“Aren’t you curious if it’ll do anything? Because you are actually going to have to see him tomorrow,” Daisy said. Usually not the antagonist, Nora was fascinated that Daisy was pushing now. “All these wins happened after we did our little bay leaf spells. And even before that. All the victories lined up after we found each other. At this point, it could be a series of coincidences.”
Goose bumps rose on Nora’s arm. She rubbed at them. “I’m in. I could use some joy. Manifestation. Clarity.”
“We can add horehound for that, Nora, which seems right up your alley.”
“Some boys used to call me that in high school.”
Daisy laughed. Soraya looked like she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to laugh or not.
“Can you get a bowl?” Daisy asked.
Nora grabbed a silver bowl out of the pantry and set it in front of Daisy. Daisy reached into her purse and took out a lighter.
“What do you have a lighter for?” Nora asked.
“Definitely not the occasional random cigarette since my husband left.” Daisy laughed. “I haven’t had one in about a week. I’m just hanging on to it for witchcraft now.”
She lit the end of the herb bundle, and sweet-smelling smoke filled the air. Daisy looked down at the grimoire.
“I bind the energy around me, which threatens my light. I cast it far away, and I draw all that is good toward me. I myself am sacred. Whatever harm has been meant for me, turn it back to the one who sent it. And so it is.”
If Nora could give that much credit to spiritual things, she’d have sworn she felt a wind blow through the room.
Daisy looked up, and Soraya had her hands pinned squarely to her chest. “Maybe it’s nothing.”
“Maybe,” said Daisy. “We’ll have to wait for the game tomorrow.”
Chapter Nine
Soraya
Let the foolish,
The selfish,
The small and the weak,
Shine through,
So that I see him as he is,
And not as what I hoped.
Let the silly things topple the proud.
—A spell for falling out of love
Soraya thought she was going to vibrate out of her skin. She had her leggings on, her T-shirt for her sons’ high school, a baseball hat that saidboy mom, and absolutely no confidence that her boys were going to be remotely happy to see her.
She held on to her Stanley cup as she got out of the car and walked slowly across the lot toward the bleachers, and briefly sighed in relief when she saw Daisy and Nora standing on the sidelines whispering to each other. How weird to find Nora’s presence comforting. Only recently she would have crossed the street to avoid talking to Nora, as long as she was sure she hadn’t seen her.
But now she and Daisy were the two most important people in her life, and Soraya needed them. Even when they were doing things that freaked her out and making fun of enneagrams and vision boards. Atleast they listened to her. Believed her. It was more than she could say for anyone else in her life.
“Yay, sports!” Nora did a mock cheer as Soraya approached. “Can’t wait.”
She ignored Nora’s sarcasm, which she’d begun to realize was her love language. “Thank you for being here.”
One set of bleachers was already full, with parents she knew mainly from church, and she hesitated. She didn’t want awkward questions; she didn’t want to deal with anyone giving her the side-eye.
