Page 3 of Brews and Banishments
“The sooner I can get my old folks and aunties to sleep, the better it’ll be for me,” she explained.
Daisy raised her hands, stifling a laugh. “Whatever you say, Diana. We’ve got plenty of sleep aids for sale whenever you’re ready to get them.”
“Well,I’mcurious,” Tessa said. “Any handsome relatives coming in?”
“Tessa!” Daisy chuckled with a shake of her head. “What if Maverick knew you were asking that?”
She waved an absentminded hand at her. “Not forme,silly.” Tessa held her ring finger up to Diana for her to see the sterling silver symbols etched on her golden band. “I meant for Daisy, of course.”
“Tess -”
“He has to be single, obviously,” she continued, her attention focused on Diana, “and older than thirty.”
Daisy’s eyes popped open wider. “Thirty,Tess?”
“Alright, alright. Older than thirty-five.”
Diana laughed. “Well, I have a few cousins who -”
The doorbell chimed again as the mailman stepped inside the shop. As the morning trudged on, more and more people would begin to filter onto Willowbrook’s streets. Daisy stepped around the counter, leaving the gossiping pair behind her to greet the mailman. He carried a package, simply taped and postaged.
“Daisy Fields?” he asked.
She nodded with a smile. “Package for me?”
“Exactly right.” The mailman held up a form. “Sign here, Mrs. Fields.”
Daisy pressed her lips together. “It’s ‘Ms.’ not ‘Mrs.’”
The mailman bowed his head. “Apologies, Ms. Fields.”
Taking the package from him, Daisy held the door for the mailman to leave before slowly walking back towards thecounter. Diana and Tessa were talking lively about relationships and single men, not bothering to hold back even though they were mentioning Daisy as if she wasn’t there.
By that point, Tessa had been trying to set Daisy up for years. But, as Tessa would so lovingly point out, trying to set up a widow with a handsome bachelor only became harder with every passing day. Daisy didn’t need to be told that fact, as she knew it herself quite well, but she had no qualms with it. Sure, she had gone on a date or two since she lost her husband at twenty-five, but she was over fifty, and she found more accomplishment in her brews and tonics than searching the streets of Willowbrook for an interested man.
Daisy stepped back behind the counter, setting the package down beside the register, while Diana was beginning to leave. She left a few cards on the counter, each with a different man’s name and number written on them. Diana gave Daisy a suggestive wink.
“I’ll see you two soon!” Diana called out over her shoulder before slipping out of Fields’ Herbals.
Tessa tucked the cards into Daisy’s breast pocket. “For safekeeping.”
“Very funny,” Daisy teased. “When will you give up on me?”
“I wouldn’t ever dare.”
“Not even when we’re both old and wrinkly? And I’ll be alone, of course, so you and Maverick will have to build me a room in your house.” Daisy smirked. “You wouldn’t give up on me then?”
“Of course not,” Tessa continued. “Maverick will just have to deal with two wives instead of one.”
Daisy burst into laughter.
The music turned back on with a wave of Tessa’s hand, and then they were back to dancing and cleaning the store. Tessa arranged the scarves once more, and Daisy dusted. They workedmeticulously to prepare the shop for the busier days of the week that were to come.
When early afternoon came, they had finally finished. Tessa grabbed her coat and keys from the hooks behind the counter, and Daisy didn’t even need to ask to know where she was heading.
“I’ve been craving sandwiches from Ronald’s place down the block,” Tessa said as she neared the front door. “How does that sound for lunch?”
Daisy glanced at the clock, swiping a stray tear off of her cheek. “It’s still a little early.”
