Page 12 of The Baby Dragon Cafe
As soon as Aiden was gone, Saphira’s coworker marched over. “What is going on?” Lavinia Williams demanded to know, both her eyes and mouth wide.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Saphira said, not meeting Lavinia’s eyes as she started pulling chairs down from atop the tables. She looked at the clock—there was hardly twenty minutes before the cafe opened! There was so much to be done!
If only her heart could stop beating so fast …
“Excuse me?” Lavinia said, stepping in front of Saphira. Lavinia was short and curvy, with curly hair and big doe eyes, and at that moment, she looked to be on the verge of full-blown laughter.
“Can you quit your yapping and get to work, perhaps?” Saphira said, mouth twitching. She always felt like laughing when she was with Lavinia, which was perfect since they saw so much of each other.
Lavinia was twenty-two years old and had been working as Saphira’s assistant at the cafe since it opened, while she was ona gap year before starting veterinary school in the fall. She had big ambitions to take care of magical animals.
“I will quit yapping when you tell me who that gorgeous man was and why he was here at the crack of dawn when no one else is awake,” Lavinia said. “Did he stay the night? If you have a secret boy-toy you haven’t told me about, I am literally going to quit!”
“Oh my god, no,” Saphira said, cheeks burning. “He did not spend the night! Good lord!”
“Okay, so what was he doing here so early?” Lavinia asked, giving Saphira a suspicious glance.
“We were only talking!” Saphira said, voice high. Then she narrowed her eyes at Lavinia. “And what have I told you about interrupting when the adults are talking?”
It was a running joke between them, that Lavinia at age twenty-two was a small child, while Saphira at age twenty-five was a fully grown adult.
“Yes, yes, the children must not interrupt,” Lavinia said, bowing her head. “Apologies.”
“Exactly.” She fanned herself, and Lavinia smirked. “Don’t look at me like that!” Saphira ordered.
“I’m just waiting for you to tell me what’s going on!” Lavinia replied. “Who was that, anyway?”
“Aiden Sterling,” Saphira said. “He’s paying me an exorbitant sum to train his baby dragon, which means I can order us a new espresso machine.”
“Exorbitant enough to pay for one-day shipping?” Lavinia asked. Saphira nodded. “Oooooooh. So you were simply being an astute businesswoman.”
“Yes,” Saphira said. “Exactly. One hundred percent that.”
“Love it. I fully support this decision,” Lavinia said. “And he gets bonus points for being super hot.”
“You know, I didn’t notice,” Saphira said, tucking a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.
“Right … right … whywouldyou notice? You were only gazing into his eyes like you wanted to crawl into them.”
Saphira made a cry of outrage while Lavinia giggled.
“I don’t have time for this! I have a cafe to run!”
“You can multitask!”
They both laughed. Sapphira and Lavinia had known each other for years; they had both worked at a tea shop up in the mountains together until Saphira had opened up this place of her own and Lavinia had jumped ship to join her. The tea shop was more high-end, while Saphira’s place on Main Street was much more homey. A big part of that hominess was Lavinia.
“Okay, now we seriously need to get to work,” Saphira said, a statement she often found herself making when she and Lavinia got distracted while chatting.
They got back to preparing the cafe, and Saphira ordered the espresso machine, choosing the fastest delivery so it would be delivered by tomorrow morning. They were still working on prep when a knock sounded on the side door.
“I’ll get it,” Lavinia said, going over.
“It’s probably Theo,” Saphira told her. Lavinia opened the door to reveal a scrawny boy with a mop of dark wavy hair and warm brown skin. He wore a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a streak of flour across one forearm.
“Morning, ladies,” Theo Noon said, carrying in boxes of heavenly smelling baked goods.
“Morning,” Lavinia said, going to her tiptoes to kiss Theo’scheek. He was a full foot taller than her and was the baker’s assistant, here to make the delivery from the bakery.
