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My phone rang before I could even tuck it away.

“Pizza? Say less. I’m on my way,” she said quickly. I could already hear her keys jingling and her voice going breathless as she rushed my way. “I have some gossip.”

“My favorite kind of lunch break,” I grinned, already feeling better. “Let me grab our usual.”

“Add breadsticks! Oh! And some mozzarella sticks!”

“On it,” I promised as I ended the call and tucked my phone away.

A bored teen was working at the register, he was shifting on his feet as arcs of power filtered back and forth between his hands. He perked up as I walked in, the magic falling away. It was slow enough I had a feeling he was just happy for a reprieve from the silence.

“Welcome to The Witch's Oven,” he said, his voice cracking and he looked a bit nervous like he might zap me by accident. I couldn’t imagine being forced to raise a family in this town. At least not in its current state. But he was one of us, so I could see why he was here.

Maybe if the magistrate’s beloved curse expert could actually do something for us, we could live normal lives.

Once I put in our order and took our number, I picked out our favorite table. It sat right in front of the window where we could chat, gossip, and watch people. The three biggest joys in my life at the moment.

My fingers drummed on the table as I waited for food and Blake. Thankfully, she was quick, the door bell chime ringing out before she swept in. She gave the boy behind the counter a wink, likely hearing an errant thought again. And sparkles ignited the napkins he was unpacking to refill at the tables. He ran to the sink behind him and put out the small blaze. None of this fazed Blake as she scanned the room for me.

Then her eyes locked on me and she rushed over. The mischievous grin on her face told me she was bursting with gossip.

My best friend sat down across from me and glanced around before she finally let it out.

"You know the Vances, right?" she started in a hushed whisper. For my bestie it was more of a quiet yell.

I couldn't contain the eye roll before answering her, "Who doesn't know them?"

"Duh," she answered and facepalmed herself. "Anyway, their daughter ran off with the Starville son. They even got married at the courthouse yesterday. I heard that she's pregnant to boot." Her eyes were dancing with the joy that good gossip brought her. Especially when her curse often gave her the juiciest bits. At least she didn’t go blabbing to the world. Just me.

"Aww, young love," I teased, then tilted my head as previous gossip came back to me. "Wait… wasn't she supposed to marry the Mayor's son?"

Blake nodded eagerly as the food was delivered to our table. She picked up a mozzarella stick and dunked it into the marinara sauce.

"Can I get some ranch, please?" I asked the waitress with a smile. She nodded yes and ran off.

"I can't wait to see how all that plays out," I said as I placed a piece of pizza on my plate.

"Drama in a small town makes being sent here worth it," she added as she grabbed a breadstick this time. “I should start a gossip column or something for the paper.”

"It really is. As long as we aren’t in the middle of it," I reminded her as I took a drink and waited on that ranch.

"You can have this one," Blake pointed to the dish in front of her. "We’re best friends, I don't know why we can't share?"

"With my curse, it's better safe than sorry," I said, relieved as the waitress rushed over and put my own in front of me. Sometimes magic simply bursts out of me, taking out everything in its path. Usually I felt when those hit but I couldn’t ever be too cautious.

"Do ya'll need anything else?" the waitress asked. We both shook our heads no and she gave a quick smile. "Just give me a holler if you do."

"She's new. From some mid-western or southern state? I don't remember her," I mused as we watched her.

"Yeah, I heard she turned her ex into a talking cat or something. Whatever she did, no one has been able to change him back. She was sent here with the cat as her punishment," she answered.

"Oh, a talking cat might be fun," I giggled.

"Not if he was your ex," Blake reminded me as she took another bite. “Especially since he could still talk back.”

“But then you’re cursed with cleaning up after your ex forever. That’s just plain evil to put on someone,” I said.

“Speaking of curses, how has your day been? Any more chickens?”