Autumn
The next afternoon, I take a break from making soap to hit up my besties for a much-needed gab session.
Cake My Day in half an hour?I text.I have news!
Rune news?Skye types back.
Yep.I add a grin emoji.
Skye texts,On my way!
Hannah likes our messages and replies,Meet you there!
Even though the library and Town Hall are way closer than the farm, I’m still the first person to reach the bakery, so I pop into Grounds for Celebration and grab three PSLs to-go. Pepperpot doesn’t have any trouble with people bringing in outside drinks, since it lets her focus on her baking.
When I return to Cake My Day, I snag us one of the cute pastel tables and order three of Pepperpot’s newest treats,apple cider donuts. I set down the plate right as Hannah and Skye enter the bakery. My bangles give a happy chime as I throw my arms around them in a three-way hug. “You guys!”
“It’s good news. I can tell,” Hannah says.
“The best news.”
Skye gives a happy squeal and squeezes me harder.
Then we settle around the table, and I tell them what type of donuts I got.
“These are one of Severin’s internet finds.” Hannah chuckles. It turns out her smirky, I-used-to-rule-realms husband is utterly obsessed with baked goods. “He got Pepperpot to make them last week as a trial, and they were such a hit, she added them to the fall menu.”
I take a bite, and sweet cinnamony goodness coats my tongue, leaving behind the lingering taste of fruit. “Oh. My. God. This is nirvana in donut form.”
“This is good, but you promised guy news, so spill!” Skye nibbles at her donut, her eager eyes never leaving my face.
“Rune and I are in love.”
“Yes, you finally admitted it!” Hannah points at me. “I thought I was going to have to lock you two in a room or something.”
“Ha!” I snort. “I think that’s Skye and Luke you’re talking about.”
“Not us.” My blonde bestie goes beet red. “Luke won’t even speak to me.”
“Have you tried to talk to him?” Hannah takes a sip of her latte.
Skye shakes her head vigorously, her platinum pinup hairdo holding its perfect shape.
“Well, I told him he needs to hire you to help catalog his library.” I put in another plug for Skye when Luke grilled me about my wish magic. He took page after page of scrawled notes, which covered the table all around him in disorganized heaps. “And he didn’t say no.”
Hope breaks across Skye’s face as she leans forward. “What did he say?”
“He grunted,” I admit. When her expression falls, I hurry to add, “But it wasn’t a no grunt! Trust me—getting to know Rune was a crash course in grumpy-guy grunts. I’m an effing expert.”
“He’s never said a single word to me.”
“Rune didn’t talk to me either until the wish swap.”
“And finding out if there could be something between you two would be worth it. In fact, you might say it would bedoublyworth it.” Hannah breaks into a knowing grin, holds up two fingers, and wiggles her eyebrows. “Get it? Doubly.”
“Somebody needs to find out for sure that dragons have two dicks,” I say to Skye, bopping her on the arm. “So get in there and take one for the team.”
“Don’t you mean two?” Hannah adds. “Take two for the team.”