Page 49 of The Lone Wolf Café
Silence around others normally felt awkward. But with Rowena, it felt natural. Peaceful.
Gods,I sighed, studying her narrow jawline and her slightly hooked nose.You are so beautiful.
I sipped my coffee slowly, wanting this moment to last as long as possible. But as Rowena finished her tea and set the empty cup on the end table, I decided to finish mine off with a big gulp. After all, I had work to do.
“What are we going to do about the cookies?” I asked as I set my empty coffee mug next to Rowena’s teacup. It was a question I’d been pondering the entire time I sipped my coffee, but I’d been afraid to bring it up. I hated that it was almost opening time and we had no baked goods to sell.
“Well…” Rowena sighed. “Let’s go back and look at them. See what’s salvageable.”
Rowena took our cups up to the sink, and I waited for her by the kitchen door. And as we both walked in together, my jaw nearly fell off its hinges at what I saw.
A plate full of fresh blueberry cookies was perched on the countertop, squeezed between my messy, frosted sugar cookies. And next to the plate, looking very proud of herself, was Aria.
“Did you… make those!?” I exclaimed in disbelief.
Aria nodded eagerly.
“But… how?”
Aria lowered herself on all fours and scampered around the kitchen, miming out her process for making the cookies. She’d picked blueberries from Rowena’s garden, added them to the leftover sugar cookie dough I had on the counter, and rolled the dough into balls for Mavro to bake in the oven.
The more she explained, with her various squeaks and hand movements, the more it made sense. I’d already seen earlierhow handy she was in the kitchen. Being a tiny mouse didn’t matter when she had the power of wind at her disposal. She’d used her powers to pluck the blueberries from the bushes and to shape the dough. She even used a cushion of air to transport the cookies into the oven.
“You brilliant little air elemental,” I cooed, offering my palm for Aria to climb up. I nearly cried happy tears as she peered up at me. Even without eyes, her expression was one of pure love.
She did all this for me.
Because she cared about me.
Aria squeaked and pointed to the cabinet, and I laughed.
“Yes, you can have a peanut.” I patted her on the head. “You can have as many peanuts as you want.”
A few minutes later, Aria was sitting on the countertop, happily digging through a pile of peanuts that was larger than she was, while Rowena and I carted the trays of still-hot cookies into the café.
Just in time for us to open.
I remembered what Rowena said before, how witches often overlooked smaller elementals for bonding, and I scoffed.
To me, Aria was the greatest elemental in the world.
Chapter Twelve
The blueberry cookies weren’t as popular as my pumpkin spice ones, mainly because they weren’t fall-themed. But that didn’t stop them from disappearing from the pastry case throughout our very busy day.
Many customers happily asked for a cookie (or several) without a second thought. But a few of them uttered friendly jabs at the lack of pumpkin spice sweets in the display case.
The first time that question was asked – by Adrian, damn him – my whole face went blank as anxiety raced through my veins. Rowena noticed this and scoffed, giving me a look as if to say “I’ll take care of it”, and promptly turned around so she was facing Adrian.
“Oh, I’m so sorry about that,” Rowena apologized in a sickly-sweet tone that, despite my nervousness, nearly made me giggle. “Mavro, our fire elemental, wasn’t feeling well today. Couldn’t burn quite as hot as usual. Didn’t want to wear the poor little guy out.”
“Oh.” The smug, teasing expression on Adrian’s face faded away. “In that case, I’ll take two blueberry cookies, please. I’m sure they taste delicious.”
And according to the rest of our customers, they did. Several of them mentioned the cookies were especially light and fluffy today, and it made me wonder if Aria’s air magic had somehow infused itself into the cookies.
Once morning faded into afternoon and the line died down, I asked Rowena if elementals were actually capable of getting sick.
Rowena shrugged her bare shoulders as she rinsed teacups in the sink. “Hey, they bought it.”
