Page 33 of A Barista's Guide to Love & Larceny
“Oh, we’re having a blast,” Karim said, unshrinking beneath her piercing gaze. “I’ll say one thing about Kass, the dude sure knows how to throw down.”
Dani perked up at the sound of Kass’s name.
“Yeah, too bad he’s a grade-A asshole.” Wyatt made this proclamation with such venom Dani expected a rush of color in her mind—nothing came. This guy really had no compunction in declaring his dislike of Kass to total strangers. At Kass’s own party, no less.
“Shut up, man,” Karim said, elbowing him. “Not in polite company.”
McKenna didn’t miss a beat, not even to glance at Dani. “Oh, I’m terribly impolite, and I’m an even terribler gossip. What makes our host an asshole of the highest court?”
Dani glanced around the room like she had no investment in such a question, but she was desperate to know Wyatt’s reasoning. It was hard to put too much stock into a frat boy grudge, but if there were red flags, she’d like to know them.
When Dani looked back at them, Karim was shooting Wyatt a warning glare. “Well,” Wyatt said, relenting under his friend’s pressure, “let’s just say he’s high on his own supply. Whole family is, honestly.”
Dani briefly considered pressing Wyatt for more information on Kass, but it seemed like a waste of energy. Instead, as they changed the subject to McKenna’s outfit, she tasted her drink and found it far more pleasant than the shot. She took a few more sips while McKenna flirted with the boys, but it wasn’t long before she started to get antsy.
“Hey,” Dani said, waving at a nonexistent person across the room. “I just saw someone I know from class. I’ll catch you in a bit, okay?”
“That sounds delightful, darling,” McKenna said. “Give them my regards—oh, and do let me know if you run into any cantaloupe.”
Dani smiled. “I haven’t seen any so far,” she said, “but you’ll be the first to hear about it if I do.”
Comfortable in the knowledge that she had an escape route if the overwhelm became too much, Dani headed bravely toward the door and into the hallway, drink in hand; it was only once she’d left that she realized she didn’t know where she was going. Her objective, ostensibly, was to find Kass, but she had no idea where to start looking, and the sharp edge of panic pressed against her diaphragm when she thought about venturing into that sea of people alone. She hovered for a moment like a video game character in an idling animation before the door across from the speakeasy opened to reveal a group of students giggling among themselves, wafting an earthy scent as they moved past her.
The noise of the party consumed their laughter, leaving Dani alone with the door they had left ajar. Without thinking, she crossed the hallway and peered into the slant of darkness beyond. She could see nothing, but could smell damp soil and something lightly floral—jasmine, maybe? Curiosity getting the better of her, she slipped into the room.
She was met with complete darkness, save for a strip of intense light against the far wall. The responsible lamp was hanging just above a table covered in potted plants. Dani stepped forward with a furrowed brow, wondering if Kass’s family had amassed their wealth by growing weed, of all things, when all the lights in the room went on at the same time.
She threw up a hand to shade her eyes from the sudden onslaught. A couple of seconds of exaggerated blinking revealed the true nature of the room as a greenhouse. Raised garden beds marched in rows down the length of the floor, a mix of fruit trees and tall shrubbery of all varieties stretched their branches upward, and at the far wallthere was a table covered in planters, the light she had seen coming from heat lamps dangling over them protectively. Half of the ceiling and the entire left wall were made of glass, including a door that presumably led to the backyard—if that’s what people still called it when it was attached to a mansion.
The room was clinical, scientific; it clashed completely with the rest of the house. The plants were carefully groomed and labeled with their common and Latin names. This was either a business venture or a passion project someone took very seriously. As Dani moved down the central aisle, though, she spotted something that did not exactly vibe with the rest of the room and went to investigate.
One of the orange trees had been planted in the center of a wooden sphere, which stood almost as tall as Dani and was carved to resemble the bud of a flower closing around the trunk of the tree. The detail on the sculpture was exquisite, with negative space cut away to form the veins in the leaves and petals, and engravings etched into the surface of the wood to express texture and depth. It was a work of art.
“Do you like it?”
Dani whirled around to see Kass walking toward her, armed with a drink in either hand. He grinned at her sheepishly, clearly guilty for enjoying the fright he’d given her. He was looking cute and cozy in a heathery sweater with pushed-up sleeves, dark jeans, and suede dress sneakers—decidedly not a costume. The only evidence that he’d gone to any special trouble for the occasion was his hair, which was smoothed back in lieu of his usual tousled look.
“Hecate’s bones,” Dani said, putting a hand to her heart. “You really know how to scare a girl.”
“It’s becoming a hobby of mine.” Kass had reached her now, inspiring an unstoppable surge of shyness. Without the familiar context of the café to buoy her, Dani realized she didn’t know how to act around him.
Perhaps he sensed this, because he didn’t wait for her to scramble for a response. “I brought you a fresh one. White Russian, right?” He offered her one of the glasses he was holding.
“Oh,” Dani said, looking down at the drink. “Yeah, that’s—how did you know?”
Kass lifted a shoulder. “I may have seen you in the hall,” he said. “I was on my way to the bar anyway, so I thought I’d grab some drinks and join you.”
“I didn’t mean to—I’m sorry if I’m not supposed to be in here,” Dani said, accepting the cocktail, her intention not to have more than one quickly forgotten in her nervousness. She was so busy apologizing she hardly registered the fact that he took her empty glass from her hand and turned it into thin air. “I don’t really have an excuse. I’m just bad at crowds.”
He laughed. “Don’t worry, I am too. And I don’t mind if you’re in here. This was my mom’s greenhouse. We keep it up because that’s what she would have wanted. Well, I don’t personally, but I wanted something of mine in here, to honor her.” He gestured to the wooden sphere next to them.
It took Dani a couple of seconds. “Wait,” she said. “Are you saying youmadethis?” He lifted a shoulder in affirmation. “The fuck, Kass. That’s incredible.”
She was gratified by the blush that blessed his cheeks. “Thanks,” he said, and took a sip of his craft beer. He must have been the one to pick the menu. “I made it a few years ago, after she died. This orange tree is the only one that’s still around from when this was hers, and I wanted it to feel special.”
“It is special,” Dani said softly. “I’m sorry about your mom. Was she into magical wood, too?”
“Kind of,” Kass said, “though not in the way I am. She was a gardener, not a woodworker. And a green mage, too, though she wouldn’t have called herself that. She always just said she talked to the plants.”
