AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her heart swelled at such kindness. "The health inspector will be here at seven tomorrow morning, when we open. If you could be here then to tell her what you've seen, I'd be very grateful. I'd even throw in a free coffee and breakfast."
He perked up. "Do you make those bacon and egg muffins? Not the ones you get at Maccas, but the ones where it's just a little bit of bread around the outside, packed full of bacon and egg in the middle, all wrapped up in muffin paper?"
She hadn't for a while, but she'd happily make him a whole batch if he'd help her pass her health inspection tomorrow. "Absolutely."
"Then I'll see you at seven."
Dave departed, and Tacey finished the day's shut down, even though it wasn't even dinnertime yet. Tomorrow, she'd reopen and everything would be fine.
She trudged up the stairs to where Rory had spread out her markers all over the floor. Except they weren't markers in her game any more – each one had a voice and a different dastardly plan, or so it seemed. Rory was surprisingly good at villain voices.
"Miss Tacey, I've checked the entire building. There are no more vermin within the walls, or anywhere else," Wystan said, appearing from nowhere.
Tacey forced herself to nod. "Thank you. That means they really were only in the store room. Someone planted them there. If only we'd had a surveillance camera in the store room..." But they'd only had the one Wystan had broken, and that had been in the main café. The store room window opened onto the courtyard at the backpackers – which only the people staying at the hostel had access to. Matt wouldn't have been caught dead staying in somewhere like that. But who else could it have been? She could only shake her head. "I just need to put the dead bolts back on the back window, and then the sun should have set, so we can go home. We could even pick up some food on the way, instead of cooking. What do you want, Rory?"
She'd have asked Wystan, but he refused to eat anything she'd given him. Even her muffins, and she knew those were good.
"Chicky nuggies!" Rory shouted.
So much for eating healthy. But Tacey was too tired to argue. "Sure," was all she said, as she headed downstairs to dig out the drill.
TWENTY-THREE
Bell House was depressingly dark when Tacey pulled up outside. Octavia's car was notably absent, too. Another night alone, after she put Rory to bed and Wystan went up to stand watch on the rooftop. Alone in this isolated house, surrounded by bush, where anyone or anything could be hiding...
"There is no one here except us, mistress," Wystan said, as though reading her mind.
Tacey dared to breathe again. Of course Matt wouldn't be here. He wasn't the type to stalk her, or physically attack her. He was more into pranking, like the sack of cockroaches and the complaints to the health department. Now she thought about it, he'd probably made those reports himself, claiming to be different fake backpackers. He was probably at home in his parents' mansion by the river, sniggering into his expensive dinner, which he wouldn't have had to cook.
Enough about him. She was home, and she needed to get Rory fed and prepared for bed. "Okay, inside and wash up for dinner, please," she said as she stepped out of the car.
"I'm not hungry! Wystan said he could take me flying, just like the Mandalorian!" Rory jumped out, and began swooping around the car, with her arms outstretched like wings.
When had Mr Monster become Wystan to Rory? Tacey just shook her head. It didn't matter. Rory was not flying with him – not now, not ever. "Dinner first. Then, maybe after dinner, we'll see."
"But I've eaten my dinner, Mummy. No nuggies left!" Rory protested.
Tacey had heard that before, and she didn't believe it now, either. It wasn't until she'd unpacked the paper bags on the dining table that she found Rory was actually telling the truth. The torn open nuggets box was indeed empty, and all the cherry tomatoes were missing from Tacey's own salad, too.
"Can I fly now, Mummy, please?"
"I swear she will be as safe with me in the air as she is on the ground, Mistress Tacey," Wystan said from out on the veranda.
Tacey closed her eyes. She trusted him enough to guard Rory, but...humans weren't meant to fly. And Rory was already tired, which meant too much excitement would stop her going to sleep. Then again, if she threw one of her mighty tantrums because Tacey wouldn't let her fly, she wouldn't go to sleep, either...
"Allow me to show you, Mistress Tacey." He peered through the front screen door, a hulking shadow that should have been scary, but she only found it reassuring. He could have ripped the door off its hinges, or punched through the screen with one blow, but he respected her rules of not allowing monsters in the house.
She was insane for even considering this.
Mum would scream at her for being so irresponsible, and how she'd rather die than put one of her daughters at risk like that.
Octavia would probably just grin and tell her to go for it.
Callie, on the other hand, would stand on the veranda with her arms folded, watching Wystan like a hawk as she threatened him with all manner of dire curses if anything bad happened to her family. Curses she could probably actually manifest, now Tacey thought about it.
If the other girls had been here, they'd have dragged her out to the veranda and insisted she do this, then clapped and cheered the whole time Wystan was in the air.
Tacey gritted her teeth, grabbed what remained of her dinner, and strode out to the veranda. "Okay, then. Show me," she said.
