Page 15 of Who Pissed Off Ivy Dell?

“Walk through my casita on your way out. There are some soaps on the table. Take one. Let me know what you think.”

“I didn’t know you made soap, too.”

“I’ve got to use up all these herbs somehow.”

“You should make candles. I know how to do that.”

“I don’t have supplies for making candles.”

“You can get wicks and beeswax online. It can be softened with coconut oil so it’ll burn more evenly and hold scent longer. And you don’t need fancy jars; You can use small mason jars or silicone ice molds if you don’t want to put them in jars at all.”

“It doesn’t take you long to turn a thought into a project, does it?”

“You said you had excess herbs to use up. I just like to help.”

“I know.”

“How are you packaging your soaps?”

“I was just planning on putting them all in a basket and letting people pick what they liked.”

“Petra! You’re not serious, right? Packaging has a huge impact on people’s buying decisions. It can be simple, but it needs to be something. You could wrap them in wax paper. Secure it with twine and add some dried herbs for decoration with a cute little handwritten tag to label the scents.”

“That sounds like a project you’d be great at.”

“Oh, you don’t even know how irresistible they would be when I got done with them.”

“Fine. You are my official soap packaging designer.”

“Don’t forget about the candles.”

“I never committed to candles.”

“Candles hardly require any commitment at all.”

“Okay, Patrice, Junior.”

“Ha! My mom calls me that, sometimes.”

“You don’t say?” She takes a bite of her muffin.

I check out her soaps before I go. They smell incredible. I’m already thinking up names for them. She was probably going to label them with their literal scents, but these need creative names like Mystical Mint, Lavender Lullaby, and Me Thyme . . . I’ve got this. It’s a good thing I came over when I did.

Jensen

Necessary Maintenance

April’s list is theonly one I haven’t tackled yet, but I can’t put her off any longer. Thankfully, there’s not much to be done. I have a feeling some of what she’s asking for is unnecessary at this point, but it might be easier to do it than argue with her. I’ll do anything that’s not absolutely ridiculous, but knowing April, some of her list will be.

I knock, and she calls out from the other side of the door to say she’ll be a minute. A horned toad sunning itself on a rock lifts its head as if it doubts her estimated timeframe, too. I smile, thinking of Ivy’s laundry encounter. She probably needs to do her laundry again by now. I wonder if she’s gone to the laundromat to avoid using my machines.

I’ll clear the lizards for you again if you need to do laundry.

If you want me to come over, you could just ask.

I wish. I’m at April’s to tackle her repair requests.

Don’t mention Josephine. She doesn’t like her.

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