ONE MONTH LATER
“Hold still for one more moment.” I ran another streak of periwinkle chalk down dark hair. Along with the glitter around her eyes and her loose yellow sundress, she looked more like a fairy than a witch. Both, however, were more than welcome in Gertie’s home, especially on a holiday, no matter if it was a minor one.
I had promised her that she would get to dress up.
“There we are. Pretty as a sunrise.”
“And a princess?” Piper’s light eyes widened in delight.
“Just like a princess.”
Shutting my eyes, I smiled, and then I led her back toward the kitchen.
Earlier, we’d shoved an extra table up against the counter to make enough room. Everyone gathered around, already getting to work on flouring the surface and kneading sticky risen dough for our next round bread. With how large our little coven family was getting, Lu would have to think about renovating the house to get a bigger island in the center so that we’d all fit.
Nothing would stop us from having these moments.
In celebration of a good first harvest, there was no counting carbs today. Every type of bread, homemade pasta with fresh herbs, and soup to store throughout the rest of fall was on the never-ending list of Lughnasad festivities. We’d heat the warm broths and hearty soups back up on the stove as I entered another, much cooler, season with Dom at my side.
And we had extra to celebrate today. Which meant along with everything else to eat, we also had cake.
Dom slipped up beside me in the doorway while Piper ran to join the fray.
Piper’s mother was at first hesitant of me and the change in Dom’s plans to be a steady part of his daughter’s life, but I was starting to hope she’d eventually start to like me. I updated her each day on everything going on and how Piper was taking the change of pace, moving back and forth between her and Dom. But Piper never once questioned her time in Barnett or where she belonged in our little group.
Our family.
Lu and Ryan bumped hips as they worked. He pulled another pan out of the oven. A perfectly golden loaf was set to cool for icing that Essie was whipping with a wooden spoon like her life depended on it. Essie was hoping, once she was done, that Celeste wouldn’t be looking. Then, she could sneak out the back door to see the friends she had bemoaned over missing before we began our tiny gluten-filled sweatshop.
Gertie dried the clean dishes as Celeste washed. Faith sat on the window ledge. Her cheeks were covered with flour from her last culinary fight trying to get the pasta roller to work. She chatted about her latest project she couldn’t wait to get even more into once the fall semester rolled around.
“There’s just something about all the students being back,” Faith mused. “The academia of it all! The town comes alive in the fall!”
I couldn’t help but agree. My hair clients would hopefully be coming back so my schedule didn’t continue to have holes in it every other day since I had gotten back to work.
My hair progress was going better than ever, however, according to Kim. Though I was pretty sure she was just trying to cover up the fact that she had told most of the town she thought I was having a mental breakdown.
“I also heard that there is going to be more going on with the school this year,” said Faith.
Ryan’s forehead creased as he tried to get sticky dough off his fingers—with little success. “What do you mean?”
“BU was talking about hosting science graduates and others to do research on campus.”
“You’re kidding,” said Ryan.
“It’s probably just for the money. They did a hefty budget cut to renovate the first-year housing. I have no idea why else schools would want to send their researchers to Barnett. All I know is that it means there’s going to be a lot more people in the library, I figure.” Faith shrugged. Instead of pained at the idea of sharing the library space with even more students, however, she grinned with pure delight. “It’s going to be a great year. I can just feel it.”
Lu smiled up at Ryan, nodding at Faith.
A small curve took over my lips. Dom wrapped an arm around me.
“She really fits in here, doesn’t she?” he asked, though he didn’t sound at all surprised.
Piper continued to help Gertie, smoothing flour across the counter before clapping her hands together. We all laughed at the white cloud that erupted between her palms.
“She’s your kid. Of course she does,” I murmured.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
