Page 2 of Kiss and Spell

Ursula approached the counter. “Morning, Mama. Sorry I’m late again. I overslept.”

Mama’s wide brown eyes brightened. “No worries. Good morning, my darling.”

She embraced Ursula in a tight hug, smothering her in lavender oil and affection. Mama always wore this special oil to open her mind and body to the universe, and the scent lingered on Ursula’s clothes for hours after they’d worked together.

She leaned back and gave Ursula a long scan. “You look very… festive today. What happened to your work shirt?”

Ursula placed her purse behind the counter in a small alcove. She went to the back room, clocked in on her timecard, then rejoined Mama out front. “It’s a long story.”

For once, she wanted to have a short and sweet tale for her life, not an epic poem of woe.

“It’s been a rough morning,” Mama offered.

Ursula groaned. “It’s been a rough year. I feel like Lady Luck took me out for drinks, stole my wallet, and stopped answering my texts.”

“Lady Luck can be raggedy like that,” Mama said. “You said you overslept. Did you try putting an amethyst stone under your pillow? It helps with dreams and rest.”

Lately, Ursula was wary of using any enchantments to solve any of her issues. Last year, she fooled around with magic and quickly found out how a single spell could mess up her whole life. If she was having trouble sleeping, she’d drink chamomile and watch reruns of Living Single and Bob’s Burgers on her laptop until she fell asleep. No magic needed.

“No thank you, Mama. Not everyone wants to sleep on rocks,” Ursula said drily.

“Try it tonight and see what happens,” Mama said with a smile. “I do have good news.”

“What? Has NASA perfected time travel?” If they had, Ursula wanted a one-way ticket to her childhood, so she could knock the fairy tale book from her little sticky hands. She’d wipe the stardust from her young eyes and just… stop believing in happily-ever-after. Save herself the future heartache. Ursula refocused on Mama, who bounced with excitement.

She could hold a secret as well as a pasta strainer held water.

“No, it’s something better.” Mama shook her head. “The Chamber of Commerce just dropped a new poster for our window.”

“Are we having a spring ghost crawl?” Ursula cringed. She didn’t do haunted houses or buildings, having watched enough paranormal reality shows to know better than to deal with that drama. Not all ghosts were friendly. Ursula held her breath, waiting to see what scheme the town had come up with. The Chamber of Commerce of Freya Grove was always dreaming up creative and odd events and activities to help boost interest in local businesses. They were always trying to repeat the success of the Historical Society’s Founders’ Day Festival, which was one of the most popular events at the Jersey Shore.

“Nope, it’s better than that!” Mama reached underneath the counter and pulled out a poster with a show woman’s flourish. Oh no. Ursula read the delicate, cutesy font on the poster.

Smitten By the Shore

Music-Food-Fun

Find your fairy tale in Freya Grove this spring!

March 20–June 23

“Look what’s coming back this year!” Mama did a little shimmy. “Smitten is back, baby girl!”

Ursula studied the poster with a critical squint. The graphic designer went ham with the artwork and used their imagination to fill up the entire 11 x 17 sheet. A cartoon couple with matching goofy smiles steered a hot-air balloon over a town landscape while sprinkling huge hearts to the waiting crowd. A website address and social media icons were included underneath the illustration.

What were the odds that a lovey-dovey festival was coming back at the same moment she was ridiculously, hopelessly single?

Ursula folded her arms. No way. Her witchy senses were on high alert.

“I thought it was on indefinite hiatus,” Ursula said slowly. “How can our town suddenly afford this festival after all this time?”

She remembered the final email from the organizers announcing that the festival was taking a break. Everyone in the Grove knew indefinite hiatus was code for “we don’t have the funds to host this event.” Smitten hadn’t been held in three years and she assumed it wasn’t coming back. Ursula wasn’t going to celebrate until she knew if her once cherished event was back for good.

“That’s a good question,” Mama said. “I heard from my hairdresser’s sister that an anonymous donor decided to bring back the festival. They provided enough money to fund Smitten for the next five years.”

“We already have Founders’ Day,” Ursula said. “We don’t need another party.”

“So what? There’s nothing wrong with having a little fun,” Mama countered. “If you have enough confetti, life can be a party.”

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