Chapter 8

Winston

I asked her out. Why did I ask her out? She'd just been so cute all day. And I'd seen her eying me.

And then she was thinking about bread, of all things, with that incredibly serious look on her face. How much luckier could I be as a man, to have met a hot, intelligent, kind person, interested in magic and all things witchy? Why would I not ask her out?

Because she isn't a witch.

That realization hit me as the door closed behind her, and as I heard Tess cackling at our awkwardness.

With a flick, I turned the dishwasher on and flipped off the lights. Making my way upstairs, I thought about banging my head on the wall the whole way up.

What was I thinking?

Actually, dumb question. I had been thinking about kissing her all day long. It was on my mind when I asked her out.

She just looked so very kissable.

My mother would flip. Not that my mother needed to know. I didn't want to be engaged. I wasn't engaged. She was just convinced I should be, convinced that I should agree to an arranged marriage, so I could help the Sullivan dynasty along—so I could help cement her place on the witches' council.

I did not even like the woman she wanted me to marry. Or any other eligible witch I'd been introduced to over the past three years.

My apartment was warm and quiet. I flopped down on the couch and stared at the ceiling. Now what?

With a groan, I sat up on the couch. Laundry needed to be done, and I really wanted to start work on Willow's recipe. I just needed to concentrate on it was all.

In a few minutes, I had my laundry going and a beer cracked open at the small table in the corner. I spread out some coloring pencils and the couple of pages I had. There wasn't too much to go on, but I wanted to see what I could do. First, I wanted to color everything in. Feeling the motions might help me remember something. Witchcraft and potion recipes could work in odd ways. Maybe if I drew the plants I'd be able to better read the writing.

Two hours later and I was further along than I thought I would be. The images were becoming real plants to me, but my brain was so fuzzy I didn't know which ones. Perhaps having the beer was not the best choice.

I saw Willow's face again. I'd go to sleep and start fresh in the morning. I needed to look at the store's accounts too, and call my aunt. Stumbling to the bed, I took off my pants and shirt, pulling the covers over me.

Her face was the last thing on my mind before I slipped back into dreams.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Swearing, I batted at my nightstand, trying to turn off the alarm on my phone. I'd set it to 4 am every day, thinking it would help to keep me in a routine. That was not something I appreciated after last night. Pushing the button on my screen, I got my alarm to stop.

The blankets were warm and cozy, and I didn't want to get up yet. Plus, I had no café to open this morning. I could afford to sleep in.

Then I saw Willow's face again. It'd followed me in my dreams last night. I could use the extra time today. I had a lot to work on in a short span of time… and she'd be here at 3.

Counting to ten, I threw off my covers and stood up. The air was chilly, as I'd refused to turn on the heat yet. The cooking and baking downstairs did a lot to warm up the place anyway, so it stayed at a decent temperature. It'd got chilly last night though, and I'd soon cave.

Getting ready for the day took only about 30 minutes. I cooked an egg and some toast and sat back on my couch. I stared at my phone. What time was it where my aunt was?

The phone rang… and it was my aunt.

"You know. It's creepy when you do that."

"Ah, you always say that. I just felt I should call. What's up?"

"How well do you know Professor Willow?"

"Willow? She's grand. Addicted to coffee. So the perfect customer. Extremely kind, and quite intelligent. We had some great conversations. She sent lots of her students down to us, either to get coffee or even as employees. Oh – I should have mentioned that. You should hire some."

"She needs help with a spell and potion. She has this old recipe book she's writing a text on, and there are two of them she can't figure out. I agreed to help."

"Sounds nice of you. What does that have to do with me?"

"Oh, just, nothing really, I was just…"

"You like her."

I sighed. I couldn't ever hide anything from my aunt.

"Winston… that's a hard road sometimes. Willow loves witchcraft. That wouldn't be a problem. But your mother…"

"I know."

"For what it's worth, I like her. And as for the recipe… just be careful. We lost some things for a reason." My aunt sounded resigned.

"Mother always said some spells needed to stay hidden. We didn't really lose any, did we?"

"Your Mother would tell you absolutely not. But we can't know every spell in existence."

"Thanks for the advice. I needed to call for another reason."

"Oh?"

"Why did you have so few staff? You just told me to hire some. How did you work all the time? And what kind of pay and benefits are we talking?"

"Ah. I should have gone over all of that with you. Some of the staff quit right before I left. I figured you would want to hire their replacements. As for money, all of that is in the account books downstairs, and there are many spreadsheets. You'll make a fair amount and you can pay a fair wage with benefits, if you hire full-time. Most of the staff have always been college students, so I didn't need to worry about that. They make $15 an hour if it helps, and I let them divide the tip jar or take what's given if they are the only one working."

"Good to know. Probably should have gotten all of that information to begin with."

"Nah, you had to learn the ropes first. I'll be back in two weeks. I can stop by and help then. Toodles, dear."

"Toodles."

And she clicked off her phone. My aunt had an eerie sixth sense about things. She'd done that often in the past—contact me out of the blue when I'd needed her.

Putting my head in my hands, I took a deep breath in and out. I wasn't a lovesick teenager. We weren't even dating yet. I could figure this out. And I could handle my mother.

The table beckoned me, and so I went and worked on the recipes first. I could figure out the details for the café later.

Two hours later, I realized I had fleshed out the entire page. It was eerie how much better the spell looked to me now. I saw lemon leaves, mint bees, and rose petals. There was a spring winding in the corner of the bottom left, and a tea cup as well.

Deciphering the recipe list, I realized we would have all of this on hand. It wouldn't be as bad as I thought it would be to brew it tonight, either. There were some words I wasn't too sure about for the actual spell itself, but hopefully Willow would know those.

I stretched, reaching towards the ceiling. Feeling better about the progress on this one, I figured I could start some cookies baking downstairs and work on the other one while those baked. It was in much the same condition, but the words themselves were easier to read.

I wasn't able to get as far with it, however, even after an hour. There were so many items on the page, I wondered if it was a potion at all, or something more complicated. The timer dinged for the cookies, and so I sat it aside for the time being. I wanted to make some things for tomorrow morning, so I didn't have to worry about it tonight, and could just help Willow while she was here.

I also wanted to prepare dinner for us.

So, the rest of the afternoon whittled away, time slipping through my fingers, before the alarm went off on my phone for 3 pm. Willow was a 5-minute walk here from campus. I needed to get her coffee ready.

When Willow knocked at the door, I greeted her with a cup of steaming hot coffee. She smiled, the effect on her face nearly knocking me over. Within minutes, she was sipping it, her bag on the table, and a look of bliss on her face.

"It's perfection. Thank you,"

"I thought you might like to have some coffee after work, since you seem to have no cutoff."

"Why would I cut off coffee?" She asked.

I shook my head. "Where's Tess?"

"Out and about, since it's a little warmer today. She disappears a lot. She always knows where to find me, though. So, how did it go today?"

"Great, actually. I think I've figured out all the ingredients for the first one, but I'm not sure about the spell to go with it. The second is proving trickier, just because I'm not recognizing several of the words."

"That was the issue I was having. Let's tackle the first together. We can come back to the second."

"I'm done baking for the moment. Let's head upstairs to my table. It's comfier up there."

Willow followed, drinking her coffee and making happy sounds that did funny things to my insides. Did she know what she was doing to me? With a look at her concentration on her coffee, I'd have to say she had not a clue.

Upstairs, we entered my apartment and made our way to the table. The dinner I'd made was in the oven, staying warm, along with drinks chilling in the fridge. It wasn't a date, but I felt like I should feed her, depending on how long she stayed.

As she sat down, she dropped her jaw and stared openmouthed at the colored sheet I laid in front of her.

"You did this?"

"Yes. What?"

"It's beautiful. Could I scan this in for my book? Would you mind? I'd give you credit."

"Of course you can. Though it's nothing special."

At that, she raised her eyebrow. I smiled.

"I like art. And I've often done similar things on other spells and potions I've worked with. It just helps soothe me, and … I don't know. The magic works through me that way."

Willow smiled. "I always thought it was fascinating how many ways witches worked."

"My mother just yells at things and they do what she says."

"Really?" Willow looked incredulous.

"No. But it feels like it."

She laughed and shook her head.

"I understand that. Okay, so it looks like these are all simple ingredients. But the spell itself…"

Willow went silent, poring over the words, and occasionally muttering to herself as she pulled out another sheet of paper. She exclaimed a few times out loud, but if I tried to ask a question, she shushed me.

Shrugging, I prepped the food for the day. Then I turned around and just watched Willow working.

When an hour had passed, I noticed Willow shift in her attention.

"There! I think I figured it out." Willow looked up and paused.

I quickly moved over to her, acting like I'd been moving before, and not creepily watching her.

"What does it say?"

"With thine heart full and longing,

With desire, and hope twining,

Take a drink my love, my darling,

Take a drink, and see soulmates,

Love eternal, and forever,

With your heart full of passion,

Take a drink, together,

under light of full moon,

And see soulmates' desires."

She stopped and looked up. "It's a love potion?"

"Tea, more like, based on the ingredients."

"Do those… work? I'd always read they weren't very reliable? And there aren't any that I've ever seen – weren't they banned?"

"Most aren't reliable. I mean, love is a complicated human emotion that turns on the flip of a coin. Even magic cannot do everything."

"Would this work?"

I shook my head, then paused. "It… it could be possible. I know some spells were lost, or hidden, because of their power. I see nothing in this that would make it more powerful than others I have seen, but then again, I've never run across one like this. And it seems to involve both people. It isn't one to curse or trick someone into loving you."

"So what if the person isn't your soulmate?"

"Maybe nothing happens at all?"

Willow looked back down at the text and ingredients.

"Might be a bad idea for us to brew it, then."

"Why? Afraid?"

I instantly regretted every word I had spoken. I'd asked her out on a date, for Goddess' sake. Why would I ask her to drink a love potion with me?

Willow shook her head. "Not afraid. But I also don't know that I want to be aware of who my soulmate is… or isn't."

I realized she was afraid we'd drink it and discover we weren't soul mates.

I put my hands on the table. "It says light of the full moon, right?"

She nodded.

"That isn't until Friday. We couldn't do it before, anyway. Perhaps we take a break for supper, if you are hungry, and work on the 2nd spell? Then on Friday… if we decide to, we can try brewing the other one? Or both, depending."

Willow paused and looked thoughtfully towards the stove.

"It smells good in here."

"Ah, I thought I could appeal to your stomach, if nothing else."

"What is it?"

"Roast beef and vegetables. I thought I'd make something fancier than the stew."

"Yum."

After getting dinner together, I came back to a cleared off table.

"Thanks!" I sat down the plates and walked back to the fridge. "I have a bottle of red, or of Moscato in here. Or soda or beer, if you want."

"Moscato sounds amazing." Willow answered.

I grabbed two glasses and poured the wine. I sat hers down and sat across. She smiled at me and raised the glass. I did in turn, and toasted, "To Friends."

"To Friends," she echoed, and took a small sip.

"My Goddess, how is it you can cook and bake so well?"

I chucked, shaking my head. "We talked about that already."

"Yeah, but this is like excellent."

"Thanks. It's one of my favorites to cook. And simple, honestly."

"Whatever. Thanks. I appreciate the food. You keep feeding me."

"I owed you for working for hours. Call us almost even."

"Almost?" she asked, raising that one eyebrow again.

Goddess, she was hot when she did that.

"I still owe you, I think."

She shook her head and said, "Honestly, I'll take food whenever you want to cook for me."

I saw a blush creeping up her cheeks and gave her an out.

"I spoke to my aunt. She told me where the books and accounts were. I also found out I'm paying my employees $15 an hour, and two quit right before I took over."

"Ah, yes. They were fixing to graduate and wanted to concentrate on finals."

"You knew?"

"I mean, yeah. I am here like every day."

I shook my head, realizing that was more than obvious.

"Since mostly students work here, no one really gets benefits but me. I know the place makes a profit. So if I can have four employees, I would really like to hire a couple more students."

"Gotcha. I have a few freshmen I can reach out to, and they should be open to it, and that way they'll stay awhile. Only thing is that they may go home for summers."

"Makes sense. Maybe I'll get lucky. Or recruit you."

"Hey, summer is my break!"

"Free coffee?" I tried.

"Ah, I usually teach a couple of classes online anyway. I might be open to negotiations."

The rest of the dinner passed much the same. It was so easy to talk to her, and she made me laugh. If only we had more time to work on the book and spend together.

At the end of the meal, I leaned back in my chair, sipping on my second glass of wine. Willow was talking about her current group of students, and how they seemed incapable of reading directions.

"Has it not always been this bad?"

"No, it really hasn't. But there we are. I think a lot of things have led up to this being an issue. So many assume our young adults are good with technology because they've always had it — half my students weren't even aware they could take a screenshot. Sorry, here I am complaining about something that means nothing to you."

"If it means something to you, I don't mind listening."

She tipped her glass to me and drank the last of the wine.

"Wow, it's already dark outside. Time went by quickly… and I maybe shouldn't have had that much wine, what with walking home."

"I can walk you if you need."

"Oh! But you've been drinking too."

I raise my very steady hand. "I'm fine."

"Show off." She muttered under her breath.

"Listen, I love that I met you because you decided to cross the road in front of a car…"

"That is not why we met. We didn't even really meet then," Willow interjected.

I keep going, "But, I'd rather not worry about it tonight. Come on, I'll make us both a cup of coffee, we can talk next steps, and then I can walk you home."

Willow grumbled, but agreed. I didn't think she'd refuse coffee. She slowly gathered her backpack and purse, and we went downstairs. I grabbed our coffee and handed her a to-go mug.

"I can keep working on the second spell."

"Do you think you'll have more progress on it soon? I know you said you are working a lot."

"I have to cover for Charlotte tomorrow, so it may be a few days, but yeah, I'll get it together by Friday. And you have more than you did, right?"

"Yes. I can go ahead and start work on this chapter. Can I email you the others I have? You might have suggestions I haven't thought of."

"Sure. I can give it a skim."

"Thanks. Okay. Plans made. I'll see you tomorrow morning, then."

"Coffee, coffee. And, I'm walking you home, remember."

"Right, I…"

At that, I heard a small bell ring at the door, and we found Tess.

"It's colder than a witches' tit, no offense Winston. Can we go home now?"

"Tess? It isn't that cold yet. But yes, we are going that way. Want me to grab you something warm to drink?"

Tess buzzed in and landed on the table. "That would be wonderful."

Willow started to turn to me, but I was already pouring a bit of milk into a tiny paper cup and heating it up. I handed it to Tess, who quickly sipped it. Her wings stopped moving as rapidly as they were. "Thanks."

"Welcome. I'm walking Willow home now, if you care to join us?"

Tess gulped down the rest of the milk and flew to Willow's jacket, sitting in the hood. She gave a thumbs up. Willow shook out her hair, to where it covered Tess up a bit.

"You said pixies normally hibernate through Winter, right? Why haven't you, Tess?"

"Used too," I heard her pipe up from the hood. The walk was pretty short, which I remembered from the night I pulled her back from that idiot driver. Realizing I hadn't ever been to her home, I wasn't 100% sure which was hers.

Then, of course, she pointed to the quaintest one on the block, and I should have known. It looked like a mushroom.

"That's an interesting house," I said, examining it from the sidewalk.

"I love it. It's old too. Certainly took some fixing inside when I bought it, but I'd wanted it forever."

"It's like a fairy cottage upsized."

She laughed, "Well, I am short, so it works for me. I'd give you a tour, but I am loath to show you what it looks like at the moment. Another day, though, I promise."

"You don't keep it immaculate in case someone pops over?"

Her snort at that was probably heard down the street. "No, I usually use people coming over as the excuse to clean. Unless it's Piper."

"She seems like a good friend."

"The best. Anyway, thanks for today."

"Oh, quit babbling, you two. I'm cold." Tess yelled from the hood.

Willow looked at me for just a moment before waving and practically running inside.

Not exactly how I planned it… but then again… what was I hoping for?