Page 6

D aisy

“Are you sure you don’t need any more help?”

“For the third and final time,” Susy said in her characteristically high-pitched voice from behind the counter in Fields’ Herbals, “I am okay to close by myself. I promise, Daisy.”

Daisy tapped her fingers on the counter as she glanced around the shop.

Everything looked pretty much in order. Her eyes fell on Susy once more.

The sixteen-year-old had started working at the shop last summer, when school let out, and she had wandered into the storefront.

The poor girl had a tear-stricken face, and she’d begged for some sort of a tonic that could help her parents afford the medicine they needed for her sick dog.

As an animal lover herself, Daisy decided to offer the schoolgirl a job instead, promising that a steady wage would be far better than a simple tonic.

Before she knew it, Susy’s dog was bright eyed and bushy tailed once more, and she had more than a pretty penny in her pocket.

Despite her working at the shop for over a year, it would be the first time Susy managed to close the shop herself.

Daisy didn’t doubt her trust in Susy for one bit.

But she couldn’t deny that strange feeling in her stomach, and the peculiar smell that still lingered behind the counter from that strange potion.

The last thing she needed was for Susy to have a similar experience.

“Alright,” Daisy finally said. “But you’ve got all the emergency numbers, don’t you?”

Susy nodded. “I’ve got them all twice.”

“And if you need anything -”

“I will call you or Tessa,” she finished.

“Straight away. Now, why don’t you two get out of here?

” Susy leaned back in her seat, shaking her head disapprovingly.

Her signature strawberry blonde pigtails shook with every move she made.

“It’s like you can’t remember what it’s like to have a night off! ”

“Well, that’s just it, Susy,” Daisy mused as she turned her back to the counter. “I don’t think I can!”

Tessa laughed from beside the front door, one foot already holding it open. “Don’t worry,” she said. “ I’ll remember it for you. C’mon, workaholic!”

Slipping out of the store, Daisy draped her thin jacket over her arm. “Says the one who is married to a real workaholic.”

“So I would know, wouldn’t I?”

Daisy shook her head and laughed.

The early spring afternoon was just as it always was.

The days had began to lengthen, the sun staying high in the sky for much longer than anyone ever remembered.

Downtown Willowbrook had a more popular feel to it during those days, when handfuls of tourists passing through to reach the beach window shopped and mingled.

The heat was comfortable, then, allowing Daisy to walk down the sidewalk in a simple t-shirt and jeans.

Beside her, Tessa’s long yellow dress flowed with the gentle breeze.

Shops along downtown were riddled with customers.

Daisy felt a pit grow in her stomach the longer she looked into the windows, noticing how lines were pulled out the doors and countless products were being removed from shelves.

She couldn’t remember the last time her store was full of patrons, much less when she ran out of products to sell.

At that point, Daisy made tonics just to make them and practice her craft, not to fill her shelves.

“Good afternoon, Daisy and Tessa,” Anne said as they passed by the entrance to a squat apartment building. The older woman was sitting in her usual spot, on a bench near the entrance, watching the traffic going past.

“Good afternoon,” they both quickly replied.

Daisy smiled. Anne was one of the most wonderful people Daisy had ever met.

Not only was she heavily involved in the animal rescues in town, she worked at Daisy’s shop when needed, always looking to get out of the house and give back to the world.

She was a short elderly woman with rustic brown skin, white hair, and the kind of smile that always reached her eyes.

“Early day?” Anne asked.

“Unfortunately so,” Daisy replied, trying not to think about how little business the shop had had lately.

“Not busy?”

Daisy’s gut turned. “The shop was dead, so we let Susy close.”

Anne smiled. “Don’t worry. I’m sure things will turn around soon.” Then she glanced toward the shop. “I’ll be sure to stop by and check on her.”

“Thank you,” Daisy said, loving that she hadn’t even needed to ask.

Anne watched them as they walked by, her warm eyes holding onto them till she needed to pull her glasses out to see them.

“That just makes you feel like a bag of sour apples, doesn’t it?” Tessa suddenly muttered.

Daisy glanced sideways at her. “Like what?”

“Sour apples,” Tessa repeated.

“I don’t get it.”

Tessa sighed. “Doesn’t it make you feel bad to see Anne?”

“What on earth for? We love Anne!”

“Sure, we love Anne,” Tessa said. “But hasn’t she been waiting for a call from you? About shifts she can work at the shop?”

Oh. Daisy’s shoulders sagged, the sudden feeling of being a bag of sour apples resonating more than she thought it would.

Anne had worked at Fields’ Herbs on and off over the past few years.

She lived close to the shop and was always willing to work.

Daisy realized that, unfortunately, the only reason Anne left her house somedays was to be at the shop.

But, with times being as they were, Daisy couldn’t afford multiple employees, even if she wanted them both to be there.

“Let me guess,” Tessa said in a quiet voice. “We can’t pay her, can we?”

“I would if I could, Tess.”

“Believe me, I get it.” Tessa shook her head as they rounded a corner, leaving the downtown block behind and slowly delving into a tightly knit neighborhood. “What have the finances looked like recently?”

Daisy sighed. The numbers blared in her head but she shoved them away.

The sun above in the cloudless sky was too beautiful for her to begin to taint the day with all the dreadfully negative numbers she recently saw on the store’s ledger.

“We need more customers,” was all she could say. “And we need them desperately.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Tessa said with a small smile. “Right?”

“I don’t want to worry you.”

Tessa stopped walking and grabbed onto her hand.

“Daisy,” she whispered, “not only am I your best friend, but I have worked alongside you for years. For longer than I can even remember. Share your burdens with me. Put them on my shoulders so it isn’t so heavy.

Trust me,” she paused and flashed a quick wink, “I can take it.”

Daisy’s shoulders relaxed as the words washed over her. Who needed a good luck charm or a money-inducing potion when she had Tessa, the best partner she could ever ask for? The stress pooled out of her lips instantly.

“I don’t know how much longer the shop will be able to stay in business,” Daisy whispered.

Tessa’s brow shot up. “Really? It’s that bad?”

“When was the last busy day you saw?” she asked with a shrug.

“I honestly can’t remember.” Daisy lowered her head, memories of being half the size she was now, running through the shop barefoot and bright-eyed flooding her mind.

The tears welled up before she could even think to stop them.

“Fields’ Herbals have been in my family for generations.

I can’t imagine Willowbrook without it, you know? ”

Tessa squeezed her hands. “Daisy,” she said in a warning tone, “don’t you for a second start to give up hope. There isn’t a reality in the entire universe where the shop doesn’t exist. And in no way do I see it leaving you now, okay?”

“How can you possibly know that?”

She hesitated, her eyes flickering away for a moment before the steady confidence returned. “I just know. And sometimes, it is as simple as that.”

Daisy drew in a shaky breath.

“Now,” Tessa said, “Why don’t we talk about something else, okay?”

“But -”

“There’s no need to wallow when we haven’t reached that point yet.”

Daisy hesitated for a moment. Perhaps there wasn’t a need to worry just then, but would she even be able to recognize the time when she was supposed to worry?

She shook her head till it felt like her bones were rattling.

Tessa was right, and she couldn’t crumble before the world around her even started to grow dim.

Wrapping one arm around Tessa’s, Daisy pulled them back along their stroll towards their houses. Daisy happened to live beside Old Lady Witherford, and Tessa had a gorgeous house a block or two down.

“How about you tell me what in the world I’m supposed to wear on Friday?”

Tessa gaped. “How could I have forgotten about your date!” She almost jumped in place. “Do you still have that red dress?”

“Oh,” Daisy breathed, “I didn’t take it to be a red dress occasion.”

“If this isn’t a red dress moment, when will it be?”

Daisy laughed. “Alright, it’ll be a red dress kind of date,” she said. “I honestly still can’t believe this is where I’ve ended up. After all this time pining and longing and embarrassing myself, Ethan finally decided to ask me out? It feels almost…”

“Like a fairy tale!” Tessa interjected.

“I was gonna say more like an impractical joke,” Daisy said with a shrug, “but that works too.”

Tessa shook her head. “Don’t say that! Ethan finally realizing what a catch you are is real life, Daisy!”

“But it was so sudden,” Daisy muttered. “He came back to the shop, just to ask me out on a date? What could’ve changed in such a short period of time?”

“Everything! Who can explain how a man’s mind works?”

Daisy giggled. “Says the woman with a husband!”

“And you’ll never catch me knowing what Steve is thinking,” Tessa mused with a shake of her head. “Besides, this is different from Steve and I. Haven’t you and Ethan known each other since high school?”