I snorted. "You know as well as I do that I'd have to be in the room to do that kind of necromancy, and it's not exactly useful unless you want to scare someone with a dead hamster."
"I'll take your word for it."
"Witches have no sense of humour," I murmured.
"I can assure you that we do. I'll be fine here until you get back," he promised. "But only if you bring me a coffee."
I nodded in agreement and headed out the door with an energetic hellhound puppy following along beside me. Perhaps I should have invited Clara to stay longer this morning and not come to work at all. But I knew that wasn't really an option. As fun as last night had been, I didn't do anything that would confuse people about my intentions. Spending the entire day with someone would do that, so it was best the way things were. We'd had our fun, and now we'd never see one another again, just like it was supposed to be.
Chapter 7
CLARA
I hummed along to the radio as I moved around the workroom of my uncle's shop while brewing a new batch of sleeping potion. It had become our best seller ever since I'd started working here, which wasn't a huge surprise. I'd always been gifted with potions, and it was good to put those skills to use every day.
Between the thoughts of making the potion came flashes of memory from last night, but I pushed them out of my mind. I shouldn't be thinking about it, or I'd want a repeat. Not only was that not possible when I was in the middle of my family shop, but it couldn't happen again anyway. I was going to have to make do with my memories.
The deep purple potion bubbled over the low flame, filling the room with a calming smell that reminded me I was in the middle of doing something, and that I shouldn't be thinking about last night.
The song on the radio changed to a new upbeat number by Mimi, and I sang along despite not knowing what any of the Chinese lyrics meant. It didn't matter, it was still a lot of fun, and I loved to hear music from around the world.
I summoned magic to my fingertips and used it to swirl the potion around. The top of it shimmered in response before settling down to the deep purple colour once more.
The bell above the door of the shop rang, breaking me out of my potion-making flow.
"One moment!" I called out, looking at my potion and wondering what to do with it. I couldn't really leave it boiling while I dealt with the customer, that could lead to disaster. But leaving it for longer than a few minutes would mean that it would be ruined.
"It's only me," my cousin's voice came from the other room.
I let out a sigh of relief and didn't touch the potion. "You know where I am."
Daisy appeared in the doorway of my workroom with her coppery hair tied up in a ponytail and a denim jacket over a casual dress. "I figured you'd be here," she said.
"Where else would I be?" I asked as I picked up a jar of ground lavender and sprinkled some over the top of the potion.
"You might still have been at your mystery woman's," she responded. "So tell me about it?"
I shrugged. "Not much to tell. I went through with the old-fashioned way of getting over someone."
"Mmhm. Get under someone new. And?"
"You don't seriously want to know this, do you?" I added a dash of water to my potion.
"Good point." Daisy wrinkled her nose. "Why does it smell like soap?"
"Because you've had too many bad gift baskets from elderly relatives," I said. "When used properly, lavender has great soothing properties. You shouldn't underestimate it."
She laughed. "So I'm guessing that if I ask you for a sleep potion, then you're going to give me something with lavender in it?"
"You can have this one, if you want? It's a fresh batch."
"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to deprive you of wares for your customers."
"It's fine, I'll just make another," I promised. "We've got all of the ingredients for me to make more. What do you need a sleep potion for?"
She leaned back against the counter and ran a hand over her face. "My gallery opening is coming up, and I'm stressing about it," she admitted. "It's stopping me from sleeping, and that makes me irritable. I'd much rather have a boyfriend and a business still when the reveal is still over, so getting sleep is necessary."
I laughed. "I doubt Thor is going to break up with you over something as small as lack of sleep."
