Page 31 of Novice Girlfriend

“This is fucking unreal, Clare,” I groaned and quickly got us drinks from my kitchenette.

“Right? I’m digging these Goodles,” she muttered, thanking me for the pop.

I nodded as she rambled about slow cooking the ground meat instead of meatballs and adding extra mushrooms. How she’d used blended tofu for more protein and to thicken the sauce instead of fattening heavy cream. Yes, there was cream cheese and the cheese sauce with the Goodles packages, but it was still way healthier.

Especially when she’d basically put pounds of mushrooms in there.

No one in this house would complain. Clare, Tracey, Jasmine, and I all loved mushrooms.

“You okay?” she asked quietly.

“No, but not really for me,” I admitted. “It’s complicated and I can’t tell you and it makes it so much harder on me that I can’t tell people.”

She nodded. “But then you also get it because it’s not just about you, but other witches and warlocks like you. Tracey’s really struggling with that. I am a bit, but Jasmine and I are…”

“You’re not selfish, Clare,” I said gently, giving a half shrug when she froze in her next bite. “Your familiar snitched. She doesn’t think you’re selfish either. You aren’t ready for that kind of burden and you have enough on your plate.” I gave her a serious look. “Your familiar agrees and wants you to prioritize yourself more to heal.”

She nodded that she heard me, thanking me and reminding me that she was here if I did need her.

“This is what I need,” I admitted, gesturing to the meal and us just being there. “Everyone pushes. It’s honestly nice you don’t want to know. Sounds weird, but it’s nice.”

“Glad to be putting myself first?” she asked, but sort of not really.

We chuckled and agreed that the meal needed to be a standard in the rotation it was so good.

I worked on toys for a bit after she left but then remembered the apples, thinking one actually sounded really good. I finished what I was doing and set it to the side before brushing off my pants and heading to where I left them. I studied the one and debated washing it.

Would it offend the gods if I washed their magical apple like I would normal produce?

Probably.

Yeah, it seemed safer to not be petty that it got a bit dusty on Hecate’s tree from the spirit realm or the doorway back. And yes, that sounded insane to think which was why I wouldn’t ever say it out loud.

I stared at it for longer than I should like I was trying to gather courage, but then just took a bite. I frowned when nothing happened and simply chewed, then swallowed. It was definitely the best apple I’d ever had. Sweet but not too sweet. Crisp but not too much where it hurt to bite into.

Like perfect.

“Maybe that’s really it,” I muttered as I turned it in my hand. “Just your perfect healthy snack when you just need one thing to be reliable?”

It sounded pretty lame when it came from the gods, but hadn’t I just been saying I wanted more normal? More consideration and less problems?

A perfect apple that was exactly suited to my taste was actually really calm and nice. I shrugged it off and sat at my desk to go back to reviewing what I needed to. I didn’t want to eat something like an apple while working with familiar toys. Not the ones I’d been doing at least. I needed both hands for those even.

I smiled as I saw the final layout for the new store in the second main magical mall. We’d changed our lease with bringing the blankets, brushes, and large familiar housing on the market. The large familiar housing not yet, but we were taking preorders and were hiring for people to be installers.

There was no reason not to. Things were going well at Morrigan and no one could deny it anymore. Yes, there had been a mess with Demeter, but that was… I actually didn’t know where we were with that.

“Always something,” I grumbled.

But the store was going to be cool. And the fleece-cutting station for our employees was awesome compared to the setup at Michael’s. It was basically unfold, measure, and run it through the automatic scissors so no one’s hands ever cramped.

See how easy that could be?

We weren’t being weird about people buying the fleece from us. We were being up-front that it was the braided skeins of yarn that had the magic and that was the reason it was expensive. The fleece we were selling for normal prices and markup. It was for convenience, but if customers had some or wanted a different print we didn’t carry, that was completely fine.

We were going to have someone there just to show people how to make them, but their purchase also came with a QR code to videos on how to do it later. The goal was for people to do it with their familiars and show that they cared. That had shown much better results and even the council members were saying so on social media.

Even the ones who hated me after what happened with Hanson’s son and they realized they couldn’t control me. This was something that could help witches and warlocks and they still wanted that. Several had used their own social media without prompting to show their own blankets and familiars.