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“Okay,” I said, slowly. “So, what’s up?”
Wanda rarely just dropped by. Especially since she’d moved to a nocturnal lifestyle. She wasn’t here to shop, she usually just put in orders with me these days, since her old method, bullying her way into the store an hour before opening so she could browse without anyone bothering her, didn’t work with her new daytime aversion.
Wanda toed one of the cardboard boxes, and her nose wrinkled up like it was full of bugs instead of citrus oils. “I saw the lights on over here, and knew you were toiling away, long after anyone sensible had closed up shop and gone home to their lives, and I thought I’d see what trouble you were in this time.”
“No trouble, for once.” I sighed, and raked a hand through my hair. “Just an emergency supply shipment. I’ve been having a heck of a time getting stuff in. And if I want to be able to stock my shelves, let alone have something on hand for the festival, I need ingredients to make potions with.”
I gestured to the lopsided circle of boxes. “I’ve gone through the whole box, everything in it. Now I just need to put it all away and start a few potions that need to sit overnight. A few will have to wait to be restocked, since the moon phase is wrong.”
That was frustrating. I wouldn’t have another chance for a full moon until the night before the festival itself.
“This is why you need to hire some help,” Wanda said with an eyeroll. “Then someone else could be doing this while you make the potions or get your nails done.”
I huffed a laugh. Wanda was well aware that I never got my nails done. “Maybe one day, but for now, this is a one-woman operation. What are you doing?”
Wanda huffed, slipping another set of little bottles onto the labeled shelf. “What does it look like?”
It looked like she was putting my stuff away for me. I flapped my hands.
“Oh, you don’t need to do that, I can handle it.”
The glare she pinned me with had my mouth closing so fast that my teeth clicked together.
“Poppy,” Wanda said, her voice dangerously sweet. “Have you ever known me to do anything I didn’t want to?”
That was a definite no. I shook my head to say as much.
“Then be quiet, and let’s get these bottles put away. I’m going to want some potions made at some point, you know.”
She huffed and tossed her dark hair over one shoulder.
I grabbed a box and tried not to smile. It was just so like Wanda to do something genuinely kind and then try to play it off as selfish. And I really did need the help if I wanted to get home before Finn’s bedtime.
“Don’t you have plans with Lorcan tonight?”
Wanda huffed, exasperated. “He has late hours at the clinic today. So, he’s abandoned me. I might drop by later, though, to make sure that hygienist is keeping her hands to herself.”
I winced at the dangerous little gleam in Wanda’s eye as she slid three vials of lavender oil onto the shelf a little more forcefully than necessary.
Lorcan was Haven Hollow’s dentist, and his extended evening hours were pretty convenient for the people in town. Unfortunately, being well-off, handsome, and charming attracted female attention. Which was exactly the case with one of the dental hygienists at his practice. He’d told her he was taken a few times, and I was pretty sure Lorcan thought the matter was settled, but Wanda wasn’t convinced. And from what I’d seen: the long looks, the lingering touches, the way the woman always tried to be in Lorcan’s space, well, Wanda was onto something.
I just hoped that the hygienist wised up before Wanda turned her into a newt. Because I had a feeling she wouldn’t get better.
“But otherwise, things are good?” I carried another box over to the shelves, picking my way carefully through the cardboard maze.
“Well…” Wanda’s shoulders relaxed, and an honest to goodness smile hovered around the corners of her mouth. “I suppose as well as they could be, when I’m constantly forced to cohabitate with an obstinate man who has the poor taste to also be a vampire.”
“Obstinate.” I laughed. “Has Hellcat been on one of his rants again?”
Wanda’s familiar, a cranky black cat she’d dubbed ‘Hellcat’ really enjoyed his big words. He especially enjoyed using them in his insults against anyone unfortunate enough to be in the same vicinity.
“As if I’d listen,” Wanda said, huffing.
Between the two of us, everything was put away in a third of the time I thought it would take me alone. I broke down the cardboard box and put it beside the door to be taken home and recycled, and turned back to Wanda fishing a thermos out of her purse.
I cocked my head to the side, curious. “What’s that? A potion?”
Admittedly, I was a little surprised. As far as I knew, Wanda hadn’t brewed a potion herself for a while. Usually, she just bought them from me or got Maverick to make her whatever she needed. Not to mention, the last time she’d tried to create a potion, she’d blown up her store and made an accidental shape-shifting child out of a dress mannequin. Not that Sybil wasn’t an absolutely sweet girl, but everyone had let out a silent breath of relief when Wanda had hung up her potion making tools for good.
