Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Baking is Good, Lies are Bad, Everything is Fine
Declan
I’d messed up, and now I was in a big ol’ pile of oops.
I never should’ve agreed to bake for the poker event. When Rue had approached me, I’d been pleased. A little proud. Optimistic.
Oh, how wrong I’d been.
Besides, who would even want to eat something sweet at a poker tournament? Beer drinkers wanted burgers, fries, and pretzels. Definitely not dessert. Right?
Damn it. I should’ve paid more attention to what Alvin talked about the other night during his food pairing presentation.
But, nope, I’d been all caught up in everything else instead.
The beer and yoga event hadn’t helped yesterday.
I’d slept the afternoon away when I’d gotten back, and that’d cut into my prep time.
Actually, this whole week had gotten derailed by murder and mayhem.
A pang shot through my chest.
Okay. That sounded super selfish. I didn’t really mean it like that.
Roy hadn’t wanted to be killed. Ivan, Malcolm, and Tessa hadn’t wanted to be hexed.
And I could’ve left the murder investigation to Grady, the inquiries into the hexes to Elwood, and making sure the local supes were safe to Gideon.
Except, once again, I was in the middle of things. I wasn’t running around town with a magnifying glass and a deerstalker cap, but I could acknowledge, at least to myself, that I was almost as bad as Eugene when it came to impulsively sticking my nose into other people’s business.
I sighed.
And now I was completely unprepared for the one big commitment I’d made. I hadn’t made nearly enough practice batches. I hadn’t tasted anything alongside beer. And I definitely hadn’t tested enough savory options.
I blew out a breath and closed my eyes. My insides were all jittery. And, contrary to what Gideon might think, that had nothing to do with the four cups of coffee I’d downed since rolling out of bed this morning.
If I messed up tonight, it could haunt me. I’d be out of business before the doors even opened. No one would buy a single cookie from my bakery.
I shook out my arms.
“Get a hold of yourself, Declan. Get your shit together. You promised to bring food, and the longer you stand here panicking, the more time you’re wasting.” I opened my eyes, feeling no more in control than I had before.
A soft coo and a scratch at the window had me spinning around. Licorice tapped at the glass with her beak. Just seeing her made a kernel of calm warm a tiny part of my aching chest. It wasn’t enough to wash all my fears away, but it was better than nothing.
I opened the window.
“Hi, pretty girl,” I said, brushing my finger lightly over her black head. She pressed into my touch. “What’s going on? Why are you here?”
I felt her response come through the new connection we shared, and it was the mental equivalent of an eye roll.
“Okay, I might have been having a moment,” I said. “But a lot’s riding on this event, and I’m not as prepared as I should be.”
She cast her gaze over Elwood’s kitchen.
My ingredients were all lined up at one end of the counter, and my tools were on the other.
The oven was already pre-heating. The oven mitts were sitting out, so I could grab them when I needed them.
The mixer was set up on the table. The whole arrangement was tight, but workable.
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. “I look prepared, but I’m really not.”
I’d decided to bake everything here rather than in The Den, mostly because I didn’t want to rush to get it all done before the bar opened.
But that also meant keeping to a strict schedule was imperative because there was only one small oven.
I glanced at the clock. I’d been spiraling longer than I’d realized.
If I didn’t get my ass in gear, I’d be behind in no time.
Maybe that’s why Licorice showed up. Just having her interrupt my thoughts had done a little reset on my emotions. Besides, the time to panic was over. It was time to work.
I rushed to scrub my hands.
“Thanks. You being here is helping,” I murmured to her over my shoulder.
Thankfully, even though I left the window open, Licorice stayed on the windowsill. She was close enough to keep me company, but not close enough to get anything dirty. As a familiar, I’m sure she was a clean bird, but she was still a bird.
As soon as I was creaming the butter and sugar together for the first recipe, my thoughts calmed even more. My body slipped into the familiar rhythm of baking. And as I let the process flow, my thoughts drifted away from all the things I’d been panicking over.
When the first batch of cupcakes was in the oven, and just as I was getting ready to make some muffins, quick light steps on the stairs made me look up. After a sharp rap on the door, it swung open. Sandy poked his head inside.
“Hey, Declan.” He grinned, but I didn’t miss how he sniffed appreciatively at the air. “How are you?”
I glanced around at my organized chaos. “Um… okay? Did you need something?”
Please don’t need anything.
He stepped inside the room—today he wore a fuchsia t-shirt that said I’m always hoptimistic in a retro-style font and psychedelic colors—and made his way to an empty seat in the corner. “Nope. Just thought you might like some company.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You smelled the baking, didn’t you?”
His eyes sparkled, but he didn’t look embarrassed at being called out. “Magic is escaping through the open window.” He licked his lips. “That combined with the smell of sugar… I had to stop.”
I waved at the mess. “Everything I’m making is for the poker tournament tonight. So, I won’t have anything to give you.” Unless I made a mistake. I really hoped I didn’t make a mistake.
“That’s okay,” Sandy said, and he almost looked like he meant it. “I can still hang out with you, if you want the company.”
I nodded. “Okay. But I have to get back to work.”
“I don’t want to distract you,” he said, swinging his feet back and forth as he watched me pull out the ingredients for the cheesy muffin recipe.
He was quiet as I stirred the flour, baking powder, salt, and some herbs together, and then he said, “So now that Beckett’s been cleared, the rumor going around Whispering Pines is that he might get more good news this week, too.
Katie, one of the room service attendants, was delivering breakfast to the Kettlebrook rep and overheard her talking about approaching him about an offer of some kind…
” He paused for a long moment, then he said, “So it’s good Beckett has an alibi, hey? ”
“Yeah. I heard all about how Josh was Beckett’s alibi yesterday.
” I ground my teeth together as I grated the cheese.
The little bubbles I’d come to recognize as being connected to my magic fizzed through my blood.
I didn’t usually feel them so vividly when I wasn’t intentionally trying to use my magic, but maybe the more accustomed I became to it, the more I’d recognize it.
“Does it bother you? He’s your ex, right?” Sandy’s face squished up like he feared what I might say. He was loyal to Gideon, so I suspected he was questioning my commitment to my sexy wolf shifter if Josh’s behavior was bothering me.
“I don’t want Josh back.” Best get that out of the way first.
Sandy’s posture relaxed.
“And even if I wasn’t with Gideon, who I care for a million times more than I ever cared for Josh,” I continued, “I wouldn’t be tempted to go back to him.
But it still pisses me off that he lied to me…
continues to lie to me.” The little bubbles churned through me as I set aside the cheese.
“I just don’t get why he does it. All the lies are…
” I paused, searching for the right word. “Triggering.”
“Yeah. I can see that,” Sandy said. His messy turquoise hair shifted around his head as he nodded.
“And his aren’t the only lies,” I said as I whisked the eggs, milk, and oil in a separate bowl. “Like, why is everyone lying this week? Roy took credit for Beckett’s recipe. Roy hexed everyone, and that feels like a lie, too, because he didn’t win fairly.”
Sandy made a sympathetic noise.
“I really wished the hex-making supplies had been found, just so we’d have at least one lie exposed,” I continued.
“And then Roy even lied to Nadia about having a business partner. Even Janis… how she treated Kim feels like a lie, too, because she hadn’t told Kim about selling her place right out from under her.
I’d thought things would be different here in Ravenstone, but obviously not.
Josh was a lying liar who lied, and the people here are just as bad.
It’s all just lies, lies, and more stupid lies. ”
I dumped the wet ingredients into the bowl with the flour mixture.
The empty bowl hit the table with a thump.
I hadn’t meant to set it down so hard, but my emotions were running strong.
I scooped up the full bowl and stirred everything together, careful not to overmix it.
I sniffed the mixture. It needed a little something more.
Then it came to me, and I knew exactly what the muffins needed. A touch of sage. And it didn’t hurt that sage encouraged honesty. The whole damned town could do with more of that. I sprinkled a bit over the dough.
“Like seriously,” I continued, “why can’t people just tell the truth? I wish there was a way to stop all the lies.”
“Lies suck,” Sandy said dutifully.
“They really, really do,” I muttered as I folded the grated cheese into the dough. “You know how there’s always that question that pops up on social media about ‘what is the one thing you’d remove from the world if you could?’”
When Sandy didn’t say anything, I looked up at him.
I wasn’t sure when he’d done it, but he now had a heaping tablespoon of sugar.
He wet his fingertip with his tongue, then dipped it into the sugar.
Granules of sugar cascaded to the floor, but he didn’t seem to care as he licked his finger.
As if sensing my eyes on him, he glanced up.
“Hmm?” Then he paused to think back to what I’d said. “Oh, right. I know the one.”
“Well, I’d get rid of lies.” I knocked my spoon on the rim of the bowl. The bubbles that’d been churning through me all seemed to pop at once with the ping of the spoon on the glass. “The world would be so much better without lies.”
“Absolutely,” Sandy agreed, lifting his now-empty spoon to me as if in solidarity. Good grief. When had he eaten the rest of that sugar? I really hoped sugar was an acceptable part of a sprite’s diet.
Having gotten my irritating thoughts off my chest, I felt so much better. I spooned the cheese and herb batter into the prepared muffin tin just as the timer chimed to say the cupcakes were ready. I pulled them out and put the muffins in. Excellent. The timing on that was perfect.
I hoped everything else went as smoothly.
For most of my adult life, I’d baked alone. But I really liked having Licorice and Sandy here. I wondered if it’d be the same in my bakery. If everything went well, I might be able to hire an assistant. I hadn’t even realized that was something I might want to do until now.
I reviewed my list to decide what I should tackle next. This was going to be great. I’d been panicking over nothing.