by Tonya Kappes
Petunia was running around the shop, feeding all the animals. So I looked back at the clock. I saw Mr. Prince Charming taking some time to clean himself. I had twenty minutes until the shops in Whispering Falls opened.
“I’ll be right back,” I told Mr. Prince Charming and set out for Glorybee.
I stopped just shy of the pet shop and turned around. Whispering Falls had never been so beautiful. All the cottage shop window boxes were in full bloom, bursting with every color of the rainbow. Each shop was in tip-top shape. Every storefront ornamental gate twinkled in the sunlight, giving off a magical feel that no one but the residents of Whispering Falls could explain.
“Here goes nothing.” The overhead bell dinged when I walked in the door, letting Petunia know I was there.
“I wondered when you were coming to see me.” She knew it was me before she turned around.
“I had to come over and see you.” I had forgiven everything I overhead, when I was disguised as a fairy at the funeral. I knew she and Faith were hurt. “You have to know that I have nothing to do with the missing bird.”
“Missing bird.” Squawk! The macaw jumped around. “Really like your wings, like your wings.”
“Why didn’t anyone steal him?” Petunia threw a peanut up in the air and the macaw caught it. “Now I know how much Patience gets on Constance’s nerves with her repeating.”
Ugh. I doubled over with a shot to the gut. Words began to flood my head.
“I got the wrong bird. I really like your wings. Bad ostrich.”
“Are you okay?” Petunia dropped the animal food on the floor and rushed over to me.
“Yes.”
Patience.
“Petunia, I’ll be back!” I grabbed the long stick with the noose at the end that Petunia was trying to rope the ostrich with and ran out the door and down the street toward Two Sisters and a Funeral.
If my hunch was right, and the way the macaw talked, my intuition told me Patience Karima’s name was written all over this bird napping.
“Good boy, good boy!” Patience yelled. It was bouncing off all the walls in the funeral home.
I opened all the doors and stopped when I came to the last door.
“You are a bad ostrich!” She screeched right before I burst through the door.
The hardwood floor creaked under her ample girth as Patience swayed back and forth with her arms outstretched to the side. The ostrich stared her down, taking a jab here and there as she got closer.
Quickly I swung the pole over my head and wrapped the loop around the bird’s neck.
“I…I...” Patience stuttered. “I can explain.”
The ostrich darted out of the room with me holding on.
“Yes, you will!” I yelled with my feet in mid-air, holding on for dear life. “At your hearing in front of the Village Council tomorrow night!”
I tried to look back as the bird flung me all over Main Street on our way back to Glorybee. Patience stood on the steps of Two Sisters and A Funeral, sobbing into a handkerchief.
Izzy, Gerald, Bella, Faith, Raven, Constance, and Petunia stood on the street watching as I held on.
“Don’t let go!” Petunia held the door open to Glorybee as the bird ran straight for her.
Once inside, I let go. The bird stopped at the bird feeders and started to peck, leaving a trail of a mess.
“How did you figure it out?” Petunia stroked the bird as if he had done something good.
“Let’s say the macaw told me.” I looked up at the macaw and winked.
“Good bird. Good bird.” He danced from leg to leg on the top branch of the tree.
“You better get to work.” Petunia continued to pet the ostrich while she nodded at the door.
A line had already formed in front of A Charming Cure.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“That was crazy!” I pulled Madame Torres out of my bag at the end of the day.
There was one customer after another, which was good, because I didn’t have time to think about Oscar and how I was going to win him back.
It was good to hear he had some feelings for me, at least that was what I thought I heard him say the day I was at the police station collecting dirt for a spell, but I couldn’t be sure. I was in a fog then and my mind could have made up anything to believe Oscar was still in love with me.
“Yes it was.” Madame Torres appeared a little more relaxed since the last time I saw her. “What are we going to do with that?”
I followed her eyes to Belur’s bottle. There was a faint glow.
“I don’t know.” I popped the cork to let him out. He had been cooped up in there for quite a while now.
A stream of purple smoke danced out and into the air, filling the entire shop.
Cough, cough. I fanned the smoke.
“Don’t you just love a grand entrance?” Belur’s face had a smile that would light up the worst of days.
He was a pain in my butt, but he was very entertaining.
“I really wish I knew who you belong to.” I smiled, shaking my head. It would have been nice to confirm he was Kenny’s, but I guess I wasn’t going to have any luck with that since Kenny was dead.
“Belur!” A very small Kenny look-a-like rushed through the front door of the shop. “I wondered where you were.”
That was strange. The boy blew in with the wind. . .
“You…” I pointed at him after I recognized him. “You are Kenny’s son.”
“Yea, I’m KJ, Kenny Jr. How did you know?” He smiled, looking exactly like his father.
“I was at the funeral and saw you sitting on the side with your family.” I couldn’t tell him that I was dressed as a fairy.
“I’m sorry.” He looked at me as if he was trying to recall seeing me. “There were so many people there.”
“No, you don’t have to apologize.” I smiled back. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Your wish is my command.” Belur crossed his arms in front of him and stared at me. He didn’t look KJ’s way.
“Oh, no.” KJ looked aggravated. He turned back to me. “You didn’t make any wishes did you?”
“No!” Vigorously I shook my head.
“Did too!” Belur shouted as he floated in the air, glaring his big blue eyes at me.
“No, I didn’t!” I shouted back.
“Um,” Madame Torres appeared in her ball, “yes you did.”
She disappeared, leaving the ball to play like a television screen of my thoughts and actions.
I wish I knew how to use a genie. I wish I could have a break in the murder. I wish I could teletransport like Aunt Helena. I wish I could be disguised so I could go to Kenny’s funeral.
Madame Torres reappeared. “Do I need to play anymore of your wishes?”
My mouth dropped. “Do you mean I can’t really teletransport?”
Madame Torres nodded. “Not without that.” Her eyes darted toward Belur.
My memory flooded with all the cool stuff that I had been doing.
“So none of those cool powers are from being Village President?”
“Nope.” Madame Torres was good at not sugar-coating anything.
Belur didn’t say anything. He simply floated on his purple cloud with his lips tight.
“I’m sorry, but I’d like to have my genie back.” KJ burst my bubble.
“Just one more wish?” I really wanted Oscar to remember us.
“No, I’m sorry.” KJ picked up the bottle. “Belur!”
The air went dry as Belur was sucked back into the bottle. KJ stuck the lid on.
“The good news is that I’m going to be taking over for my dad.” He smiled and pulled out a bundle of sage. “I think you need this.”
He winked. . .and blew out with the breeze.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
It felt good getting to go back to the cottage and life as I had begun to know it.
“Are you ready to go to bed?” I rubbed down Mr. Prince Charming’s back as he l
ay next to me on the couch.
After KJ left the shop, I was tired and didn’t bother restocking the shelves. I made a plan to get up bright and early, maybe catch Eloise cleansing the streets of Whispering Falls, and grab a coffee at the Tea Shoppe before work.
That would give me plenty of time to stock the inventory before the shop opened.
Mewl, mewl. Mr. Prince Charming yawned, jumped off the couch and darted to the bedroom.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Who’s here?” I glanced up at the clock. “It’s ten o’clock.”
I got up and pulled the shade on the door aside. Oscar was standing in the light of the moon.
“Hey!” I opened the door. I didn’t care if I got any sleep tonight. The second we were together, time fell away from me.
“I thought I’d stop by and give you some of these.” He held out a pink and green Wicked Good Bakery box. I didn’t have to look to know what was in it.
“Come in.” I held the door open. My legs went spongy. Seeing him made me miss him even more than I already had.
I had to look away from his lips. I felt like a breathless eighteen-year-old girl.
“Nah. I can’t.” His smile faded away. “I’ve got to get back to Locust Grove. I have to work early.”
I took the box from him. Static electricity tingled between our fingertips.
“Oh.” I pulled my hand away. “Thank you.”
There was an odd distance between us, but a familiar look in his eyes.
“Are you sure you can’t come in?” I asked again, hoping he’d change his mind.
“I can’t.” There was an odd twinge of disappointment on his face. My gut told me he wanted to, but time was going to have to be on our side.
Somehow, and sometime soon, I was going to have to let him in on my little secret of being a spiritualist.
“You need to come back when you can stay.” I urged him.
“About that.” He stood at the door with his hands in his jean pockets. “Do you want to grab a pizza tomorrow night?”
“Like a date?” Suddenly I was wide-awake.
“Something like that.” He looked down at his feet and shuffled his foot on a loose piece of gravel.
“Great!” I didn’t give him the opportunity to back out. “Be here by seven.”
He looked up and smiled in approval before he started to walk away.
“You wouldn’t believe what I discovered in this quaint little town you moved to.” He rubbed his temples before he got in his car and zoomed off.
I had to go to bed and get my beauty sleep. After all, I was the new Village President who was going to have to figure out where these animals came from and why Patience had bird napped the ostrich. Not to mention, I needed to be on my game when I explain to Oscar that I’m not the girl who grew up next door to him.
I shut the door and leaned up against it, replaying the last words he spoke.
“You wouldn’t believe what I discovered in this quaint little town you moved to.”
“If only you knew,” I whispered before I turned out the lights.
A Note From The Author
Thank you so much for reading my novel. I’m truly grateful for the time we have spent together. Reviews are very important to an author’s career and I would appreciate it if you could take a couple minutes of your time by clicking on the click below and leaving a review for my novel. Thank you so much, and I hope we continue to meet in the world of books. ~Tonya Kappes
About The Author
International bestselling author Tonya Kappes spends her day lost in the world of her quirky characters that get into even quirkier situations.
When she isn’t writing, she’s busy being the princess, queen and jester of her domain which includes her BFF husband, her teenage guys, two dogs, and one lazy Kitty.
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