Page 4

D aisy

“You’re kidding.”

Tessa shook her head, speaking through a mouthful of food.

“Seriously,” she said. “There wasn’t even a line.

Isn’t that crazy? At first,” she paused to take another bite of her sandwich, the creamy aioli slipping down the corner of her lip, “I thought something else was going on in town, but when is there ever anything going on in Willowbrook?”

Daisy leaned back in her chair. They were eating their early lunch in Daisy’s office, the door pushed wide open with a doorstop to keep a close eye on the front door.

Ronald’s sandwich shop was usually packed full of people by that point in the day, the lunch rush spanning from early in the morning all the way until three in the afternoon.

Daisy hadn’t expected to see Tessa for at least an hour, but she had arrived back at Fields’ Herbals right when the mess behind the counter had been cleaned up.

Daisy glanced out the door, her eyes stuck on the spot where the green potion had once been spilled.

There wasn’t a bit of it left on the floor - Daisy made certain to clean up every last drop.

And yet, she had the nagging sensation of someone watching her.

For extra safety, Daisy lit one of her smudging sticks that was full of dried sage and brushed the smoke all around the counter before letting it burn beside the front door.

The act was meant to comfort her, and to remove the remnants of that strangely peculiar smell, but all of it remained. The smell and her anxiety.

She shuddered.

“What’s got you so quiet?”

Daisy blinked, turning her attention back to Tessa. “I’m not quiet.”

“Sure,” Tessa teased. “If you’re not quiet, then I’m not clumsy.”

“Well, that’s just an outright lie.”

Tessa lowered her sandwich, leaning forward to place a steady hand over Daisy’s knee. “Seriously,” she said, “what’s going on? You seem off. Did something happen?”

Daisy hesitated. There wasn’t much either one of them could do in regards to the mysterious potion, other than worry over it.

Daisy gave her friend the widest smile she could muster.

The last thing she wanted was to make her worry about something out of their hands.

Besides, the note seemed pretty obviously aimed towards Daisy.

What if telling Tessa about it meant bringing her into the fold, having the same peculiar fate fall upon her?

She wouldn’t dare to do such a thing if she had a say in the matter.

“Ethan came into the shop after you left.”

Tessa gaped. “You don’t mean Ethan, Ethan, do you?”

“What Ethan are you talking about?”

“Do you mean money broker Ethan, or lawyer and divorced single dad Ethan?”

Daisy burst into laughter, her half-eaten sandwich almost falling off her lap. “I meant the latter, Tess.”

She squealed, throwing her food onto the small desk and leaping into the air. Her short, pixie cut hair bounced as she danced around, her excitement causing the floor to shake and creak beneath her feet.

Daisy could only watch, moving her food onto the desk as well. “I don’t know what’s got you so excited,” she finally said. “He ordered tea and left. If anything, he might not come back another time.”

Tessa frowned, pausing with her arms up in the air above her head. “What makes you say that?” She fell back into her seat, eyes narrowing. “What’d you do?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

Tessa raised a slender brow, her head tilting. “Then why don’t I believe you?” She crossed her arms. “You know, Daisy, I am a very skilled empath, and -”

“Oh, here we go again!”

“What? I am an empath!”

Daisy chuckled. “You’re hardly an expert. I thought just last week you were going over your studies in that particular skill!”

Tessa pressed her lips together before falling back into her seat. “You know what my empath skills are telling me?”

“I wouldn’t have a clue.”

Tessa reached into the brown paper bag from Ronald’s shop and pulled out two takeaway boxes. She placed one down on Daisy’s lap. “That I got you a surprise. Open it up!”

Daisy eyed her. “You didn’t have to get me anything special, Tess.”

“Just open it!”

Popping open the seal, Daisy peered into the white box and gaped.

In the box were two neatly sliced pieces of cherry pie.

The red filling held itself within the slices, not falling over the bottom of the box or making a mess.

They were perfect and large, just how Daisy preferred them.

Her mother used to bake pies for the entire neighborhood, and she would let them rest on the windowsill, the sweet smell of ripe fruits mixed with sugar filling the spring air. Cherries were always her favorite.

“They never have the cherry pie at Ronald’s,” Daisy said, her voice quiet.

Tessa grinned. “I know! I had to grab it when I realized.”

“But two slices? Let me at least pay you back, Tess!”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t bother. They slipped them in for free. I didn’t notice till I got back.”

Daisy glanced back down at the box. She couldn’t resist. She slipped a finger through the bright red syrup and popped it in her mouth.

The bright taste mixed with a strong tartness brought a warmth to her chest. It was everything she loved all at once: summer and cherries.

But as the taste sunk into her stomach, Daisy couldn’t ignore the swirling pit of nerves that rested deep within her.

It was lucky for Tessa to have been at Ronald’s right when they happened to have cherry pies.

But, eventually, luck would always run out.

Daisy closed the lid of the box, suddenly losing her appetite.

“You wouldn’t believe what I heard when I was in line,” Tessa was saying as she drove her fork through her own slice of pie. “Old Lady Witherford was a few spots ahead of me.”

Daisy sighed. The older woman had lived beside Daisy for years, and she was known as the town’s gossip.

She’d lived in Willowbrook all her life, and happened to know every single family who were born and raised alongside her.

Despite her climbing in age, Old Lady Witherford never once dared to stay within the confines of her home, and was always seen out and about.

Daisy, as an aging woman herself, found comfort in seeing the old lady so much in the town, despite the fact that she didn’t much like talking to her.

Gossiping, her mother used to say, brought wrinkles faster than age ever did.

“Don’t you think it’s weird for the town to call her that?”

“Not when she calls herself that.”

“Touche,” Daisy muttered. “Go on. What was she gossiping about this time?”

Tessa leaned forward eagerly. “You’ve seen that garish spray paint on those buildings, right?”

“The ones by Louis Street?”

Tessa nodded.

“Well, sure,” Daisy replied.

“Old Lady Witherford’s blaming it on the Bronkin twins.”

Daisy laughed. “Neither one of them are tall enough to spray paint the sides of those buildings. Besides, I know their parents. They wouldn’t -”

“Well, she’s been telling the whole town, and they sure believe her.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised by this point. The woman’s practically the town’s local news station.”

Tessa laughed. “That isn’t even the extent of it, Daisy,” she continued. “You remember Susan Comer, don’t you?”

Daisy frowned. Susan Comer lived a few blocks away from her and had a family of six.

The kids normally rode their bikes up and down the street, and Daisy tended to keep a close eye on them when she was home.

Once, when the sun was setting, the youngest of the kids raced their bikes down the street and took a tumble in front of her driveway.

There were broken bones and a few scratches.

Daisy, for reasons she kept under lock and key, couldn’t stand the sound of crying children.

It reminded her of a time she seldom forgot, a time she strived to wipe her memory clean of whenever she had the chance. And so, Daisy shot out of her house with a bag full of tonics, remedying the wounds with a simple potion or two.

“What about Susan?” Daisy asked once she pulled herself out of her reverie.

Tessa leaned in. “Old Lady Witherford said she saw Susan sneaking the local handyman in through her backdoor.”

“Oh,” Daisy waved a hand in the air, “that’s ridiculous!”

“Why? Her husband travels, Daisy!”

She rolled her eyes. “So does yours!”

“Well, sure, but I’m not the one claiming to need my table legs fixed every other day!”

Daisy rose from her seat, unable to stop herself from laughing. “That woman’s gossip is just that: gossip. Don’t believe a word of it.”

At least, alongside Tessa, she was able to forget the mysterious potion, even though the idea of it lurked in the back of her mind. Except, when her friend left for the day, all of it would come back, and there wouldn’t be the slightest bit of a distraction in her empty home.

Breathing a sigh, Daisy began to clean up their mess, storing her slices of pie in the small refrigerator she kept in the office. The shelves were already full of fruits and vegetables she used in her tonics, but she managed to slide the box beneath a stack of cucumbers.

As they slipped back out into the main storefront, the phone began to ring.

“I can clean up the rest,” Tessa called out. “If you want to get that!”

“Thanks, Tess,” Daisy replied, taking long strides to make it behind the counter before the ringing cut off. She snatched up the phone and pressed it beneath her ear. “Thanks for calling Fields’ Herbals , this is Daisy. How can I help you?”

Silence responded. There wasn’t even a hint of breathing.

“Hello?” Daisy asked into the speaker. “Anyone -”