“Oh, what is that used for?”Lissa asked, standing and swiping the crumbs off the table.
“Honestly?It’s mostly used for relieving intestinal gas.”
Lissa barked out a laugh.“Then you better get to it.Heaven forbid we have squirrels running around passing gas.”
Ria chuckled.“Definitely don’t want that.”She turned to leave, then paused, remembering her marketing training.“By the way, do you mind if I give you a few business cards?Just in case you know anyone.”
“Sure,” Lissa replied.
“Great.Let me find them.”Ria dug around in her massive purse, searching for the stack of cards she’d hurriedly thrown in as she ran out the door, already running late because she’d been reviewing the words one last time.
“Ouch,” she cried, a sharp pain stinging her finger.“Found the cards,” she told Lissa, pulling them from her purse and handing a few over carefully so as not to get blood on them from the newly reopened scissor wound.
She looked at the small drop of blood, then glanced around the patio.She thought she’d seen… There!
Snatching a leaf off a plant, she wiped it along her injured finger then tucked the bloody bit of foliage under the dirt in the planter.“Yarrow,” she told Lissa when she caught the strange look her client was giving her.“There’s an alkaloid in the leaves that helps with blood clotting.”
Lissa tucked her hands in her pockets and leaned back against the table casually.“Good to know.”
“Yup,” Ria said, looping her purse over her shoulder and clutching the notebook to her chest.“Um, anyway, I guess I’ll be hearing from you soon about the spell.Or not.Don’t feel pressured to message me if you’re happy.I mean, I’m not saying you should only message me if you’re sad.You can update me if you’re happy too.Or even just indifferent.I’m open to hearing from people of all emotional states.”
Lissa quirked an eyebrow up at her babbling.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
“Anyway, I’m going to go.”She paused, feeling like she needed to add something to round out Lissa’s magical experience.This was why she preferred potions—they didn’t require a performance element to sell the encounter.“Hecate’s blessings upon you.”She gave a little curtsy for no reason other than she felt like she needed to do something, then turned and practically sprinted down the path beside the cafe.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Chapter Eight
Lissa
Lissarolledthepeach-sizedglass ornament around in her hand for a second, then returned it to the bowl on her coffee table with all the others.The morning sun beamed down upon her small cottage, transforming her living room into a mystical wonderland with light refracting off the nearly hundred pieces of glass artwork scattered throughout.From her bare white walls to her well-loved white couches that would wreck someone’s back if they tried sleeping on them, nearly every inch of her cottage sparkled with shattered rainbows.
Beyond the large floor-to-ceiling windows that filled an entire wall, the Oregon ocean warred with her tiny cottage to see which could gleam and glisten the brightest.Her home was the perfect little haven to hide from the world and one of the reasons she fought so hard to keep her life in Seacliff.She glared down at the bowl of glass ornaments in front of her but resisted the urge for probably the fifth time that month to chuck them out into the sea.
Normally Lissa savored the mornings when she was able to get her ass out of bed early enough to appreciate how the rising sun combined with her most prized glass pieces, but that was before her entire life got turned upside down six months ago.Now, the early mornings were less a luxury and more a necessity, which somehow dimmed their beauty.Instead of naturally waking up to the sun streaming through her wispy white curtains, she was ripped from sleep by the caustic blare of her alarm clock.She’d tried setting it to play something soothing like ocean waves, but it was so similar to the natural sound outside her window that her body refused to obey.In the end, Norwegian death metal was the only thing that actually pulled her from the coziness of her queen bed, but it didn’t exactly set her in the best mood.
“You know if you glare at those ornaments any harder, you’re going to melt them.”
Lissa didn’t so much as twitch at the sudden sound of Daria’s voice.She was so used to her best friend letting herself in whenever she pleased that she had long gotten used to finding Daria cleaning out her fridge, using up all the hot water in her shower, or borrowing Lissa’s coffee maker.And all her coffee.It was like having a roommate that didn’t pay rent or clean up after themselves, but you loved them too much to make a fuss.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lissa muttered, but the frown on her face didn’t exactly fade as she picked out another ornament and ran her fingers over the smooth glass.Perfection.Not a single misplaced bubble.It should be nestled in a box in someone’s house, waiting through the long hot summer until it would once again resume its place of honor on their Christmas tree.Instead, it sat in a bowl on her table, frequently the subject of Lissa’s ire.
“I don’t know why you even keep those sitting out,” Daria commented, plopping down in the white recliner opposite where Lissa sat cross-legged on the floor.
Lissa sighed.“They’re a reminder.”
Raising an eyebrow, Daria took a sip from the coffee mug Lissa had briefly abandoned on her counter and would now never get back.“Reminder of what?”
“Never put your fate in someone else’s hands,” Lissa answered, her voice more bitter than she liked.
“Says the woman who less than a week ago had a witch cast a destiny love spell on her.”
Lissa cringed.She still hadn’t told Daria the truth about why she actually met up with Ria.“Yeah, well, that was different.”
“How so?”
