Chapter One #2
The sign read “From a Secret Stressed Baker.” The table was always empty by nightfall, and the next morning it would be gone.
It had been over a year since the Baked Goods Bandit last struck—a mountain of blueberry muffins and a chocolate cake people still talked about—and even then, Vi had missed it.
They had no shortage of baked goods in Claw Haven, but the Baked Goods Bandit was exciting.
Somebody would discover it in the morning, and then it’d be a huge giggly rush to see who would get there first. Even if you didn’t get a taste, you still got to see the photos people passed around, everyone jokingly accusing their neighbor of being the bandit. It brought people together.
“Let’s go out to celebrate,” Gabriella continued. “How about Thursday? I know I canceled on you and Mom this week, but I can un-cancel if I shuffle some stuff around . . .”
“I was actually hoping you could take book club for me this Thursday, Vi,” Chester called from the top of the ladder. “Since your dinner was canceled. Come on now, it’s Persuasion! Your favorite!”
“Oooh, I loved that one,” said Gabriella, who was definitely confusing it with Pride and Prejudice, the only Austen she had read.
She batted Vi’s hand away from her ribbon, pulling the purple silk playfully out of place.
She was always telling Vi to experiment more with her clothes.
But Gabriella reinvented her style every two years, whereas Vi had been tying her hair with a ribbon since high school.
Gabriella leaned over the counter and grabbed Vi’s hands. “You really need to start doing things for yourself. You used to go out all the time when you first moved here.”
“Things were quieter then,” Vi argued. It wasn’t that she was complaining about how popular the town had gotten, but she’d been expecting a quiet job, and instead wound up with a stressed dragon who wasn’t prepared for tourists and online orders. “I do tons for myself.”
Gabriella snorted, flicking her newly bouncy bangs out of her face. “Oh yeah? Like what?”
Vi thought about it. The previous night, she’d stayed late to price books.
The night before that was her turn to host the biweekly quiz night at Cozy Grotto Café.
The night before that, she walked her neighbor’s dogs, which she’d been doing twice a week since the centaur’s chronic pain had flared up.
“I bought a bath bomb last week,” she said lamely.
“Wow,” Gabriella said flatly. “A bath bomb. Height of luxury. I’m jealous.
I mean something fun, Vi! Splash out on those Prickles chocolates.
God knows they’re everywhere after Beth signed all those sponsorship deals.
Go swimming with some mer. Sign up for one of those tours where a dragon flies you over town for an hour, pointing out tourist traps! Have some sex, for the love of god.”
Vi laughed so loud, she had to clap a hand over her mouth. She checked to see if Chester had noticed, but he was busy squinting at the latest online order he’d printed out.
“You make it sound like it’s been forever,” Vi whispered.
Gabriella made a face. “Two years sounds like forever to me, babe. Unless you have a dead husband, which you don’t.”
Vi sighed. She hadn’t bothered dating since she moved to Claw Haven.
At first, she’d been busy with Gabriella.
But once Gabriella started getting back on her feet, Vi hadn’t bothered getting out there.
Every serious relationship she’d ever been in had ended the same way: with a nice, sensible boy telling her she needed to open up.
To be real. And Vi would try. She really would.
And then said boy would break up with her.
Some of them said it was strictly because she couldn’t be vulnerable with them, but Vi knew what it really was: They’d seen the mess inside her—all her embarrassing, angry, squirmy bits—and they didn’t like it.
Vi had no interest in opening up again if that was going to be the result.
“I don’t really feel like dating,” Vi admitted, straightening her ribbon again.
Gabriella shrugged. “So? Casual sex exists.”
Vi snorted. “Sure. I’ll get right on that. Right after the dragon tours and mer swimming. Go back to work, Gabs.”
Gabriella leaned over the counter and kissed her sister’s cheek, her lip balm leaving a minty star on her cheekbone. “You’re a lifesaver! Love you!”
“Love you!” Vi called as Gabriella careened toward the exit.
Gabriella shot her a wave. Then she spotted something next to Vi and waved even more wildly.
Vi looked over. Mosey the winged cat had leaped up on the counter next to her, his fluffy white tail twitching expectantly.
“You’re late,” Vi told him. “Snack time was five minutes ago.”
Mosey ignored her, stretching his wings.
He was the cuddly but silent type of cat, content to lie in the sunniest spot until he decided it was time to come down for hugs and kisses.
He did not meow, but presented his head—and if you were lucky, his belly—for scritches.
His massive, leathery wings were off-limits.
Vi retrieved the treat bag and set it on the counter, shaking it so it made that distinctive treat-bag rattle.
Mosey loped over, elegant as ever, all gorgeous black wings and blue eyes and dark face. Not to mention that sea of pure white fur that had been decorating Vi’s cardigans for two years now.
Vi held out two tiny treats. “Were you adventuring through the storage room again? Did you knock over any books this time?”
Mosey purred, wet nose pressing into her hand as he ate.
“And now you get to do whatever you want.” Vi sighed. “Following your little kitty heart. Nobody asking you for anything.”
Mosey finished the treats and flopped down on the counter, wings flat, belly bared.
Vi scratched him obligingly, already mapping out the exhibition in her head.
She’d sketch one up later, after she amended her to-do list. It felt like she added things to it every day, a never-ending list of other people’s problems. Vi was happy to help.
Really. She just didn’t want to be the helper every minute of every day.
She wanted to have some time for herself for once.
The problem was she had no idea what she would do if no one needed her. A bath bomb only lasted so long.
The bell over the door jingled. Vi looked up, customer-service smile sliding into place. And because she was a seasoned professional, it didn’t falter when she saw who it was.
“Hi,” she said to the most annoying orc in town. “Can I help you find anything today?”