Page 27 of The Magical Tea Shop

Jaxon cleared his throat.

“It’s time, don’t you think, to get back out there?”

Wait, was Hazel meddling? In his love life?

She gave him guileless, wide eyes, twinkling with mischief.

Definitely meddling. Did she know Ivy would be here? Had she tipped the hostess to seat them near her table? With Hazel, it was entirely possible. Still, there were worse things in life than gazing at the back of Ivy Wayland’s smooth, bare shoulders.

*

Just before dessert,Ivy excused herself from the table. She needed a moment. Rob was paying little attention to her as his dinner companion. Over her protests he’d ordered tiramisu to share, even though she was adamant she couldn’t eat a single bite of the decadent dessert. She sighed as she made her way down the long hall past the kitchens. Perhaps she’d find a lounge where she could pause and regroup. She closed her eyes at the restful thought and collided into someone barreling out of the women’s restroom.

“There you are,” said Hazel, who could be cryptic on the best of days, but this was a new level, randomly showing up across town to meet with no previous arranging.

Ivy blinked. “Were you looking for me?”

Hazel gave a high-pitched laugh. “Oh, no, I’ve known exactly where you are all evening. The hostess seated us right behind you, just like I arranged when I called. I don’t know why she acted all cranky about it. I slipped her a ten.”

There was just so much to unpack in that revelation, but, concerned by Hazel’s odd behavior, Ivy focused on one key point. “We?”

Hazel stood on her tiptoes, peeked over Ivy’s shoulder and said,soto voce, “Mr. Langford and I are on a date. Marvelous, isn’t it?”

Ivy blinked, and blinked again, eyelids fluttering like a hummingbird as she tried to process Hazel’s words. She grasped the hands of the tiny, elderly woman in front of her. “Excuse me?”

Hazel gave Ivy’s hands a reassuring squeeze. “I overheard you’d be here tonight, so I brought Jaxon. Once he fell for my car trouble ruse, I convinced him to bring me to Buonvento for dinner.”

Hazel’s machinations were often perplexing, but this was frosting on a nut bar. Ivy focused on Hazel’s stylish hat.She was the woman who’d entered on Jaxon’s arm.“You brought Jaxon to my date with Rob?”

“That lovely green suits you. Jaxon can’t look away. Oh, I know he’s trying to be polite and humor an old lady, but he only has eyes for you. You must know that.”

“I don’t. I—” Something eased inside Ivy. Was it true? Did Jaxon only have eyes for her? And if that was true—Ivy gripped Hazel’s hands tighter. “Should I bake him another batch of cookies?”

Hazel frowned.

“I could guarantee that he’s the only one who eats them.”

Hazel shook her head, hat brim wobbling. “Jaxon’s a generous soul. He isn’t one to eat a whole batch of cookies by himself. Only a very selfish person would do that. You can’t succeed by duping people, dear. The recipient must eat the cookies willingly. I fear what might happen if you rely on trickery. It breaks the spirit of the blessing. Hazard’s an earnest community, defying efforts at deceit. Our founder Edwin Hazard, my ancestor, was the most upright of men.”

Ivy nodded before Hazel could launch into a soliloquy on exemplary ancestry. “The cookie press came from France, though, passed through my mother’s side of the family. My parents are magicians. They’re absolute masters of deception.”

“Well, mastersisa bit of a stretch, don’t you think?” Hazel scoffed, “That would imply your parents are good at magic. Certainly, they possess significant showmanship, but everyone knows their magic is phony. That’s what makes their show so engaging. No, dear, the cookie press wasn’t special when it came from France. It was only charmed after arriving in Hazard, when someone spoke the blessing over it. Before that, it was a mere cookie press—a pretty one, granted, but nothing extraordinary.”

Ivy tilted her head in thought.

Hazel shook hers. “You don’t need magic, dear. You need to be honest.”

“But you just admitted you resorted to deception to bring Jaxon here.”

“Well, yes, dear, but I’m a meddlesome old woman. No one will suspect I ran out of gas on purpose to pick Jaxon up on the side of the road. They can’t conceive I’d orchestra anything so conniving.” Her eyes danced, and Ivy was pretty sure no one in Hazard doubted Hazel Bestwick’s propensity for deviousness. Her scheming was renowned.

“So…”

“So, do not bake another batch of your Very Special Cookies.” She looked Ivy in the eye. “Do not do it.” Hazel toddled back to her table.

Ivy watched to make sure she made it. Hazel didn’t seem as steady on her feet as she had even just a few weeks ago.

After taking a moment to freshen up her lipstick and mascara in the lounge’s oval, gilt-edged mirror, Ivy lined her lips, hoping to make them the teeniest bit formidable. Besides, she needed to ponder Hazel’s revelations about Jaxon before she headed back to Rob’s less-than-dazzling conversation.

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