‘Bye, nice meeting you too.’ Nico gave her a slow smile.
‘Okay. Catch you later.’ Rhodri replied, still inspecting his bowl.
͠
Isabel pushed open the door to the herbal shop five minutes later.
‘Hello again,’ Delwyn said hearing the bell jangle. She put the brochure she’d been flicking through down and came out from behind the counter. ‘I hope you’ve come to tell me how you got on with your horsetail tea and honey?’
‘I have.’ Isabel grinned. Today she noticed Delwyn was wearing jeans teamed with a white peasant blouse which along with her pixie haircut, gave her a bohemian look. She liked her style and made a mental note to ask where she’d gotten her blouse; it was gorgeous. ‘Look,’ she said, tilting her head. She pulled her hair back with both hands before angling her neck.
Delwyn leaned in to look, smelling of Irish moss.
Isabel sniffed; she loved the stuff. Her mum always bought it for her when she had a cough. She’d tell her not to eat the whole bag of soothing black jubes like they were sweets. The thing was they were covered with a sugary coating and reminded her of black jelly beans, so eat them like sweets was precisely what she used to do. Isabel let her hair swing free as Delwyn took a step back, inspection done.
‘What a difference. It’s only been, what?’
‘Four days,’ Isabel announced proudly. ‘I spritzed with sea water which did sting but took the itch away, and I bathed daily in the horsetail tea brew just like Constance suggested before applying the honey to the affected spots. It's worked wonders. Well worth all the sticky messiness although the tide marks around the bath are a sod to get off.’
Delwyn laughed. ‘A rub down with baking soda should do the trick. I’ll make a note of all that if you don’t mind?’ She grabbed a pad from beside the till before scribbling the information down. ‘Thanks for the recommendation. It’s always good to hear back from customers first hand as to the success of a product.’
‘No problem.’ Isabel liked Delwyn; there was something unaffected and genuine about her. She was in need of a friend too she realized. A proper one. She decided to find out more about her. ‘How long have you had the shop?’
Delwyn looked up from the notepad. ‘Oh, just over a year. It was a scary step going into business for myself, but so far so good. I moved over from Dorset which was lovely, but my heart is here on Wight. It’s a special place and the people are very open-minded.’
‘Did you have to train in herbs then?’ Isabel frowned. ‘Sorry, that didn’t sound right. I don’t know what the correct terminology for knowing about all this stuff would be.’ She waved her hand toward the shelves.
‘You’re not the only one! And some would say and have said, I studied for a degree in pottiness, but I am a qualified naturopath. I have an honor’s degree in herbal medicine from Westminster University. It took three years, and I have to say in some ways it was easier being a poor student than being a grown up with her own business. There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing though, and nowhere else I’d rather be.’
That was something Isabel could relate to. Being a grown-up was bloody hard work sometimes. She envied Delwyn her conviction that she was on the right path. ‘But how did you decide you wanted to learn about all this stuff?’ She gestured around the shop.
‘That was easy. I always loved pottering in the garden when I was little, and my mum was a keen cook who kept a fabulous herb garden. I was fascinated by the way the different herbs added so much flavour to food, and I loved the different smells. I used to mess with making my own natural body lotions when I was a teenager for myself and my friends and to take it further was a natural progression. It’s funny really,’ Delwyn continued, ‘because in another era the locals would have pointed the finger at me for being a witch. My shop would have been burned to the ground.’ Her eyes twinkled. ‘Your friend Constance knows all about that.’
‘Oh yes. One of the nurses at Sea Vistas told me the story of how she was related to the last witch on Wight. And she’s not my friend; I don’t know her. Well, not really. I’m hoping to get to know her a bit better. I didn’t tell you the whole truth about why I went to see her the other day.’ Isabel found herself relaying the tale of her encounter with the dying Ginny, and how she’d come to meet Constance. Delwyn was fascinated.
‘Gosh, that’s some story. I wonder who they were to each other.’
‘You and me both. Constance didn’t give anything away when I went to see her. I’m going to call in on her before I start work today to thank her for sharing her remedies with me.’
‘Well, would you mind seeing how the land lies if I were to visit her on my day off, Sunday? Look, you’ve given me goosebumps.’ Delwyn held her arm out. ‘Don’t you think it’s uncanny how you’ve wound up living in her old house above her old shop?’
‘Yes, I suppose it is strange how things all fell into place once I arrived here on the island. It was like I was given clues along the way as to how to find her.’ Isabel explained how she’d found work at the pub and gotten her first inkling as to where
