Chapter 9
Mira
FORTUNATELY FOR ME , the coffee shop wasn’t far from the B&B. As soon as I finished my breakfast, I went to the Magic Bean, bought a slice of apple charlotte, and was waiting for the dragon shifter to make an appearance in the garden.
Making friends, at least on a superficial level, was always a good idea. Having fresh flowers would be nice, but what I really wanted was someone who’d do the right thing if he saw a stranger breaking into my room.
The moment I saw the redheaded dragon, I took the to-go box and went outside. Now that I could see him closer, the guy looked massive yet harmless. He just had that won’t-hurt-a-fly look.
“Hi,” I said with a cheery smile, just like my dad had taught me but less fake. “I just wanted to introduce myself since I might be staying a while, and I got you this.”
“That was not necessary,” the shifter said, but his eyes lit up at the sight of the Magic Bean logo. “I’m Azar.”
“Mira,” I answered. “You have a beautiful garden here. I love that there’s a vegetable garden, too. Those tomatoes I had last night were the best I’ve had in a long, long time.”
Not that I had many chances to get good tomatoes while on the road. Usually, I had a slice of whatever on the pre-made sandwich and an occasional pint of cherry tomatoes. Even the restaurants I sometimes stopped by rarely went all out on their produce. Not like when I was still living at home, and we’d get vegetables from a local farmer.
“Did Liora serve brandywines?” The dragon asked, but his attention was on the contents of the box as he slowly opened the lid and peered inside. “Oh, you got the good stuff.”
I suppressed the evil cackle of a supervillain whose plan was working out so well. “That’s what everyone was recommending, and I figured the residents of Whynot would know.”
“Thank you so much. It’s very sweet of you to bring this.” The dragon inclined his head toward the garden. “Would you like a grand tour?”
“Absolutely.” Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha.
Azar led me toward the vegetable garden first, probably because I mentioned it. I had never done much gardening, but even I could recognize the heirloom lettuce, tomatoes, and beans. Wait, what was that weird-looking climbing plant?
“Those are the winged beans,” Azar explained when he noticed where my focus went. “I had them shipped here from South Asia.”
“They belong in a science fiction movie.” The pods, especially. I could only assume that’s the part that gave them their names because the pods had four wings.
“The best part about this plant is that you can eat pretty much all of it, the leaves, the flowers, the pods, and even the tubers, if you’re adventurous.”
“It would be a shame to eat such pretty flowers.” I gently touched the delicate blue petals. “They look like sweet peas, which immediately elevates them to the second-best flower.”
“Sweet pea flowers smell great, too,” Araz said with a slow nod.
“Wow, your garden is amazing. I wish I could just live here. Like, right here, next to this garden bed.” I pointed at the section that held basil, tomatoes, beets, and radishes. “You know how hard it is to find good produce when you live in a truck? I’m still mourning the bag of clementines I forgot in the truck, and they weren’t even that sweet.”
“Well, you won’t have a shortage of that while you’re in town.”
Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha.
Sure, I loved fresh flowers, but I’d take a brandywine tomato over a bouquet any day.
As the dreams of food flittered through my mind, I noticed something odd about the radishes. They were showing their shoulders, but those shoulders weren’t red but green. “What are these? I thought they were radishes, but that color doesn’t look very radishy.”
“Margilan radishes. They are very rare. I was able to get my hands on them two years ago and immediately grew them for more seeds. As far as I know, they’re only grown in Central Asia, but I might be wrong.” He grabbed one of the radishes by the stem of the leaves and pulled it out. “See how round it is? Usually, green radishes are long.”
“Do you eat it the same way as a regular radish?” I had a hard time imagining it, considering how much larger it was.
“You can slice and dice it and add it to a salad. It tastes a little different. There’s usually that initial spice, but then you get a hint of sweetness.”
Oh, look at that, a vegetable that described me perfectly. “I never realized radishes came in so many shapes and sizes.”
Azar hummed. “I’ll ask Liora to make some for dinner so you can try it. I promise, you won’t regret it.”
“The only vegetable I ever regretted eating was an eggplant. Who knew nightshades could hurt you?”
Azar laughed at that. “Guess we won’t be going to the next garden bed.”
Instead, we went to see the berries and finally the flowers. I casually pointed out what varieties I liked best, gushed over the things I’d never tried, and made Azar grin so hard his face might’ve split if dragons didn’t have such tough skin.
By the time we were done with the tour, though, I started forgetting about getting something out of it and just enjoyed a friendly conversation. That was another thing I missed, probably more than good produce.
My social life consisted of listening to audio books, talking to the dispatcher, and trying to avoid anyone at truck stops. When I failed at avoiding people, I got to hear all about that time my fellow truck driver saved a family of three, no, a family of five, no, there were ten of them, by not running them over.
It’s not that I didn’t appreciate my life on the road. Driving a truck allowed me to earn money, have an easy way of escape if my dad’s associates ever caught up to me, and gave me a roof over my head, even if that roof could be taken out by a bridge.
Living in the truck definitely beat being sold to some creep who wanted a mermaid plaything. Just the thought of my father wanting to sell me... What the hell kind of father was he, anyway?
Kitty growled at the thought. She didn’t even want to acknowledge him as my father. I deserved someone better. Mom deserved someone better, but I left her behind, too scared to do anything to save her. What could I have done for her, though? She hadn’t been able to leave the house. She’d never leave Dad.
The old mix of emotions churned in my stomach as I made it back to my tower. I loved my mom. She had always been great to me, always had a kind word ready. But she had failed me, too. She was supposed to protect me. Instead, here I was, dressed in a minimalist casual shirt and tights because I was too scared to ever wear anything too girly, like I had in my teens.
So much of the old me was gone. The beauty mark under my eye was gone. The tattoo I had gotten in secret only weeks before that awful trip was gone. I taught myself to walk differently, to talk with a different accent, and even to slouch when I was supposed to appear relaxed.
The old me never would’ve slouched. Dad would’ve had a fit if I did, just like he had a fit when he had seen that tattoo. I had to be perfect in every way. Now I knew why. He could get more money for me that way.
Kitty grumbled in anger. She had always been more wild than I was, and I appreciated the even living hell out of it. One of us needed to be wild.