Page 23 of Of Potions and Honey
Her thought spiral was mercifully interrupted when she found a letter in her mailbox upon her return. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it wasn’t an invoice for something she’d forgotten about. Rather, the letter was addressed in Leah’s neathandwriting. Curious what her sister would want, Mira took the letter into the kitchen, where she deposited her basket on the table and rummaged through her everything-drawer for a knife. Letter opener. Who would have thought she’d ever wish for one of those. Maybe now that she didn’t live within tram-distance from friends and family anymore, she might just start writing and receiving more letters. She sliced the envelope, pulled out the single sheet of paper and started reading.
Dearest Mira,
How are you doing? You’ve been so silent since you moved, I’m starting to think you forgot all about us! So how about you join us for a get-together for father’s birthday…
Eleven
“So,what’sitlike,being a potioner?”
Rue leaned forward, a dark red droplet from her shaved ice narrowly missing her skirt because of it. She sounded like she’d been waiting to ask that question for hours. Since Mira had met them at the park, her and Gemma, to treat themselves to a little summer delicacy and catch up on everything under the sun.
“I’m not a potioner yet,” Mira replied, a little reluctantly. It had been two months since she’d moved. She should really have done more than she had at this point, at least it felt like it. Shehaddone a lot, she had to remind herself of that. She’d written a lot of it down in her personal notebook one night not too long ago. After she’d attempted a brand new recipe and burned a hole into her apron, after she’d realised she’d forgotten to order a new batch of ice for the ice box, and after a flock of birds had decimated the tiny, freshly planted vegetable patch by her back porch. Listing everything she had actually accomplished had at least helped her feel a little less like crying.
“Really? I thought by now you’d be up to your elbows in cauldrons and bottles.”
“Come on.” Gemma nudged Rue gently. “It’s not been that long. Give her a little time.” She glanced at Mira over her plum-flavoured ice. “If you need help, you know you can ask, right?”
“I know. Thanks.”
Mira thumped her heel against the concrete. They were sitting on the wall of the decorative little canal that ran the length of the park. It didn’t lead anywhere, there was no river it could connect to nearby. It just sat there and looked pretty. Sometimes Mira felt very much the same.
“I’m working up to it,” she said. “It’s just a lot to do, between the house and cleaning the shop and learning how to actually, you know, make potions.”
“You said your uncle left you a recipe book,” Gemma said. “With notes and all. That’ll make it easier, I bet.”
“Ehh.” Mira ducked her head. “Some of the notes are… cryptic. Takes a try or two to figure out what he meant when he wrote ‘sprinkle in berries’.”
Rue frowned. “Wouldn’t you just…” She made a wide tossing motion with her free hand. “Like that?”
“You’d think so, but apparently what he meant was more like… putting them in one by one, so they don’t clump together.”
“Hm.” Rue wrinkled her nose. “Sounds exciting, I suppose.”
“If your definition of exciting includes scaring the neighbours into thinking there’s a fire. Twice.”
Rue giggled. “Oh dear. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. Clara and Hamish accepted the apology cookies. I don’t know if Yoni did, she didn’t open the door, and I left before I could talk to her. Her cat seemed interested though, so who knows if she actually got any. I tied a towel around the plate, but that cat is too smart for her own good.”
Rue perked up, and even Gemma looked a little more alert. “Who’s Yoni?”
“One of my three neighbours. Yes, that’s the whole neighbourhood.”
Well, there was the man who lived down the street, but he worked in Greengrass and sometimes didn’t even come home for the weekends, which he also mostly spent inside. Mira had seen him precisely twice so far, and hadn’t even had the chance to learn his name. Not much of a neighbour, that one.
Rue made an expression of exaggerated shock. “Just three?! You didn’t say you were becoming a hermit!”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds.” Mira hoped she sounded convincing, because if she tried to view it from her friends’ perspective… Yes, it did sound that bad. “It’s just the outskirts where people have moved away recently. The town proper is still lively.” Sort of. Some of the time. Fridays at thePeckish Pelicanwere always nice and rowdy, at least. “It’s not like that’s everyone I ever see.”
“Made any friends yet?” Gemma inquired. For a moment, Mira struggled with an answer. It was so early still, what was she supposed to say?
“There’s the town handyman,” she eventually settled on. “We’ve met before, when we were kids, but it’s been a while. And Cassia, she and her brother run the orchard, she keeps inviting me to ‘Town Talent Night’, which she insists is fun and absolutely not mortifying. Apparently it’s once a month at the inn, and I dodged the last time by being on an unfortunately timed walk when it started.”
“Aww.” Rue made a face. “That sounds fun, you should go!”
“I would rather stick my hand inside a beehive.”
“Ah, come on.” Gemma bumped her shoulder into Mira’s. “Can’t be that bad. Maybe some day.”
