by Tonya Kappes
Inwardly I groaned secretly wishing it was me flipping through wedding planners, thinking about making decisions like: shoes, cream or white dress, tiered cakes, tiara versus veil. Decisions, decisions, happy decisions. Sigh.
I hurried across the street and opened the door to Wicked Good. I pushed my way past the customers and headed to the front of the line. Raven was behind the counter putting fresh scones in the glass case. Faith was sweeping up the floor around the café tables.
The inside of Wicked Good made me feel like a little girl again.
The lime green walls looked amazing against the jars of candy that lined them. The cake stands on each table had the most amazing assortment of cupcakes I’d ever seen.
The black-and-white checkered floor led the way to a room filled with Victorian-style dining furniture.
“Hey, June.” Faith was very exotic looking with her long blond hair and onyx eyes. Her nails were always perfectly manicured in the deepest of pinks. Her clothes were the latest trends and she dressed to impress. I swear her long lashes made a swoosh sound when she batted them they were so long. “Let me get you a cupcake. Special today.” She rubbed her tummy and lifted her brows along with a big smile but not before rearranging a few pale-pink flowers in an etched-glass vase. “Have you ever seen cherry blossoms arranged in a bouquet?” Faith shook her head with a happy smile across her face. “That Arabella is awesome at her job.”
“Awesome.” I rolled my eyes and looked at the cupcakes. “Sure, I could use a cupcake.” How could I resist? When the world had taken my all-time favorite snack, Ding Dongs, out of circulation, Raven did her best to imitate them with her own creation she called June’s Gems, affectionately named after me. Even now that Ding Dongs were back on the market, I stuck with June’s Gems. “I could eat all the cupcakes in the place right now.”
“Oh,” Faith’s lips pursed. Her brows wrinkled in worry. “You want to sit while I grab you one?”
I nodded and took a seat at one of the open tables. The crowd seemed to be piling in more and more. Once the Piggly Wiggly in Locust Grove started to carry some of Wicked Good’s items in their pastry section of the grocery store, the residents started to venture through the curvy back roads and deep into the woods to find Whispering Falls so they could stockpile on their favorite desserts. Who could resist a hot muffin, scone, or dessert of choice—hot and right out of the oven? Plus it helped business with the other shops. Since Ever After Books was our newest shop in town, I was hoping it would also draw new customers.
“Okay,” Faith saddled up to the table carrying a tray with two coffees and two cupcakes. She sat a cup in front of me and placed a chocolate cupcake covered with fudge ganache frosting with a small fondant red heart adorned by white sprinkles that had fallen in just the right place.
“How fitting.” I took the heart off the top. There was a small crack that ran down the middle. No wonder Faith brought it to me. Raven would never have a crack in her creations. She generally donated the rejects, but today I must be the charity case so I plopped it in my mouth. Crack or not, it was yummy.
Faith sat in the chair across from me, her hands flailing in the air like she was fanning the air and said, “I heard you were having some heart issues.” She gave a martyred sigh. “You know. The voices,” referring to her spiritual gift.
“They are right.” I bit into the delish deep chocolate goodness and let my mind get lost for a moment before Faith broke the silence. “And Arabella isn’t helping either.”
“Really?” Faith shrugged. “I found her charming.”
“She’s very charming to Oscar.” I brushed off the notion of Arabella and Oscar. Faith didn’t need to know my problems and I wasn’t here to solve them. I was here to solve how she reported the news. “Though it’s probably just her personality,” I lied.
“I guess you are bummed about the headlines?” Faith and Raven knew all about me and Oscar. Since they moved to Whispering Falls, they had been my closest allies. We are all the same age and had met at Hidden Halls, A Spiritualist University. Faith and I were in the same Intuition Class that Eloise taught. Our relationship was a little rocky, but once we got to know each other, we had become fast friends.
“Bummed isn’t the word for it.” An instant lump in my throat told me I was about to cry.
Faith reached over the table. “Please don’t be upset. From what I understand Oscar is coming around to the whole ‘witch’ thing.” We laughed.
It was true. Oscar didn’t get the world spiritual. He said from what I had described, it was all witchy like. To us, witchy was a negative term and implied evil. Whispering Falls and its residents were none of those things. We only brought good and happiness to everyone, not evil or bad.
“He is and we are moving forward. Slowly.” I eyed Faith’s cupcake that she hadn’t even touched. She pushed it toward me. I took it without even thinking about the calorie intake I would later regret. “Thanks.”
“I knew you were going to need another one.” She winked. “But your time is coming. How do we not know that the headlines didn’t mean two celebrations?”
“Does it?” My spirit felt a little tug of possibilities.
“I don’t know.” Faith shrugged. “I just read it as I get it. The chance of it is there. What can I do to help you?”
“Do you know what you meant by breaking a few eggs to make an omelet?” I was trying to come up with a way to talk to her about the way she reports what she heard, but the one line still bugged me.
“I don’t know what that meant. Like I said, I say it as it comes to me. Part of the job. In fact,” she planted her elbows on the table and leaned forward, “I almost didn’t report that because I knew it would send the Karima sisters into flames. But I did what I’m supposed to do.” She got up. “I’ve got to get back to work before Raven fires me.”
“Hey,” I grabbed her hand stopping her before she got away. “I’m going to have a bridal shower for Petunia. Do you think y’all could do the treats for the party?”
“Good for you. That’s nice to do.” She squeezed my hand. “Here comes Raven, I’m sure she’d love to.”
“What’s up?” Raven rubbed her hands off on her apron with the big Wicked Good logo printed on the front of it. Her coal-black hair was pulled into a low side ponytail and dangling over her right shoulder.
“I was here to get the scoop on the headlines.” I finished off my second cupcake. “Delish.” I rubbed the chocolate from the corners of my mouth. I rubbed my empty wrist. It was rare that I didn’t wear my bracelet. And without it not only did I feel naked, but unprotected.
“Yeah, about those.” She pointed to the cupcakes. “I knew you’d be here.”
I pounded my forehead with the palm of my hand. This was not good. Raven was an Aleuromancy spiritualist. She found answers and messages baked in dough.
“I’m sorry.” She reached over like Faith had done and grabbed my hands. She rubbed them. Not one bit comforting me. It made me feel worse.
“Go on,” I encouraged her. “I know there is a message. Good or bad, throw it on me.”
There wasn’t much more I was going to be able to take.
“I’m not sure what the real message is, but every time I made one of those damn hearts, it would crack right down the middle.”
“I saw the crack but thought it was a reject cupcake.” I groaned and tried to rub out the ache pulsating through my chest. “How do you know it was about me?”
“You aren’t going to put me in jail are you?” Raven referred to Rule Number One—spiritualists cannot read other spiritualists.
“Are you kidding?” I drew back with my hands planted on my chest. “My life, Oscar, my future is relying on your message.”
“I don’t know about all of that, but I do know that it doesn’t involve Oscar,” her voice trailed off.
“What do you mean?” There wasn’t any other guy I was interested in…ever.
“Clearly it was about you and your shop,
but someone who is heavily involved with Petunia.” Raven peered over my shoulder. Faith was behind the counter waving her over. The line had grown twice the size since I had gotten there. “I’ve gotta go.”
Raven jumped up.
“Oh! I can do the bridal shower treats,” she said over the crowd. “It was in the dough.” She lifted her hands in the air.
Chapter Eight
In the dough.
That didn’t make me feel any better. Granted I didn’t know a ton about Petunia, but I did know a few things. And one of those things was Arabella Paxton. She was new and she already proved to dislike me, not to mention she was trying to get her hooks in Petunia and Gerald’s wedding.
“June,” Gerald tipped his hat when I walked past The Gathering Grove on my way back to A Charming Cure. He was outside serving tea to the customers sitting at the wrought iron tables underneath the store’s awning. “Petunia said to tell you that she was going to have to meet you after work. There was a line of customers outside of Glorybee and she was sure someone was going to adopt Clyde.”
“Oh darn,” I quipped. “I was really hoping to get some items crossed off your wedding list.”
“About that.” Gerald rubbed his hands over his mustache and twirled the end on one side. “You have been an awful good sport about all of this.”
“Oh,” I brushed it off even though my heart was breaking like the little heart on the cupcakes I had just gulped down in my time of sorrow. Suddenly my stomach felt sick. “I’m super happy for you and the village. A strong power couple.”
“I know you told Oscar about all of this.” He waved his hand in the air referring to the magic that lies in Whispering Falls. “I understand he is taking it very well.”
I nodded. “He is. Eloise is doing a great job showing him pictures of his past with his family.” I crossed my fingers and held them up in the air. “I’m truly grateful to have been able to keep the best friend I have known all my life. That’s enough for me.”
Disconcerted, Gerald crossed his arms and pointedly looked away.
“What?” I asked. There was definitely something he was keeping from me.
Suddenly he straightened up. Ahem, he cleared his throat, “Nothing.”
I followed his gaze. Arabella stood on the steps of her shop pretending to adjust the flowers on the mannequin skirt.
“Have you met our newest shop owner?” It was a perfect time to question him about me seeing them standing in the street earlier—much earlier than when he had proposed to Petunia.
“Petunia informs me she is a nice woman.” Gerald tipped his top hat, hiding his eyes from the sudden burst of sun shooting from the sky.
“I saw the two of you talking earlier. Do you know her from somewhere?”
“No.” He gave me a narrowed glinting glance.
I chewed on my lower lip and stole a look at him. Once again, he was looking at Arabella and she was looking back at him.
“Really?” My gut tugged, my intuition waved a red flag. “You don’t know her?” I looked back at Arabella. When our eyes met, she darted into her shop.
“I’ve got to get back to work.” Gerald patted the top of his top hat before he tilted his head and dismissed himself and my question.
“Great.” Unfamiliar sounds seeped into my soul. There was something to Gerald and Arabella’s little morning chat and my gut told me I was going to have to get to the bottom of it, regardless of her interest in Oscar.
I glared at Magical Moments with burning, reproachful eyes as I made my way down to A Charming Cure. The chatter outside of Glorybee caught my attention. The line was ten people deep.
They were all oohing and awing over Clyde who was on his perch in the window of the shop. Petunia was happily grooming him. He knew he was on display. His chest was puffed out and one of his legs stretched to the side as his tail feathers spread apart. Petunia’s face was bright with pride.
Clyde was a big macaw bird that gave his opinion whether you wanted to hear it or not. Petunia was able to talk to animals which made her the perfect owner of Glorybee Pet Shop. She was a natural with animals and when Mr. Prince Charming wasn’t around, I knew he was hanging out with Petunia.
Clyde. He was a different story. No matter how much Petunia complained about the old bird, she loved him to the core. I highly doubted she was going to let someone adopt him. She was all talk. Just like she was all talk when she refused to admit she and Gerald were a couple.
“Hi everyone.” I walked to the front of Glorybee and tapped on the window before I headed over to A Charming Cure.
Petunia waved and Clyde nodded his head up and down.
“Thank you,” Petunia mouthed and pointed to a beautiful bouquet of yellow orchids. She put her hands to her chest. “I love them.”
I smiled not knowing what she was talking about. I bet her new best friend, Arabella, had given them to her.
I might be a little biased, but A Charming Cure was the prettiest shop in Whispering Falls. I reached over and plucked a couple of stray vines away from the two front windows; the rest of the outside was covered in the most beautiful wisteria vine. The purple and white flowers grew up and around the front door. “Give me a minute to open back up,” I told a customer who was waiting for the shop to open.
This morning after my fainting spell, Izzy was good enough to close A Charming Cure so I could get back on my feet. And since Petunia wasn’t able to meet up, there was no reason I couldn’t open for the rest of the day. It was still early and there were a lot of customers.
Quickly I rushed through the shop, turning on all the little table lights, illuminating the inside. I flipped on my cauldron before I walked back to the door and turned the sign to open.
“Come on in.” I held the door open for the woman. She stepped inside. “Can I help you with anything?”
“Just looking around.” She smiled and went around the tables picking up the bottles.
“Let me know if you need anything.” I inhaled when she walked by. There wasn’t anything setting off my intuition of a cure she needed.
More than half of the time, the customers who walked through the door really didn’t need a real cure. They were there for curiosity of what a cure shop was all about.
This was a perfect time to work on my Oscar potion.
I walked back to the shelf where I kept all the ingredients I use for my special cures. Tapping each one, I read their names out loud, trying to tap into my intuition. “Belladonna, Ferrum Phos, Sepia, Natrum Mur, Valerian Root.”
My finger warmed when I touched the Eye of Saber Cat, which was my intuition telling me to pick that ingredient.
“You’ve never failed me yet,” I said, referring to my spiritual gift of intuition. Gingerly, I picked up the container with the eyes and carefully unscrewed the lid. Rarely did my intuition tell me to use the Eye of Saber Cat and it freaked me out every time I opened the jar because all the eyes looked at me.
“Okay,” I sighed and opened the jar. All the eyes shifted right and left when the light entered. “Which one of you is going to bring Oscar back to me?”
I took the tongs and haphazardly grabbed one not looking into the eye. I dropped it into the cauldron.
After that I grabbed a few extra ingredients—for good measure. The customers that were standing in line at Glorybee filed in one by one.
“Welcome,” I said, poking my head out from behind the partition. “I’ll be with you in a minute.” The bell over the door dinged a few more times.
Quickly I stirred the potion. I grabbed the purple heart bottle with the potion I had started earlier. I unscrewed the top and put a few sprinkles of it into the cauldron.
The Eye of Saber Cat seemed to be doing the trick with the swirling chunky liquid rising to the top with a cerulean glow. A dash of Kali phos would make the liquid stop rising and take a little edge off of Oscar’s nervous system with the positive benefits of opening up to love—my love.
“There is my favorite little
witch.” The voice rounded the corner of the partition.
Oscar appeared with Mr. Prince Charming in his arms. They had a newfound friendship. Mr. Prince Charming had always been a tad-bit, a whole hell of a lot, jealous of my feelings for Oscar, but since Oscar lost his spiritual memory, Mr. Prince Charming thought he was the cat’s meow.
“Look who I found sitting on the steps.” He put Mr. Prince Charming on the counter.
“My two favorite men,” I joked and dusted my hands off on my apron. I took Oscar by the arm to lead him away from the cauldron, which he didn’t need to see or ask about. He rubbernecked trying to get a glimpse of what I was doing. I rubbernecked to get a glimpse of his hot bottom in the Locust Grove police uniform. “I’m not a witch,” I whispered dragging him around the counter. “And you don’t work here so you have to stay on that side of the line.” My foot dragged on the floor to make an invisible line.
“Oh, I think you are a witch.” He winked. “Maybe we should call you Samantha from Bewitched. Did she have a cat?”
“I don’t know?” I rubbed Mr. Prince Charming’s ears. “Stop calling me a witch. What are you doing here?” Not that I minded. Two times in one day and I was not complaining. Plus it wasn’t even lunch time either.
My toes curled. There was no way he was passing through Whispering Falls for work. He had to have come here to see me.
“I came to see Arabella.” There was a smile in his voice, something that wasn’t sitting well with my heart. He stood with his hands clasped in front of him. That damn uniform made him look mighty fine. For a second I thought I would shove the unfinished potion down his throat and scream, fall in love with me!
“You did?” I played stupid.
He leaned in and bumped me in a playful way. He looked at me for a long moment, as though he was trying to find the right words or assess what I was thinking. He’d blush if he knew what I was thinking.