Page 6 of Hexes and Hiccups (Mystery In A Bottle #3)

D aisy

In the early afternoon, the best place in Willowbrook to dine on some scrumptious brunch was at The Buttered Biscuit.

Tucked away within town center’s plaza, only true residents of the cozy town knew about the restaurant.

It went unnoticed by many tourists, though it quickly captured the hearts and stomachs of the lucky, observant few.

The Buttered Biscuit had a witch for an owner, a deeply amber skinned woman with wispy brown hair.

She had a Spanish name, beautiful and musical when said with the right accent.

Some of Willowbrook’s finest food came out of The Buttered Biscuit.

Everything had a dash of love within it, a sprinkle of secret ingredients, and a spell or two.

Whether it was the freshly baked muffins with tall tops or steaming bowls of chicken and dumplings, The Buttered Biscuit had something for everyone, and remained one of Daisy’s favorite places to go.

When she was younger, her Grandmother Lotta often brought her to the restaurant.

They’d sit at the counter beside the register, looking at the front case being filled with sweets and breads, sipping on warming drinks, and enjoying each other’s company.

Now, as Daisy stepped within The Buttered Biscuit alongside Tessa, she felt as though the building welcomed her inside with a loving embrace. Like she was seeing an old friend for the first time in years.

Isolina, the owner and most dutiful cook, swept behind the counter as they came inside.

She hummed a quiet tune as she worked, an apron speckled with flower and sugar tied across her wide waist. She raised her head towards them, her smile pulling sharp dimples out of her rose-colored cheeks.

Though she was as old as the establishment itself, Isolina never halted in working.

She’d let her hair become a brilliant shade of white, and wrinkles slowly coursed along her eyes and lips. But she still worked just as hard.

“Daisy Fields!” She curved around the counter excitedly. “What a surprise! I haven’t seen you in a bit.”

Daisy breathed a sigh, the woman quickly bringing a sense of nostalgia to her. “Things have been busy at the shop,” she replied. “Looks like nothing’s changed!” She reached out, taking Isolina’s hand in her own. “Which is a wonderful thing.”

“You look stressed.” Isolina nodded a few times, mumbling something in Spanish under her breath before turning to shout over her shoulder, towards the kitchen.

The Spanish rang clear through the room and a few voices responded from behind the swinging doors.

When she turned back to them, she looked rather proud of herself.

“No worries. Already ordered everything you need to feel better again. Your friend, too.” Isolina waved her hands towards the dining room, where a quiet lunch rush had already swept through. “Go along, get a seat!”

In the wide room, sitting at a booth beside long windows, was Ethan.

He had a few books in front of him, a steaming cup of coffee resting on top of a chipped saucer.

He must have been on a break from work, Daisy realized, based off his neat attire and navy blue jacket resting behind him.

His long hair was slicked back over his head, a few strands striking over his eyes as he read.

On the opposite side was a notepad, where he diligently took notes.

“How perfect,” Tessa cooed, her lip curling up mischievously. “I haven’t had the chance to really meet dear Ethan, have I?”

“Tess,” Daisy warned, giving her friend’s arm a tug.

“What? I only want to meet the man you’re dating!”

Warm heat rushed to Daisy’s face at the word.

“Look at you!” Tessa pinched Daisy’s cheek, giving her a few pulls as she giggled. “Still blushing like a schoolgirl. That just might be the cutest thing I’ve seen!”

Daisy swatted her hand away. “Oh, knock it off. You’re embarrassing me!”

“Well, what’re best friends for?”

Tessa stepped into the dining room, slipping around Daisy’s defenses.

She waved a hand in the air, already marching towards Ethan.

Daisy held back her squeal and rushed forward, the nerves beginning to swirl around in her stomach.

The closer they came to Ethan, the more the butterflies took a hold of her, bringing that same anxiety she always felt alongside him.

It wasn’t a bad thing at all, but it rendered her foolish and forced her to squirm like a child.

She liked Ethan rather much, more than she’d realized, and she wanted him to love Tessa as much as she did.

But the closeness and embarrassment almost made her legs tremble.

Get a grip! Daisy told herself as Tessa finally caught Ethan’s attention. You are dating, after all.

Ethan’s eyes lit up as he looked over. “What a nice surprise,” he said. His gaze found Daisy instantly, a pinkish hue spreading across his curved nose. “You look windswept, Daisy. You alright?” He was already scooting over, giving her the seat beside him.

Tessa eyed her like a teenager, motioning for Daisy to sit.

Without another word, she slid into the booth beside Ethan, accepting his warmth immediately.

Tessa came into the booth across from them, her arms crossed eagerly across the table.

She looked far too excited, but there was nothing Daisy could do by that point, except go along with it the best she possibly could.

“We just climbed up a billboard,” Tessa blurted, “but that’s neither here nor there!” She stretched her hand across the table towards him. “Ethan, we haven’t been properly reintroduced, have we?”

Ethan laughed and shook her hand, not looking the slightest bit off. “I suppose we haven’t. How have you been, Tess? Daisy,” he paused to stretch his arm across her shoulders, “told me you’ve been taking the empath tests. That sounds exciting.”

Daisy settled against his arm, ignoring how the butterflies in her stomach responded to the easy touch. “They are, aren’t they, Tess?” she asked, trying to give her friend a look that said we’re gonna talk about you now.

But Tessa was obviously not buying it.

“Well, I dunno about you two,” Tessa started as she got comfortable in the booth, “but I’d love to reminisce. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but you were a football player in high school, weren’t you, Ethan?”

He chuckled. “Don’t remind me.”

“Still playing?”

“Lord, no,” he replied. “My back won’t let me. But you’ll always find me watching the pro games on Sundays. And I like to try to keep up with Friday night at the local colleges, or the high school. I am an alumni, after all.”

Daisy peered over at him with a smile.

“I know for a fact that Daisy ,” Tessa emphasized, trying to look casual despite the way her brow arched mischievously, “loves to finish her Sundays with a good book. You know what always goes together? Football and reading. Well, Steve and I, we just –”

Daisy jerked her foot forward beneath the table, lightly pressing the tip of her foot against Tessa’s leg.

Tessa glared, her eyes narrowing at her. “Well,” she drawled, slowly turning her attention back towards the unaware Ethan, “enough about me.” Her gaze flicked down to his books. “How goes the lawyer job?”

“Same old, same old,” he said. “I don’t normally go out for lunch, but felt the need for a different space today.”

“Are you alright?” Daisy asked him.

Ethan watched her with a growing smile. “Sure,” he replied softly. “Just too many sour faces sometimes. This,” he tightened his arm across her, giving her shoulder a tight squeeze, “makes it much better.”

Daisy pulled her gaze away as the blush burnt heavily across her cheeks, giving Tessa another chance to sweep forward with her teasing ways.

“You make your lunches, then?” Tessa asked with a grin. “I didn’t know you liked to cook.”

Ethan rubbed his head sheepishly. “Never had a hankering for it, really. But with the kids growing up, they needed some good food, so I took it up and learned as much as I could. Wouldn’t call myself a Julia Child type, but –”

“You wanna know who can’t cook, even if their life depended on it?”

He glanced around. “Who?”

Daisy couldn’t launch her foot beneath the table fast enough.

“Our mutual friend here,” Tessa said, her smile beaming. “Daisy burns water, if you could believe it.”

Ethan chuckled. “Well, I doubt that.”

“I just had a brilliant idea,” Tessa blurted. “ You can teach Daisy!”

“ Anyways !” Daisy raised her voice, corralling the attention towards her.

She gave Tessa a sharp look. Knowing her friend never meant any harm softened the entire ordeal, but the embarrassment was far too much for her to ignore.

Things had just begun with Ethan, and though it was going incredibly well by that point, Daisy was in no hurry to squash things or ruin them before they had a chance to truly begin. Daisy let out a sigh and smiled.

Ethan cleared his throat and faced her. “Was I just hearing things, or did Tessa say you two climbed a billboard before you got here?”

“Oh, you heard right,” Daisy replied, grateful to turn the conversation towards something else. “It’s this whole statue business. You remember, right? With Riven?”

Ethan nodded. “Believe me, that isn’t something I’d forget. What happened?”

“There’s been more gossip spread around,” Tessa muttered. Bringing up Riven must’ve reminded her of the page that started it all, the one that particularly had to do with her. “You should’ve seen what they said about Anne.”

“I don’t even want to know.” Ethan shook his head sadly. “That woman deserves nothing but kindness.”

“No argument there,” Daisy murmured. “Anyways, the potion I made to help us track down the book all the notes originated from only led us to another piece of gossip. We’ll have to try again tomorrow.”

“They came from a book?”

Daisy nodded. “Apparently Riven had himself a Book of Gossip, as I like to call it. Something that contains rumors about everyone in town, even if they aren’t true.”

“You think some of them are?”

Tessa held out her hand. “Believe us when we say: one hundred percent.”

Ethan rested his hand against his chin thoughtfully. “Obviously this had to have come from someone who has a grudge against Riven, right?”

Daisy and Tessa eyed each other before shrugging in time with each other.

“Well, if that Book of Gossip belonged to Riven,” Ethan explained, “it proves one thing that most people already speculate about.”

“And what would that be?” Daisy asked, her curiosity grabbed.

“That Riven’s a lousy person who prefers to spend his time being arrogant and an obvious gossip,” Ethan replied matter-of-factly. “There’s no way he doesn’t have any enemies lurking around, after everything he’s done to piss off a lot of people.”

Daisy nodded slowly as she leaned back against the booth. “Like a punishment.”

“Good lord,” Tessa mused. “That’s a lot of punishment for one dragon.”

“You’ve handled him yourself, haven’t you?” Ethan asked with a shrug. “Would you blame them?”

Tessa thought about it for a moment, but spoke with great confidence when she came to her answer. “No,” she said. “I don’t think I would.”

“This is much more than anyone deserves,” Daisy argued. “And besides, who is that gossip hurting the most? I wouldn’t say it’s Riven. Not unless…not unless people knew where the rumors were coming from.”

Tessa pressed her lips together. “Maybe they do.”

“You think so?”

“We can assume it by this point.”

Daisy considered everything Ethan had said as a waiter came by to deliver their food.

It was much more than either one of them could eat, which worked out well for Ethan, who had yet to order anything.

The smells silenced their conversation and pulled Ethan and Tessa into a loud discussion about their favorite college football teams. While they playfully argued, Daisy leaned back against the booth, staring down at the steaming plates of food.

Her stomach grumbled and ached from hunger, but she almost felt stuck in place, her mind racing far too much for her to even consider lifting her fork.

Perhaps Riven had managed to land himself in that mess from no fault of his own.

After her first meeting with him in their efforts to lift the curse off of Willowbrook and protect the secret of magic, Daisy could believe it.

But would it end up being that simple? How could it be that all it took was a chance encounter with Ethan to unwind the tangled conflict they currently found themselves in?

As her companions chattered on, Daisy couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder, the eerie feeling of being watched unable to leave her, even in a comforting place like The Buttered Biscuit.

Daisy began to chew on some toast, and her stomach thanked her instantly.

She drifted in and out of the surrounding conversation, but was more occupied with the idea of a very vengeful magic user lingering in Willowbrook.

If there was one thing that was far more powerful than a spell, it happened to be the need for revenge.

Daisy had encountered it one too many times before, and the idea of trying to conquer it again only drove her nerves up higher.

“Are you alright?” Ethan asked, his head leaning forward to get a good look at her face. “You look a little flushed.” He pushed her plate closer to her. “Eating might help.”

Daisy gave him the most reassuring nod and smile she could muster, and forced herself to stay staring forward, though something deep inside kept telling her to turn around.