Page 16 of Hexes and Hiccups
She jerked forward, her hands pressed together in a pleading manner. “You want me to beg? Is that it?” Tears fell down her face. “I am desperate for your help! N-No one else will help me and if the entire town knew the truth, I’d be the laughingstock of the town! Please,” she paused, her eyes wide and holding onto Daisy, “I know you have a good heart. Please.”
Daisy couldn’t take her eyes away from the other woman, even when Tessa started tugging at her arm to urge them away faster. Daisy shook her head at her friend, frustrated that she couldn’t have a harder spine when it came to those things. But how could she turn away, when she had already made such a deal about halting in her gossiping? How fair was it to turn a blind eye? Daisy heard her own voice repeating in the back of her head, her conscience annoyingly on time and present.
“Fine,” she groaned. “But you need to turn over a new leaf, or something. Stop bullying people and rubbing your wealth in their faces. Mitchells pride themselves on their classiness, and yet, you are the least classy of them all!”
Rebecca winced but nodded, already running to her car to retrieve much-needed cleaning supplies.
Tessa stood beside Daisy. “She came prepared,” she muttered. “Thanks a lot, goodie goodie.”
“Thank me later,” Daisy replied as she elbowed her friend playfully, “when your conscience is clear.”
“Oh, no,” she drawled as Rebecca retrieved buckets. “You’ll thank me with a tonic for achy bones and muscles when we are out of here.Right?”
Daisy laughed. “Whatever you say.”
They stepped forward to begin to help Rebecca paint over the words written on the side of the truck, hoisting tall brushes and buckets over. Though Daisy had hoped that the good will of doing something nice like helping out Rebecca could have simmered out that nervousness in her stomach, it seemed to just do the opposite. Daisy kept her attention focused on clearing away the sharp, red words, and ignoring the incessant need to ask if someone was watching them.
7
Daisy
Even the prized chicken salad sandwiches from Ronald’s diner couldn’t keep the scowl off of Tessa’s face. They picked up their lunch on the way back from town center, the parking lot slowly growing more and more full of townspeople. The words once written about Rebecca were no longer visible on the side of the truck, and her secret was soundly safe. Their food was spread out over the empty part of the counter within Fields’ Herbals,the rush of customers gone for the time being. A quiet whistle crept through the shop as Susy swept up after the patrons, pushing stray leaves and blades of grass out the opened door.
For the millionth time since coming back to the shop, Tessa muttered something angrily under her breath, her mouth full of her sandwich. She tried to straighten her back out but groaned, something cracking in her bones.
“Hear that?” Tessa asked. “That’s the price of doing good.” She raised her voice so as to carry it through the shop. “You hear that, Susy?”
Susy laughed and shook her head, continuing on her cleaning spree.
“Just eat up,” Daisy said, motioning towards the food. “You’ll feel better with a full stomach.”
“No,” she snapped. “I’ll feel arthritis with a full stomach.”
Daisy bit back her laugh. It wasn’t like she took pleasure in seeing her friend in such annoying pain, but there was something humorous about it all. Daisy knew that Tessa wouldn’t have really turned away from Rebecca’s pleas for help, even if she was backing away. There wasn’t a selfish bone in Tessa’s body, and Daisy could say that with total confidence behind her words. She sighed as some pain riddled through her back next, her arms almost too sore to hold above her head. Re-painting the truck had taken far longer than either one of them had anticipated, and despite having Susy already scheduled to open up the store, Daisy had expected to spend some time in the shop that day. She had a list of potions to stock up on, and a few custom orders that were still waiting to be fulfilled.
But, after their unexpected painting session, Daisy wanted nothing more than to take a long nap in her cozy bed. Standing up from her spot at the counter, Daisy wiped the crumbs from her mouth and chest and wound her way towards the kettle. There was an elixir lying around somewhere for quick muscle regrowth, though it tasted rather foul. She found that mixing anything unpleasant in some sort of ginger tea normally did the trick of masking the gross flavor. Ginger was one of her favorite things, though that might’ve been considered odd to some people. She set the water on the burner and collected a few mismatched mugs, putting her homemade tea blend within them.
“I hope that’s the healing tonic you promised me,” Tessa mumbled.
“Not quite.”
Tessa groaned.
“Don’t knock it till you try it,” Daisy said, giving Tessa a light pat on the back. “It’ll help, I promise.”
As she worked on making the cups of tea, Tessa collected all the strips of torn pages they had recovered from the Book of Gossip, lining them up on the countertop beside the register. She eyed them all one by one, her finger pressing into her chin thoughtfully.
“None of this is making sense,” she said as Daisy placed two steaming cups on the counter.
“What?”
“These rumors,” Tessa replied. “If only some of them are true and some are false, how can we find any reason behind them?”
Daisy sighed as she retook her seat, taking a few long sips from her tea. “There’s just something we haven’t seen yet,” she said. “Something to connect it all. From Riven being petrified to the very first note we found.”
Tessa gulped, her eyes landing on the one with her name upon it. “I hardly want to think about that one.”
“I know,” Daisy replied, giving her friend a small smile. “Just try to forget it. There’s no truth behind it, and as long as we know that –”
