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Anyone with eyes would notice how much Daisy happened to like Ethan.

While Tessa went on and on about setting her up with young bachelors passing through Willowbrook or residing in the nearby city, all Daisy could wonder was what Ethan happened to be doing.

A million and one questions rested in the back of her mind at all times.

Did Ethan have a girlfriend?

Could a well-off lawyer with college-age kids even be interested in dating?

Better yet: would Ethan even find any attraction in a middle-aged widow like Daisy?

It wasn’t like Ethan had made any moves himself over the past few years.

They merely resided beside each other, having multiple interactions within a week and going on about their lives.

Daisy poured the steaming water into a cup, a tea bag resting in the bottom.

Before handing it over, she snatched a vial behind the counter, dropping a few drops into the swirling tea.

Tessa had suggested slipping Ethan a love tonic every now and then. Not too much to entirely devote him to her, but just a simple sway whenever he happened to see her. Perhaps enough to keep her as a lingering thought in the back of his mind.

Daisy shook her head as she stirred the tea. That was the exact opposite of what she wanted. And besides, he was far too sweet to trick. The guilt would hang over her like a storm cloud if she ever dared to do such a thing.

Daisy turned around and rested the cup on the counter. “One herbal tea with energy tonic.”

“It smells divine,” Ethan commented, leaning over the steam. “What is that - lavender?”

The corner of her lip curled up. “Very good!”

Ethan rubbed his hand against the back of his neck, not meeting her gaze. “Well, you know,” he muttered, biting down on his lip. Quickly, as if he was suddenly in a hurry, Ethan fished through his pocket and pulled out a few paper bills. “Keep the change, Daisy.”

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“Well,” he said again, looking over the counter at her with a small smile.

Daisy raised her shoulders. “Well.”

For a moment, he held her gaze in silence.

Nothing but air passed between them, a gentle quiet overtaking the shop.

Daisy swallowed her growing smile as she became more and more desperate to know what he was thinking.

Ethan’s warm gaze stuck to her a moment longer before he sighed, his head tilting.

“I might need another cup tomorrow,” he suddenly said.

Daisy’s mouth opened and closed like a fish for a moment before she found the strength to speak again. “I’ll be here.”

“Alright,” Ethan said. He took his cup, holding it gingerly, and began to walk towards the front door. He paused with one hand around the handle, then glanced over his shoulder with a smile spreading across his lips. “See you tomorrow, Daisy.”

She raised her hand in a wave, and he was gone, the bell chiming once more.

The shop became still again. Daisy only stared at the place where Ethan once had been, his words circling through her head like a prayer.

They were barely anything, nothing crazy, and yet she clung to them as though they were her lifeline.

Daisy pressed a hand to her chest. Beneath her skin, her aching heart pounded and beat relentlessly.

If that wasn’t a telltale sign of an irreversible attachment, Daisy didn’t know what else it could be.

She was lovesick, and the clock had barely struck noon.

Turning her attention back to the package, Daisy slipped a box cutter beneath the tape with trembling hands.

It would take a few minutes to wear off, something she had become very familiar with through her infrequent meetings with Ethan.

Her mind was so preoccupied that she never noticed how the bottom of the box was already frayed and loose, the contents beginning to slip out before she could even think about stopping it.

Crash!

An oddly shaped potion dropped onto the floor, smashing into pieces instantly. The emerald green liquid inside splashed upwards, catching onto her bare legs and staining her clothes and shoes.

“ Crap !” Daisy hissed, dropping to her knees quickly and making sure to avoid the glass shards. She reached into her back pocket, retrieving an already torn rag and swiping up the fallen mess. There was a peculiar stench coming from the unknown potion, a sign that sent a chill down her back.

As a child, Daisy’s mother used to say one thing almost every day while working in Fields’ Herbals : ‘Never trust a potion with a strange smell.’

Not that Daisy ever found proof to line up with the warning, but she followed it all the same.

Lots of potions had a certain scent to them, but Daisy tended to trust her gut feelings before anything else.

And there was something odd about the stench.

It was almost familiar, but not in the way freshly baked cookies happened to be familiar.

Daisy snatched the box, putting the fragmented pieces of glass back within it.

When she put the second large piece within, her fingers brushed by something wispy, like paper.

She reached, pulling out a torn sheet of unlined paper.

A few simple words had been written on it.

Simple words, yet haunting all the same.

Now you’ll get what you deserve.

Daisy remained crouched behind the counter, her heart beating in a different way than before.

Her lips moved absentmindedly as she reread the note again and again.

That morning, long before she ever arrived at the shop, Daisy woke with a peculiarly off feeling, as though something unsettling hung on the horizon.

She hated to be proved right.