Page 31 of Black Willow Witch
Hearing the door open, Emberlyn looked to see her other two laundry aides entering. ‘Morning, girls.’ The sisters Chrissie and Clementine were werewolves whose mom was a witch. A mating between a witch and a wolf never produced hybrids – only one or the other.
Chrissie blew out a breath. ‘Sorry we’re almost late. Clem’s car wouldn’t start again, so we had to walk.’
‘That contraption hates me, I’m telling you,’ Clem muttered. ‘It operates just fine whenever I have a mechanic look at it. Other times, it acts like an ass.’
Chrissie sighed. ‘It’s a car, Clem, it can’t hate you.’
‘Wrong. So very, very wrong.’ Clem marched to the back of the hub, her sister close behind her.
Paisley looked at Emberlyn, her eyes dancing. ‘So, anyways, when are you heading upstairs to pack the rest of your stuff?’
‘When we get a lull,’ Emberlyn replied. ‘It won’t take me long, since I’m leaving the majority of the furniture behind for you. And I already got started on it yesterday, I just didn’t take everything back to the manor with me.’
‘Awesome. Because I’m packed and ready to move in once you’re gone. My mom isn’t pleased that I’ll be living on neutral territory. But she does feel better knowing that you have wards all over it to keep intruders out.’
Just then, the front door once more opened. Emberlyn felt her lips curve at the middle-aged werewolf who strode in. ‘Good morning, Mr Weaver.’
His default grin kicked up a notch. ‘Morning, pretty witches.’ He plonked his basket on the counter and blew a breath upward, making his unkempt salt-and-pepper hair flutter. ‘You know what yesterday was?’
‘What?’ she asked.
‘My fiftieth birthday, which means . . .’
‘You now qualify for free delivery,’ she finished. ‘Happy belated birthday. Did you do anything fun?’
‘At my age, you don’t much celebrate it.’ He took a complimentary mint from the bowl near the devil’s ivy plant.
‘We can also have your things collected, you know,’ Emberlyn said, plucking a shirt out of his basket.
‘But then I wouldn’t have an excuse to come in and flirt with you, would I?’
She snorted. ‘I suppose that’s true.’
‘Would you like tea or coffee?’ Paisley asked him. ‘Flirting is thirsty work.’
‘I’ll take a coffee. You know how I like it.’ He gestured at the glass case built into the desk. ‘I’ll also take one of those potions that help with joint pain. These bones of mine ache something fierce at times.’
Werewolves generally suffered from pain in their joints as they aged, which wasn’t surprising given the amount of shapeshifting they did. All the snapping and popping had to put a real strain on their bones over time.
Emberlyn swiped a tag and pen from beside the telephone. ‘So, how’s Mrs Weaver?’
As Mr Weaver talked about his mate, Emberlyn neatly wrote down the relevant details on the tag for his shirt – his name, the locations of stains, and that two buttons were missing and would need replacing.
She generally worked at the counter, tagging and inspecting clothes. Paisley would then sort the items according to the fabric and necessary treatment. Clem had a keen eye, so she’d apply magick-spiced solvents or other treatments to stains before passing them to Chrissie, who placed the items in the necessary machines. Once Emberlyn had sprinkled in a little magick, those machines would be switched on.
After the cycle, Clem would check the clothes for any stains or residue – something that very rarely happened. Paisley and/or Chrissie would then either steam, press or iron the clothes. Following that, Emberlyn would fold and bag them. It was a system that worked well.
Emberlyn kept the prices reasonable and provided discounts for customers who brought in more than a certain amount ofclothes at a time, as well as special deals for their most frequent customers.
It wasn’t a glamourous job. They were on their feet virtually all day. There was a whole lot of lifting, carrying, moving, organizing, cleaning, etc. A whole lot of talking, too, since customers liked to chat. But as a team they made it work, and there were aspects of it that they enjoyed. Also, a simple spell kept the place from being too hot and humid.
After Mr Weaver had left, Paisley sidled up to Emberlyn and said, ‘I took it as a very good sign when you cut his nephew loose.’
Emberlyn felt her brow pinch. ‘Uh, why?’
‘It shows that you’rereallymoving forward. I can see why you allowed said nephew into your bed six months ago. He’s fun and hot and he doesn’t do serious. You needed that then, because you weren’t ready for more.’
‘I’m still not.’
