Shortbread and Shadows - Amy Lane Page 0,49
deep breath, and Alex said, “Do you think the squirrels are getting tired by now?”
Kate let out a hysterical giggle, and they all started moving inside. “Uh, guys?” Jordan said as they neared the door. “I… look, I think we may have to do that at sunrise too. I… Alex, how bad was it when you got here?”
“Really super bad,” Alex said. “Lachlan, how bad was it?”
“Scary as fuck,” Lachlan said smartly, managing to pull up to Bartholomew’s side.
“I don’t want to talk about it out here,” Bartholomew said. The truth was, whether he’d been planning to go to the con tomorrow and sell stock or not, he would have needed to go inside and bake. His itch for comfort, for the thing he did to think, to make something that would give solace to his friends, was so strong he could practically feel that glow Jordan was talking about.
They got inside, and it appeared that everybody else had the same idea. Kate hit her phone to order pizza, and the rest of them set up bags of flour, sugar, and vanilla on the counter.
Lachlan disappeared for a moment through the front door as Bartholomew was giving directions, and he came back with the neat Ziploc bags full of the shortbread Bartholomew had made when he’d been spellcasting.
“Oooh…,” Kate said, reaching her hand out as she sat at the kitchen table. “Gimme!”
“These are good,” Lachlan said, and Bartholomew tried not to preen. “He made these when he was making the potion for the amulets. I think some of the magic seeped in. They’ll make you feel better.”
He dished out the shortbread like a hardened cop would give out fingers of scotch, and everybody took a bite, including Bartholomew, who closed his eyes in bliss. “Wow,” he mumbled. “What kind of vanilla do you have? This tastes different than my usual shortbread.”
Everybody else chuckled, the sound somehow heartier than they’d sounded as they arrived. “I think it was you, baby,” Lachlan said softly with a little booty bump. “I’m pretty sure you’re the secret ingredient.”
Bartholomew gave him a mortified look, and Lachlan smiled, leaning over his back. “Now, you were doing really good bossing us around a few minutes ago—keep at it. Let’s get something in the oven, right?”
“Yeah,” Bartholomew murmured. “Yeah, fine. Josh, you want to get out the mixers?”
“On it, Barty.” Josh gave a yawn, and Bartholomew blinked. Oh damn.
“Never mind, guys. Look, I’ll bake. I got a nap in. You guys rest and eat and plan. It’s… I mean, we made money this weekend. Stocking up is more for this… this feeling I’ve got. This… you know.” He looked apologetically at Alex, their skeptic. “This witchy feeling. Anyway, I feel like I need to be there on the vendors’ floor tomorrow, so I’m making stock so it looks like an ordinary day. Sit. Give it an hour. If you feel like it, come help me later.”
“A witchy feeling?” Josh said, suddenly looking wide-awake.
“You’ve got a witchy feeling?” Kate popped up.
“Like, maybe there’s something you can do to make this whole thing better?” And the desperation—the true desperation—in Jordan’s voice told Bartholomew how much he was worried about Dante and Cully.
“Yeah, guys, but, you know. Maybe just my part in it. I… I don’t have any guarantees we’ll… undo the whole enchilada. I’m only one guy.”
“Yeah,” Jordan said thoughtfully, rubbing at a spot behind his ear, which was his tell for being nervous. “But if we all have to undo it, we need to take notes. You get started. You’re right—I for one could use a beer and ten minutes staring into space. But we’re baking again tonight. This is coven business.”
“And oven business,” Lachlan said with a smirk.
Bartholomew couldn’t help it. He gave Lachlan a fond look and let out a weird snort-laugh-ayuk sound worthy of a cartoon character before slapping his hand over his mouth.
Lachlan grinned at him. “I’ll get the mixers, then,” he said. “Everybody else, take a load off. We’ll sit down when the pizza gets here.”
“I’ll help with the mixers,” Jordan said. “They’re out in the garage. Lachlan? Follow me.”
Commit to the Recipe
LACHLAN’S sister usually did this part. He would get lured outside to help his parents bring something in, and Erin would jump on his girlfriend and badger her unmercifully about what her intentions were toward Lachlan. He assumed that when he brought Bartholomew home and introduced him, he’d have to warn Tolly that it might happen and threaten Erin within an inch