Hehadknown what she was feeling.She tucked that away.“So I made a deal with them.They could stay in peace if they behaved.I even leave them treats.Four of them keep the deal.Two, not so much.But it’s better than it was before.”
He turned around.“What do you do here?”
“I manage things.Since my mom died when I was fifteen”—another step away—“I took over her role, which is dealing with the bigger customers, like restaurants and hotels, and sometimes handling the front.”She opened an old pie safe.Inside were several shelves full of goodies.She plucked out a triangular cookie with a corner filled with jelly and handed it to him.“Raspberry jelly,” she said when he eyed it.“It’s called a Dragon tear.I came up with it myself.”
“Clever.”He took a bite and then finished it off in one bite.“Good.”
“I created Dragon pastries and Deuce stars.Nothing for Caidos, sorry.They hardly ever come in, just sporadically.And now we don’t even have many Crescent customers.Once Pop was cast in the shadow of suspicion over Tara’s disappearance, it tainted the shop.We lost a lot of locals, people who’d seen Pop’s outbursts and figured he must have done something to her.Luckily, we didn’t lose the bigger accounts.”
She stuffed a tear into her mouth, letting the butter cookie melt on her tongue.“These are the products that didn’t sell yesterday.”She took in the shelves with a sigh.
He had, of course, moved away again, as he did every time her mood dampened.“What do you do with the leftovers?”
“I put some out for the Earthies.The rest go to a shelter for abused women and children.They love all the treats and breads, and sometimes I even make a batch just for them.”
Hmm, he didn’t move closer when she felt a little happier.
“Where did you see the note?”he asked.
She nodded for him to follow her into the small, cluttered office that she and her father shared.As soon as Archer stepped inside, it felt even smaller.“We were here, and I was looking up a number for Kirin.”She stood in front of the blotter, her fingers at the edge of it.
“Close your eyes and go back to that memory.From the moment you came into this space.”
She had relived that time over and over again, punishing herself, wishing she could change it.If only she hadn’t bumped the blotter, which revealed a corner of the note.If only…
“Focus, Lyra.”
She turned to him.“I think that’s the first time you’ve said my name.At least you don’t call me ‘Dragon Girl’ anymore.”
“Don’t make too much of it.Focus.”
“Bossy…”
She let the other words drift off and braced her hands on the edge of the desk.Her fingers grazed the blotter as her eyes closed.It came back like a scene from a movie: she, Kirin, and Ellie all crammed in here, Kirin reaching for the address book on the shelf and Lyra bumping the blotter.Something compelled her to pull out that colorful paper and turn it over.
“What’s that?”Kirin asked, peering over her shoulder.
Ellie looked, too, and in that moment, Lyra saw Tara’s signature, along with a heart to signify love.That would not only substantiate everyone’s suspicions about an affair, but it would also incriminate Pop.She thrust it over the scented candle burning on the desk.
“Hey!”Ellie said, “that was my mom’s notepaper.Her handwriting.”
“Stop.”
Archer’s voice.Not audibly but in the memory.Ellie and Kirin froze, and Lyra turned to see Archer leaning against the open doorway.He was transparent as he walked over.
“This is so weird,” she said.
“Stay focused or we both gopoof.Go back to when you held the note in your hand, before you shoved it in the flame.”
She rewound the memory several seconds.
“Hold it right there.”He moved up behind her, and she could feel him close to her.“Now you can read it.”
She was afraid to see what it said.Which was ridiculous, because she wasn’t afraid of much, and she believed in her pop’s innocence with everything in her.But this note could change everything.
Archer didn’t move away from her agonizing emotions this time.
She forced her gaze to the colored paper.
