Allie checked the time and saw there was one hour left before the bakery closed.
“Sorry, I can’t right now.”
“Dom, you can spare Allie for one hour today, right?” she asked in a sweet voice, batting her eyelashes at him. Dominic held her gaze for a moment before speaking.
“Fine,” he huffed.
Allie had the feeling there was possibly nothing Dominic would deny Mia.
“Are you sure, Mr. Ranford?” Allie asked, and Mia scoffed and rolled her eyes, a smirk across her face. “I can stay and finish?—”
“Go,” he said in that tone that didn’t leave room for conversation.
“All right. One second,” she told Mia. She ran inside to take her apron off and put on her jacket. She also threw a bunch of pumpkin seeds in a bowl and left it with Ekko while she grabbed the document that came with him.
Allie rushed down the hallway while pulling at her hair band to let her hair loose.
“Ready,” she said when she was back outside. Dominic watched her closely, his deep green eyes fluttering to her curls. His jaw clenched, and Allie messed with her hair and instinctively asked him, “Do I have flour in my hair again?”
“You’re good,” Mia answered instead, her eyes moving between her and Dominic before she took Allie’s arm and dragged her through the small yard onto the sidewalk. Allie turned and waved at her boss, who stood rooted in the same spot, following them with that burning gaze. “What’s that?” Mia looked at the paper in her hand.
“I need to stop by the Mystical Creatures Institute. Did Mr. Ranford tell you about Ekko?” Mia shook her head, so Allie told her in a few words how she’d ended up with a pet dragon for the past couple of days.
“And Dom agreed?” she asked with raised eyebrows. “To keep the dragon?”
“Only until I had time to go by the Institute and check with them about the misunderstanding,” Allie assured her. “And I promised Mr. Ranford that?—”
“Okay, hold on.” Mia interrupted her with a laugh. “What is it with you and Mr. Ranford?” At Allie’s confused look, Mia added, “Why don’t you call him Dominic?”
“Because he’s my boss.” And he’d never corrected her, and he kept calling her Alecsandra, and as much as she wanted to correct him every time, she didn’t.
Mia tsked. “I had no idea my brother was one for honorifics,” she muttered more to herself.
Allie stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, and Mia halted with her.
“Brother?”
“Yes,” Mia said as if it was as obvious as the sun in the sky. “Dom’s my brother. He didn’t tell you?” Allie shook her head, and Mia laughed. “Wait, did you think—is that why you left the bakery earlier? You thought?—”
“I didn’t think anything!” Allie blurted out, but Mia was still laughing.
“Come on.” Mia motioned for Allie to keep walking.
They strolled to the end of Maple Street and where Allie usually made a right to go to her secluded space in the forest, now they made a left, heading around the market, and in a couple of minutes they stopped in front of a blue-painted building.
“The Mystical Creatures Institute” was written in large, white letters on top of the double wooden doors. Allie and Mia walked inside, the receiving hall empty save for a cherry-red wood desk at the end. Behind it sat a petite lady with gray hair and elongated eyes, who Allie recognized from the bakery as Mrs.Chen. She’d come in every two days to get fresh bread and was one of Allie’s chief scowlers.
“Hi Mrs. Chen!” Mia chirped.
“Hello, dear.” The elderly lady offered her a smile, which quickly wilted when she noticed Allie approaching the desk as well.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Chen.” The woman made a gruff sound and looked through her round glasses at the paper in Allie’s hand. “I think there was a mistake with a delivery this week. A baby dragon was delivered to the bakery instead of here,” she explained.
Mrs. Chen took the paper from her and studied it at arm’s length.
“It says here the delivery was three days ago. Why did you only bring it today?”
“The Institute was closed during the time I was not working,” Allie said, keeping her voice even. Mrs. Chen scoffed and shoved the paper back at her.
