Page 88 of The Neighborhood Witch

Alice’s eyes glazed over as she stood at the work station, taking small sips in between empty thoughts.

A few days later,Alice descended the steps leading from her bedroom with her usual zest. She bounded into the living room to find Hugo sitting on the couch with Max and Galahad close by. Her hair bounced off her shoulders, and she had a smile on her face.

“It’s supposed to be a clear night. A little chilly, but what do you say we go for a ride?” Alice asked. “Gally! You want to go for a ride tonight, boy?”

Galahad flew about the living room before bobbing up and down in front of Alice with excitement. It nudged her with light taps, anticipating that they were ready to depart now. Alice laughed off Galahad’s attempts to flyat that very moment.

“Okay. Okay,” she said. “We can’t go until tonight. You know the rules.”

“I think a ride would be great. It’s been far too long,” Hugo said. He sat up and moved toward Alice. He brushed Galahad aside. “Excuse me, buddy. I hope you don’t mind me cutting in,” he said and kissed her on the nose. “Glad to see you feeling better.”

“Thanks. Tonight is going to be great. Full moon. Clear skies.” She grabbed Hugo’s shirt and pulled him closer. “A great guy. It’ll be perfect.” She returned the kiss.

Her cell phone rang.

“It can wait,” Hugo said.

She recognized the ringtone. “It’s Ez, I need to get it,” Alice replied with a hint of disappointment. “But hold that thought.” She stepped over to the phone sitting on an end table in the living room and answered. “Hello, Ez.”

“I thought you said this wasn’t going to interrupt your work?” Ez’s voice came from the other end of the phone.

The smile and joy on Alice’s face were now gone, replaced with a pale expression of loss and confusion. Hugo matched her worried expression.

Alice’s voice caught in her throat. She tried to speak, but words didn’t flow. After what seemed like forever, she finally responded, “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I’m talking about the last batch you sent. It was completely ruined. What did you do? What didhedo?” Her voice emanated from the phone.

Hugo moved closer to Alice.

“He didn’t do anything,” Alice replied.

Hugo stopped in his tracks. “What’s wrong?”

Alice put up a finger to silence him.

“What happened?” Alice asked into the phone.

“Every one of my customers got sick. They were throwing up. Some floated up to the ceiling. One man belched fire. Fire, Alice! Almost burnt my expensivenew bar top.”

Alice stood there motionless. Her free hand shook. She wanted to curl up into a ball. She couldn’t believe the words she was hearing. “I… I don’t know what happened.”

“You need to fix this and soon. Also, if this is an indication of how your relationship will go, I’ll have to find someone else.”

Alice buried her head into her free hand. “I’m… I’m sorry, Ez. I’m so, so sorry. It wasn’t him. It was me.”

“Kiddo, look, if this was anyone else, it would be over. I’m giving you another chance to prove this relationship won’t affect anything. Got it?”

“Ez, please let me explain,” Alice pleaded.

“Fix it,” Ez cut her off. “Or it’s over.”

The call dropped. Alice threw the phone into the black, wingback chair and buried her face into her hands. Her purple hair enveloped her face.

Hugo took a few steps closer, but still kept some distance. “What is it? Everything okay?”

She lifted her head. Tears welled in Alice’s eyes as they turned a shade of reddish-pink. Her lips curled inwards in a last-ditch effort to stop her from completely crying. “No. No, it’s not okay. The last batch was bad.”

“Like stale?” Hugo asked.

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