide her bruised eye with her hood “I wanted to leave this piece of paper behind.”

Charlotte holds her hand out to the teenage girl.

Jamie hands the piece of paper to the auburn-haired woman. She hasn’t seen this woman around before. She watches as the woman accepts the paper.

Charlotte accepts the piece of paper and notices it is a list of jobs and how much this person charged to do them. It had everything on it from racking to working inside the house and cleaning things. As she looked at the list of chores the person was willing to do, she heard the person's stomach rumble. She looks towards the person “Have you had anything to eat today?”

Jamie felt embarrassed when her stomach rumbled. She thought the crackers she had earlier would sustain her until tomorrow.

“I had some crackers this morning, ma’am.” Jamie tried to hide how embarrassed she was.

“I was about to make some dinner. Why don’t you come inside and be my guest tonight?” Charlotte noticed how the sweatshirt the young girl was wearing was just hanging on the girl’s body.

Jamie looks up at the auburn-haired woman. She hated the fact her stomach betrayed her, but she didn’t have anything at home to eat and it’s been several weeks since she has had a home-cooked meal.

“I would like that ma’am.” Jamie wasn’t too proud to turn down a nice meal.

“I’m Charlotte Bounty by the way.” As Charlotte opens the front door.

“Jamie Wreath, ma’am.” Jamie follows Charlotte into the house.

Jamie looks around as she follows Charlotte into the house. The way the place was decorated didn’t seem to fit the way a young woman lived.

“Ms. Bounty, I don’t mean to be rude, but is this your place?” Jamie stops at the front door.

“Yes, it is. It used to belong to my grandmother before she passed away.” Charlotte puts her jacket in the hallway closet.

Jamie lowers her hood and looks around. She missed her grandmother and wondered if her grandmother was friends with this woman.

“Would you like something hot to drink?” Charlotte looks towards Jamie and notices the young woman’s hair is a mess. It looked unkempt and messy.

Jamie looked towards Charlotte when she spoke “Hot chocolate if you have it.”

“I think I have some. Would you like it with marshmallows or whipped cream?” Charlotte knew she liked hers with whipped cream.

“Marshmallows, if you have them.” Jamie sits down at the dining room table and watches as Charlotte disappears into the kitchen.

“I have them. So, tell me a little about yourself, Jamie. Did you grow up here?” Charlotte puts a kettle of water on the stove to heat up.

“Yes ma’am, but I wasn’t born here.” Jamie was watching Charlotte as she moved around in the kitchen.

“Where were you born?” Charlotte puts away the spices she bought and pulls out the tray of pork chops she was planning on cooking.

“In Baskin, Louisiana. My folks came from there and I left there with my boyfriend.” Jamie wishes she never left.

“Do you miss your family?” Charlotte was keeping an eye on Jamie as she moved about in the kitchen.

“A little, we were never close.” Jamie wished she had a better relationship with her family.

“So, where’s your boyfriend?” Charlotte wonders if Jamie’s girlfriend gave her the black eye.

“In jail right now. He and I got into a fight a couple of nights ago.” Jamie knew her boyfriend wasn’t getting out of jail any time soon.

“So, where are you staying?” Charlotte puts the pork chops into the oven.

“At the women’s shelter over on Bryd Street.” Jamie hopes she can get there before they close.

“Look, dinner is going to be a while. Why don’t you stay here tonight? I have the room and I might have some clothes you can wear. They might be a little big on you, but I don’t think you’ll make it back to the shelter.” Charlotte knew what time that shelter closed and how far it was from her house.

“I…” Jamie was unsure about spending the night.

“Look, I’ve been where you are now. I was lucky I had people who were willing to help me. I promise you’ll be safe here. Do you have anything at the shelter?”

“No, I just have what I’m wearing.” Jamie had everything she owned on her.

“Alright. While the food is cooking. Let’s go upstairs and see what clothes I have that will fit you.” Charlotte didn’t mind sharing her clothes.

“All right.” Jamie follows behind Charlotte as she walks upstairs.

Once upstairs, Charlotte goes through the clothes she brought with her and hands them to Jamie to try on. She figures that she might have to go and buy Jamie some panties and such.

“You can sleep in the bedroom across from mine.” Charlotte opens the spare bedroom for Jamie.

“Thanks.” Jamie walks into the bedroom.

“Oh, the bathroom is at the end of the hallway. There are towels and wash clothes in the linen closet next to the bathroom. Here’s a nightgown you can wear tonight. It might be a little big on you.” Charlotte hands Jamie one of her spare nightgowns.

“Thanks.” Jamie accepts it.

“You’re welcome. Now, why don’t I go and check on dinner.” Charlotte turns and leaves Jamie in the spare bedroom.

Jamie tried some of the clothes on and found that some of them were a little big on her skinny frame. She looked at herself in the mirror mounted to the dresser and didn’t like what she saw in the mirror. She wonders if her life is always going to be like it was. She only left home, because her family was poor and she wanted to do better for herself.

As for her boyfriend Jarrod, he could rot in the jail cell he was currently in. If she had known how much of a douchebag he was, she wouldn’t have left home. Jamie turns and leaves the bedroom and heads downstairs.