Page 100 of Witch You Would
“I’ll walk you through the spell. It’s pretty simple.”
The confessionals were in one of the small casting rooms. I let Gil talk about his charity through most of ours; it wouldpair well with his demonstration for the kids. Tori asked me about my feelings being in the studio, and I didn’t have to pretendto be excited.
But then she asked me what I planned to do here if I won, and I totally froze.
“Take your time,” Tori said. Her face told me to hurry up.
I swallowed all the words that had gotten stuck in my throat. Gil grabbed my hand and squeezed gently. It helped.
“My abuela, Perla, has dementia,” I said quietly. “When she started to get... bad... she gave me her spellbook, fullof recipes she’d collected or come up with herself. She used to... She studied magic theory in Cuba, in a time when notmany women did, and she didn’t get a lot of respect from the other students. She got her degree, and then she got married,and her career... She, um, didn’t have one.”
I could feel my face getting hot from the tears that wanted to come out. I tried to breathe through it.
“She taught my mom and my aunts how to cast, and then she taught my sister and me. I spent so much time in her kitchen, and her garden, and she had a little casting room that was basically just a corner of the garage. We had so much fun together, and I learned somuch. I want to . . .” I swallowed again, swiping at the tear that had rolled down my face. “I want to translate her spellbook, and cast all the spells. See how well they work, and maybe experiment with some of my own changes to them. I even thought maybe it would be cool to write about it and publish a recipe book. So other people can try her spells, too.”
There was more I could say, maybe even more I wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come out anymore. Just tears.
Gil kept holding my hand, and I knew it was all he could do since we were only supposed to be flirting. I couldn’t even lookat him. I stared at the floor and wished it would swallow me.
Then he made a little noise, like a frustrated growl, and he pulled me into his arms. I hid my face in his ridiculous orangeshirt, with its weird red ink blots, and I sniffled and tried not to get mocos on him.
“Should I stop rolling?” Nate asked.
“No, this is good, keep going,” Tori replied.
Gil’s arms tightened. “Come the fuck on, Tori.”
I pushed away and fumbled for my backpack, pulling out a pack of tissues. Head down, I blew my nose and wiped my eyes.
“Sorry, Penelope,” Tori said. I couldn’t tell if she was serious. “I thought you were giving us drama for the show. We’vegot enough for the segment; you can go.”
I nodded, struggling with a raw throat as I breathed through my mouth. Gil helped me up and we left the casting room.
“I can’t believe she thought you were faking,” he grumbled.
“We agreed to fake other stuff,” I said quietly. “She probably thinks we’re doing a great job with that, so why not this?”
Gil shook his head, lips pressed together like he was keeping what he wanted to say inside.
“Thanks,” I told him.
“For what?”
“For having my back.” I gave him a watery smile. “I’m going to wash my face so I can get made-up again before it’s kid time.”
“I’ll go prep, then. See you in a few.” He gave me a one-armed side hug and left.
Signs directed me to the bathroom, which was the same old-new fancy as the rest of the place. Copper sinks, granite counters,big stalls with actual doors and walls that went all the way to the floor. A pair of padded plastic chairs and a table tookup one corner, so I dropped my backpack there while I splashed water on my red eyes and nose.
It took a lot of cold water to get the color and swelling under control, and even then, I had a feeling makeup would be extranecessary for skin tone purposes. Fina might even have to use a charm...
The door opened. I flinched and splashed water on my shirt. Great. Was there a hand dryer?
To make my embarrassment complete, Charlotte walked in. Looking perfect, as usual, in a silk shirt and pencil skirt.
“Penelope,” she said in her musical voice. “I’m so glad I ran into you. I wanted to have a private chat after the other night.”
In the bathroom? “Oh?”
