Tandor shifted on his stool, clearing his throat. I ignored him.
“And why is that?”
He stared at me blankly, as though the answer were obvious. It certainly wasn’t obvious to me.
Tandor crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot against the floor. Tap tap tap tap tap tap. I just stood there, unsure what to do. Linc and I weren’t necessarily friends—we had only spoken in passing when seeing each other around town. The interaction at the potluck was the longest conversation we’d ever had, as far as I could remember.
“Are you going to buy anything?” I asked.
He gazed longingly into a jar filled with berry powders. “No, I don’t think so.” He continued to wander, just looking upon the items filling my shop.
After long, awkward moments, I said, “Well, you’ve seen me. You can go now.”
Linc smiled brightly. “Okay, then! This was nice, I would love to do it again some time!” And with that, he abruptly strode out through the broken door.
Tandor chuckled quietly under his breath, a deep rumble that vibrated the air around him. “Well, that was fun!” he joked.
“Shut up,” I grumbled. “That was painful.”
“I’m just glad to see him up and moving, after last night.”
I whirled to face him. “Last night? What happened last night, do you mean after he tried to get in here?”
His lips flattened into a line. “I saw him after I left. I was taking a stroll through the park and, what do you know, our human friend was sitting on a bench, looking… lost. Dazed, almost. I didn’t want to leave him out there, so I had to practically carry him back to his cottage. It was bizarre.”
“And you’re just telling me this now? That he was waiting for me?”
“It slipped my mind—I was a little busy finding you unconscious on the floor…”
My cheeks warmed. “I suppose that’s fair enough. I must have really given him the wrong idea at the potluck?—”
The broken door swung open again.
I groaned, dropping my head into my hands. “Who is it?” I asked.
Lunette, the lovely druid who ran the plant shop, tentatively strolled in. She looked vaguely confused. Her long orange hair was twisted back into an intricate braid with leaves strung throughout and a pretty gray cloak adorned her tall frame. She was followed by a werewolf man with an intimidating muscular build and shaggy white hair who looked just as confused, if not more so. Both of their eyes held a strange glossy sheen.
Lunette’s twinkling voice was quiet in the now-crowded space. “Hi, Kiz.”
My annoyance dropped. “Oh, hello Lu. What can I do for you? Do you need more of those fertilizing powders for your plants?”
She drifted toward me, her cheeks flushed. “No, no, I still have plenty from my last order.”
“Oh…kay,” I said. “Something else then?”
She swallowed tightly. “I just had the strangest urge to come see you. I don’t really know why, it’s just this—thispullin mychest. This weird nagging to visit.” She drifted even closer but stopped herself before she touched me, hovering right inside my personal space. Her unique cherry scent drifted over me in a pleasant wave. I inhaled deeper than I necessarily needed to.
Lunette had always been friendly, and I enjoyed talking with her. We bonded over our shared love of poisonous plants and pretty flowers, and she always had the best gossip. And she was beautiful—nobody could deny that. But through the years of knowing each other, there had never been a romantic spark.
But the way she was staring at me now made me wonder…
I gazed into her eyes, examining the strange sheen there. The same sheen that was in Linc’s eyes. And Mayor Tommins’. I didn’t remember Tandor’s eyes being glossy, but I glanced at him to check, only to find him scrubbing his eyes with his fists and quietly sniffling. An opened jar of snapdragon pollen sat beside him that he had clearly been tinkering with. I stifled a laugh.Idiot.
The white-haired werewolf hovered near the door, watching Lunette with a keen eye but not looking like he wanted to come in any further.
“Lu?” I asked cautiously.
“Yeah?”
