Then it came to me, and I knew exactly what the muffins needed. A touch of sage. And it didn’t hurt that sage encouraged honesty. The whole damned town could do with more of that. I sprinkled a bit over the dough.
“Like seriously,” I continued, “why can’t people just tell the truth? I wish there was a way to stop all the lies.”
“Lies suck,” Sandy said dutifully.
“They really, really do,” I muttered as I folded the grated cheese into the dough. “You know how there’s always that question that pops up on social media about ‘what is the one thing you’d remove from the world if you could?’”
When Sandy didn’t say anything, I looked up at him. I wasn’t sure when he’d done it, but he now had a heaping tablespoon of sugar. He wet his fingertip with his tongue, then dipped it into the sugar. Granules of sugar cascaded to the floor, but he didn’t seem to care as he licked his finger. As if sensing my eyes on him, he glanced up. “Hmm?” Then he paused to think back to what I’d said. “Oh, right. I know the one.”
“Well, I’d get rid of lies.” I knocked my spoon on the rim of the bowl. The bubbles that’d been churning through me all seemed to pop at once with the ping of the spoon on the glass. “The world would be so much better without lies.”
“Absolutely,” Sandy agreed, lifting his now-empty spoon to me as if in solidarity. Good grief. When had he eaten the rest of that sugar? I really hoped sugar was an acceptable part of a sprite’s diet.
Having gotten my irritating thoughts off my chest, I felt so much better. I spooned the cheese and herb batter into the prepared muffin tin just as the timer chimed to say the cupcakes were ready. I pulled them out and put the muffins in. Excellent. The timing on that was perfect.
I hoped everything else went as smoothly.
For most of my adult life, I’d baked alone. But I really liked having Licorice and Sandy here. I wondered if it’d be the same in my bakery. If everything went well, I might be able to hire an assistant. I hadn’t even realized that was something I might want to do until now.
I reviewed my list to decide what I should tackle next. This was going to be great. I’d been panicking over nothing.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Shuffle Up and Deal
Gideon
Leon had described the Ravenstone Festival Poker Classic as, "An evening of sophisticated gaming and community spirit.” What it actually was, was six tables with folding chairs crammed into Ravenstone’s small town hall with a registration desk that Sandy had decorated with a banner readingSHUFFLE UP AND DEALthat he’d clearly made himself.
By seven o'clock, every seat was filled, and Rue had already sent out two extra trays of food to keep up with demand.
Leon made a brief speech about the importance of friendly competition and community building that lasted four minutes longer than it needed to. Then the dealer at the head table called the first hand, and the room got down to business.
I'd registered for table one. Not because I was particularly interested in playing poker, but because table one was where Fletcher was seated, and table one was also, as it turned out,where Donny Pace had registered. I wanted to keep an eye on the two of them.
Declan had told me about Licorice's vision the day before. Fletcher and Donny at the brewery. Fletcher red-faced and rattled. Donny with his hand on Fletcher's collar.
Men didn't grab each other by the collar over nothing.
Az had taken the seat to my left, which meant I'd have at least one person at the table whose read on the room I trusted. Avery O'Neill was two seats down, her ever-present notebook nowhere in sight but her sharp eyes very much present. Nadia sat across from me, which I hadn't expected. Maybe she was hoping to win some money to make up for losing the brewery.
But she wasn’t even the biggest surprise. That was Ivan. He’d been mostly keeping to himself since Roy’s death, so I hadn’t expected him to be here. I didn’t know the man well, though, so maybe he simply loved to play poker.
We were almost ready to start when the doors to the town hall burst open hard enough to rattle the frame.
Josh stumbled inside, dripping wet from head to toe, his expensive button-down plastered to his chest and his loafers making miserable squelching sounds across the floor.
“That woman is insane,” he snapped to no one in particular. “She grabbed me and dragged me straight into the fountain outside.”
Several locals looked up at once.
Sandy slowly lowered the muffin in his hand and stared at Josh.
“What woman?” Avery asked, sounding fascinated.
“I don’t know,” Josh huffed. “Just some unhinged woman. I don’t think she was mentally well.”
Az made a soft sound into his drink that might have been a laugh. It was hard to tell with him sometimes. “He’s lucky it was the fountain and not her pond.”
