Page 68 of Elora and the Crow

He turned his head and kissed her fingertips. “I like it, too. Good night, Elora.”

“Night, Jonah.”

* * *

Elora pulledopen the greenhouse door. “Jonah, are you in… holy shit.”

She stared in amazement at the abundance of plants crowding the greenhouse. They sat on the counter and the floor, hung from the eyehooks, and a few were crammed onto the metal shelf.

“Hey!” Jonah glanced over his shoulder at her. He was standing at the table at the far end of the greenhouse, and Elora made her way to him, skirting around several large plants and a wheelbarrow filled with bags of potting soil.

“How was work?” he asked.

“Good,” she said. “I’m sorry I had to bail on the greenhouse this afternoon. But it was super busy at the shop, and after Anise called in sick for her shift, I couldn’t leave Charissa alone at the store.”

“It’s no problem,” he said. “Also, Anise is my least favourite employee at the store.”

“Given your love of plants, I’d think someone named after a plant would be your favourite,” Elora said.

“She used to sneak up and pluck a feather whenever I was napping at the shop,” Jonah said.

“What? Are you serious?” Elora asked.

He nodded. “I have no idea what she was using them for, but I swear she yanked enough out over the last two years to have her own crow by now.”

“What a dick,” Elora said. “No wonder you were always screaming at her when you were in your crow form.”

Jonah grinned at her before plunging his hands into a bag of potting soil and sprinkling the handfuls into the starter trays in front of him.

“So,” Elora said, “this is a lot of plants.”

“It’s Cece’s fault,” Jonah said as he added more dirt to the trays.

“How is this her fault?”

“She’s very passionate about plants,” Jonah said.

“She’s a green witch. Of course she’s passionate about plants,” Elora laughed.

“Her enthusiasm was contagious.” Jonah opened some flower seed packets and carefully added the tiny white seeds into each section of the tray. “And you have to admit they look great in here. Or will, when I’m finished sorting and repotting and finding the perfect spot for them.”

Elora couldn’t help but smile as Jonah carefully piled dirt on top of the seeds. She loved how happy and relaxed he looked. It was the first time since his encounter with the fae that he didn’t have a pinched look of worry on his face.

“Are these the flowers you’ll plant in the new flowerbed?” Elora asked.

“Yes. Assuming they do well in the greenhouse and are big enough for transplanting in the spring. Cece gave me a few tips and tricks I haven’t tried before, so we’ll see what happens.”

He reached for one of the starter trays, muttering a curse when he knocked a clay pot off the table, and it broke on the floor. He picked up the pieces, but before he could throw them into the garbage bin at the end of the table, Elora said, “Wait. Put them on the table.”

He set the pieces on the table, and Elora studied them for a moment before holding both hands toward them and murmuring the incantation. The pieces rose and floated in the air before knitting themselves back together in the shape of the pot. Elora smiled with satisfaction as the blue light faded from her hands.

Jonah grinned at her. “You’re amazing.”

She snorted. “It was a simple mending spell. A newbie witch could do it.”

“Still amazing,” he said.

“How’s your back?” Elora resisted the urge to lift the back of his shirt and check for herself. They weren’t in a relationship, and she didn’t have those privileges.

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