Page 17 of The Baby Dragon Cafe
Emmeline rolled her eyes, stabbing a piece of chicken with her fork. “Ollie knows his place. And if he doesn’t, I will be sure to remind him of it.”
That got a little smile out of Aiden. Despite being a year younger than him, Emmeline was incredibly strong-willed and bossy.
“Back to the important stuff: where’s Sparky-Pie?”
“With a trainer, actually,” Aiden replied. “First day.”
Emmeline’s face lit up with intrigue. “A trainer? That’s an interesting development.”
“Yeah.” This response earned him another eye-roll.
“The monosyllabic responses aren’t cutting it. I need details.”
So Aiden told her about last night—how Saphira had been so good with Sparky, how she could clearly use the extra cash, and how he could clearly use the extra help. Asking her to train Sparky seemed like the easiest solution to all those problems.
Aiden didn’t find anything strange about the arrangement he had created, but Emmeline reacted so enthusiastically, he was concerned. She practically cackled.
“Why are you being weird?” He frowned. “Please don’t.”
“I love Saphira,” she said, ignoring his request. “I supply her coffee, but of course, you already know that.”
“Yeah.”
“She’s sooooo sweet and nice andcute.” She gave him apointed look, which he ignored. “She really is ace with the baby dragons. I’ve seen her at the cafe, and she’s amazing. So patient and kind and cheery! You wouldn’t expect it, given all she’s been through, and how she’s doing everything alone.”
“Oh.”What had she been through? Why was she alone?Aiden was desperate for more information, but didn’t want to seem like he was, or Emmeline would never stop being a menace about it.
“She doesn’t have any family around?” he asked. Aiden did not keep up to date with everyone in town—he hardly kept up to date with his extended family’s situations.
“Nope,” Emmeline replied, taking a sip of water. “She was raised by her grandmother, who recently passed away. Her only family left, I think. Saphira used the inheritance to open up the cafe.”
“Are you guys close?” Aiden asked. Emmeline was a social butterfly, friends with everyone, but not super close with anyone—except for family—from what Aiden could tell.
“I definitely like her a lot more than I like some other townspeople,” Emmeline said, responding after considering his question for a moment. “And she’s the only person in town who knows how to make a proper chai, so I can go into the cafe every few days for a fix.”
Which meant that they were friends; if Emmeline didn’t like Saphira, she wouldn’t be a regular at the cafe.
“When I started working with her, I made it my business to do a thorough background check and get details,” Emmeline continued, “but the inheritance thing, Saphira told me herself—basically everyone knows. You can tell from the cafe, as well, the touches that are an ode to her grandma—just payattention next time. Even some of the recipes, like the karak chai and Kashmiri tea, are from her Nani-Ma.”
“Iwaspaying attention,” Aiden grumbled. Though he had been paying more attention to her than the cafe.
Emmeline gave him a knowing look, as if reading his thoughts. He glared.
The cafe was an extension of Saphira—he would do better to remember it next time he visited.
It was no wonder she was so determined to see the cafe succeed.
“What about her parents?” Aiden asked.
Emmeline lifted and dropped a shoulder. “Not sure about the dad; he was never part of the picture, I don’t think.”
“And her mother?”
Emmeline’s dark eyes widened. “That’s where it gets really juicy … her mother died during a race.”
“Fuck,” Aiden breathed. It was so common for people to die from the races, that even if Aiden had ever heard of Saphira’s mother’s passing, her name would have been one of many.
“I know,” Emmeline replied, sitting back and blowing out her cheeks. “Her mother got the dragon from a poacher, and you know how those things go.”
