Page 128 of The Blue Moon Café & 24-Hour Occult Emporium

For the first time in Talula’s life, the Blue Moon was loud. Dozens of people filled the café, milling about and examining the shelves with interest. Some had phone cameras out for selfies. A few were trying on witch hats in the corner. Talula counted the faces she immediately recognized—Anna, Emilio, Kanishka, Josie, Nathan the health inspector, Muriel the head librarian, Luis, even Wei and Alexei from the farmers’ market.

“Hello.” Muriel stood in the center of the café with her hands on her hips. “What’s to be done?”

“Pardon?” Talula asked. She heard the tip-tap of footsteps behind her as Simon caught up.

“Your speech at town hall reminded us how much Samhain has done for this community. You fought tooth and nail for it while we had our thumbs up our asses,” Muriel said succinctly. “What’s to be done?”

Talula blinked away the sudden prickle of tears in her eyes, then grabbed her checklist (thankfully free of any magical nuances). Muriel put on her ladybug reading glasses and skimmed the list with a few hmms. Then she started delegating.

“Luis.” Muriel poked a stocky man in the chest. “You go meet the porta-potty people and tell them where to set up. Give Talula your number; she’ll text you the information. Don’t let them short you on potties.”

Luis, Pine Hollow’s most respected (and retired) fire chief, saluted the librarian with a grin.

“Nathan, you’re on pumpkins,” Muriel continued, turning to Kanishka. “You. Young person. Call the shuttle services to confirm stops and arrival times.”

“Why me?” Kanishka groaned.

“Because you’ve been on your phone since we got here. You might as well be useful.” Muriel cackled. “Anna, Emilio, stop flirting and make sure we have proper trash-can-to-picnic-table distribution.”

Anna and Emilio stopped flirting (barely) to point enthusiastic finger guns at the imposing librarian.

“What can I do?” came a light-filled voice Talula had been aching for all morning.

Dahlia had arrived, glorious in a Hocus Pocus T-shirt, dangly bat earrings, and combat boots. A flutter of nervousness rose in Talula’s chest. Outside of the love bubble of Dahlia’s house, would Dahlia still want Talula?

She didn’t have to wait long to find out.

Dahlia strode up to Talula, grabbed her by the apron, and laid an enormous, enthusiastic kiss on her lips. Talula hummed with relief and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. The kiss went on for a beat longer than was appropriate for a café (even one that was also an occult emporium). Nobody cared. Emilio and Anna cheered. Kanishka rolled her eyes. Nathan awwed. Even Simon gave a fond whuf.

“I liked seeing you this morning,” Dahlia murmured in a low voice against Talula’s mouth. She still had Talula by the apron strings. “We should do it again.”

“I’ll throw in breakfast next time,” Talula promised, cheeks (and other places) heating.

“I’ll hold you to it.”

Talula tried not to melt into a puddle of lust.

“Ladies, this is adorable, but I will throw a bucket of water on the two of you.” Muriel tutted.

Simon hrmphed in agreement.

“Muriel, Talula has been pining for months! Let them have their PDA,” Anna protested.

“Within reason,” Muriel relented, still all business.

(Talula and Dahlia would proceed to be completely unreasonable about their PDA all day.)

Once assignments were handed out, the whole crew headed to the fairgrounds a little ways behind the Blue Moon. Talula and Dahlia held hands for the entire walk, swinging their arms like schoolkids, with Simon trotting at their heels. The carnival service had already set up some of the rides and demarcated lanes for vendors with hay bales. To Talula’s surprise, more friends had arrived to help. Dave, Roger, Pete, and Rowan were diligently putting together an elaborate play structure at the center of the area.

“What are you guys doing here?” Talula asked with a smile.

“Samhain,” Dave said.

“It’s always been there for us. It’s about time we were there for it,” Pete said as he hammered away.

“You’re all wonderful. Thank you. For this, and what you did for the café.” Talula reached out to rope them into hugs. She loosened her arms to make introductions.

“This is Dave, Roger, Pete, and Rowan,” Talula said to the group of humans. “They’re the best contractors on the planet and part of our Samhain community.”