Page 99 of A Barista's Guide to Love & Larceny
“Well,” McKenna said, “it so happens that photos of me in my gown ended up on the news, and the owner of the boutique was quite taken with the modifications I made. They had Emmanuel reach out to me about coming up with a few designs for their collection—sort of a limited guest stylist role, is what they made it sound like.”
“What?” Dani exclaimed. “Are you for real? Kenz, that’sincredible.”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” McKenna said, but she was brimming with pleasure. “I mean, I accepted, of course. They’re giving me a small budget for materials, and of course I’ll use it, but I think I’ll lean more heavily into wildcrafting for my designs, since that’s what caught their eye in the first place.”
“I’m so freaking proud of you,” Dani said, grinning. “I can’t wait to see what you come up with!”
“Thank you, my love,” McKenna said. “Well, since it seems you’ll be stuck here for at least one more semester, I suppose we better make sure you ace your exams. Shall we get some coffee on the way to the library?”
“Yeah,” Dani said, hooking her elbow through McKenna’s. “Coffee sounds perfect.”
Thirty-Five
Dani hummed softly to herself as she wiped down the counter, glancing up every so often to admire the coconut-shavings of snow gathering on the sidewalk. It was the first snow of the season, and it was shaping up to be quite a blizzard, a thought that gave her a fuzzy feeling inside, like her soul was wearing a sweater. Today was the last day before Quarter Cast shut down temporarily for holiday break, and Dani planned to spend the next week alternating between taking long walks across the frozen city and drinking peppermint hot chocolate in bed. It would be her first real rest since—well, ever, and even though it meant losing work hours, she could hardly say she was mad about it.
In fact, she might even say she deserved it. Dani put down the rag she was holding, adjusted her name tag, and propped her hands on her hips, surveying the empty café, a queen overseeing her kingdom at peace. Burren had done a lovely job decorating for the holiday, with fresh boughs of pine and cedar above the windows, red ribbons on the chairs, and an impressive tree in the corner, laden with baubles and ribbons. She had even hired an enchantress to add some finishing touches in the way of sonic charms, which meant that every so often a rush of jingle bells and carolers would fill the space out of nowhere.
Dani had helped with the tree, a simple task that had given her a kind of pleasure that was the cherry on top of the rest of her accomplishments over the last week. She had made it through exams more successfully than she could have ever hoped for, even under normalcircumstances, and had squeaked by with at least a B in every class, and even an A- in tarot. She had also met with her advisor to discuss and draw up the academic plan for her major, a process that had been strangely enjoyable. They had crafted a three-year blueprint for her curriculum, creating an interdisciplinary major made up of different classes from oracular studies, psychology, enchantment, and even a few Kass had suggested from spellcraft. It was an ambitious plan, which included an intensive research component that would culminate in a thesis in her senior year, specifically studying her own ability. They still needed the green light from the panel, of course, but Dani had to admit she was kind of excited about it.
For now, though, she was content to enjoy her holiday. Their mandated community service wouldn’t start until school was back in session, and McKenna was heading home to see her mom for the three-day visit permitted to each of the miscreants. Dani didn’t have anywhere to go, and that was fine with her. She needed the chance to take a deep breath before the semester and her busier-than-ever schedule started up again.
But she wasn’t officially on break for a few more hours, so she needed to find something to occupy her time before the café closed. The counters were pristine, the last remaining baked goods wrapped up in preparation to be donated later, the blenders and pitchers washed until spotless. She had pre-closed like a boss.
Finally, Dani grabbed a box of candy canes from the back, threw them all in a plastic bag, and began to crush them with a tamper. Even if nobody ordered a peppermint mocha before the end of the day, she’d take them home and top her hot chocolates with them.
She had only succeeded in breaking them into slightly smaller pieces when the door-ghost eked out a tired moan—even he was ready for a break. Dani looked up and felt a smile spread across her face at the sight of Oliver in a winter coat and a beanie with a pouf on top. After a fortnight of taking the specialists’ antidote, they weresleeping normally again, and it showed in their face, which shone with life.
“Hey,” Dani said, meeting them at the register. “I didn’t expect to see you again. Weren’t you supposed to fly home today?”
“Change of plans,” Oliver said. “Asa decided the family should come to me instead.” They turned back toward the door, and as if on cue, a troop of four people of cascading height filed into the café, bringing with them an explosion of chatter and laughter. It took Dani a moment to process what she was seeing: At the front of the group, Oliver’s brother Asa, whom she’d met when he’d flown out after the gala, and three younger people whom she could only assume were their other siblings, all in various stages of teenagedom and with the same dark hair.
“Hi again,” Dani said to Asa as he joined Oliver at the register.
“Hi,” Asa said, smiling. “Sorry we fell behind; they got distracted by a comics shop back there. Don’t touch that,” he called back to one of the girls, who had taken an ornament off the tree in the corner. “Come over here and be polite.”
They shuffled over obediently so that Oliver could introduce them to Dani: “This is Charlotte, Milo, and the little one’s Emi.”
“Hey,” Emi said, “I’m not that little anymore.”
“Shh,” Oliver said, laughing. “Let me think of you as little for a while longer.”
“Nice to meet you all,” Dani said. She found the loving chaos they’d brought into the café delightful. “So you guys are spending the holiday here?”
“Yeah,” Asa said. “When I found out that Oliver’s only allowed three days away, it felt silly to have them waste half of that on travel. So I used my end-of-year bonus to bring everyone out here instead. We have a lot to celebrate, not just the holiday.” He bumped his shoulder into Oliver’s meaningfully.
“I haven’t told her yet,” Oliver said, blushing.
“Told me what?” Dani asked.
“Go on,” Asa urged his sibling.
“Well, I had a long talk with my advisor,” Oliver said, “and she’s going to arrange an internship at the local research hospital for me next summer. She was really impressed with how much I was able to accomplish on my own with all the—well, you know—and thinks I could explore a career in medical arcanobotany. She said my telepathic skills could have a lot of applications for understanding what plants should go into different medicines, and that sounds pretty cool.”
“Oh, Oliver, that’s amazing,” Dani said, and she could feel herself beaming. “I love that for you.”
“Thanks,” Oliver said, smiling back. “I can’t lie, I’m excited for it.”
“Thatiscause for celebration,” Dani said. “Can I get you all something to drink? Your new favorite, Oliver?”
