—Rules for Witches
“Nathaniel,” Daisy said, “when you sing, you need to be projecting toward the audience.”
“But I’m singing toher.” He gestured toward the leading lady.
“I know. But that’s where you have to learn a technique called cheating out. You don’t want to be facing totally to the side, or the audience can’t see you.” Daisy moved from where she was standing in the auditorium of the old theater, up to the stage. “You want to stand like this, so when you sing to her, youaresinging to her, but you’re also singing to the audience.”
She started to climb offstage, half folded up, her jeans about cutting her in half. She put a hand over her muffin top as she stepped down to the floor, just as she heard a familiar voice.
“Good direction.”
She looked up and startled.Zach.
Who had probably just gotten a great view of her muffin top. Fantastic.
She straightened and tried not to look flustered. There was no reason on earth she should be flustered. “Thank you. What are you doing here?”
“I’m on the board. We were just having a meeting about the summer schedule.”
The old Holly Theater was a historic building that had been on the brink of being demolished or reconfigured for years, until it had gotten a substantial injection of cash a few years ago and had been restored. Since then, they’d hosted ballet companies, musical acts, and traveling theater companies, plus it had given a new, better home to the Youth Musical Theater, which Daisy had been involved with since childhood. She wasn’t good enough to be a professional actor by any stretch of the imagination, and she was too self-conscious to actually act or sing in front of anyone anymore, but directing kids was fun.
Suddenly, she wondered where the money for the theater had come from. And if maybe Zach ...
“This looks great,” he said.
“Thanks. I don’t know ... I don’t know. We have about two weeks until we open, and I’m having some logistical issues.”
“Such as?”
She sighed. “It isn’t your problem.”
“Daisy, I asked. Which means I’m open to making it my problem.”
“Jonathan was going to make the sets. But I don’t feel comfortable working with him on that. Not at this point.”
“Fair. I can handle that.”
“What?”
“Either acting as a go-between or just facilitating the building another way. I’m pretty handy. And I know about sets, though I don’t know that I would trust myself to be the one to do all the building if you want them to stay standing.”
She had a feeling that was a lie. He hadknight in shining armorwritten all over him, and it was hard for her to imagine that anything he did could fail. It was such a strange feeling, in the middle of the cynicism that had been choking her since Jonathan had walked out.
It was stunning that this man who barely knew her would offer this when her own husband hadn’t even picked her up when she’d fallen to the floor after he’d told her he was leaving.
Something in her had felt so broken since that day, and now a very small piece of it had mended. Maybe it had been mending since she had linked up with Nora in Alexandra’s hospital room.
She could remember now, Nora looking at her and saying everything would be okay. It was after that they’d gone into the apothecary. And now Zach was here and ...
She thought about the bay leaf. It had to be a coincidence. It couldn’t actually be ...
“You really don’t have to do this.” She wanted him to, because it felt so nice. Nice to be thought of, nice to be near him. But she also felt obligated to at least try to let him off the hook.
“I want to.” He waved a hand over her protestations. “These programs mean a lot to me.”
Of course. Theprogram.
“That is just extremely generous of you.”
