“Huh,” Margo said once he was out of earshot.“Was it me, or was he not as annoyed as I would have expected?”
“He definitely seemed… different.”Lilian bit into the turkey leg.It had a local glaze of Kansas City BBQ sauce, which added a flavor of spice to the meat.The leg was cooked to perfection, falling apart in her mouth as she chewed.She refused to rush the bite, taking the time to savor it instead before she continued talking.“Must be because we have cameras here today.That’s good marketing for the faire.I’m sure they gave him lots of numbers and contracts to look over.He loves that kind of stuff.”
“He does?”Margo raised her brows.“Since when do you know what he loves?”
“Well, uh…” Was that a nonfiction book on the shelf with the children’s fantasy?Not on her watch.She bent down and diligently removed the misplaced specimen.“He’s been helping me with the bookstore.That’s all.He knows a lot about business and marketing.”
Margo snatched the book out of her hands, forcing Lilian to meet her bewildered expression.“You’re cavorting with the enemy?”
“There is no cavorting,” Lilian said.“He’s only come over once, where he unsurprisingly bossed me around and told me I was screwing everything up.”
“He cameover?”Margo’s voice pitched into a squeak.
“To Ten Cents,” she clarified.“Only because I asked for his input on business.”
“And now he’s getting us turkey legs.”Margo drew out the sentence like Sherlock Holmes analyzing a clue.
Oh, no.Lilian could see exactly where her mind was going, and she was putting a stop to it.“He’s… being helpful.”
“Three weeks ago, you couldn’t say a single nice word about the man, and now he’s beinghelpful?”Margo pointed out.“What changed?”
A lot.Now that she thought about it, Hawk had encouraged her to do the Sunday show.He’d apologized, he’d given her honest advice about the bookshop.He didn’t have to do any of that, and Lilian had to admit she appreciated the effort.Sure, he still had the personality of a cactus, but they weren’t best friends or anything.
“He’s helping me out,” she concluded.“That’s all this is.”
“Whatever you say,” Margo sing-songed, tearing another bite out of the turkey leg.
That night, Lilian woke up in a cold sweat.The paperback copy ofThe Raven Kinglay next to her bed, but something else had dragged her out of sleep.As she blinked into the quiet darkness of her room, a sharp pain slashed across her stomach.
She frowned, waiting for it to fade.But it hit again, harder than the first time.Then came the overwhelming urge to get out of bed.
She just barely made it to the toilet in time, her dinner coming up in a colorful spray of orange chunks.Her fingers gripped the porcelain as she heaved all the contents of her stomach up for an endless amount of time.
When she tried to crawl back into bed, another lurch dragged her back into the bathroom.She had enough sense to grab her phone and glance at the time.Three a.m.Oh, this was bad.
Magically, her phone lit up with a text.She saw Margo’s name and two words that made her heart sink.
Margo
I’m sick.
No way, me, too.I’ve been vomiting for the last hour.
Three little dots appeared, showing her friend’s rapid response.Then Lilian’s stomach heaved, causing her to focus back on the toilet bowl.When she looked back, a simple message greeted her.
Margo
Babe, we got food poisoning.And I think I know what did it.
No.Lilian thought back to everything she had eaten that day.Breakfast had been a standard granola bar and water, and then the turkey leg for lunch, and then… nothing.There had been enough turkey that she’d put it in her cooler and brought it home for leftovers.She’d finished it off with a turkey sandwich before bed.
Fuck.She and Margo were both sick.There was no way either of them were going to make it to the faire today.But she had a shop to run, a show to be a part of.
At the thought of the long day ahead of her, her stomach kicked out in protest.Nope, not going to happen.At least not now.She laid her head against the cool porcelain of the toilet bowl and sighed.
Before she passed out, she sent one last text out to Hawk.
Can’t come to the faire today.I’ve been poisoned.
