The chime always signified that a visitor had arrived and it drew the attention of Phoebe and Rosette to the door. Business came before pretentious fake friends like Ruth.
In walked an elderly woman, dressed in a nice black suit and short black pointy heels. She had a yellow floral scarf tied around her head and a pair of black sunglasses.
She was walking with the help of a fancy walking cane but she was steady and didn't seem to need it so much given that she was not leaning on it heavily.
As she walked in deeper, two men in black suits followed her at a respectful distance, not too close to make her uncomfortable but also not too far so as to be delayed in case she was in trouble.
Instantly, Phoebe recognized her. This was none other than grandma Saxon in the flesh and blood. It was quite weird to see her alive given that by the time Phoebe died, the old lady had already passed away.
The question however for her now was what the elderly woman was doing in her cafe.
Grandma Saxon's focus was almost entirely on the red headed Phoebe. This was because for an entire year, she had paid a lot of interest to all women with red hair since that was the color of the hair David's mysterious wife had.
However, her focus broke momentarily because she saw another familiar face, that of Ruth Mayfair.
"Ruth..." she called the other woman uncertainly. "What are you doing here?"
Ruth was unnerved and worried. She looked from grandma Saxon to Phoebe, worried about what the old woman was doing here.
Could it be that it was true what she had heard from one of her little spies in the Saxon tower about David finding his mystery woman? Could that woman actually be Phoebe?
Her very own friend, stupid easily led by the nose Phoebe!. Anger boiled inside of her at the thought that Phoebe could yet take away another thing that she desired.
No, never, Ruth thought. Even if Phoebe was the mystery red head, she would never allow her to be with David. There was only one woman in Fog country worthy of David and it was her.
Ruth clenched her fists, sinking her well filed pink nails into the flesh of her hands. The pain served as a means to ground her and make her clear headed. She drew in a long breath and smiled at the elderly woman.
Her lips moved upwards, curving into a smile and she suddenly grabbed the arm of the elderly woman.
In a coquettish voice she spoke to the elder. "Grandma Saxon, it has been so long since i last saw you. I believe that it was my own grandmother's birthday last month when we last met."
Grandma Saxon nodded. The timing was indeed correct. Old lady Mayfair and her were good friends that had been close for over fifty years. They met when they were both newly married and become members of a cooking club for the wealthy wives of Citrus city.
Over the years, their friendship had deepened so Ruth was always in and out of the Saxon house as she pleased.
Grandma Saxon smiled at the mention of her old friend. "Mmm, how is your grandmother dear, has she recovered from that cold yet? I want to go to Magic city next week for a holiday and i was hoping to take her with me."
Ruth shook her head and batted her eyes unnecessarily. "Grandma will be happy to hear that you are thinking about her. She has been complaining about being forced to stay indoors by my first brother while she is recovering. I am sure that she will say yes to your invitation the moment i inform her about this."
Cleverly, Ruth tried to turn grandma Saxon away from Phoebe and towards the door. She thought that if she could distract the old woman just enough, she could take her out of the cafe and then Phoebe would be forgotten.
Of course, she underestimated grandma Saxon's worry for her grandson David. She was not leaving without talking to the shaman about her grandson.
Putting a hand on one of the tables, she halted her body from moving forward. Ruth was not to be stopped and she applied a little more force.
"Grandma, why don't we go to a better cafe, one with a brighter environment. This kind of place is not good for your health."
Phoebe guffawed when she heard those words.
"We have passed all health standard checks and as you can see, we don't have a speck of dust in here. My cafe may be a little old in appearance but that's the way i like it. It's called artistic choice Ruth, maybe you should draw some inspiration from it."
Phoebe rolled her eyes, looking Ruth up and down. Ruth was a perfect magazine cover imitator. She chose her clothing according to what was trendiest, was most expensive and could be styled to match the model on a billboard or the magazine pages. She had no personal sense of style.
Ruth glared at Phoebe, not even bothering to hide her displeasure this time. In turn, Phoebe smiled and shrugged.
Grandma Saxon was unaware of the silent unannounced battle between the two women. However, Ruth's hold on her had loosened up and she got the opportunity to turn around.
"Phoebe, where do you want me to put this?"
Rosette was holding up brown envelopes, newly arrived from clients looking for auspicious dates for various reasons. Every morning, the envelopes would come in and every evening or the following morning, responses would be mailed out.
Without realizing what she had done, Rosette broke open a can of worms for two women. One was Phoebe with the red hair and right age as that of the woman grandma Saxon was looking for and two was Ruth who didn't want the old woman learning Phoebe's name.
"Phoebe!!" grandma Saxon exclaimed.
She pulled herself away from Ruth completely and walked towards Phoebe with focused eyes.
"Your name is Phoebe." she said___, more like questioned in fact.
"Yes." Rosette answered for her boss. "She is Phoebe, Citrus city's best ghost catcher, exorciser, matchmaker and shaman. If nobody can solve your problem, come to Phoebe."
Rosette was the type not to miss an opportunity to promote the cafe and it's business.
"Red hair, name Phoebe, looks like the right age." Grandma Saxon muttered.
In her muttering, she came to a realization that brought a frown to her face. All this while, she had been searching for someone like this and almost everyone in their circle was aware.
How was it possible then, that Ruth knew of a possible Phoebe matching the description of the woman David was searching for but she never said a word?
"Ruth, how...." she pointed from Phoebe to Ruth as her words slowly trailed off without being completed.
Ruth bit her bottom lip anxiously and her eyes darted around rapidly. She was searching for an explanation which would have her coming out as honest but also helpful and not deceitful at all.
Ancestor Saxon was standing beside Phoebe, highly amused by the drama. "Look, look, the white lotus has been trapped."