“Yeah. Well, maybe the same happens for Fennus, if he keeps it.”
“More than one Fennus in one place?” Gallina made a face.
Viv shrugged. “Maybe it’s more like caging a bunch of starving wolves together. Sooner or later, one of them is going to eat the weakest. And maybe they all kill each other, in the end.
“Can’t say I’m not disappointed we won’t get those fingers, though,” said Gallina.
“I’ll see if I can make it up to you when we reopen.”
“Maybe one of them rolls,” the gnome mused aloud.
Viv rapped a knuckle on the lid of a crate. “Gallina, I think I can get you a whole sackful.”
28
Autumn deepened, and reopening day approached, although the final two weeks crawled by. The days brimmed with minor tasks that took longer than seemed possible—refitting lanterns, hanging a replacement chandelier, staining and lacquering the table and counter tops, installing the ovens, and mounting a pair of new auto-circulators.
Viv also made a few special orders with a loan from Gallina. She extracted a half-joking promise that the gnome would menace her with knives if she wasn’t repaid in two months. Viv felt she’d exceeded the bounds of friendship in every possible direction with everyone she knew, at this point, although she had a few ideas on how to rectify that.
* * *
When Thimble beheldthe new pair of ovens, the expanded pantry and cold-box, and the more generous back counter space, he was overcome. He scurried from one end of the kitchen to the other, inspecting all the new cookware that Tandri had assembled, peering into the oven doors, and running his hands lovingly over the stovetops.
He stood before Viv, hands clasped in front of him, and gave her a little ducking bow.
“It’s perfect,” he whispered, and his oil-drop eyes brimmed.
She hunkered down before him, “I told you, the best deserve the best.”
He threw his arms around her upper arm and gave it a brief, startling hug, and then disappeared into the pantry.
Viv found her throat unaccountably thick.
* * *
The morning before the reopening,Tandri was already gone from her room when Viv awoke, which was unusual. Her heart twisted, but her concerns eased when she saw the note that Tandri had left on the vanity.
ERRANDS TO RUN. WILL SEE YOU AT THE SHOP LATER.
Honestly, it couldn’t have worked out better, since Viv wanted to take delivery of a few shipments without the others around.
* * *
When she unlockedthe door to Legends & Lattes, it was empty and quiet, the smell of wood stain and lacquer still strong. The autumn chill had deepened, so she started a fire in one of the stoves and idly watched the auto-circulators begin their slow revolutions. The old coffee machine gleamed on the counter top, only marred by a few scratches and dings from its unceremonious rescue months before.
She ascended the staircase, running her hand along the rail. She paced through the new rooms, still chilly, but she could feel the heat beginning to creep through the floor from the kitchen below. A new set of windows let the morning light pool at a slant in the western corners. Cal had really outdone himself.
There was a knock on the shop door, and she descended to find two younger dwarves, still with shortish beards, stamping their feet and rubbing their hands in the brisk air.
“Delivery?” The taller of them pulled a folded sheet from a cloak pocket. “And… assembly?”
“Been waiting for it,” said Viv. “I’ll get the other doors.”
She opened the big bay doors to the dining area and helped unload and move the cargo up the narrow staircase with only a little cursing and grunting amongst them.
Unbundling their tools, the dwarves briskly and efficiently assembled what they’d brought. Viv signed the delivery receipt and bid them stay warm.
She spent another hour upstairs, fussing and fidgeting, before deciding she’d break something if she didn’t stop.
