As a Water Witch, Gail also has the same attributes as water itself. She has the ability to reflect and she does it really well. So well that I have to remember never to yell at Gail because she’ll yell right back at me without even thinking. The flip side is that when I’m kind to her, she is kind right back. And if anyone uses their magic against her, well, all I can say is look out!
Gail and I trust each other completely. Even so, I found it hard to connect with what she was telling me now.
“So I was kind of done in after that meeting. And it looked like you and your sisters were going to be at it for a while, so I thought I’d just grab an uber home”, she began slowly.
“I was standing in a corner of the auditorium entryway, dialing up my ride when Jonathan came up to me and begged me to have a cup of coffee with him.”
“And, of course, you said no. Right?” I asked.
“Yes, at first I did say no,” she offered. “But then he looked so sad. I guess I felt sorry for him. I mean he seemed so sincere,” she said.
“Yeah, yeah. So what did he have to say that was so enlightening?” I asked as nonchalantly as I knew how to.
“Jonathan said the he knows he’s an idiot and that he screwed up royally at school. He’s sorry. “
“And you believe him? You’re sure that he’s telling the truth?”
“Well, yes, no, I guess I’m not sure of anything for certain yet. I had a hard time reading him, Olivia. He was so filled with emotion; I needed to have more time with him to be able to see through all those feelings,” Gail said as she stumbled through her description of their coffee date.
“He said that he wants to get back together with you. He knows that he screwed up,” Gail said as she looked at me through uncertain eyes. “He said that he’d do anything to win you back and I do believe that part,” Gail said as she folded her hands and waited for my response.
It was a good thing that we had one craft class after another the next day to keep me busy because thinking about Jonathan was the last thing I wanted to do. And talking about him with Gail was just not something I was willing to do right now. I needed to focus all of my attention on work.
Gail and I had both been surprised when so many people had signed up for our Blingy Beach Bag making class. And who knew that another class designed to teach folks how to make eyeglass cases or one to make change purses would be such hits? But they were and the crowds filtered In-N-Out of the shop all day. Thank goodness Constance had been able to drop off a couple of chicken salad sandwiches, potato salad and iced tea or we would have starved.
Mrs. Schwartz had convinced four of her local friends to take our baby quilt making class and they were all in the store now oohing and awing over possible fabric for their quilts. I felt sort of sorry for Mrs. Schwartz. She and her husband had never had any kids and as much as she wanted to join her friends with this grandmotherly project, both Gail and I could tell that when she signed up there was a bit of sadness behind her actions.
It was Gail, who had come up with the thought of suggesting to Mrs. Schultz that she make a blanket for a young army officer’s pregnant wife. The wife was stuck living with her aunt in New Moon Beach while her husband was in Afghanistan. Not a very warm or welcoming person, we knew that the aunt wouldn’t care if the officer’s wife, Marcy, was “adopted” by Mrs. Schwartz. Gail had introduced the two and they had become a pair.
Knowing that I had to keep my mind off Jonathan I brewed myself a cup of magically spiced peppermint patience tea and asked Gail if she minded if I taught this class. And that was how I ended up with Mrs. Schwartz, her four friends, and five other locals creating a Baby, Oh-Baby blanket.
Leading the group into our small back room that I set up as a classroom, I began my instruction. “I’m so glad to have you all here today. Thank you for registering for this class. I think that we are going to have a lot of fun together.”
After a brief description of the project, class members were given the sewing guidelines along with a list of needed materials and told to take 30 minutes to select their fabrics, threads and other necessary sewing items from the Mystique Creations shop floor. Their anxious giggles were infectious and helped to ease my concerns as I offered up a short prayer of gratitude to the gods. I was truly blessed to be in the company of so many happy customers in my own shop.
“Don’t forget that it’s easier to make these types of blankets when you use the longer, glass head pins,” I said as my students moved back into the store to purchase their sewing goodies.
Before I knew it, it was 5:30, my students had long departed and I was moving towards the front door to turn my sign over to announce to the world that it was time to go home. It had been a very busy day and I was tickled at how well we were actually doing at Mystique Creations. Gail looked as tired as I felt as I gave her a hug and told her to go home.
“I’ll just finish cleaning up and putting things away. Then I have a date with my bath tub and a large glass of Pinot Grigio,” I said gently pushing Gail out the front door.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Gail asked, scanning my face for some sort of response.
“I’m good. Now get out of here. I’ll see you tomorrow my friend,” I said as I grabbed my broom intending to give the floors a quick sweep before heading home. I bet you thought that I might grab my broom for a quick flight home; sorry no time for that tonight.
A gentle tapping on the front door drew my attention away from my sweeping duties. “Did you forget something, Gail?” I asked as I moved towards the door. But it was not Gail’s face that peered through the front door. Jonathan.
“We’re closed,” I called out. “Come back tomorrow. We open at 10.”
“Come on Livy. Let me in. I just want to talk,” Jonathan said, pressing his palms to the front door glass looking like a lost puppy.
Everything inside of me told me to turn around, walk away and for heaven’s sake, don’t open that door. But for the hundredth time in my life, I didn’t listen to myself. Instead, I walked to the door, silently opened it and walked away. After he entered, I heard Jonathan switch the lock ensuring that it was just he and I now. Questionable butterflies took flight in my stomach.
Moving to the back of the room, I settled myself upon the little lavender stage, quickly crossing my legs Indian style and wrapping my arms around myself, completely turning my back to Jonathan.
As he slowly came closer to where I sat I looked up to see his likeness reflected over and over again in the mirrors that surrounded the lavender stage. It must have been magic because each image highlighted a different version of Jonathan. I saw the cruel Jonathan, the cheating Jonathan, the flirtatious Jonathan, the prideful Jonathan, the happy Jonathan, the smiling Jonathan, the loving Jonathan. And as I looked into the eyes of each Jonathan, I felt suspicion race deeper and deeper inside of me, scaring off any butterflies that had remained.
“What do you want, Jonathan?”
“I want you.”
“You had me. You lost me. “
“I know.”
“You made me feel worthless when you cheated with your little co-ed.”
“I know.”
“I gave you so many chances.”
“I know that too.”
“I loved you. Loved you more than you can ever know,” I said as an angry tear escaped down my cheek.
“Livy…”
“STOP, you don’t have a right to call me that anymore. Livy is gone,” I said loudly.
“Olivia, I know I hurt you. I was stupid. I didn’t realize how great what we had was, until it was gone.”
The temperature in the shop seemed to drop slowly leaving the room feeling cold and empty. I had done that. I was projecting how I felt on the inside to the rest of the room. I was being a witch.
“Man, it gets cold in here at night,” Jonathan offered, pulling his jacket collar up around his neck.
I giggled, “You don’t know the half if it.”
“Please Oliv
ia, let’s get out of here. I’ll take you to dinner; just the two of us. Can we please just talk?” he asked. “I want to hear all about your new shop, your future plans, what you’ve been doing with yourself.”
I was suddenly so tired. Tired of missing him. Tired of trying to pretend that I didn’t miss him. And if I’m being truthful with you, maybe I was more than a little curious about him too. I wondered what he was doing here in New Moon Beach and why he was seeking me out again.
“Come on Olivia. What harm can a little dinner be between old friends?”
I glanced up with a sharp look on my face. “Friends, is that what you call us?” I challenged.
“I want to be your friend. I want to be more. Please let me take you to dinner? Just dinner.”
I could suddenly feel both Marv and Meghan standing on either side of me. I knew that they were ready to defend me, protect me, and love me. And I also knew that this was something that I had to do for myself. I needed to hear what Jonathan had to say.
“Dinner, that’s all. Then I have to go home,” I said with a determined look on my face.
“Thank you,” I whispered to Marv and Meghan. “I’ll be okay.”
Thinking I was speaking to him Jonathan replied, “Great. I have my car out front,” he said, then stopping as if he remembered something. “Um, yeah, I was the guy who flipped you off the other day. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late,” he rambled on.
Looking directly at me he said quietly, “I guess that’s just one more thing that I have to say I’m sorry for.”
If I had taken a moment to look back into my shop, I might have seen the faces of two concerned spirits reflected in my back stage mirrors. But I was wound too tight to see anything but Jonathan Maxwell.
Chapter 11
The next morning was cold and foggy. At New Moon Beach we call those days June Gloom days. The ocean mist hugs the coastline and the sunlight never seems to penetrate the umbrella of overhead clouds. It’s not really cold, but neither is it warm. It’s soupy. Most people hate June Gloom as it tends to bring their spirits down.
I was avoiding my spirits all together this morning, choosing to rise earlier than usual for a long run by the beach. I had pulled on black sweat pants over a black T-shirt. You get the theme don’t you? I was one miserable witch. The funny thing was that I shouldn’t have been depressed. Dinner had actually been okay, better than okay.
Picking up my running pace, I chanted a quick brightening spell to myself.
Mother Earth and Sister Sea
Life is good, be kind to me
I can do what I want with my life
Please make it happen without any strife
Show me the way
To my happiness today
My sunglasses were getting fogged up as the heavy sea salt gathered on my lenses, causing me to have to stop and clean them or run face first into some unsuspecting runner. Darn. I just wanted to keep running forever; running until all of the confusion dissipated like the ocean mist.
“Olivia?” I heard my name called as I was just about to resume my run. “Olivia, have you got a second to talk?”
I pulled off my sunglasses and turned to see Penelope Martin sitting on one of the beach benches with two coffees in hand.
“I know that you run every morning and I thought that I’d try to hijack you with a coffee mocha. Can you stop and talk with me for a minute?”
“Hmm, I can smell the chocolate from here. Yummmm. Where did you get that?”
“The Hang-Ten and then I grabbed us a couple of cinnamon rolls from Gino’s,” she said, pulling the bakery bag out from behind her back with an expectant look.
“Boy, do you ever know the high caloric way to my heart,” I said. Even though I was pretty sure where this conversation was going I took the offered coffee and sat down on the bench.
Twenty minutes later, coffee, conversation and cinnamon roll finished, I stood. “Okay, Penn, I understand. I’m not sure that I know any more than you do about this darn hotel. But, yes, if I learn anything new, I promise that I will share it with you.”
“Thank you Olivia. I am just so scared that I’m going to lose the shop and that would be the last thing I need now,” she said suddenly looking older than her years warranted. “By the way, I love your shop. I’m hoping to be able to take one of your classes next month,” she said as she walked off.
“Sounds like a plan and thanks for the goodies. I’ll be in touch,” I said and started my walk home. My stomach was so full that there was no way that I was going to be running. Hopefully a fast waddle would get me home in time for me to shower off the salt and my bad mood.
After finishing my warm shower, I filled my thermos with fresh Hazelnut coffee and headed off to work where Gail was waiting for me.
“Okay friend, I wasn’t spying on you last night, but I know where you went and with whom.”
“What is it you think you know?” I asked suspiciously.
“Well, you aren’t the only witch who performs spells. I was worried that I might not have read Jonathan correctly, so I did a truth spell last night,” she answered with a worried look on her face.
“Uh huh?”
“And well, you two popped up together at El Greco Restaurant. I’m sorry, I wasn’t being nosey. As soon as I saw you and you looked kind of happy, I backed out of the spell.”
“It’s okay,” was all I said as I turned on the overhead ceiling lights. It was so dark in here today; I just hate June Gloom.
“Okay? Well, if you decide you want to talk about it, let me know,” she said as if I were torturing her by withholding information.
“We had a nice time,” I said. “I don’t trust him, but we had a nice time.”
“Are you going to have a nice time again?” she asked expectedly.
“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know,” I said. And I really didn’t know. To trust again was not easy for me.
“It’s such an ugly day and business will probably be slow. I think that I’m going to take some of our flyers around to the other stores. I’ll have my cell in my pocket. Call me if it gets busy and I’ll run right back,” I said as I gathered up the colorful flyers announcing our upcoming Open House.
By the time I returned I had worked off the Coffee Mocha and the cinnamon roll and was famished. Walking will do that to you.
Opening the front door to my shop I was stunned to see my father chatting it up with Gail.
“Well, it looks like you’re a bit of a slacker, Olivia, leaving poor Gail to do all of the work,” my father announced leaving Gail with a most uncomfortable look on her face.
“I was working,” I said defensively. “We have an Open House coming up and I wanted to alert our neighbors and have them put our flyers on their counters.”
“Kind of the old fashioned way of advertising, huh Liv?” he asked with a smile that felt more like a smirk to me. Why was I always so defensive when it came to my dad?
“Gail and I are working on our website. We just haven’t had the time to get it up and running yet.”
“Olivia is really good with social media. She’s been sending out tweets and announcements on Facebook,” Gail volunteered.
“But where do those tweets and Facebook announcements lead to if you don’t have a website?” he asked seeming to be genuinely concerned.
“We’re working on it dad. We’re working on it,” I said.
Redirecting his sight around the store he said “You have a nice shop here. Kind of folksy, but nice.”
Why did every compliment have to come with a twist or was I just overly sensitive?
Putting the leftover flyers on the front table, I turned to watch as my dad’s eyes roamed around my store. And then he ever so quietly dropped the big “M Bomb”. “You’re a lot like your mom. She had a real talent for color and design too.”It was almost as if he had intended to say it only to himself and it had just popped out of his mouth.
My father never spoke about our m
om and when I say never, I mean never. I was instantly torn in half. Part of me wanted to beg him to tell me more about my mother and part of me feared what he might share. As if he realized that he might have let down the cone of silence just a bit too far, he abruptly turned and headed for the door.
“Gail - nice to see you again. Olivia, get going on that website before you lose any more business,” he added. And with that, my father departed, leaving me to wonder why he came in the first place.
Chapter 12
I had a feeling that he would show up again and he did. Not my father; Jonathan.
Gail and I were cleaning up our classroom and prepping for tomorrow morning’s class.
“Gail, are you sure that we have enough of that Jemima Puddle Duck fabric?” I asked, scanning the registration sheet; I was surprised to see that 15 people had signed up for the class. Awesome.
“Well, if we run out, we also have the ABC printed fabric and the See Spot Run one. Between all of those we should have more than enough for all of our students to make the kids soft cloth book of their choice. I am so stoked to see the size of this class.”
Wearing my first smile of the day I walked over to Gail, threw my arms around her and gave her a hug. Not a little scrawny hug, but a great big, I love you hug.
“Thank you so much Gail,” I said, squeezing her tightly within my arms. “I am so happy with how things are going at Mystique Creations and I know that we wouldn’t be doing so well if it wasn’t for you. Blessed be.”
Releasing her from my monstrous hug, I suddenly had a great idea. “Let’s celebrate! I think that we should go and hit that new martini bar on the beach. I hear that they have green apple martinis and another one called Witches Brew. Just up our alley, don’t you think?” I said raising my eyebrows. I’ve never actually had a martini in my life, but somehow it sounded like fun.
“Oh, Olivia, I wish you had said something before. I told Marcy that I would go to her Lamaze class with her. Her husband won’t be back from Afghanistan any time soon and her aunt has no interest in helping her with this class. Her aunt is an old curmudgeon if you ask me,” Gail said.
Morning Magic Page 7