Page 12 of Hexes and Hiccups (Mystery In A Bottle #3)

D aisy

Despite the world feeling as though it had been turned on its head, life continued on in Willowbrook.

Daisy and Tessa opened the shop at its regular time, their hangovers easily subdued by a few tonics and remedies they had lying around Fields’ Herbals .

Tessa moaned and groaned while setting up for a busy day, not really remembering the conversation they’d had in Daisy’s bedroom the night before.

Daisy, who ended up not getting much sleep, kept the memories at the forefront of her mind, determined to use them as fuel for the investigation.

They would work at the shop till Anne could arrive and take over.

Afterwards, Daisy had already set up a meeting with Malric.

Though it was obvious that the Council did not entirely approve of them handling him, they approved of the meeting, much to Daisy’s dismay.

As the morning carried on, a great rush swept through Willowbrook.

Tourist season flourished that year, and crowds upon crowds lingered on main street, slipping into the shop and loitering around the aisles.

Daisy quickly realized how little patience she had for people by the time the fourth group entered the shop, and she took to restocking the shelves to avoid having to talk too much.

Tessa had her beautiful customer service smile on, her natural empath abilities radiating off her in waves.

While they would normally soothe Daisy’s impatience, she wanted to hold onto it on that day.

She was more than determined to figure the case out, even if it meant being a bit of a grouch for the morning.

The tray Daisy held of glass vials labeled by their properties wobbled as she rested it against her hip, using her other hand to stock the rotating shelves beside the front counter.

Most of the patrons were within the aisles, a few over by Tessa on the opposite side of the shop, listening to her list out the products they were looking for.

Daisy was just beginning to simmer down, her anger and impatience almost out the window, when a few sharp voices reached her from where they were within the closest aisle.

“I didn’t think it was true at all,” one woman said. “But Lorelai saw it when she was taking Jackson to school. Can you believe it?”

“Hardly!” the other woman laughed. “Rebecca Mitchell in debt ? I won’t believe it till I see it!”

“Well, just the other day, Rebecca was spotted at the laundromat on the edge of town.”

“ No !”

“You heard me right: the laundromat !” The woman sighed. “And, June, believe me when I say that she was not there to wash her Prada or Chanel.”

June, the other woman, giggled and snorted. “Boy, how I wish I could’ve seen that. Listen, Helen, what could she possibly even be in debt for? The Mitchell’s are swimming in money!”

“Well,” Helen replied, “that’s what everyone always thought. Apparently, something’s going on with the family business, but spoiled Rebecca can’t possibly live without all of her expensive things! Needless to say, she’s maxed out all her credit cards!”

The pair of women erupted into giddy laughter from within the aisle.

Daisy gripped onto her tray as tightly as possible, trying to remember what she was doing in the first place, but far too distracted by her irritation.

Not that Daisy was ever a friend of Rebecca Mitchell’s or even a sympathizer, but she was beginning to view gossiping in a different light.

Immediately, she was brought back to Tessa’s quiet cries in the middle of the night, her face tear-stricken and afraid as she recounted how she thought about cheating on her test in the past. A mere rumor, something whispered without a care for anyone else, had managed to put them all in that mess.

All of it, no matter what the subject ended up being, was cruel and unkind.

Daisy could hardly stand by and listen to the gossip any longer, not when it was the people she loved being directly affected by it.

She began to cross the storefront, taking her bottles to another shelf on the opposite side.

Tessa’s voice still rang through the store, bringing a wave of ease over her.

Daisy breathed in deeply as she went back to stocking, feeling the irritation begin to drift away when a few more voices caught her attention.

A pair of older women, both with wispy grey hairs, stood in front of the tonics with a few bottles already in their hands. Perhaps they had been whispering to each other at one point, but their voices raised steadily, as if their hearing aids had stopped working in the middle of their conversation.

Daisy focused on the bottles in her hand as much as she could.

“You know what,” one of them crowed, “I am more than happy to hear those things about Anne. You think you know a person till - blam! The truth comes out years later.” She shook her head and made a ‘ tsk ’ sound with her teeth. “At least we know it now.”

“To think I’ve adopted all my cats through her.” The other woman raised a hand to her lips, her face flushed. “I ought to give the shelter a call about their beloved volunteer. ”

Daisy gripped onto the tray, beginning to fume.

“A friendly face can be as conniving as an evil one,” the first woman exclaimed. “We’ll do well to remember that now. That Anne just isn’t as sweet as the entire town makes her out to be.”

“At least we know the truth!”

“And to think that an animal abuser has been living down the street from us for years !”

The second woman let out a heavy sigh. “I tell you, we should be paying the shelter a visit to complain! I’d hate to think she hurts them poor strays.”

“Hear, hear.”

Daisy spun around and marched towards the front counter, entirely beside herself with anger.

She wanted to slam the tray down but knew that she needed to retain her composure.

Daisy rested the tray against the counter and began to stack the vials on a revolving shelf.

She found herself unable to look towards the rest of the storefront without glaring.

Tessa laughed from her spot within the aisles, dealing with kind customers, it seemed.

Daisy tried to focus on the empath, desperate for some soothing magic by that point.

The next time she heard any gossip, she was so sure she might combust with anger.

While she never considered herself to be an impatient person or someone with a temper, for that matter, Daisy was overcome with total anger.

How could people gossip so quickly, without even knowing if the things they said were true or not?

It made her wonder how many times she had done the same thing, if her words had managed to hurt another soul without ever knowing it.

The guilt for the things she did not know mixed unpleasantly with her irritation, bringing a sickening feeling to her stomach.

Daisy swallowed it down as much as she could.

A few young kids stood in one of the aisles, looking through the small collection of pranking potions Daisy had in stock.

It certainly wasn’t her speciality, but it was fun to make them, all the same.

The kids were around junior high age, and she tried to ignore them the best she could, but they were far too close to the register.

“Did you hear what Tyler found at Lake Silverpine?” one of them asked.

Daisy pressed her lips together. Tyler’s name had come up in many conversations within the shop recently.

What she knew about him was little, but she could assume that he was a reckless teen who sought out adventure wherever he went.

Most kids looked up to him in that fashion, but he was more dangerous to himself than they liked to believe.

Lake Silverpine was the largest lake within Willowbrook, and it rested against the border of the town.

Many officers had been on the news before, imploring parents to stop letting their kids hang out around there.

It was a place of bad tidings, one where more harm could be caused than fun.

Nevertheless, the children remained there, and even lingered on the shore after hours, subject to the law.

One piece of gossip she could easily believe was that Tyler had been diving in the lake again.

It wouldn’t have been the first time, and she seriously doubted that it could be the last. Daisy felt more calm with that, knowing that the children weren’t about to say things that could rile her up even further.

She remained behind the register, stocking the shelves with a curious ear pointed towards them.

“What did he find?”

“Two gold rings on the floor of the lake,” the kid replied. “Ain’t that cool?”

“I wonder what they’re worth.”

“A fortune, if he’s lucky!”

The kids continued on looking through the aisles, and Daisy breathed a sigh of relief.

Just when the anger seemed to be taking a backseat in her mind, the pair of older women who had been gossiping about Anne sauntered up to the counter, carrying a few bottles in hand.

They rested them beside the register, already pulling out their wallets.

Daisy stood there, frozen for a split second, desperate to corral her anger but only seething even more.

The women were murmuring things to each other while Daisy checked them out, wrapping the glass bottles before placing them within the bottom of the brown paper bag.

Every once and a while, their words were loud enough to reach her, and the fragments she heard drove her up a wall even more.

Daisy gripped onto the bag and folded it shut, almost slamming it against the counter in front of them.

One of them reached and took a hold of it, about to pull it away, but unable to with Daisy’s steel grip on the opposite side.

They looked up at her with puzzled expressions.

“The next time you two ladies find yourselves gossiping about the rumors spread by the serial gossiper, perhaps you should consider what would happen if they uttered lies about you next.”

The woman's eyes went wide as Daisy released her hold on the bag and motioned towards the door to Fields’ Herbals .

The pair of women went out the door, looking rather small and scolded.

Daisy sighed as she leaned against the counter.

The shop finally became quieter than it had been for the first time in a few hours.

Perhaps the smarter way forward would have been to keep quiet, to refuse to spread the rumors any further rather than get herself involved.

Rumors and gossip were practically impossible to stop, and she was barely capable of halting them.

The best way forward would be to find the culprit behind it all, and take away the Book of Gossip.

To clear all their names and prove the gossipers wrong, once and for all.

That was the only hope Daisy could look forward to.

As Tessa started to head back towards the counter, Daisy lifted her wrist, glancing down at her watch.

If Anne didn’t show up soon, they’d be late to their meeting with Malric. Daisy opened her mouth to ask Tessa if she had heard from the woman when the door swung open, and the bells jingled overhead.

“Anne!” Daisy exclaimed, curving around the counter to meet the woman halfway. Before she could say anything, Daisy engulfed the woman in a hug, embracing her tight against her chest.

“Dear me!” Anne smiled when they pulled apart, though there was something distant about her gaze. “What was that for?”

“Can’t I just hug a friend?”

Anne’s smile broadened. “I wouldn’t fight you on it.”

“How have you been doing, Anne?”

The woman’s smile fell as the sadness took over her. “I’m okay, Daisy,” she replied. “The rumor about me is spreading like wildfire, but I’ll power through it. As long as I have my loved ones, I will survive.” She squeezed Daisy’s hand with a wink.

“Good to see you, Anne,” Tessa said as she curved around her, grabbing a hold of her purse. “Hate to break this up, but we’ve got to get a move on if we’re still meeting Malric.”

Daisy pressed her lips together. “Anne, if you –”

“Go on now,” Anne interjected, already moving towards the counter. “Don’t you worry about me for another second.”

Tessa snagged onto Daisy’s hand before she could reply and pulled her towards the front door.

Daisy grabbed her bag on the way out, still looking over her shoulder at Anne.

Her thoughts lingered on the gossiping women, and how they were loud and proud when it came to discussing the rumors in her shop.

What if others came in like them, doing the same thing without realizing that it happened to be Anne behind the counter?

What sort of despair would rock through the woman, then?

Daisy stepped out into the early afternoon sun alongside Tessa, pulling her thoughts away from Anne and on towards Malric. The sooner they could finish their investigation, the better they would all be.