Page 15 of Bad Wolf's Nanny
Chapter 5 - Lola
Lola changed her outfit three times before finally settling on a soft green sweater and a navy skirt. It was the kind of look that said “friendly academic” rather than “overcompensating and frighteningly inept bookworm.” Or at least that was the hope. She was aiming for approachable. Intelligent but non-threatening. Just the right level of “open to new friends” without seeming like she was trying too hard.
She sighed, tugging the sleeves down over her wrists.
“This is ridiculous,” she muttered, smoothing out invisible wrinkles, “It’s just coffee. With some women. Who were perfectly lovely to me.”
Still, her stomach was a nervous pit. She shouldn’t have had that second mug of coffee.
She grabbed the tin of blueberry muffins, store-bought, with the packaging very deliberately hidden under foil, and tucked it into her tote bag beside her notes and a backup scarf. You never knew when you’d need a scarf. It made her feel composed. People who had scarves at the ready didn’t panic. They weretogether.
She locked her door, hesitated, then unlocked it again to check that the stove was off.
It was.
She relocked the door.
Her boots echoed faintly on the pavement as she made her way through the quiet morning streets. Silvermist looked different by daylight. Less mythical, more picturesque. There were warm wood storefronts with painted signs, the occasionaldog trotting loyally at someone’s side, and the scent of fresh bread from somewhere down the street.
And ahead of her, nestled like something out of a snow globe, stood the Pine Shadow Club.
She’d only seen it at night, when it had seemed more like a den of intimidating alpha males and judgmental onlookers. In the daylight, it looked almost friendly. Like an old hunting lodge turned community center. Broad and weathered, with thick logs making up its walls and flower boxes under the front windows that someone had clearly made an effort with, even if the frost had started to wilt them.
Lola stood in front of the door, her heart hammering.
“You’ve survived fieldwork in foreign archives with hostile academics,” she whispered to herself. “You’ve presented papers at international conferences. This is just…brunch.”
Steeling her shoulders, she pushed open the heavy door.
A burst of warmth greeted her, real heat, from a huge stone fireplace at one end of the room, and the low hum of chatter and clinking ceramic. The scent of cinnamon and honey wrapped around her like a blanket.
“Lola!” Daisy’s voice rang out, cheerful and bright. She was halfway across the room, waving with a mug in her hand and a toddler clinging to her hip. “You came!”
“Yes, I…yes,” Lola stammered, stepping inside and awkwardly kicking rainwater off her heeled boots.
Cassie appeared a moment later, grinning as she wiped her hands on a dish towel. “We were wondering if we’d scared you off.”
“Oh no,” Lola said quickly, clutching her tote like a life jacket, “not at all. I just…didn’t want to be early.”
Daisy exchanged a look with Cassie. “It’s half-past.”
Lola flushed. “Exactly.”
Cassie chuckled and reached out to take the tin from her, “Are these for us? You didn’t have to bring anything!”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” Lola said, trying and failing to keep the lie smooth, “just a little something. I…uh…I baked them.”
Cassie opened the foil and peered inside. “They look amazing.”
“They’re muffins,” Lola said, stating the obvious with a grimace, “blueberry.”
“Well, we’ve got coffee, tea, and about twelve types of sweet things. Come sit. Let me introduce you to the others.”
The room wasn’t as crowded as she’d feared. Maybe a dozen women total, some seated on mismatched chairs pulled into circles, others drifting between a buffet table and the fireplace. There were a few young children playing on the rug, building elaborate structures out of wooden blocks.
Lola smiled faintly as they looked curiously up at her. She hadn’t the slightest idea of how to interact with children.
She followed Cassie toward a group by the fire, where a few women were laughing over something and a baby was asleep on someone’s shoulder. Names swirled around her—Poppy, Sophie, Marsha, Bree. Everyone seemed to know each other, and she couldn’t shake the feeling of being a new student on the first day of school.
