Page 12 of Witches of Honeysuckle House
“Ink it is,” Florence replied. Then she scooped him up and said, “Come on, let’s see if we can find him a saucer of milk.”
Chapter Six
Florence, Now
Florence was not lonely. At least, that’s what she told herself. That her sisterandAngela had said it loud enough for her niece to hear, that her niece felt compelled to cast a spell in response, was at once deeply mortifying and unexpectedly heartwarming.
But it didn’t change the fact that Clara had done magic inside Ink & Pages.
The moment Florence smelled the smoke, she knew. Seeing the spent candle had only made matters worse. She’d given up so much to keep her shop safe, afraid her family’s curse would somehow extend inside its walls if any of them practiced magic there. Though she hoped one candle lit by a child wouldn’t be enough to undo her sacrifices, the spell itself had been beyond anything Florence had ever done. She couldn’t quite fathom her niece’s ability to conjure a living being to her shop. Neither Florence nor her sister had ever had that strength with their magic.
Well, that wasn’t fully true. When they were children, before their father died, her sister had managed to summon a hummingbird who took up residence in the tree outside her window. Their mother had been against pets, because she thought her daughters and the house got up to enough mischief on their own. The last thing she wanted was some strong-minded creature knocking over her candles.Later, when they were older and realized they could hide a pet from their mother with the house’s help, Evie had tried to do the same with a cat, but to no avail.
The kitten freed himself from Florence’s hold and climbed up her sweater once more until he nestled his feather-soft head against her neck and purred loudly, right into her ear. Florence knew the magic was a danger, but she hoped desperately no one came looking for the kitten.
“Ink,” she tried out the name. He purred louder, and beside Florence, her niece beamed.
Florence scratched the kitten’s ears and gently lifted him from her shoulder. “We’re going to have to do something about this digging your claws into my favorite sweater business,” she said. “Do you want to hold him?”
Clara stared longingly at the kitten. She started to reach out, then she shook her head. “The universe sent him for you.”
“Right, of course,” Florence said. “But I need to see if I can give him oat milk, and I would hate for him to get lost in the stacks. Maybe you can watch him for a minute?”
“We definitely don’t want him to get lost.” Clara held out her arms and Florence gently deposited the kitten into them. Though he rubbed his head against her niece’s hand, his yellow eyes never left Florence.
She started a search on her phone as they made their way to the break room, and she discovered she could give Ink a small amount of oat milk, which was good because that was all she had.
“Want to do the honors?” Florence asked.
Clara set the saucer on the ground and poured just enough that it only splashed over the edge once. After he’d had his fill, Ink shot through the break room door and into the shop.
“Wait!” Clara called as she chased after him.
Florence followed quickly behind her, but it seemed the kitten had already disappeared. She felt a pang in her chest at the thought that he might be gone for good.
Clara turned in a circle then planted her hands on her hips. “He’ll be back. When he gets hungry. You’re going to have to buy some cat food.”
Florence laughed. “Am I now?”
“You’re going to take care of him, aren’t you?” Clara took Florence’s hand as they made their way back to the front of the shop so they could keep an eye on the door should Ink try to escape.
“Of course,” Florence said. “It’s not every day your niece summons you a kitten. Even if she knows you have a very strict ‘no magic in the shop’ rule.”
Clara pointed at the rose quartz and monsteras decorating the romance section.
“Crystals and plants don’t count,” Florence said.
“Then I think you should change the rule,” Clara said. “Nospellsin the shop.”
“And definitely no candles,” Florence added.
When they reached the front, they found Angela at the register with Ink on the counter in front of her. He sat, licking one paw. She stood, staring at him.
“You found him!” Clara ran to the kitten. She gave him a quick pat on the head, then turned back to Florence. “He wanted to introduce himself to Angela.”
“You got us a shop cat?” Angela asked.
Florence shook her head and pointed to Clara. “It wasn’t my doing.”
