When he returned, he found Alecsandra standing in front of the coffee machine, two different-sized to-go cups in her hands, a wide smile on her face. Avery differentsmile from the one she used with his customers. Her brown eyes were hopeful and expectant, and as much as Dom didn’t know about her, he couldn’t deny that she seemed willing to do the work, to learn.
What if it was Mia?
Fucking Brandon. He’d messed with his head, and now Dom couldn’t get rid of the made-up version of his baby sister being in the Witch’s place. What if Alecsandra also had a brother? He should find him and kick his ass for letting her roam the world by herself. The simple thought made his blood boil, and he sighed through his nose as he snatched the cups from the Witch’s hands.
“Give me those.”
Allie felt her smile melt. Did she pick the wrong cups? She thought the morning was going well. Ever since the oven debacle, she hadn’t made another mistake. Except for the fact that she didn’t know how to operate the coffee machine, whichwasn’texactlya mistake, she did everything Dominic asked. She worked quickly and carefully, and even smiled at all the customers who scowled at her in return. Not the first or last time she would get this treatment as a Witch; Allie was used to it. People had a hard time trusting Witches, and for valid reasons. Besides their usual devious powers that let them into people’s minds, they’d had a reputation for being cunning and manipulative for centuries. Allie couldn't break that belief with a simple smile.
But she wasn’t here to make friends or to change the folks’ minds about Witches. She was focused on her goal, on practicing her magic and going back to her coven in a few weeks. The bakery job was a means to an end, and she needed to treat it that way. And if this “means” was to last up until the very end, she needed to become good at it.
Packing and serving was easy, as she had to pick between a paper bag or a box based on the order’s size. Or plates for eat-in customers, which they’d had none of so far. The prices were listed on the inside of the display case under each product, and she had always been good with math. Allie made no mistakes with the totals, even when an order contained multiple products.
What had pissed her boss off in his short trip to the storage room? She wanted to watch him make the coffee, but she had a tingling sense running along her spine that she should move away and give him space. After all, she was a stranger who came to him in the middle of the night looking for work and a place to stay, and couldn’t even make coffee. They didn’t know each other, and he owed her no kindness or courtesy.
Allie stepped out of Dominic’s way and let him handle the to-go coffee while she took the next customer’s order, plastering that fake smile back on her face.
Chapter 7
HOW DO YOU KNOW DOMINIC?
The rest of Allie’s first day of work was fortunately uneventful. She stuck to the tasks of packaging, serving, and cleaning tables between customers. After the lunch hour rush, Dominic elbowed her and pointed to a sandwich and an apple on the kitchen table. She thanked him and made a mental note to go to the market as well, to be responsible for her meals starting tomorrow.
In the late afternoon, after Dominic flipped the sign to “Closed,” she noticed there wasn’t much left of the goods baked today. Dominic had baked several batches throughout the day to serve them warm and fresh. He said he’d rather have people wait longer than sell them stale pastry. It was also his strategy so that at the end of the day, he wouldn’t be left with a lot of unsold pastries and loaves of bread. Dominic said all of this in very few words, most of which were grumbled and forced out with invisible pliers.
He told Allie she could have anything left at the end of the day if she wanted. She kept a loaf of bread for later, then picked the last piece of strawberry chocolate cake and one of the croissants, which she gobbled down while her boss counted the money. They had agreed on payment at the end of every week,which worked for Allie, as the money she had was enough for the next few days.
Now that she knew the bakery cleaning was done before the day started, Allie was taking her apron off when she noticed Dominic pulling out a stack of boxes and packaging the goods that hadn’t been sold.
“Can I help you, Mr. Ranford?”
“I’m good,” he said with a deep rumble inside his chest, not taking his eyes off the boxes. She waited until he was done anyway, just in case. Dominic must have felt her intense gaze, as he said, “I’m taking these across town.”
“Okay.” That meant nothing to Allie, so she dared ask, “Where are you taking them?”
Dominic’s hesitation was obvious, his green eyes moving swiftly over the five boxes he’d filled with the baked goods.
“Each day to a different place. Orphanage, nursing home, library, if they have a community event.” He spoke as if this meant nothing, as if he was just driving around town for pleasure. But this gesture told Allie so much about him, about the kind of man he was. A man who took a stranger in need into his home withoutmuchresistance.
“That’s incredibly kind, Mr. Ranford. Do you need any?—”
“I’m good, Alecsandra,” he rushed the words out. “You can go.” All this time, he never looked at her once, his glare focused on the bakery boxes as if they had wronged him.
Allie gave her boss a short nod that went unseen, took her apron off, and left to explore the town. She had a list to complete: clothes, books, and food. Brandon had said Maple Street was the place where she could find anything, and he had been right.
Across from Dom’s Sweets was a bookstore, and two doors down, past a hardware store and a pharmacy, was a clothing store. Allie kept walking up to the other end of the street,where she saw the green, wooden sign that read “Sycamore Falls Market.” In Pearls Fields, the market closed at dusk, earlier than all shops, so she decided to start there.
The market was devised as two rows of stalls facing each other under a sort of pavilion: a single long, wooden roof held up by multiple tall pillars set into the ground. It was open on all sides but covered against the elements. Did it snow in Sycamore Falls in the winter? She’d never seen snow with the constant summery weather of Pearls Fields, and Green Creek had been even hotter.
Allie strolled through the market stalls, gathering wary looks from the vendors, who kept glaring at her red hair. She smiled shyly, but that warm, pressing feeling of not belonging that had built in her stomach when she was younger didn’t come now. With every year and every time she came across rude strangers, her skin had grown thicker, and she had stopped taking the apprehensive looks personally. Now she focused on her shopping task and purchased all kinds of vegetables for soup and stews, honey-baked ham, chicken, a piece of beef, three different types of cheese, apples, pears, dates, and fresh plums that made her think of her mother. All vendors had served her tight-lipped and with deep frowns on their faces. No reason to be upset over that. At least they didn’t refuse her.
After dropping her full bags from the market in her room—and noticing but not caring that Dominic had left—Allie crossed the street and walked down to the clothing store. The door opened with a loud bell that drew the shop owner’s attention.
“Welcome,” the woman said on instinct before her blue eyes fell on Allie. She recognized the vendor as one of the customers from this morning who’d addressed her boss in a friendly way, asking him if he was fine.
Allie said, “Thank you,” knowing that she wasn’t welcome in the true sense of the greeting. She quickly perused the shelvesand hangers in the store and set her eyes on the sweaters and jeans section. She was running her fingers over the materials and checking their sizes when a form shadowed her from behind.
“May I help you?” the woman asked in an icy tone, as if “yes” would not be an acceptable response. Allie shook her head.
