Page 16 of Hexes and Hiccups (Mystery In A Bottle #3)

D aisy

By the time they left Town Hall, the sun had finally set beyond the horizon, leaving a growing evening and a cool breeze.

Stars shone brightly overhead, becoming more and more bright as time went on.

Bats chittered in the distance, their silhouettes flashing in and out of older chimneys.

Daisy reveled in the easy night for as long as she could.

Things hadn’t been that simple in quite some time, and she missed the ease a nighttime walk once gave her.

At least she had Tessa with her throughout it all, providing that glimmer of hope and faith that she needed.

They walked down the sidewalk back towards their neighborhood, once again passing through Main Street.

Streetlights glowed like amber above their heads as they passed by Fields’ Herbals .

Tessa held one of the maps up as they went underneath the light, her brow furrowing tighter and tighter the longer she tried to read it.

They continued on, the streetlights fading in and out with every step they took.

“Good grief,” Tessa mumbled as she folded the map back up. “I thought reading maps was easy.”

Daisy laughed. “Since when?”

“Well, I don’t know,” she said. “I guess never. These are quite odd to get right, with all the roads intersecting above and below ground.”

“I figured it would be.”

“Know any master map readers?”

“Unfortunately,” Daisy replied, holding back her laugh, “the last one I knew left town.”

“Bummer.”

They both laughed together as they kept walking, grateful to find a glimmer of happiness within the growing darkness.

Daisy hung close to Tessa as some cars drove by, her mind racing with everything left for them to do.

While she hoped the map would be the final piece they needed, allowing them a bit of rest, Daisy didn’t bother to get her hopes too high.

There would always be another catch, another bump in the road.

This time, she realized, they would be ready for it, no matter what it turned out to be.

Daisy began to reach for the map as they passed under another streetlight, when a sleek car slowed down beside them. Daisy peered over her shoulder curiously as the window began to slide down, revealing a handsome and familiar face on the other side.

“Well, well, well!” Ethan grinned as he spoke from the driver’s seat, lowering his head to get a look at them.

His overgrown hair was out of his face and tucked behind his ear, a comfortable-looking plaid button-down rolled up to his elbows.

Ethan’s gaze clung onto Daisy, bringing a sheepish blush to her cheeks.

“If it isn’t Willowbrook’s famous detectives! ”

Tessa immediately got into character, holding one hand against her forehead in a mock salute. “Leave your problems to us , sir.”

Ethan laughed, his car rumbling as he crept alongside them. “You two have been busy, haven’t you?”

Daisy shrugged. “As usual.” Her heart hammered relentlessly, despite having gone out with Ethan multiple times.

The schoolgirl crush remained, even when there was a car separating them.

She was almost inching away, almost hiding behind Tessa slightly.

But her confidence grew in seconds, a flare of her friend’s empathy magic, she assumed. “What brings you out this evening?”

“Well, as a matter of fact, I was on my way to your house, Daisy.”

She blushed harder. “Really?”

Ethan nodded. “I thought you might want to get some dinner with me tonight. Swing Time is playing at the drive-in, too.”

Daisy’s heart melted at his words. On one of their first dates, she mentioned that the series of classic movies done with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers remained her absolute favorites.

They were full of dancing and laughter, brilliantly done music and even better tap performances.

Ever since she was a kid, watching them were her moments of absolute pleasure, as she imagined herself being as talented as Ginger Rogers.

The movies became a sort of guilty pleasure as she got older, with Swing Time being her all time go-to romance flick.

“You remembered,” Daisy finally said in a quiet voice.

Ethan beamed. “‘Course I did. Whaddya say, Daisy?”

Honk! Honk! Honk!

A line of cars were beginning to pile up behind Ethan. While a few of them managed to whip around him, most of them were impatiently waiting in line, their angry faces blurry through their windshields. Ethan winced as the car horns came again, but he didn’t move, still waiting for an answer.

Daisy laughed. “Well, I can’t remember ever turning down an opportunity to watch Swing Time at the drive-in.” She whipped around to Tessa, who watched the exchange with a smirk. Daisy’s eyes snapped down towards the folded up maps. “I can –”

Tessa held up her hand to stop her, already tucking the maps beneath her arm. “Don’t you worry about it for a single second,” she said as she nodded her chin towards Ethan. “Go have a night off. Have some fun for a change.”

“You know I have fun with you, right? No matter what it is we’re doing.”

Tessa grinned. “Oh, I know.” She raised her voice. “ Ethan can’t fill the hole of a best friend, can he?”

From within the car, he let out a hearty laugh. “I wouldn’t dare.”

Daisy reached for her best friend and pressed a short kiss to her cheek.

The cars honked even more now, a few of them gaining the confidence to slip by and keep zooming down Main Street.

Daisy gathered herself quickly and slipped inside the cool car, shutting the door and giving Tessa a big wave from the window.

Ethan quickly sped up, doing his best to ignore the onslaught of horns coming from behind him.

“Not the best getaway driver, are you?” Daisy teased as she settled into the seat, her senses overjoyed with Ethan’s lumber scenting cologne.

He sighed. “Unfortunately,” he joked, “I’m a bit out of practice. Been a few years since my last bank robbery. I hope you don’t look at me any different.”

Daisy laughed, relief flooding through her system. “You wouldn’t believe how glad I am to be here with you.”

After saying the words aloud, Daisy felt embarrassed, a burning sensation beginning to climb up her neck.

She reached for her face, covering herself from his growing smile.

She supposed she might never be used to his charisma or handsome smile, that she would always be at the mercy of his kind voice.

In fact, she was far more embarrassed about the fact that there were so many things she wanted to say and do with Ethan, but wasn’t confident enough to pull them off.

As far as she was concerned, Ethan was still the young man she believed to be way out of her league.

The man who was too well off to even consider looking at her in a way that wasn’t just for friendship.

But then, much to her surprise and relief, Ethan reached over and grasped onto her hand, intertwining his warm fingers around her own. He squeezed – once, twice, and then a third time – till his intent was as obvious as he could make it to be.

“No glader than I already am,” he whispered. “Is it the investigation?”

Daisy sighed, her eyes focusing on his hand. “More questions remain than answers,” she replied. “Or, whenever it seems we’re faced with an answer, it just becomes another question.” Daisy shrugged disheartedly. “I’ll take whatever break I can get.”

Ethan grinned. “Well, it just so happens that I have the best break already planned.”

They continued on driving through Willowbrook, till Ethan pulled up through a pizza joint’s drive-through, picking up his already placed order.

The car filled with a wonderful smell as Daisy rested the warm boxes over her lap.

There was a classic pizza with shreds of fresh basil thrown over top, the earthy and cheesy smell bringing a grumble to Daisy’s stomach.

Another box was full of homemade breadsticks, just dripping with a garlic butter sauce.

And there was Daisy’s favorite, stowed away in a plastic container.

“ You didn’t !” Daisy squealed as she pulled the box out of the paper bag. “Cannoli!”

Flaky and fried pastry was filled with a sweet mascarpone cream, speckled with mini chocolate chips and vanilla bean.

Ever since she was a girl, her mother would make them fresh every Sunday, giving Daisy the sweetest of treats every night before bed.

They were quite the affair to make, and Daisy couldn’t remember the last time she allowed herself to indulge in one.

Once again, her stomach grumbled, her hunger growing by the second.

She slipped the box back into the bag and grinned as she looked over at Ethan.

“You’re just a sweetheart, aren’t you?”

It was, finally, Ethan’s turn to blush. He smirked sheepishly, now keeping both hands tight on the steering wheel as they neared the drive in theater. “I try,” he finally replied, his voice cracking.

Daisy leaned back in her seat as he purchased the tickets and drove through the lot.

Not many cars were already there, giving them the pick of wherever they’d like to go.

The screen was wide and tall, the opening credits to Swing Time already flashing across it.

Daisy tuned into the station as Ethan parked, her smile broad and eager.

Within a few minutes, the opening music filled the car, bringing a comforting sense of nostalgia to Daisy’s heart.

Whatever stress that had plagued her earlier that day regarding the Book of Gossip and the rumors plaguing the town quickly evaporated.

All that mattered was her and Ethan, the night only beginning.

They made little plates of pizza and bread, munching away as the movie began to play in front of them.

Fred Astaire’s goofball character, who’d much rather gamble and play craps than remember his own wedding, danced to his heart’s content with the beautiful and illustrious Ginger Rogers.

Ringlets of blonde hair rested below her ears, her dark dress flying about as she was twirled around effortlessly.

Daisy tapped to the rhythm of the music as the movie went on, her eyes wide as she watched their dance scenes.

“They never fail to enrapture me,” Daisy said as the movie neared its halfway point. “No matter how many times I’ve watched it, I always feel like it’s the first time, you know?”

Ethan nodded as he leaned back, one arm tucked over her shoulders. “It’s magical.”

She scooted closer, her head almost resting against him entirely. “Thank you for this,” she whispered. “I know it’s just dinner and a movie, but with everything going on, it’s more than you might imagine.”

“Everyone deserves a break,” he said. “Even if you’re a Coven Inquisitor.”

Daisy chuckled and then let out a heavy sigh. “I’m not sure if I’ll ever get used to that title.”

“How is the investigation going, by the way? Last we talked,” he paused, one brow raised, “all I could come up with was that Riven might have a lot of enemies. Though I know that that probably wasn’t much help.”

“It helped more than you might think,” Daisy quickly reassured him. “It’s just that there hasn’t been a single clue leading us any closer to the culprit. We find another rumor, another shred from the Book of Gossip, and that’s about it. Not even my tracking potion seemed to work right.”

Ethan was quiet as he thought for a moment. “Maybe we’re just looking at it too hard.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” he began, “at the end of the day, someone’s spreading rumors around town. Gossiping. Causing trouble just to cause trouble, you know?” Ethan shrugged. “Maybe it’s just a troublemaker looking to stir the pot a bit.”

Daisy pouted, the idea not sitting well with her. “For some reason, that feels far worse to me than a well-thought-out plan. Why is that?”

“No one wants to believe that there’s just a bad apple causing it all, just because they can. Makes the town seem far less hopeful than you thought it was.”

Daisy pressed her lips together, leaning closer to Ethan. “No matter what or who is behind all of this,” she whispered, one hand tightening around his own, “I’m glad to be here with you. I’m more than glad.”

“Me too, Daisy,” he murmured.

Daisy angled her head up towards him, staring up at his warm and enveloping eyes.

The closer she came to Ethan, the easier it was for her to feel at ease.

He was like a coat of armor, something that wanted to protect her, something that needed to be close to her.

Daisy ached to be closer still, to know everything she could about him.

The entire night was more perfect than she had imagined it to be, and though a part of her believed she needed to still be buried within the investigation, Daisy allowed herself to be selfish and leaned towards his lips.

Ethan captured her lips in a soft, yearning kiss.

It was gentle and quiet, the sound of a ballad from Swing Time filling the car all around them.

Daisy imagined they were within the movie itself, dancing to their heart's content before falling into an earth-shatteringly passionate embrace. It was a fairytale, one that she never wanted to step out of. Ethan’s hand cupped her cheek, the gentle touch sending a chill down her spine.

Everything was just as it should be.