Page 13 of Emerald Moon
Jo calculated what could get done before making it to their bakery shift at an acceptable, only slightly late arrival time.They had enough time to get dressed in something presentable enough for the back of the bakery — thank goodness they didn’t work in the front — and they could brush their teeth and wash their face.That was about it.
There was no time for food or coffee.They could grab something that was going stale at the bakery later, but coffee was an issue until they had a break and could go across the street to the famously popular vampire-coven owned cafe across the street.Jo had been told several times that caffeine had no real effect on werewolves at normal quantities, but they swore it still helped them when they woke up around noon or a little after if things hadn’t gone according to plan.
Jo walked through the back door of Violet Moon looking a bit messy, but they were only five minutes late.There was a thin sheen of sweat on their forehead from rushing in the humid summer air.
“Sorry, Emmaline!”Jo grabbed their apron from where it was hanging on the wall.“Overslept.Again.”
“No worries, hon.”Emmaline looked up from where she was working pastry dough.Her box braids were tied back with one of her colorful scarves.“Just slow down a little before you get to prepping fruit.Knives and anxiety don’t mix well.”
“You’re right.”Jo paused and, shutting their eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and let it out slowly.When they opened their eyes again, Emmaline was smiling.
“The pears are washed and ready if you want to start with those.”
Jo walked towards their station.“Aye, aye, captain!”
Emmaline laughed.
“You keep telling me not to call you ‘ma’am’ so I’ve got to have something,” Jo pointed out, starting their work as Emmaline got back to hers.
“As long as it’s not ma’am, it’s fine by me,” she said.
Jo could relate, remembering when they used to work out front and customers would say, “yes ma’am” to them often.They understood the impulse.They’d grown up in the South, too, and knew the knee-jerk reaction to say “ma’am” or “sir” to not be rude, but they’d been using it less frequently because if they hated it for their own reasons, maybe other people did, too.
They looked at the slowly growing pile of pear slices and thought about the pride Cass said she took in her work at her pack’s butcher shop.Jo felt the same here.It was just neatly sliced pears, but it was satisfying work.Each careful slice brought a comforting sort of ease with it and when they saw the picture-perfect tartlets out front, they knew they helped make them and it felt good.
As they were finishing pears and moving on to strawberries, Lock came in from the front carrying an empty tray destined to hold more tartlets or hand pies.“Got another empty,” he called out, “and Jo, you’ve got a visitor.”
Jo’s immediate thought was Cass.Their stomach flipped.It couldn’t be Cass.They’d never seen her in Violet Moon before.But that didn’t necessarily mean she would never come.What would they say to her?Things had been great on the drive back home, but since then they’d had time to overthink the maybe kiss and they didn’t know if they could be normal now.
Lock gave them a funny, lopsided look.“Did you get stuck or something?”
“Nope!I’m fine,” they replied, wiping their hands on their apron.“Let me just — I’ll be right out.”
“It’s your friend with the rainbow hair,” he said.
Relief washed over them.It was Krista.Nothing to worry about.Their shoulders relaxed and they walked out to the front of Violet Moon where they were greeted by conversations, classical music playing on the speakers, and Krista waving with both hands.Her rainbow-streaked hair had faded, but it still matched her personality.
“You never texted me back yesterday,” Krista offered as a greeting before hopping over to wrap Jo in a too-hard hug.Like Jo, Krista was short, so it was one of the few times when they could get a hug without being jabbed in the neck by someone’s clavicle.
Krista bounced in their arms.“You left me hanging!I hear about the — the —“ She glanced around.“The kiss and then you give me nothing!”
“Sorry.Mom called.”Jo extracted themselves from the hug.
“Ouch.That sucks.”
“And I picked up.Like an idiot.Then I promptly got all worked up, wolfed out, and ruined a t-shirt.”They sighed.“At least it’s not happening all the time now.”
“Aw, babe.I’m sorry.”Her entire body slumped.
“It’s okay.”Jo smiled to make her perk back up.“Wil helped me come back.I wish I knew what I did when the wolf was out, though.I woke up more sore than that time we went on that so-called easy hike and ended up basically rock climbing.”
Krista’s grin returned.“It almost wasn’t worth it, but the steak dinner we had afterwards made it good.Remember how fancy everyone was?”
“And how disgusting we were?Yeah, good times.”
“So,” Krista dragged out the sounds of the word.“I just stopped by super quick to get a hand pie before work, but —“ She waggled her eyebrows.“I needed to hear what you were thinking.”
“About?”Jo ignored the twisty sensation in their stomach, knowing what she was talking about.
