Making his way to the shopfront, Kieran read the swooping font that covered the front window –Sylvie’s Bakery and Sweets– before taking in another lungful of that delicious smell.
Definitely the place,he thought, as he pushed open the door.
Inside, it was even more obvious that whatever was in these baked goods – or whoever had made them – was something more than human. A memory prickled at the back of Kieran’s mind, as he tried to place where he knew this specific kind of smell from – until, finally, it hit him.
A unicorn must have made this food!
He’d heard – somewhere, sometime – that food grown and tended by unicorns was more flavorful, moredeliciousthan anything a normal human, or even another shifter, could produce. But it wasn’t just the heavenly scent that told him that: there was an indefinable whiff ofmagicin the air here, and Kieran’s griffin senses immediately identified it asunicorn.
But where are they? Are they the baker here?
As if in answer to his unspoken question, the baker in question bustled out from the back, a cap on her head, an apron tied across her front. But Kieran could tell immediately that she was a normal human. There was no sense of being a shifter about her whatsoever. Kieran felt a little indecisive about what to do next – it was possible, he supposed, that the person she bought supplies from was a unicorn, and this baker simply didn’t know it.But if she does…
“Welcome to Sylvie’s!” the woman said, beaming at him. “Anything I can help you with? Or would you like to try a sample to help you make up your mind?”
“Oh – right,” Kieran stuttered, pulled out of his musings about who and where the mysterious unicorn might be. “Actually, I guess Icoulduse a little help. Though I’m not really sure what to ask about.”
“Sounds serious,” the baker replied. “But I’m happy to answer any questions you might have about ingredients, allergens, flavors…”
“No, it’s less about that as… not being sure what would be the best thing to get for the person I need to get it for. Or if anything I could do would even be any good.” Kieran swallowed as soon as the words were out of his mouth, wishing he could take them back. He didn’t really want to go into too much detail about the problem – for one thing, he knew what an ass he’d seem if he were to say why he was buying it, but he wouldn’t even be able to give the true reason he’d been an ass in the first place!
Well, unless she already knows about shifters… but even so, how can I explain what’s been going on with me lately?!
“Well, thatdoessound serious,” the baker said gravely. “But if I can help, I will. Want to tell me a little about your predicament, and I’ll see what I can recommend?”
Kieran sighed. Maybe he could just be a little… vague about the whole thing.
“I need to apologize to someone,” he said. “I really messed up – I had a reason, but it’s not an excuse. I’d like for them to forgive me, of course, but… well, I feel like I definitely need to go a bit above and beyond for this. So any recommendation you can make would be really, really welcome. If you have a cake that reads ‘Sorry, I messed up big time’ in six-foot-high letters, that would probably be ideal.”
The baker laughed. “Well, I can’t say I do. But I definitely have cakes and pies that’ll go a long way toward helping you get your forgiveness. Is it a man or a woman you need to apologize to?”
“A woman.” Kieran swallowed again. Maybe he should just tell the whole truth – or as much of it as he feasibly could. “I missed a date with her, even though I really, really wanted to be there. I was… uh… unavoidably detained, and I just couldn’t make it. But I’d love it if I could get a second chance…”
He trailed off as he realized the baker was now staring at him, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.
Uh, did I say something wrong? I guess no woman wants to hear about another woman being stood up…
“It was you!” the baker exclaimed a moment later. “You’re the guy who didn’t turn up for your date with Natasha!”
Kieran blinked, surprise rippling through him.How does she know about that?he wondered – but the answer was obvious. He’d been thinking about it only a few minutes before – Natasha was from here, and clearly the baker was an old friend of hers. When he hadn’t shown up for their date, she’d clearly come here to commiserate with her buddy. And Kieran couldn’t say he blamed her.
“Uh, yeah,” he said, wincing. “But please, believe me when I say it really, really wasn’t my choice to do that, and I’ll do anything I can now to make it up to her. Or even just to get the chance to try to explain myself – if I can. I came by here to try to find an apology present for her.”
“Well, to be honest, she wasn’t very happy about it,” the baker said, eyeing him skeptically. “You don’t really look how I pictured you, though. I was thinking some rich sleazebag who’d rented one of the big chalets near the ski fields. But you don’t really look like that type at all.”
“No, I promise I’m not,” Kieran said, holding his hands up. “Definitely not rich, and I really hope not a sleazebag. Anddefinitelynot staying in a chalet. I’m staying in my uncle’s old place, on the mountain. Did you happen to know Henry Holmes at all?”
The baker’s eyes widened. “Wait, the old Holmes place? You reallyarestaying there?”
Kieran nodded, wondering why she found that so odd. Perhaps it was simply because it had been abandoned for such a relatively long time that she didn’t think it would be habitable anymore.
“Uh, yeah. Just for a little while – my parents started to do it up a bit, so it’s nottoorun down at the moment. It has a generator and running water, at least.”And a bunch of stuff that goes bump in the night, but that’s not a bother. Except when it is.
“Okay, okay,” the baker said, holding up her hands. “One thing at a time, I guess. First, before I decide if I’m going to sell you a pie as an apology to my friend, you better tell me why exactly you stood her up in the first place.”
Kieran hesitated. He could hardly sayBecause my wayward griffin took over my body and insisted on taking it up into the mountains to have a little fly around, and I was only just able to get myself back under control.She’d think he was insane.
But what other reason could possibly be good enough to justify having stood up the most wonderful woman in the world?
