Age Before Beauty (21 page)

Instead, he said, “Thanks for your help. Are you by any chance free Saturday? Somebody’s donating a bunch of stuff in their garage, and a truck sure would come in handy.”

Great. The guy wanted another chance to shove the church stuff at him. Eric was tempted to refuse, make up an excuse. Problem was, he hated to lie. He really didn’t have any plans until the college games came on Saturday afternoon. Allie probably had some Varie Cose thing going on. “Around ten o’clock be okay?”

“That’ll be great.” Ken started to close the door, then paused. “Are you and Allie planning to come to the auction next Tuesday?”

Eric shrugged. “We haven’t talked about it.”

“I wish you would. We’re serving dinner, something easy like spaghetti, I think.” Ken grinned. “It’s free, but we can be forced to accept a donation to the cause.”

Plus, it would give Ken and his buddies a chance to prove that church people weren’t all bad. Eric could see the setup a mile away. “I’ll mention it to Allie, but she’ll probably have a party or a meeting or something.”

Ken hesitated. “Encourage her. I think you’ll both have a good time.”

The guy didn’t give up, did he?

“We’ll see,” Eric said. That was as close as he was coming to a commitment to go to church.

Allie mounted the steps to Sally Jo’s front door. She was dreading this meeting. Not that she didn’t want to see the girls or her director, but Sally Jo was going to let them try out the winter skin care products and introduce them to a new line of colors the company had just released. Allie knew she would be tempted to order the demo kit, and she had made a resolution not to buy any more products or kits until she was in the black. As she stood on the porch, she gave herself a quick pep talk and then pressed the doorbell.

“Come on in,” Sally Jo said when she threw open the door. “The others are in the kitchen.”

Allie followed her down the short hallway and found Darcy and Nicole seated at the kitchen table. She slid into the empty chair next to Darcy.

Sally Jo stood on the other side, so they were all facing her. “Now that we’re all here, we can get started.”

“Kirsten and Laura aren’t coming tonight?” Allie asked.

Sally Jo’s lips pressed into a disapproving line. “They quit.”

Allie, Darcy, and Nicole exchanged glances, then Darcy asked, “Did they say why?”

“Various reasons.” Sally Jo waved a hand in the air. “Too much time involved, their inability to sell the products, not enough customers. It all boils down to a lack of commitment. I can’t say I was surprised. I’ve gotten so that I can predict who will make it in this business and who won’t.” She beamed at each of them in turn. “I’m happy to say all three of you ladies have what it takes to be successful.”

Darcy straightened in her chair, a pleased smile on her face. Her attitude sure had changed since that first makeup demo. She’d bought into Varie Cose as fully as Allie. But Allie noticed Nicole didn’t meet anyone’s eye. She straightened her notepad in front of her.

I’ll bet she quits next. Maybe she’d sell me the manicure demo
kit she bought last week when I bought the pedicure kit.

Allie lassoed that thought and reined it in.
No! I’m not
buying anything else
.

She reached into her briefcase, which sat on the floor between her chair and Darcy’s, and pulled out a stack of her reports. She flipped through them and found a blank page to make notes on.

Beside her, Darcy’s eyes lit up and she reached over to snatch a page out of Allie’s hand. “Hey, this is what I was telling you about.” She held the page toward Sally Jo, then said to Allie, “Before you got here I told them about your computer program and all the cool reports you can do.”

Sally Jo took the paper Darcy held out, page one of Allie’s customer summary report. She scanned the page, then looked at Allie over the top of it. “You have all your customers in there, with their addresses and everything?”

Allie nodded. “Whenever someone places an order, I pull them up on my computer and record the item. It helps me keep track not only of the products they’ve bought but of the exact colors too. So if someone wants to reorder, I’ve got everything at my fingertips without having to go through a bunch of paper files.”

Sally Jo’s brow wrinkled. “I’ve got records for each customer too, but I keep their order forms alphabetized in a file cabinet in my office.”

“I don’t have that much room,” Allie confessed. “My mother-in-law is staying in our spare room at the moment, so my ‘office’ is a corner of my bedroom. I’ve started scanning all the order forms and recording the document ID in the customer database.”

“She doesn’t even have to keep the paper records.” Darcy tapped the paper. “She can pull it up and print it whenever she wants.”

“That must take a lot of time,” Nicole said.

Allie shrugged. “Not much more than keeping paper files organized. Plus, since I’ve got my customer names and addresses in the computer, I can do mailing labels. I’m going to send them all a Christmas card.”

“Not just Christmas cards.” Sally Jo spoke slowly, staring at the report in her hand. “You could send postcards announcing new product lines, or sales, or price reductions.”

Allie hadn’t thought of that. She sucked in an excited breath. “You know what else my program can do? I can print labels only for those customers who have bought the items that are on special. That way I wouldn’t waste postage sending cards about skin care products to somebody who only buys cleaning products.”

“I’ve intended to do customer mailing labels,” Sally Jo said, “but I just haven’t taken the time to type all those names and addresses into my word processing software. I’m not very good with computers, so it would take me forever.”

Darcy grinned broadly at Allie. “Me either, but you almost make me want to learn just so I can do all that stuff I saw at your house.” She looked at Sally Jo and Nicole. “You should see all the stuff she does on her computer. Inventory reports, sales summaries, and all these cool reports.”

Sally Jo held the page across the table to Allie, her expression thoughtful. Allie took it and shuffled the pile of papers she held into a neat stack, embarrassed but pleased at Darcy’s praise.

Then Sally Jo’s face cleared and her blinding smile found its way back to her mouth. “Time to get started. We’re going to have fun tonight, girls.” She picked up a package and held it out to Nicole at the end of the table. “Go ahead and use the makeup removal cloths while I heat some moist towels in the microwave. We’re going to give each other facials!”

Allie slipped her reports back into her briefcase and took a damp cloth from the package Darcy handed her. As she rubbed her makeup off her face, her mind was already busy planning the mailing label query she would write when she got home.

18

Allie stepped into the Danville Athletic Center and paused to get her bearings. As many times as she’d driven by, she’d never actually been inside the place. She gawked through rounded eyes. To her left was a rock climbing wall. She’d always wanted to try one of those. Not while anybody was watching, of course. Joan had always been the most athletic of the three Sanderson sisters, and Tori the most graceful. Allie was pretty much a klutz and a weakling. She probably couldn’t make it two feet off the ground.

Beyond the rock climbing wall, she saw a line of big windows through which she glimpsed the glistening blue surface of water. The indoor pool. Above the windows a row of television sets hung suspended from the ceiling, and facing them were several lines of treadmills and other machines. Allie watched a couple of people walk on a set of moving stairs, and even from a distance she could see the sweat plastering one man’s T-shirt to his back. Eeewww. Definitely a machine to be avoided. A staircase led upward, toward a small group of women walking on a track that circled the second floor. Now walking was something she might be able to get into. No learning curve, since she’d been doing it for twenty-seven years.

Directly in front of her stood a rounded reception counter and a metal turnstile guarding the entrance to the fitness center. The woman seated behind the counter smiled at her. “Can I help you?”

“Uh, yeah.” Allie approached the desk and fished in her purse for the certificate. “My husband gave me a membership. I’m here to activate it and take an aerobics class.”

“Ah, Valerie’s class. That’s a good one.” The woman took the certificate and keyed something into her computer. “Here it is. Just give me a minute.” Her fingers flew over the keyboard, and then she glanced up. “Stand on that X.”

“Huh?” For the first time, Allie noticed a camera mounted on top of the computer monitor, pointed directly at her. Someone had formed an X on the floor with two pieces of masking tape. As she stepped backward, she ran her fingers through her hair. “I didn’t know I’d have my picture taken. I don’t have any makeup on at all.”

“You look fine. Smile.”

Allie did, and then waited a minute while her membership card printed. When the woman handed it over the counter, Allie glanced at it and winced. She’d expected driver’s license bad, but this was more like mug-shot bad. The grim face staring back at her looked like a washed-out ghoul.

The woman gave her a sympathetic smile. “Don’t worry. Nobody will see it except you.”

“You’ve got that right.” No way was she going to show this to anyone, even Eric. Especially Eric.

When the door opened behind her, Allie turned to see Darcy step inside. She hid the card in her palm.

“There you are.” Darcy wore tight-fitting pink gym pants that hugged her legs, and a matching top that barely touched the waistband of the pants. Allie had opted for camouflage clothes—comfortable sweats that were only a little ratty and an oversized T-shirt that covered her hips. Her sneakers were leftovers from college, unlike Darcy’s blindingly white gym shoes. Joan had nagged Allie to get a new pair of tennis shoes for years, but Allie hadn’t seen the need to spend money on shoes she couldn’t wear to work. If she was going to start doing the gym thing, she might have to make an investment.
After
her business was in the black.

Darcy hitched a gym bag over her shoulder and stepped toward a scanner on the edge of the desk. “Come on back here and I’ll introduce you to Valerie.”

Allie followed Darcy’s example and waved her card beneath the scanner. The turnstile let them through. As they walked past the treadmill area, Allie saw another large room on the opposite side of the building. Through the open doorway she glimpsed a bunch of exercise machines that looked like they came straight from a medieval torture chamber. The smell of stale sweat crept from the room. In the back corner a muscle-bound superjock with arms the size of her thighs hefted a barbell.

They came to a wall of glass that looked into the aerobics room. Though Allie had never taken a class, she recognized the place because mirrors lined the other three walls and the carpeted floor was uncluttered by equipment. A group of women stood inside, all of them wearing clothes similar to Darcy’s, all of them pencil-thin. She followed Darcy through the door, nerves fluttering in her stomach. Okay, so there was no way she was going to appear in public dressed like that, but at least she might have made sure her T-shirt matched her sweats.

“Hey, everybody, this is Allie,” Darcy announced as they stepped inside. “She became a Varie Cose consultant the same time I did, and she has an eight-week-old baby.”

A chorus of “Hi, Allie” and “Welcome, Allie” sounded around the room as Darcy crossed the floor to drop her gym bag in the far corner. A girl broke away from the group and approached, wearing a grin almost as wide as Sally Jo’s. Her thick dark hair swung in a ponytail from the back of her skull as she walked.

“Allie, I’m Valerie.” She stuck out a hand. “I’m the instructor for this class. Welcome.”

“Thanks.” Allie lowered her voice and glanced around. “Uh, I’ve never taken an aerobics class before, so I don’t really know what to do.”

Valerie waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. Just follow along and you’ll catch on in no time.”

Just follow along? No instructions, no training? Allie wiped damp palms on her sweatpants. Still, how hard could aerobics be? It was just a group of women exercising to music.

Darcy approached and grinned at the instructor as she spoke to Allie. “Valerie hosted my most successful party so far. Seven hundred dollars and six bookings.”

“Wow.” Allie turned a wide eye on Valerie.

She nodded. “I’m going to have another one too, because I only invited a few of my girlfriends. I’ve been teaching aerobics for almost twenty years, so I know a lot of people.”

Twenty years? Allie took a closer look at the woman. A few lines creased the skin around her eyes, and now that she looked closely, Allie could see a scattering of gray on the sides of her head. But her body looked like a teenager’s.

“Not only that,” Darcy said, “I actually signed my first consultant through Valerie’s party, plus I have a feeling another of them is going to sign up.”

Valerie laughed. “You realize you’re working yourself out of more sales. If I know several Varie Cose consultants, I’ll feel honor-bound to spread my business evenly between all of you.”

Darcy caught Allie’s eye and smiled. “Oh, that’s okay. I want my consultants to be successful too.”

She certainly did, because Darcy got a percentage of whatever her consultants sold. Plus, when she signed fifteen consultants, the company gave her a car. Allie forced a smile to her face, but did private battle with a bout of jealousy so strong it surprised her. She hadn’t signed any new consultants at all, and that’s when the real money started coming. Darcy was way ahead of her.

Valerie clapped her hands. “Okay, girls. It’s nine o’clock, so let’s get started.”

Everyone moved to form what was obviously a familiar arrangement, with three rows facing Valerie. Allie followed Darcy, relieved when she went to the back row. When they got there, she realized that there was no “back” in this class, because everywhere she looked, her own reflection stared back at her. For the second time she wished she had worn something else. This old brown T-shirt made her look huge, especially next to Darcy and ten others about her size. In fact, Allie realized with a shock as she looked at the reflection of the class that she was the fattest person here. The rest of these women were all Skinny Minnies. She looked like Helga Huge standing in their midst.