Page 36 of Brews and Banishments
She nodded eagerly.
Ethan laughed and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “What for? Y-You don’t want to hear about those stuffy complainers, do you?”
Daisy tilted her head at him. There was something charming about his shyness, about how he was reserved and not entirely secure with himself. The date had only carried on for an hour or so and she was entirely enthralled, not daring to pull her attention away from him for even a split second.
“They know you,” she replied with a shrug. “I want to get to know you. Sounds like the right way to go for me.”
Ethan’s lips parted, the surprise evident in his face.
For a moment, Daisy retracted, believing she’d overstepped or pressed too hard upon him. Had she managed to ruin the entire night before it really began? It wasn’t like she wished for something like that. Daisy shoved her thoughts away. The moment she dared to eventhinkabout wishes, the entire evening would come tumbling down. She refocused herself on Ethan, giving him a small, embarrassed smile.
“Alright,” he finally replied, a smile pulling back at his lips.
Daisy held back her relief.
“One of my clients, we’ll call him John, came in the other day to discuss how he wanted to sue his previous employer,” Ethan began, his eyes lighting up as he began to talk about his work. “I hadn’t met him in person yet, but I knew from my colleagues that John happened to have quite the ‘long face.’ Always sad looking. So, I thought a good way to break the ice with your lawyer would be some practical jokes.”
Daisy giggled, unsure of where the story was heading.
Ethan leaned closer to her, his voice lowering. “Well, I came into the meeting room, and John was already there. I came walking around his seat, gearing up to deliver the ice breaker my kids told me to do: instead of giving him ahandshake, go for hisleg.”
“W-What?” Daisy asked, already laughing. “I think your kids might’ve been trying to embarrass you, Ethan.”
“You know what,” Ethan teased, giving her a small wink, “I think you might be right.”
Daisy laughed again, this time raising her glass to hide the feverish blush spreading across her nose.
“Anyways,” he continued, “I came around and reached for John’s leg to shake, already halfway through introducing myself, when I realized…” Ethan sighed and shook his head. “John, unfortunately, was suing his previous employer due to negligence that led to him losing his leg.”
Daisy gaped.
“Yeah,” Ethan drawled. “But, before you start second guessing this entire date, I’ll have you know that John found it to be very funny.”
Daisy laughed. “Seriously?”
“Believe me, I was more surprised than you are now,” he said. “But he laughed it off and made some jokes himself. Needless to say, we get along quite well now.”
They laughed together as the busy restaurant carried on all around them. When the laughter settled, their entrees arrived. Grilled steak and luscious mash potatoes decorated the steaming plates, and a stunning and deeply savory demi-glace oozed across the food. The steak, Daisy noticed, was cooked to a brilliant medium rare, the brick red color shimmering with moisture.
“This is my first time at Reverie,” Daisy said. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to the food.”
Ethan grinned. “I’ve become a pretty big foodie these past few years,” he mentioned. “So I’ve been looking forward to it, too.”
Daisy met his gaze and felt as though she would have melted beneath it. Pulling herself away sharply, she stared into her plate, clutching at her fork and ignoring the way her heart slammed against her chest.
“How does your business treat you these days?” Ethan watched her closely. “It’s looked pretty busy lately.”
Daisy gulped, containing her nerves after a quick sip of wine. “More than busy,” she said with a laugh. “More than we’ve seen in a while. I won’t call it anything but a blessing.”
“It can still be a lot to handle,” Ethan added. “Are you okay?”
Daisy looked up at him, her eyes growing wide. There was nothing short of genuine interest in his eyes, and the notion was more startling than she realized. She had long forgotten what it was like to have a stranger enter one's life with the intention of becoming something more. It was a trust fall, one that Daisy found herself to be a bit rusty with.
“I’m handling it,” Daisy replied with a small smile that she hoped was reassuring. The spell lingered in the back of her mind, but she didn’t dare give it the time it needed to overtake her thoughts. “Anyways, I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. Seeing the patrons happy is more than I could ever ask for.”
Ethan’s smile grew till dimples appeared on his cheeks. “You haven’t changed, you know. Since high school. You’re the same Daisy.”
“Oh, well,” she fumbled, too embarrassed to meet his gaze. “I wouldn’t say that.”
