Alice sent her a slightly surprised glance. “Thank you, Vi.” Then she asked, “And when are we going shopping for bridesmaids’ gowns?” She turned to me. “And what about your wedding dress? You haven’t said. Don’t tell me you’ve picked one out without us.”
I was so thrilled that she cared enough to worry about my dress. “Some friends are making it for me, as my wedding gift.”
“Why, that’s wonderful. What fabric have you chosen? I remember being torn between the silk and the chiffon and lace for the bodice.” Her wedding hadn’t been that long ago, and she still rhapsodized about a day that contained some challenges but led to a genuinely happy marriage. I shook my head, glad I hadn’t had to make all those decisions.
“You mustn’t tell anyone, because it’s a surprise. But it’s going to be made with crochet. Fine silk thread crocheted.”
Her eyes opened wide. “What an enormous amount of work. Your friends will be working night and day.”
Night, anyway.
“My friend Jennifer just arrived this morning. Let’s give her a couple of days to get settled and then go shopping for dresses.”
Two customers came in, and so she said, “I’d better get back.”
“Saturday,” I called after her. “Scarlett and Polly can take over the shop on Saturday so we can go shopping.”
“And thank you so much for checking my schedule,” Vi muttered darkly.
I turned to her, trying to be patient. “Would you be available on Saturday, Vi?”
She looked even more annoyed now. “I suppose so.”
I told Alice we’d get together later to make final plans and then turned to my customers. I suggested to Violet that she might like to go into the back and pack some of the mail orders that were waiting. The more I could keep her away from the customers, the better my business was likely to do today.
One of my customers was an excited new grandmother. “The best part is it’s twins, a boy and a girl, so no need to choose between pink and blue sweaters. I can make one of each.”
The other was making slipper socks for her husband. “It’s for his gout, you see. He likes the extra warmth.”
Once I’d helped them choose wools and patterns and they’d left, I went into the back room, where Violet was packing packages with such violence, I was glad that wool wasn’t breakable.
“Do you want to talk about whatever’s bothering you?” I asked her.
She chucked the whole package down and slumped into a chair. This being England and all, I put the kettle on.
“I don’t mean to be horrible, but you don’t know what it’s like. You’re all happy and smelling of honeysuckle and bridal bouquets, and now Alice is having a baby, and I can’t even get a date.” With that, she burst into tears.
“I know it’s hard. You just haven’t met the right guy.” It was such a feeble thing to say, but what else could I give her? It wasn’t that she didn’t try. She’d been on Witch Date, and that hadn’t gone so well, dated several men who had turned out not to be the one. But worse, she had a close and friendly relationship with William Thresher, and I suspected she wanted more.
She wiped her wet cheeks with her hand. “What if I have met the right man? And he doesn’t want me.” Her voice wobbled at the end.
I wasn’t going to beat around the bush anymore. “Is it William?”
She sniffed. “You know it is.”
And, of course, I did.
“What’s going on with you two? You seem to get on really well. He always asks you to help him when he has his catering gigs.”
“I know. And sometimes he looks at me and I really think he might be interested. But he never makes a move or asks me out. I couldn’t drop heavier hints. I’ll say things like, ‘I’ll be alone Saturday night. Wonder what I’ll watch on telly.’”
“Well, that sounds encouraging,” I said.
“And then you know what he’ll say to me? ‘If I get a catering job on Saturday, I’ll be sure to let you know.’”
Ouch. I thought about it for a minute. “Maybe he’s just shy.”
“And maybe he doesn’t like me in that way.” She was really having a pity party now.
“Do you think maybe it’s time you found out once and for all?”
She sniffed again but looked up at me hopefully. “What do you mean? Some kind of revealing spell?”
“No. Not witchcraft. Actual, real, human communication. Why don’t you ask him out?”
She put a hand to her forehead and looked as though she might faint with horror. “Sometimes you’re so American.”
Like that was a bad thing.
“At least talk to him. Tell him how you feel.”
“No,” she wailed. “I can’t talk to William. It’s hopeless. What if I asked him to go out and he said no? Then I wouldn’t even be able to work with him anymore.” She shook her head, and I thought she was getting more upset, not less, thanks to my little pep talk. “No, Lucy. I must accept it. I’ll be a lone witch forever. One of those old crones that children are frightened of, in a tumbledown stone cottage in the middle of nowhere.”
I immediately thought of Margaret Twigg, who lived in a stone cottage on the edge of Wychwood Forest. Though no one would consider Margaret lonely or pathetic. She was powerful and seemed more than happy with her single state. But Violet wasn’t like that. And the more I thought about it, the more I believed she would make a good mate for William. She knew Rafe’s secret, and being a witch, she had some secrets of her own.
She said, “I thought at least I might be paired with him in the wedding party. You know what they always say, if you’re a bridesmaid, weddings are a great place to meet blokes. But he’s not even in the wedding party,”
