Winter's Spell, page 11
“Oh, it’s gorgeous here,” breathed Tessa, nearly to herself.
“Isn’t it?”
As they walked out onto the beach, separately but together, Tessa could feel the wind pulling at her scarf and locks of hair. It was colder here than in the sheltered forest, and she instinctively ran up to Roxy and grabbed her arm to create a bit of a wind block.
“A bit nippy out here, huh?” said Roxy with a smile. “Good thing I’ve got a plan.”
Tessa raised her eyebrows. “Oh yeah?”
Roxy nodded and, keeping Tessa’s arm securely through her own, guided them toward the dunes, to a sheltered spot that still had a great view of the ocean but was miraculously much warmer.
From her backpack, Roxy pulled out two packable down blankets, one of which she folded in half for them to sit on with their backs to the dune. She sat down on half of it and motioned for Tessa to join her. She threw the second blanket over their backs before, to Tessa’s great pleasure and surprise, she pulled out a big, heavy green thermos and two small plastic mugs.
“How do you feel about hot chocolate?”
“Yes, please,” said Tessa.
Roxy poured them each a cup of steaming hot chocolate and they sat there in companionable silence.
Sitting next to Roxy, the warmth of her body against hers, the coziness of the blankets, and the view of the ocean and dunes with a warm mug of chocolate goodness overwhelmed Tessa with a sense of calm and relaxation she hadn’t felt all week. It was this moment, here, where she could finally feel completely at ease. It was almost as though she’d managed to convince herself that all her concerns and worries about the show, the grant, Lisa, and even her reunion with Roxy were minor things that could be ignored.
Basking in the winter sunshine of a brand-new year, enjoying a perfect moment with a very attractive woman, Tessa breathed deeply and felt some of those stresses melt away.
“Is it okay?”
“It’s perfect,” breathed Tessa.
“It’s just a mix,” said Roxy, “but I’m glad you like it.”
“I meant…everything,” said Tessa, gesturing at the beach vaguely. “Thanks for thinking up this whole thing. I was a little hesitant when you suggested a hike. I was worried it might be too cold.”
“We got lucky with the weather, that’s for sure,” said Roxy. “But I always bring backup just in case,” she added, tapping the top of the thermos with a gloved finger. “Anyway, I’m glad it worked out. I love being outside whenever I can. I just feel sort of…trapped if I’m inside too long. Does that make sense?”
“Sure,” said Tessa. “I didn’t used to appreciate being outside as much. When you work in theater, you are inside a lot, for sure. There would be some weeks I wouldn’t be outside for more than five or ten minutes a day during shows. I didn’t realize how bad it was for my mental health until I left New York and went back to Amherst for a while and—”
Tessa stopped short, realizing that she’d been on the brink of blurting out that she had begun the life of a hedge witch in Amherst. She had no idea how Roxy would react to that news, and she wasn’t ready to find out. Perhaps she would think Tessa was completely nuts or delusional? Something about Roxy and her practical outdoorsy-ness made Tessa doubt how she’d react to the idea of magic and charms and hedgecraft. Best to wait on that revelation.
“Oh yeah?” said Roxy. “How was it being back there? Sometimes I wonder if I should go back and visit. But then I don’t because I think it would be too hard. I still regret that I didn’t go back and finish my degree.”
“It’s not too late,” said Tessa. “If you still want to, I mean.”
Roxy was silent for a beat, and Tessa wondered if she’d said something wrong.
“Yeah. I don’t know about that,” said Roxy. Her mind was clearly elsewhere at that moment, and Tessa regretted what she’d said.
“Hey, college isn’t the end-all be-all,” said Tessa, trying to regain some ground in the conversation. “No one else in my family went to college. My sisters give me a hard time sometimes, calling me Miss Fancy Degree.”
Roxy turned to look at her. Sitting this closely, her face wasn’t that far away and just for a moment, Tessa wondered if Roxy would lean in and kiss her.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her face marked with concern. “That’s gotta kind of suck. I mean, you obviously worked real hard for that.”
“That’s true,” said Tessa. “And I don’t want you to think badly of them. They are really proud of my career. They like to brag about me to their friends and neighbors. But they also like to give me a hard time about some of it, both going into showbiz and then leaving it. I think my mom still feels I owe her a trip to the Tonys or something.”
“Did you ever get invited to the Tonys?”
Tessa laughed. “Only as Lisa’s plus-one.”
“Ah, okay,” said Roxy. “And you two…”
She let the sentence drag out, unfinished.
“Done. Over. Nada. It took me a long time to realize, but she was not the one for me. Luckily, I had good friends like Chayo to make me realize I deserved someone better.”
“And you still cast her for the play? Even with all that history? I don’t know if I could have let big ones be bygones like that.”
Tessa had to laugh at Roxy’s malapropism.
“Oh no. I did it again, didn’t I?” said Roxy with good humor. “What is it supposed to be?”
“Let bygones be bygones,” said Tessa through giggles. “Which, now that I think of it, doesn’t make any sense at all.”
Soon they were both laughing, the words somehow meaningless the more they said them. Tessa was glad to bring some levity back to their conversation. The laughter was just as soothing and relaxing as the view of the ocean and the hot chocolate in their cups—and reminded her of how infrequently she and Lisa had laughed in their relationship.
“Done with the hot cholate?”
Tessa nodded, handing Roxy her empty mug. Roxy packed up the gear and slung the backpack back on.
“Ready?” she said, raising her eyebrows and giving Tessa a mischievous grin.
“For what?”
“Race you!”
Before Tessa knew what was happening, Roxy had taken off like a shot, running down the beach at a sprint. Moments later, Tessa found herself running too, the wind in her hair, the sunshine on her face, her eyes full of Roxy.
When she caught up, she felt warmed from the tip of her head down to her toes. Roxy had brought bread for the seagulls, or “beach pigeons” as she liked to call them, and they threw bread to the birds for a while before turning to go back to the trail. Roxy insisted they try hopping, skipping, jumping, and even turning cartwheels on the way back.
At first Tessa felt a bit silly doing all that, but soon enough she found herself exhilarated. This was completely different to all the managerial work she had to do at the theater, and it was a literal and figurative breath of fresh air. This was not the day she’d expected with Roxy at all. She hadn’t known what exactly to expect, but this wasn’t it. And she loved it.
Back on the trail, she felt winded and full of her own thoughts; it seemed Roxy was the same. They walked for a while in silence until Roxy interrupted.
“This is totally random, but I was wondering if you’d ever noticed that place on Standish Street, Madame Faustina Clerval? Clairvoyant?”
“Hmm?” Tessa had just been thinking about how she could incorporate the dunes and historic beach shacks they’d just seen on the beach into their production of A Winter’s Tale.
“It’s that weird little purple building, just a few doors down from where the gay bookstore used to be.”
“I guess I haven’t noticed it before,” said Tessa. She racked her brain but couldn’t bring the storefront to mind. She turned the name over in her mind. “Faustina Clerval. Ha!”
“What do you mean, ha?”
“Obviously a fake name. But a pretty good one for a clairvoyant.”
“Why is it obviously fake?”
“Faustina can’t be her real name, or at least, it doesn’t sound like one. It’s based on Faust—the man who made a deal with the devil? Christopher Marlowe, a contemporary of Shakespeare’s, even wrote a whole play about it called Dr. Faustus. And ‘Clerval’ is the last name of Victor Frankenstein’s best friend in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.”
“What?” said Roxy, evidently surprised. “That is great to know. Thanks for the tips.” Tessa felt a surge of joy that she could be helpful to Roxy, even as a part of her was intrigued, wanting to know more.
Roxy pulled out her small notepad and pen and stopped on the trail briefly to make a note, piquing Tessa’s curiosity further.
“Are you interested in going to learn about your future? From Faustina?”
They had started walking along the trail again; it was broad enough this close to the trailhead that they could walk side by side again, and Tessa was enjoying being next to Roxy yet again.
“No, nothing like that,” said Roxy. “Not that I’m against it. It’s just…”
Here Roxy hesitated, and when she spoke again, she pitched her voice much lower, even though they were clearly alone. The trail that day was deserted.
“I think she might be involved in a crime.”
“What?”
Roxy nodded. “Mo and I went to the local museum yesterday, and it turns out there was an artifact missing in one of the cases. Faustina Clerval was one of the most recent visitors to the museum, and apparently, she’d been interested in the exact same display at the museum.”
Tessa couldn’t decide if Roxy was pulling her leg or being serious.
“Surely the museum gets all sorts of visitors, though,” said Tessa. “You can’t be sure either way. It could have been some bored local kids.”
Roxy shook her head. “I’ve been thinking about it ever since we left the museum. The guide there had no idea anything was missing until we went to the display. The case was intact. I think it was even locked. No signs of forced entry. The guide, Clare, was a little scatterbrained, but I think she would have noticed a broken door or window in the museum or the display case.”
“I guess that’s true,” said Tessa. “But people are often not very observant. Maybe there is a broken window in the museum’s basement that just hasn’t been discovered?”
“Maybe,” conceded Roxy. “But there’s more to it.” Again, Roxy hesitated, and Tessa felt bad for critiquing her ideas so quickly. She should have been more supportive. After all, she wanted Roxy to trust her, and that meant putting the cool, logical Tessa, the theater manager and director, away for a moment and focusing on being supportive and open. One of the hardest things she’d had to learn in her hedgecraft study was precisely that—being supportive and open, and loving, even, for herself and for others. It wasn’t something she’d mastered yet.
“Go ahead,” said Tessa as encouragingly as possible. She touched Roxy’s arm gently. “What else made it suspicious?”
Roxy sighed. “Mo is, uh, interested in myths about the ocean and, um, magical sea creatures and things, and there’s a book in the museum’s library that talks specifically about those things. You have to fill out a special form to request to see a library book in the special collection, and when we went to fill it out, Faustina Clerval had requested the same book.”
“Interesting,” said Tessa. “How does that connect to the missing artifact?”
“The artifact is a bracelet that supposedly belonged to this mythical ocean creature. A magical bracelet. And, well, Mo is convinced that there is a negative force in Provincetown right now. I know, I know, it sounds completely bananas. But anyway, this Faustina Clerval, with her weird name and the weird coincidences…it’s too much of a coincidence for both of us. Feels like she’s involved in it somehow.”
“Or she might know something. Have more information?” offered Tessa.
“Yes,” said Roxy. “But I don’t know how to go to her without sounding suspicious.”
“Or accusatory.”
“Absolutely,” said Roxy. “If she is involved, we don’t want her to know that we suspect her.”
Tessa nodded, absently stroking a beautiful red leaf she’d picked up, the single remnant of autumn that had somehow not turned brown on the forest floor. She had to remember her connections to nature. It was so calming here and energizing. Her work in hedgecraft had made her more aware of the natural world and how much healing there could be in nature. Her mentor Freya had always emphasized to her that the most magical healing qualities in hedgecraft were all centered on nature and the natural world, and she tucked the leaf away into her coat pocket to include in her calming evening rituals. The emphasis on nature, but also on finding the magical within daily ritual and routine, had been some of the most healing aspects of hedgecraft for Tessa.
She wanted desperately to help Roxy somehow with this mystery, even if it didn’t make sense or lead to anything except extra closeness with Roxy. She wished there was something in her hedgecraft that could be helpful, and she decided she would look into it when she got home. For now, though, she let her theater director brain take over.
“What if I engaged Madame Clerval’s services?” said Tessa. “I could make an appointment with her and see what she’s like? I could ask her some questions about potential evil on Cape Cod relating to the theater? That wouldn’t be too suspicious, would it?”
“I don’t know,” said Roxy. “That still sounds a bit too risky.” She paused, thinking it over. “Do you have someone working on the show who you trust, but who is really into things like fortune telling or tarot or magic? Someone who wouldn’t seem suspicious asking about it.”
Tessa slapped her forehead with her mittened hand. “Of course! I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. Our office manager and assistant director, Joy, is exactly the perfect person for this. She is super into crystals and tarot and chakras. She will be really excited to meet Madame Faustina and have an appointment with her.”
“Excellent,” said Roxy. “That’s perfect.”
On the drive home, they made a plan to get Joy involved without telling her too much of why they wanted her to visit Madame Faustina. Tessa marveled at how natural it felt to be making plans with Roxy. There was an ease to their interactions now, as if they were old friends rather than former roommates who’d been out of touch for nine years.
“We could pick up Mo and go out for a late lunch,” said Tessa as she pulled up to Roxy’s building, wanting nothing more than to spend another hour in Roxy’s company. Every minute in her company felt precious.
Roxy smiled sadly. “I wish, but I have another shift at the brewery today. But hey, I have all of Tuesday off. Why don’t I spend the afternoon at the theater?”
“Sure,” said Tessa, brightening. “Would you like to bring Mo, too? She doesn’t have to be Lisa’s assistant. We can find plenty of stuff for her to do. I bet she’d love working with Joy, actually.”
“Great!”
Tessa waved and drove away, a piece of her heart staying behind with Roxy. She marveled inwardly at how, in these moments, nothing, not even Lisa or the whole grant and the theater production, were as important to her as this one beautiful, wonderful, funny human being, and she couldn’t help feeling that she’d wasted too much of her life on other things and not enough on finding this feeling now. This happiness was everything
She decided to stop at a local deli and pick up a lobster roll for lunch. While she waited in line, she checked her phone, and her heart sank.
Three missed calls and several texts from Joy. Two missed calls and several texts from Lisa. Several texts from Chayo and other cast members who’d already arrived. Some others whose flights were delayed. She sighed. The memories of her beach day with Roxy were fading fast in the face of all her other obligations, and she felt tired suddenly. Tuesday couldn’t come soon enough.
Chapter Eleven—Roxy
After the excitement of their discoveries on Friday morning at the museum and the solid game plan she’d agreed on with Tessa to get to Madame Clerval, Roxy had almost expected additional new developments to follow fast on their heels. The whole thing had been making her jumpy, and she’d half expected to find Mo in another mermaid trap at any second all weekend. She’d almost called in sick to the brewery that Saturday, she’d been such a ball of nerves. Simply sharing part of their discoveries and suspicions with Tessa that morning had made her nervous.
She wished she could tell Tessa the whole story, but she knew that would be a betrayal of Mo’s trust. Plus, she really had no idea how Tessa would react to the knowledge that Mo was a mermaid. While it was true that theater people tended to be fairly open-minded, it was one thing to put on plays about magical creatures, and quite another to actually come face to face with a real live mermaid.
Then there was the issue of the play. She still hadn’t read it. Or even tried. She hadn’t even looked up a decent summary of the play. She shook her head at her own anxieties as she let herself into the apartment after her date with Tessa.
Inside, she’d found Mo lounging on the couch in the studio apartment, watching a reality show on television, her brows knitted in intense concentration. The complete normality and banality of the situation was a bit hard to square with the intensity of Mo’s earlier concerns for her own safety.
Nothing of interest had happened since their visit to the museum. Roxy wasn’t even sure exactly what she’d been expecting, but it hadn’t been this complete lack of action or developments.
Luckily, the brewery had been keeping her busy. Not that babysitting Mo didn’t come with its own set of challenges. Mo was clearly getting bored and not a little restless now that there wasn’t any immediate danger. On Monday afternoon, she showed up again, unannounced, at the brewery, demanding to see Roxy and then complaining loudly that she was bored and had nothing to do. Roxy, who was assigned to helping the master brewer that day with some of the brewery duties, had no idea what to do. She finally managed to convince Mo to go back to the apartment, but only very reluctantly.
