Page 12 of Hexes and Hiccups
But Tessa wasobviouslynot buying it.
“Well, I dunno about you two,” Tessa started as she got comfortable in the booth, “but I’d love to reminisce. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but you were a football player in high school, weren’t you, Ethan?”
He chuckled. “Don’t remind me.”
“Still playing?”
“Lord, no,” he replied. “My back won’t let me. But you’ll always find me watching the pro games on Sundays. And I like to try to keep up with Friday night at the local colleges, or the high school. I am an alumni, after all.”
Daisy peered over at him with a smile.
“I know for a fact thatDaisy,” Tessa emphasized, trying to look casual despite the way her brow arched mischievously, “loves to finish her Sundays with a good book. You know whatalways goes together? Football and reading. Well, Steve and I, we just –”
Daisy jerked her foot forward beneath the table, lightly pressing the tip of her foot against Tessa’s leg.
Tessa glared, her eyes narrowing at her. “Well,” she drawled, slowly turning her attention back towards the unaware Ethan, “enough about me.” Her gaze flicked down to his books. “How goes the lawyer job?”
“Same old, same old,” he said. “I don’t normally go out for lunch, but felt the need for a different space today.”
“Are you alright?” Daisy asked him.
Ethan watched her with a growing smile. “Sure,” he replied softly. “Just too many sour faces sometimes. This,” he tightened his arm across her, giving her shoulder a tight squeeze, “makes it much better.”
Daisy pulled her gaze away as the blush burnt heavily across her cheeks, giving Tessa another chance to sweep forward with her teasing ways.
“You make your lunches, then?” Tessa asked with a grin. “I didn’t know you liked to cook.”
Ethan rubbed his head sheepishly. “Never had a hankering for it, really. But with the kids growing up, they needed some good food, so I took it up and learned as much as I could. Wouldn’t call myself a Julia Child type, but –”
“You wanna know who can’t cook, even if their life depended on it?”
He glanced around. “Who?”
Daisy couldn’t launch her foot beneath the table fast enough.
“Our mutual friend here,” Tessa said, her smile beaming. “Daisy burns water, if you could believe it.”
Ethan chuckled. “Well, I doubt that.”
“I just had a brilliant idea,” Tessa blurted. “Youcan teach Daisy!”
“Anyways!” Daisy raised her voice, corralling the attention towards her. She gave Tessa a sharp look. Knowing her friend never meant any harm softened the entire ordeal, but the embarrassment was far too much for her to ignore. Things had just begun with Ethan, and though it was going incredibly well by that point, Daisy was in no hurry to squash things or ruin them before they had a chance to truly begin. Daisy let out a sigh and smiled.
Ethan cleared his throat and faced her. “Was I just hearing things, or did Tessa say you two climbed a billboard before you got here?”
“Oh, you heard right,” Daisy replied, grateful to turn the conversation towards something else. “It’s this whole statue business. You remember, right? With Riven?”
Ethan nodded. “Believe me, that isn’t something I’d forget. What happened?”
“There’s been more gossip spread around,” Tessa muttered. Bringing up Riven must’ve reminded her of the page that started it all, the one that particularly had to do with her. “You should’ve seen what they said about Anne.”
“I don’t even want to know.” Ethan shook his head sadly. “That woman deserves nothing but kindness.”
“No argument there,” Daisy murmured. “Anyways, the potion I made to help us track down the book all the notes originated from only led us to another piece of gossip. We’ll have to try again tomorrow.”
“They came from a book?”
Daisy nodded. “Apparently Riven had himself a Book of Gossip, as I like to call it. Something that contains rumors about everyone in town, even if they aren’t true.”
