Ria frowned as she poured the boiling water into the mug, creating a little hot tub for the manatee to soak in.She wanted to tell Daria she would never lie the way Lissa had, but at the same time, she had never been in a position where other people were counting on her to keep their jobs.Believing you would do one thing was never the same as actually facing the decision head-on.
“I don’t know,” Ria finally admitted, watching the tea darken as golden ribbons leached out from the manatee.“I guess I can kind of understand her initial reasoning.But she could have come clean at any point.She made the decision to keep lying to me, again and again.”
“Didn’t you also sort of lie to her though?”Daria asked cautiously.“Hiding the whole accidental love spell thing?Saying you couldn’t be together because of your ex.Face it, Ria, neither of you was completely honest in the beginning.”
Ria watched the manatee bob around in the mug for a second, before she hooked him back onto the rim and handed the drink to Daria.“Here, try this.”
Daria eyed the mug like it contained poison.“Why?”
“It’s just tea,” Ria huffed out.“It won’t kill you.And you said you needed caffeine so…”
“Tea isn’t caffeine,” Daria argued, inching away from the offensive beverage.“It’s caffeine light.It’s wannabe caffeine.It’s coffee’s sad loser cousin that never got asked to prom.”
Ria massaged her temple and wondered if she had any of that migraine potion left.“Okay, on behalf of tea everywhere, just shut up and try it.You might be surprised.”
Reluctantly, Daria reached for the mug and took a tiny sip, her face scrunching up like she sniffed dog poop.Once she swallowed though, her contorted face relaxed into something like mild intrigue.
“Not so bad, is it?”Ria asked, a smug grin tugging at her lips.
“Okay, fine,” Daria admitted with a dramatic sigh.“You’re right.The one time I had tea in the past was obviously not representative of tea in general.I apologize to hot leaf juice everywhere.”
“Good,” Ria said with a triumphant head nod.
Daria took another sip.“You know, it’s almost like I never gave tea a fair shot.Like I took that one bad experience and shut tea out for the rest of my life instead of giving it a chance to redeem itself.I kind of regret all the wasted time tea could have been part of my life if I hadn’t been so stubborn.”
“We’re not talking about tea anymore, are we?”Ria asked, her amusement fading.
“Was I that obvious?”
“Like a wrecking ball to the face.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Daria replied before taking another, bigger, sip.
Ria would need to teach her about the art of savoring tea.
“But seriously,” Daria continued.“Analogies aside, don’t you think it’s worth giving Lissa another chance?Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t still love her.”
Ria opened her mouth, but she couldn’t make the words come out.She might tell herself she hated Lissa and never wanted to see her again, but it was all just more lies.And Ria was done with lies.
“Okay, so maybe I still care about her,” she admitted.
“I knew it,” Daria cheered, pumping her fist and accidentally sloshing the tea over the edge of her mug.“Oops, let me get that.”Grabbing a towel, she started mopping up the mess.
“So how do I even reach out to her?”Ria asked, feeling even more confused despite acknowledging the truth she’d been hiding from.“Sending a text message that says ‘Sorry I never gave you a chance to explain’ seems a little underwhelming.”
“True,” Daria agreed, tossing the wet towel toward the sink and knocking over a salt shaker when she missed the target.“Whatever you’re going to do, do it fast.She’s meeting with a realtor next week to sell her cottage.”
Ria froze with her hand hovering over the spilled salt.“What?Why?”
“I told you,” Daria replied, retrieving her mug of tea.“The studio is going under.In six days, it will officially belong to Miserable Marge, so Lissa’s already looking for jobs in other cities.I don’t think she wanted to stay here with all the reminders of you everywhere.”
“No, this can’t happen,” Ria protested, racking her brain for any possible option.
Daria shrugged and downed the last of her drink.“Unless you have some magic up your sleeve that can convince an entire town to rally around an art studio most people don’t even know exists…then, yeah, it’s happening.”
“You know,” Ria said, tapping her chin.“Now that you mention it, I might just have an idea.”She grinned at Daria.“Looks like Lissa’s going to get that marketing plan out of me after all.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
