Chapter 17 Slamming Cabinets
Eloise was calibrating the burr grinder when Bess said in a snide tone, "Hey, you've got a visitor."
She looked at Bess, about to ask her what was going on because since they'd opened the shop she'd been giving her the cold shoulder treatment.
Or something more hostile. At first she thought it was because it was so early and she was a teenager.
But as the morning wore on, she would find Bess glaring at her pointedly.
The rush of customers thwarted her hope to talk about it.
Maybe she had heard about her and Ursula's fight? She remembered being her age and thinking that you had to pick a side when friends were fighting.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Bess glared again before walking back to the supply room.
She frowned, watching the sulking teen then remembered she'd told her someone was here to see her.
She immediately felt a lift of hope that it was Ursula then had a flicker of fear that it was him, but when she turned around it was Kelsea.
She looked anxious so she pointed to the velvet high-backed chairs and signaled to her that she'd be there in a minute.
She flipped the grinder's switch to make sure it was running smoothly.
"Okay, the grinder is good. We need to make sure we are calibrating it every other bag of coffee."
"Got it," Tess said. "Thanks." She had been softening lately.
She could still be prickly and often a little frustrating, but when Eloise asked her to do something there was no longer push back and when she left her shift she had started making a point to say goodbye to Eloise.
It was curious and sweet. "Oh, hey, your hunky detective is here," she said with a sly smile.
Detective Taylor White was standing at the bar being handed a pink cup of coffee.
When he saw her he smiled that half smirk that did a little something odd to her stomach, but today it held a quarter inch of sadness.
She gave him a small wave before he walked out the front door.
The disappointment was swift when she realized he was avoiding her.
The pang of hurt was a quick thrust but she mentally shoved it to the side.
Not that she avoided things like Ursula had said. She dealt with things. Just in her own timing. She frowned. "Hunky detective and I aren't..." she sighed. "Nevermind. Hey, do you know what's up with Bess?"
Tess shrugged. "I don't know. She's been moodier than a cat lately."
"Yeah, those guys have been bullying her and I wasn't sure if something else happened," Eloise said thoughtfully.
"Oh, that pink kid?" Tess shook her head.
"He's such an ass. Bess shouldn't waste her time worrying about him.
But he and his buddies can be cruel." She picked at the white rag in her hand as she carefully offered, "I could keep an eye out.
At school. Nothing intrusive, just like see if they're picking on her in person or whatever. "
Eloise watched the offering trip over Tess's tongue and wondered not for the first time if she was somewhat of a loner.
"That's alright. I don't want her to feel like we're spying on her, but I appreciate the offer."
Tess shrugged. "Yeah."
She smiled at Tess and asked her to help Bess with stock as she moved on toward her visitor.
She topped the pink cup in her hand and set it down in front of where Kelsea was sitting, her fingers wringing.
She looked tired and her hair was pulled up into a ballerina bun making her look like she was in college still.
"Hey, what's up? You don't look like your sparkly self," she said, leaning onto the bar with concern with a nod toward the pink cup. "Honey lavender latte for you."
Kelsea laughed, running a hand with chipped purple nail polish over her hair smoothing it. "I was up all night finishing an article, which brings me here. I was at the station talking to the editor." She paused as she lifted the cup to her lips and moaned. "Thank you for this. I needed it."
Eloise nodded.
"While I was there another journalist was getting information from the SPD about a new hex in town."
"Oh great," Eloise said, feeling the weight of it land on her shoulders. "Who, what hex and how are they tied to us?"
"Craig Peterson."
Eloise frowned at the name, and then she remembered an unwilling house trying not to let in the police officer. "Crap. What happened to him?"
"Craig Peterson suddenly cannot speak English."
"I'm sorry?" she asked tilting her head to the side.
"Apparently, he called the chief over to his house. Well, texted him. When the chief got there, every time Craig tried to say something, it came out in a different language."
A snort of laughter came out but she smothered it with a sip of water before asking,"What language?"
"Ukrainian."
"Ukrainian," she said bewildered. "Lucky man. That is a beautiful and difficult language. Lots of sounds shoved into one syllable," she said, pressing her hands together.
Kelsea laughed taking another long sip of her latte before she said, "But it was noted that he questioned you and Ursula recently and you both were not very willing to have him at the house."
Eloise straightened, putting her pointer finger in the air. "First, it was the house that was unwilling. Ursula and I were well prepared to make a new friend." Eloise grabbed a rag in the sanitizer water below the bar and started wiping it down.
Kelsea gave her a knowing look and Eloise smirked. "Friend might be a bold choice of words, but still. We let him in and answered his questions, which had no ground." She fiercely wrung out the rag. "I offered him a scone."
Then the reminder of what he had been questioning them about hit her.
"He uh, told us that Rob Sandis, after getting married, yawned and now he cannot stop yawning.
" She bit her lip, her eyes focused on her friend as worry wove through her.
She hadn't spoken with Kelsea about Rob since she found out the married man she'd had an affair with had been the same man that had tormented Ursula.
But Kelsea surprised her when her wide, sweet eyes rounded in shock and then a loud laugh popped out of her.
She slapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide and staring into Eloise's.
And then Eloise laughed, leaning over the bar again as Kelsea kept her mouth covered as her shoulders shook, and sparkling tears gathered in her eyes.
The picture of the proud, aristocratic man in a perpetual state of a large, open mouth was satisfying, but to see her friend who had her own, layered and broken past with him find relief in that was delicious.
"I swear it wasn't us," she finally said holding up both hands. "Him or Craig. Shoot, none of these hexes are us. But some of them are damn funny and like this town's odd karma."
Kelsea grabbed a napkin, running it under her eyes as she caught her breath, her face serene and joyful. "I honestly needed that today."
"You doing okay? You could have told me who the married man was, you know," she said gently.
"I know. But, I hurt people. Including myself and that's a weird world to navigate."
"Probably not a book on it," Eloise agreed with a half smile.
Their eyes connected and they said more silently, communicated their understanding.
"Anyways, that's not all," Kelsea said.
"Lovely. This is like a dark hex game show."
"So there was an article that Carol published this morning. Did you happen to see it?"
She almost groaned. "No. Did she tell the town to burn us at the stake?"
"Actually, no witches were burned in Salem," Kelsea said. "They were all hanged or pressed to death. They would place heavy stones on their chests until they suffocated and were crushed."
Eloise looked at her flatly. "So did Carol tell the town to crush us to death? That's absolutely horrific, by the way."
Kelsea's eyes widened in agreement then she shrugged answering her. "Not yet. Though I wouldn't be surprised to read that headline if these things keep happening and having connections to us all. But uh, this one quotes you."
"Me?" she asked in surprise trying furiously to think through any damning conversations she'd had with the notorious writer of late. None came to mind. "I don't understand. I haven't spoken with Carol about anything." She snapped her fingers. "Was it about how I've seen Ursula naked?"
She frowned. "What? Why-"
But Eloise waved her question away.
Kelsea's eyes flicked up to something behind Eloise and she turned to see Bess carrying an armful of supplies.
"Something you said to someone in the bathroom at the club about Bess."
Her blood froze and her heart leapt. "What are you talking about?"
She pulled out her phone, scrolled through until she found what she was looking for and passed it to her.
She read the article and this time she did groan.
The chatty red headed woman from the bathroom had given an interview to Carol Weatherby, and in the article she was quoted saying that she wished she had hexed Kyle Sandman and called him a twerp.
Also, possibly worse, that Bess was already being targeted.
"No wonder she's throwing eye daggers at me." She slid the phone back to Kelsea over the bar.
"So, I guess she's not taking it so well," she said, and they both turned to see Bess look up at them, her dark and moody glare strong. They both visibly moved back at the impact of her wrath. "Yikes."
Eloise turned back to her with wide eyes. "Right?"
She leaned in whispering, "I felt it. In my soul."
She groaned again. "But I would be angry too if I were her. I can't believe I said that to a stranger. In a bathroom. At a club."
"Something else," Kelsea hedged.
"This is not my day." She took a fortifying breath and then nodded. "Okay, hit me with it."
Kelsea made an apologetic face as she said, "Bess quit soccer."