Chapter Six #2
‘I’m tired of repeating myself, but I’ll say it for like the fiftieth time.
Stop telling any tourist who will listen that my sisters and I have magic.
It’s not true, and it screws with our lives.
’ She started to protest, but I held up a finger.
‘And don’t you ever send a stranger to Clo’s house again. ’
She hitched one boot over the other and leaned into the doorway, attempting to act casual, but she couldn’t hide the uncomfortable tic in her cheek. ‘I admit the thing with Clo was wrong. But in my defense, that reporter was freaking out over his dog and it was scaring my customers.’
‘That’s no excuse for what you did.’
She raised her hands in surrender. ‘Fine, but I have to ask why you get more ornery than a black bear right after hibernation if what we all say is untrue?’
‘Because those stories you spew make people act weird. They come into my clinic expecting me to recite some damn incantation before I treat their animals. Every time a new person joins Lia’s SAR team, they stare as if her head’s going to spin around before she predicts where they’ll make their next search. ’
‘But Aster…’
I held up a hand to stop her. ‘My little sister has synesthesia. There’s no magic to it.’
‘You can’t deny her ability with matchmaking, Dani. Hell, most of the marriages that have happened around here in the last four years are thanks to her.’
‘She has a kind and empathetic heart. Sure, seeing color helps, but she’s also very good at reading people.’
Her mouth twitched with a smirk. ‘Like you can read animals?’
‘I’m not doing this with you,’ I spat out.
‘It’s not my problem that you and a bunch of other people in town keep telling lies about my family.
Peddling the word “magic” like it’s some kind of commodity to sell burgers and beers.
If you keep telling people nonsense, at some point they’re going to expect proof.
My sisters and I are not witches, supernatural beings or whatever else you feed the gullible tourists.
Stop taking away what we have in these mountains. ’
She crossed her arms over her chest. ‘And what exactly am I taking away?’
‘Our peace.’
Her gaze suspiciously darted around her office, and a sickening truth hit me.
‘Did you have something to do with the reporter coming here?’
She headed back to the bar, ignoring my question.
‘Are you freaking kidding me, Mo!’
She grabbed a glass from the drying rack under the bar and filled it with water from a nearby tap. Like she needed to buy time to figure out a story, she took a long sip.
‘You know as well as I do that Harvest Moon is constantly vying for tourist dollars,’ she finally said.
‘If you and Aster want to keep your businesses going, it only makes sense to play into the lore. Get some good press out of it. A piece in a magazine like Metropolitan Travel and Leisure could be a game-changer around here.’ She clucked her tongue.
‘And that Bryce guy isn’t too bad to look at either.
’ She leaned in too close. ‘Word around here is that you helped save his dog. That’s an excellent way to earn some goodwill from him. ’
‘Goodwill? I didn’t know he was a journalist until ten minutes ago.’
‘Oh.’ She shrugged. ‘Well, I’m sure you made a good impression.’
Calling him an idiot on the trail. Yelling at him about his dog being off leash. Kissing him like needing air was optional. I’m sure all of it made one hell of an impression.
‘Stop the bullshit, Mo. You know what happened the last time a journalist came here.’ The memory of it made me shiver. ‘It was chaos.’
She gave a resigned sigh. ‘All right, that time wasn’t great, but this will be different.’
‘He’s not going to make your burnt-hockey-puck hamburgers edible. Or help you sell any more cardboard-tasting pizzas straight from the microwave.’
She had the gall to look indignant. ‘My food… is passable.’
‘We can keep going round and round, but maybe it’d be better if I sent Clo down to talk to you. That would be an even bigger spectacle than the show we’re putting on right now.’
That steely facade of hers crumbled. Most of the town, except for maybe Judge Greene, was terrified of my five-foot-one grandmother. From the outside she may have looked as kind as one of the Golden Girls, but she had a sharp tongue that could shred you to pieces in mere seconds.
‘Fine. I will stop playing it up for business.’ She pointed a finger at me.
‘That doesn’t mean I can stop others from talking about your family.
Your line is deeply embedded into this town, and so is its rather interesting history.
My not talking about you and your sisters won’t make the stories go away. ’
‘It’s a start.’
I began to walk away until she called out, ‘My Betsy is moving slower these days. Okay if I bring her by the clinic and have her checked out? I’m worried about arthritis.’
Feral cats had become a town issue over the last few years. One of their favorite spots to roam was in the alley behind the tavern. Mo had taken to one ginger in particular, and now Betsy was her constant companion in the small clapboard house she owned near the edge of town.
She gave me a hopeful look, because she knew I could not turn down an animal in need.
‘Call Jessa and set up an appointment.’
Her tight shoulders gave an inch. Dealing with my sweet receptionist was easier than getting the stink-eye from me. ‘Thanks, Dani.’
‘Keep your word this time, Mo.’
I moved out from behind the bar. A few locals lined the counter waiting for top-offs on their beers. More than a few gave me that curious gaze I hated.
I’d never seriously considered leaving Harvest Moon.
It was my home. But on days like this, when the shroud of gossip and the burden of stories spun about my family were almost too much, I wondered what it’d be like to take off and never look back.
Have a life where no one had any preconceived notions about me.
Where I could just be a normal person, run my practice and have what I’d demanded of Mo.
Peace.
Only a few steps outside the tavern, I came to a stumbling stop. Bryce leaned against the crumbling white paint on the building. His toned arms hung loosely at his sides. Red-hued stubble covered his chin.
Persimmon with a gold outline, Aster had said. I narrowed my gaze like I thought I could envision it. Instead, all I saw was the pinch at the corners of his crystal-blue eyes. Eyes that screamed he was a damn liar.