Chapter Eight
Blair finished her facelift of the café early on Sunday, starting by repainting the n and rehanging her sign.
She then added a coat of paint onto the walls (using a fast-dry spell to speed up the drying time), then hung the new art from the flea market, which looked amazing in her space.
Finally, she transplanted the plants into the new antique pots.
She took stock of the new and improved Harvest Moon Café.
It did look better. Less shabby, more polished, but it still maintained its rustic charm that kept people happy with their warm drinks and great company.
And speaking of warm drinks, she had also developed some new drink syrups.
She started with a salted caramel hazelnut, which she used a spell on to invoke the feeling of warm Italian autumns.
Then she made an apple cinnamon syrup, using magic to re-create the exact flavour of apples caramelizing in butter and real Ceylon cinnamon.
She also perfected a new scent spell, blending the scent of the two new syrups with her famous pumpkin spice.
Cast only once a day, this spell would make the café smell like a warm fall hug.
There was no question in her mind: the Harvest Moon Café (now with all letters) was even better than it was before.
Blair hoped it was enough to trounce Shirley’s Sugar Mountain.
Monday afternoon, the mayor of Moonbeam Hollow, Hazel Fairwood, came into the café.
Mayor Hazel was a sharp woman in her early sixties who still ran marathons.
She was a bit of a hero to Blair, because she always wore fall colours.
Today she was in a long orange printed floral skirt with a T-shirt, denim jacket and dark green scarf around her neck.
Her grey hair was cut in a spiky pixie cut.
Hazel had been mayor for over fifteen years and was well liked with no scandals in her past. It was under Mayor Hazel’s leadership that Moonbeam Hollow went from being a pretty nondescript little town to the quaint, adorable tourist attraction it was now.
Not only had she championed the town focusing its image on the autumnal aesthetic, but she’d been the one who transformed the small harvest festival into the large attraction that drew thousands of visitors every year.
After ordering a vanilla lavender latte to go, Mayor Hazel made small talk about the unpredictable weather the last few days while Blair crafted the drink, bringing the floral notes forward because that’s how Mayor Hazel liked it.
Blair slid the to-go cup across the counter. ‘I’ll see you at the town meeting tonight. My sisters and I will be there.’
‘We’ll have a big turnout,’ Mayor Hazel said. ‘So many have stopped me to discuss this string of bad luck the town’s been facing. I’ve told everyone to bring their concerns to the meeting.’
Blair frowned. ‘My sister mentioned that you’re considering cancelling the festival because there might not be enough healthy pumpkins?’
The mayor shook her head, a serious look on her face.
‘Possibly, but not just because of the pumpkins. I’ve uncovered some troubling history that makes me think the problems will keep coming.
’ The mayor paused, looking like she thought she’d said too much.
‘It probably won’t come to that, though.
The Fall Harvest Festival is such an important event in this town, I’ll do whatever I can to ensure we don’t lose what makes Moonbeam Hollow special.
’ She smiled her politician smile. ‘I’ll be glad to see you and your sisters tonight, Blair!
’ The mayor waved, before leaving the café.
That evening, Belinda and Bianca met Blair in the café, where Blair made them some tea to sip while she cleaned up. When she was done, she took off her apron and joined her sisters.
Belinda had overturned her orange teacup on a saucer to drain off the liquid and was peering at the leaves left inside.
‘See anything?’ Blair asked. Blair didn’t usually serve tea loose, instead she spooned her tea blends into little teabags herself because most customers didn’t want to choke on loose leaves.
But Belinda always preferred her tea loose, since as a soothsayer, she was adept at reading the future in spent tea leaves.
‘Not really.’ Belinda lifted the mug to look closer. ‘I see a heart, and maybe a hammer.’ Blair looked in the cup, but all she could see were dark brown leaves. She did not have this gift. ‘I think I see a snake,’ Belinda continued, frowning.
‘Are snakes bad?’ Bianca asked.
Belinda raised one eyebrow. ‘When in mythology or magic are snakes ever a good thing?’
Blair exhaled. This kind of fortune telling was too vague to be of much use. ‘I’m done here. We should get to the town hall now if we want decent seats.’
Moonbeam Hollow Town Hall was a small building about a five-minute walk from the café.
It was actually a decommissioned church – one of several in town.
Blair had always wondered why the early settlers in the area felt the need to build so many churches.
There was a brisk chill in the air, even though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
Blair tightened the cream cable-knit sweater she was wearing with a corduroy miniskirt and tights.
Fall was well and truly here now. She’d have to dig out her lighter coats soon.
That would normally bring excitement to Blair, but tonight she didn’t feel the comfort and optimism that fall usually elicited in her.
Instead, all she felt was dread and unease.
There was nothing to love about the fall season if she didn’t have her café, or if Moonbeam Hollow lost the spark that made it so lovely.
Belinda looked up. ‘It’s going to rain.’ In addition to her ability to read tea leaves and tarot cards, and sometimes seeing eerily accurate prophecies in her sleep, Belinda sometimes knew things that she shouldn’t know.
‘Good,’ Bianca said. ‘Maybe that means we’ll see more cats on the way home. Should have brought Kass to ask them why they’re here.’
The town hall was packed when the sisters got there, so after getting some burnt coffee and grocery store pastries from the refreshment table, they took three seats together in the back row.
Everyone seemed to be chatting with whoever they were sitting with, and while several people did wave to the sisters, no one came over to say hello.
Normally, Blair never felt out of place in Moonbeam Hollow.
Her café was welcoming to the whole town, and she added important value to the everyday lives of so many here.
But, still, sometimes when she wasn’t in her café, Blair felt that she and her sisters were outsiders, despite growing up here.
There was nothing outwardly different about the three sisters.
True, most of the older generations here were of European ancestry, but there was plenty of immigrants and lots of diversity among the under-fifty residents.
The Briarwoods didn’t even dress all that eccentrically – other than Bianca.
But the Briarwoods were the only witches in town.
And even though that was a secret that only the three of them knew (well, the three of them plus their cat), it added a level of distance between the sisters and everyone else.
They’d always had to keep people at arm’s length, fearing discovery.
They rarely dated or became particularly close with locals.
It was hard to have a healthy relationship with anyone when they had to keep a huge part of themselves a secret.
It was one of the reasons, if not the main reason, why Blair had pushed Luke away twelve years ago.
In fact, before her mother died, when Blair and Luke were getting ready to move to the same university residence, Blair had seriously considered giving up magic completely after leaving Moonbeam Hollow.
It would have been a huge change, but she’d intended to stay with Luke, and it would have been easier without hiding her witchcraft from him.
Blair pushed those thoughts out of her mind. She wasn’t an outsider. Neither were her sisters. All three had been raised in the home they now lived in and were as much a part of this town as anyone else here.
‘Order,’ someone said at the front. It was Alex Liu, who worked for the city and acted as chair for the town meetings.
‘We’re ready to start. I know many of you have concerns you want to raise with the council, so please be patient as we take care of financial reports and old business before bringing up anything new. Madam treasurer, you have the floor.’
The town treasurer went over the town budget, discussing how much they had paid for lawn and garden service all summer, when the door into the town hall opened. Everyone turned to look, and Blair winced when Luke Caldwell strolled in holding a reusable metal coffee cup.
‘Sorry.’ He ducked into the last row, taking the only empty seat. Which was next to the Briarwoods, Bianca specifically. Belinda was next to Bianca, then Blair, so there were two whole people between her and Luke. There was no reason at all for Blair’s heart to speed up like this.
Bianca turned to the man, smiling widely. ‘I finally get to meet the prodigal son returned,’ she whispered loudly, then put out her hand. ‘Bianca Briarwood. My sister Belinda, and of course you know Blair. You might not remember Belinda and I – we were kids when you left.’
Luke was all friendly charm to Bianca, even after Blair had told him she intended to crush his bakery. ‘Of course, I remember you, Bianca! Great to see you again. And Belinda was so great to recommend several books when I was clueless in the bookstore earlier today.’