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“I certainly do.” Rowena plucked a half sheet of paper from the side table that Willow almost knocked over and handed it to Willow. “These are the guidelines. As you’ll see, they’re pretty straightforward.”
“I’ll say,” Willow mused as she read the list of ‘rules’ if you could call them that. “Be kind. If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. You’re never fully dressed without a smile. That’s it?”
“That’s it,” Daria said. “Do you agree to these terms in order to be a member?”
Willow almost laughed. “I do.”
“Perfect. I’ll take the list back, now. It’s my only copy.” Daria pinched the corner and tugged it from Willow’s hand, but as she did so, the edge of the paper sliced into Willow’s thumb, leaving her with a thin gash.
“Ow,” Willow cried and quickly sucked at the wound.
“I am so sorry,” exclaimed Daria, taking hold of Willow’s hand and pressing her own thumb over the papercut. “It’s important to apply pressure. Trust me, I’m a medical professional.”
Willow certainly couldn’t argue with that, so she waited the few moments of thumb squeezing until Daria was finished.
“There. Good as new,” Daria said.
Willow turned over her hand to look at her thumb, but the blood was gone, and there was barely a trace of a cut. In fact, she didn’t see the cut at all.
“Huh,” she wondered, squinting her eyes.
“The human body is a remarkable thing,” said Daria.
Before Willow could examine her cut more closely, Jewels exclaimed, “Oh I almost forgot!”
She dug inside her pocket (because of course her dress would have pockets), and took out an oval thing made out of some kind of metal, probably stainless steel or silver. It had engravings of what looked like leaves or vines, and a decorative swirly pattern.
“Here you go,” Jewels said, snapping it on Willow’s wrist. “As part of the Women’s Business Council, this bracelet entitles you to discounts all over Mysthaven. And always wear it, because when shop owners see it on you, they sometimes give you free stuff out of the blue.”
“Really? Wow. Thank you.”
“Oh I meant to tell you ladies,” Rowena said, “I was in the market the other day and as I was checking out, Tom put a big bag of apples in my cart because he said he received more than he ordered. Such a nice man. Naturally, I made my famous apple tarts and brought one over to him the next day. He ate it on the spot. Right there on aisle four between the Rice-A-Roni and chicken noodle soup.”
“Tom owns the market around the corner from your book store,” Astrid said to Willow. “You’ll get to know him.”
“I can’t even walk into Mysthaven Mercantile without them giving me something,” Daria said. “Last week it was bolts of fabric. They said they had to make room for more inventory. Things like this happen all the time.”
“That’s amazing,” Willow said. “Everyone is so nice here.”
“The Women’s Business Council does a lot for this town,” Nadine said. “Discounts and the occasional gifts are their way of showing us their appreciation.”
“I never take off my bracelet,” Astrid said. “Not even in the shower.”
“Neither do I,” said Jewels.
Willow traced her fingers over the bracelet on her own wrist. “Then I won’t either.”
All the ladies seemed pleased and agreed the meeting was over because they had to start their workday. But then they stayed for another hour drinking more tea, nibbling on pastries, and chatting about their families or some town gossip.
Willow learned that Nadine had a son just out of high school who was going through a rebellious stage. The ladies tried to offer some comfort and advice to no avail. Then there was the woman who ran the local yoga studio who was too much of a flirt. There was also the town drunk who decided to drive his tractor down the main street when he lost his license. And apparently, the man who owned the diner was so disagreeable, he’d kick people out in the middle of their meals, so Willow should find somewhere else to eat. The food was reportedly mediocre anyway.
Willow’s thoughts were still stuck on the tractor guy though, and she wondered if he had green eyes and a penchant for handlebar mustaches.
With a full belly, full brain, and that velvet box in her bike basket, Willow went home to the bookshop in time to reflect on the morning’s happenings before opening for the day.
Going in through the back door, she heard a noise coming from the front of the store as if something fell, hitting the floor with a clank. She hurried to investigate, but found nothing but a mop toppled over on the hardwood, the smell of lemony pine filling her nostrils. She picked it up, propping it against the wall wondering how it got there. Sure, she’d been deliriously tired last night and was super forgetful of late, but she would have remembered something like mopping the floor. And yet, it was sparkling clean, gleaming in the morning sunlight which filtered through the front windows.
A mewl took her attention from the mop, and she lifted her eyes to see Zephyr perched on top of a bookcase. She wandered over to him, setting the velvet box on the shelf between Poe and Proust.
