Page 29 of The Soulmate Bakery

‘Abysmal,’ Melodie stepped in, eagerness coating her words. ‘Truly abysmal. And I am just really grateful that you decided to help me today. I run this whole place on my own – I inherited it from my parents – and it doesn’t really amount to much because, you know, I’m just one person.’

‘Right,’ I said, determination slipping over my shoulders, quietening my worries. ‘And what do you want to do with the bakery?’

‘Orion told me you work at the Wishing Well,’ Melodie said. I glanced at him, but he was conveniently looking at anything but me. ‘I know that you’re taking a massive risk by helping me, but I don’t want to be like the Wishing Well.’

‘You don’t want to be successful?’ I questioned, suddenly defensive.

‘No, no,’ Melodie corrected. ‘I just – I don’t want this to be an ordinary bakery. I want you to know you have full jurisdiction. Go wild, bake all the risky things. I want this place to be fun and wild, and all the things my parents would’ve wanted it to be.’

I felt myself soften at her earnestness. ‘Show me to the kitchen, Melodie, and we can get started,’ I said, kindly.

The girl nodded and I followed her to the back, trying not to gawk. Hidden away was the most beautiful kitchen I’d ever laid eyes on. It was a kitchen that rivalled Ivy’s, and the knowledge that it wasn’t being used to its full potential devastated me.

‘You’re not going to cry, are you?’ Orion asked, his tone only half teasing.

‘No,’ I said, but my voice sounded a little husky to my own ears. I cleared my throat and tried again. ‘No, but I will be baking. In fact, today, we’re going to bake like we’ve never baked before.’

And I meant it. Before meeting Melodie, I was only helping to hold up my side of the bargain. But now, I was invested.

And, maybe, a small part of me was excited at the thought of baking freely. Ivy rarely took my suggestions, and I never really pushed her on it because it was her store. But here? Melodie had said ‘go wild’.

We started with some of the easier bakes, and I showed Melodie how to make cupcakes, standard cookies and cakes. I then went to my station on the right and focused on my own bakes, while my mind drifted towards different recipes.

It was halfway through a batch of my melt-in-your-mouth brownies, that a new recipe came to my mind. And it was all because of a single glance to my left – where Melodie rubbed soothing circles on her chest. A gesture that was achingly familiar. Suddenly, a younger version of myself and Orion, aged six and eight, flitted through my thoughts, a snippet of a conversation slipping through my mind.

‘Why are you always rubbing your chest like that?’ I asked him as Raven dictated how we were going to play Twister next. She was going through all the rules, not that Orion and I were listening. We were sprawled on the grass after a game of dragons and witches, where Orion was the silver dragon who’d come to save the witches from the nasty mortals.

‘It always burns a little, after we shift,’ he said, rubbing at his chest. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to go easy on you in Twister.’

I startled out of the memory and Melodie looked over at me with a question in her eyes, but I just gave her a small smile of reassurance.

I grabbed a spare notebook from my box of utensils and jotted down the ingredients and the steps to making flaming fruit tarts. Normally I would’ve painstakingly toiled over this and perfected the recipe. But, for once, I decided to trust myself.

While Melodie and I baked up a storm, I’d forgotten about Orion. But as I started on my enchanted fruit tarts, he made his presence known. The dragon shifter sauntered into the kitchen holding two paper bags. Too focused on measuring out my ingredients, I took no notice until my notebook was snapped shut.

‘Hey!’ I exclaimed. But Orion simply grabbed the book and held it above my head, using his height to his advantage. ‘Give that back!’

‘Not until you’ve eaten something. You’ve been working non-stop since this morning,’ Orion countered, and pointedly looked down at the paper bag. I finally took in the blue-and-green logo that read GREGORY’S. My stomach chose that moment to make itself known.

‘Ooh.’ I reached and unrolled the bag to pull out a stuffed, flaky puff pastry. ‘My favourite.’

‘Everyone’s favourite – so, flaming fruit tarts?’ Orion said, as he finally brought my recipe book down to eye level.

I swallowed a bite of the pastry, savouring the saltiness and crunch, before responding.

‘It’s an adaptation of Ivy’s funny fruit tarts, which gives whoever eats them the ability to crack incredible jokes every time they speak.’

Orion raised an eyebrow. ‘Must be a popular dessert for anxious teens.’

I nodded with a grin. ‘You should see the way they sell out on the first day of the new school year. Especially with the Year Sevens.’

‘So, what’s your adaptation?’ he asked.

For some reason, a sudden shyness had come over me. I never had an issue talking about my recipes before – even the ones that had gone wrong. But in that moment, I felt weirdly exposed.

I cleared my throat, picking at my pastry while replying. ‘My adaptation is, instead of using funny-named fruits, like gooseberries, I use a range of jewel-toned fruits: raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries enchanted to help dragon shifters after they’d shifted back into their more mortal form.’ I looked up from my pastry, feeling my cheeks warm a little. ‘I remembered you telling me that you experienced a burning sensation in your chest after shifting. The spell would help soothe your heartburn or, I guess, dragon-burn?’

A look of surprise spread across Orion’s face, and he slid the recipe book back in my direction. ‘You know, your mind never fails to impress me, trouble.’