Chapter Five
Cookie!
It was two days later and Gigi was still seething.
Cupcake lane!
She didn’t even make cakes, everyone knew that.
Chocolates and cookies, it said so on her shop sign.
It was stamped on her personalised takeaway boxes.
It was on her business cards, spelt out in big bold purple letters.
The very same card she’d handed over to one Nico – butthead – Yanez the other day when they met with Aunt Lucy.
“And who attends a client meeting with nothing but a half chewed pen and a pile of bar napkins to make notes on?” She turned to glare at Canary, who didn’t appear to share her indignation.
Seemingly happy just to sit on the kitchen bench, watching her beat some butter and sugar together into submission with a whisk. For cookies, not cupcakes!
“Talk about being an unprofessional grumpy asshole!” At least he’d shaved for Gaia’s meeting and looked half way presentable, even if his behaviour left a lot to be desired.
Acting so distracted Gigi was pretty darn sure Nico would have preferred to be anywhere but in Gaia’s kitchen discussing a one year old’s birthday party.
Beep. Gigi’s phone sounded. Again. And just who would it be this time?
Gaia, for the umpteenth time? Or Gaia’s mother, Meagan, with a suggestion or two of her own to add?
Perhaps it would be Aunt Lucy with a new idea regarding suitable entertainment.
Her last message had mentioned she was thinking of hiring some magicians.
Personally, Gigi thought it would be a mistake to expose escape artist in training Asher, to masters of the craft. But that was the Valhallas for you. They tended to lean into Asher’s quirks.
Whilst Gaia and her mother appeared bent upon blithely ignoring all Theo’s.
Determined to throw him a very ordinary, no hint of magic party.
It had only been forty-eight hours since her consult with Gaia and already her cousin had changed the theme of the party five times.
Aeroplanes. Monster trucks. Whales. Ponies. Before lastly circling back to cars.
No mention whatsoever of Theo’s magical leanings towards anything sharp, prickly and quite often poisonous.
Determinedly ignoring the fist-sized three corner jacks that miraculously found their way into his hands to play with.
Or how a tiny bed of seriously sharp baby cacti mysteriously appeared on Theo’s Italian - hand made by nuns - sheets every time he was put down for naptime.
Finished whisking, Gigi blew out a deep breath before leaning over to hit the screen of her phone, and the winner was…? Crap. Aunt Sarah. This was not good. Not good at all.
Please, please, don’t be about rescheduling Nell’s baby shower. They’d already changed the date seven times thanks to either Nell’s commitments at the hospital, or her meld mate’s job that involved both hunting down and protecting supernatural beings.
The current baby shower date was scheduled for two weeks’ time, a few days past Nell’s scheduled due date. But the rate things were going they would be planning a combined first birthday slash baby shower.
Reading the text, Gigi groaned. It was worse than rescheduling. Aunt Sarah had heard about Lucy and Meagan’s plans for their grandsons’ first birthday parties. Why, Goddess, why her?
Wiping her hands, Gigi sent a reply, reassuring Sarah that the planning for the boys’ birthday parties would in no way interfere with the baby shower.
That everything was coming along nicely.
And nothing, (she shot a look at the freezer where the two frozen bodies of the assassins remained) absolutely nothing was going to get in the way of the perfect day Sarah had planned for Nell, and her soon to arrive baby girl.
Fingers crossed and sending up a silent pleading prayer to the Merciful Lady Above, Gigi hoped she wasn’t lying.
Everything continued to be quiet on that front. No more assassins. No sign of the promised partner. No nothing. Just lots and lots of work. Speaking of which.
Hurriedly Gigi added the remaining cookie dough ingredients to the bowl, mixing everything together before dumping out the resulting dough, rolling it out with speedy practised moves.
This wasn’t any old monthly gardening club meeting scheduled today, it was the Annual International Seed Swap.
With relatives from all over the world attending.
Great-Aunt Annabeth, President and Founder of the club, liked to go all out to impress the visitors.
And the event was always well attended, numbers wise.
That’s why the meeting today would be held at the Library Annexe.
And why Gigi and Heraldo were hauling ass at the crack of dawn, getting five enormous boxes of chocolate treats and specially designed garden themed cookies ready.
The boxes made transporting the goodies easy-peasy. Were great passive advertising for her business. And better still, transforming the boxes into trays looked not just highly professional, but cut out the need for any clean up after.
Normally, when it was just a regular garden meeting, Gigi dropped off the treats, and left Canary to supervise and reassure the family, as they tested out the treats on him first before indulging.
But the seed swap event would require Gigi to hang around and personally supervise.
To answer questions about treats, or chat about ingredients and allergies.
And keep the trays arranged so they always looked their best, even as the numbers of treats diminished.
Abandoned - picked over - trays drove Gigi nuts.
Nuts! She grabbed a small sign with lovely calligraphy text declaring that the contents of this particular tray were nut free.
The oven timer and Gigi’s phone dinged at the same time.
It was going to be that kind of day, Gigi could tell.
But the important thing was that no one else would know, fixing a smile to her face and looking on the bright side.
Her business was thriving. She was the go-to caterer for sweet treats in the Sanctuary. She had nothing to complain about.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Sweet Lady, give her strength to deal with her relatives.
* * *
Gigi could feel her smile slipping. Nico Yanez was here.
Why was he here? Didn’t he have minions?
She wasn’t the only one to notice his arrival.
There was a distinct murmur of appreciation from several females present.
It was probably just because that weird shaft of sunlight had spot lit him for a split second as he entered the Annexe, carrying several covered trays.
Nothing but a trick of the light making his skin and hair gleam golden because as soon as he got closer, he looked his normal dark haired, olive skinned studly self.
And of course he looked disgruntled, because Goddess forbid the man look happy or at least blankly professional. Not her problem, Gigi determined to ignore him.
Easier said than done as he prepped the two long trestle tables reserved for his savoury goods.
Arranging trays of sandwiches, smoked salmon rosti, cheese and chive roll ups, baby bruschetta loaded with assorted toppings and sun dried tomato tartlets.
Smart of him to provide an array of tempting cold finger food.
Of course her trestle tables looked equally tempting, if not better.
The purple and white striped trays lying on the crisp white linen tablecloth really popped.
Plus the setting helped. The Library Annexe built like a cathedral made of glass.
With soaring ceilings and loads of space.
So much so the small stream that ran through the middle of the Annexe looked completely normal.
Across the stream were all the bookcases, study desks and the admin desk. On this side, where today’s meeting would be held, all the small tables had been removed and rows upon rows of chairs had replaced them, all facing a mobile lectern.
Any other day library goers could retreat to this side of the stream and sip a beverage, read a book, do a puzzle, or just sit and contemplate one or all three of the metal sculptures that her cousin Erik had added to the stream.
Each one functional, with parts that moved thanks to the slow flowing water. Peace personified on a normal day.
Today was different. There was a lot of international gossip to catch up on before the meeting officially started.
And the buzz of the crowd was loud. Great-Aunt Annabeth, standing behind the lectern, her back to the stream, was looking about the space like a proud matriarch.
This group was her legacy. And the seed swap annual meeting was their version of a Christmas event.
Politely Annabeth began to rap on the wooden lectern with a small gavel. Half a minute passed, the noise level didn’t drop. Coating the gavel in ice was a neat trick, and the sound it made as it cracked apart on the lectern had everyone present freeze in place. Silence falling abruptly.
“Time to start.”
There was a gratifying rush by everyone to take their allotted seat.
Gigi stepped back from fussing over her table.
Annabeth hated distractions when she was giving her commencement speech.
For that matter, she was known to send a chilly blast in the direction of anyone who showed any intention of marring her big day, or who failed to display proper respect to the featured speakers scheduled for the event.
An hour later Gigi was fighting the urge to fidget and trying to quell a yawn.
She liked flowers, used them a lot in her creations and as inspiration.
But she was no way a gardener. She didn’t care about propagation techniques.
Or the proper way to stratify seeds. But at least she was attempting to feign interest. Unlike Nico Yanez, who’d promptly found a seat and immediately drifted off to sleep. So rude. How typical of the man.
Gigi just didn’t get why everyone was such a fan of his.