Page 8 of Ravenous

“Well, shoot. Yes, of course I’ll take those photos from you. Do you, um, want replacements?”

Please want replacements!

“It will take at least a week to make them all from start to finish.”

After the items were thrown on the wheel, they had to dry fully before they could be fired in my kiln or the water inside made the item explode. Then they were glazed, then fired again.

Pottery wasn’t a quick art.

“Yes, please. Everyone loves your work.”

I quietly exhaled in relief.

Sure, I’d lose money from the extra clay and paints doing them all over. And the time it took for redoing the order, I could be making something else. She was a solid client and a nice person. It wasn’t her fault.

“Thank you for calling,” I said. “I’ll let you know when replacements will be done.”

“Take care, Joy.” Joann ended the call.

I stared at my space. I’d bought this fixer-upper a few years ago for the detached garage specifically. It was the perfect potter’s studio. When I first moved in, I’d ensured the wiring in here was up to code before I fixed the leaky faucet in the kitchen. I even had the fire department come out and confirm everything was safe for the kiln.

The house wasstilla fixer-upper. It needed a lot of work. Unlike Remy and her father’s house next door that had been modernized from top to bottom. I knew the old neighbors and had seen all the updates they’d done to the place.

Someday. My sink wasn’t dripping any longer, but the windows needed replacing, the furnace upgraded, and the tile in the bathroom shouldn’t be avocado green. I’d get to it all eventually. If I had the extra money to tackle those projects. I wasn’t broke, but I was definitely just keeping my head above water.

My pieces were starting to sell around the country, and money was coming in, but setbacks seemed to consistently pop up and, well, set me back.

One pot ahead, two pots back, or however the saying went.

My cell chimed again. This time with a text.

The name on the screen made me smile. Marina. My friend from yoga class.

Colton’s out. Come over. I’ve got wine.

She had me atcome over, but wine, too? Boy, did I need a glass. Or two.

I pushed the speech-to-text button because there was no way I could type with my filthy hands.

I’m in. Give me an hour.

5

JOY

“–andit wasn’t sugar… it was salt!” Marina exclaimed.

I couldn’t help but giggle, imagining her client eating a cake that tasted so bad.

We were behind the main house at Wolf Ranch. The lawn had lounge chairs with thick cushions on them that faced the barn and the fields beyond. It was a pretty spot. The sun was low on the horizon, glinting through the trees.

Marina lived here with her man, Colton, along with Colton’s brother, Rob, and his wife Willow. There was a bunkhouse down by the barn, which had a rotating group of ranch hands living in it. I heard the only people staying there now were Johnny and his wife Emma.

“If you’re not throwing pottery, what have you been up to? It feels like it’s been ages since we got together last.” She held up a finger. “In fact, it was snowing. Remember, Colton had to pick me up from your place.”

I nodded. “I do. That was a storm.”

She leaned over with the wine bottle and refilled my glass.

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