Page 80 of Something Handsome This Way Comes

“Enough mating foreplay! Pip still here!” squeaked a voice from beneath Milo’s hat.

“You’re right, sorry Pip,” Milo said, still smiling at Grievance.

My mate.

Some days… Milo still couldn’t believe it.

“You make goat uncomfortable,” Pip said, and as though in agreement, Marigold bleated loudly from where she trotted behind them.

The tiny pumpkin sweater stretched around her fluffy middle, complete with a little green collar that bobbed with every step.

Grievance glanced down. “Our daughter looks very festive.”

Marigold bleated louder, her little tail wagging.

“We are not calling the goat our daughter,” Milo said, even though the sound of it made him feel all sprinkle-sweet inside.

This was Marigold’s year off since becoming the subject of Milo’s first successful experiment at the apothecary. The goal had been to infuse spider silk into goat’s milk, and the results had exceeded even Milo’s expectations, providing him with enough renewable magical resources to create nearly a dozen new recipes. But after Marigold had dutifully supplied him with webs for the better part of a year, Milo decided she’d more than earned some time off. Instead, he’d hired three goats belonging to his neighbor, Mrs. Grimwood, who now supplied him with regular batches of spider silk.

“Don’t make me regret field trip day,” Milo said to the trotting horned creature at his side. Marigold pressed herself against his leg with a pitiful little bleat. Milo sighed and gave in, scratching his daughter behind the ears.

“…You’re all impossible.”

They rounded the corner onto Pumpkin Hollow’s famous Main Street, where the smell of cinnamon rolls and fresh bread drifted on the breeze from the Wicked Whisk bakery, which had already attracted a crowd. The line stretched out the front door, with excited onlookers pointing at the enchanted sugar-moths that fluttered and dusted everyone with powdered sugar as they passed, earning a chorus of oohs and aahs from several tourists.

“Pembrooke!” Rowen called before Milo could even see him. A hand waved from above the heads of the crowd. “C’mon, make way for my friend here. He’s the mind behind my color-changing strudels.”

That earned Milo a few interested looks as he shyly ducked his head through the parted crowd.

“There he is—man of my heart,” Rowen, a Kitchen Witch, said in that comfortable, borderline flirtatious way of his. He brushed aside a lock of his bright magenta hair. “You have the goods?”

“When have I ever failed a delivery?” Milo asked, trying to return the same confident energy.

These days, his crippling social anxiety was… better. Not gone. Probably never gone. But better. And having the sexy man beside him standing sentinel wherever he went certainly helped. His change showed in his interactions with his fellow Pumpkin Hollow residents. Residents that he could now, shyly, call his friends.

“Fuck, I forgot to tell you before this morning, but you didn’t happen to bring extra Daydr⁠—”

“Daydream powder? Yeah, I got it. Knew you’d need more than what you ordered.”

Rowen’s shoulders relaxed. “You’re a doll, I could kiss you right now.”

“Try it,” Grievance growled.

“Just a joke, man,” Rowen said with a wink that had Grievance immediately stiffening. “Set the crates over there, big guy. I’ll haul them to the back in a minute.”

The Kitchen Witch flicked his wrist, sending a floating bowl and whisk gliding gracefully onto the counter. Rowen inspected the bright blue frosting inside.

“Yeah, that’s separating nicely. Couple more minutes.”

Then he snapped his fingers, and the whisk immediately sprang back to life, whipping the mixture into a perfect swirl.

“Showboat,” Grievance grumbled under his breath as he set the boxes down.

“Be nice,” Milo hissed, but was half-smiling. Grievance never took to Rowen’s loud personality.

Milo checked the order form, making sure he’d actually remembered everything. The three wooden crates were packed to the brim with giggle tonics, enchanted honey, moonlace flour, cinnamon bark, and enough rainbow jinx syrup to keep Rowen’s bakery stocked through Pumpkin Festival.

“It’s all there,” Milo said, handing Rowen the order form. “Just remember—you ordered enough jinx syrup to turn half the town’s hair every color of the rainbow.”