Page 65 of The Blue Moon Café & 24-Hour Occult Emporium

“Worth it.” Talula grabbed paper towels and helped Dahlia mop up the spill.

“She’s your ex, right?”

Talula froze. “How did you—?”

“Even when she was being horrible, she kept checking you out.” Dahlia raised her eyebrows at Talula. “Did you seriously not notice that?”

“I am…” Talula swallowed. “Notoriously oblivious to that stuff.”

Dahlia tipped back her head and let loose a glorious peal of laughter. “No fucking shit, Talula!”

Talula felt the stress of her ex encounter melting away as she laughed along with Dahlia.

“Talula,” Dahlia started; then she paused. “I’m going to say something kind of risky here.”

Talula stilled. “Okay?”

“I can help with the town hall thing. I want to help.” Dahlia looked down at her feet. “I know the last time I offered, we didn’t talk for, like, two weeks. So…”

“I’ll remind you that I was a total rabbit penis at the time.” Talula bumped Dahlia’s shoulder with her own. “It means a lot that you asked. But I need to call my mom and see what she wants to do. She usually has a plan for this kind of stuff.”

“Alright. But my offer stands.” Dahlia peered seriously into Talula’s eyes. “I know Samhain’s important to you, and I want to be there for you, however I can. So if you want me, just let me know.”

“I will. Thank you.” Talula smiled. “You’re a better friend than I deserve.”

“Agree to disagree.” Dahlia got to her feet and dusted off her jeans. “But I do think I earned another double cocoa.”

“Maybe even a triple.”

“Quit saying hot things, woman,” Dahlia said. “You don’t know what you do to me.”

Talula laughed, and Simon groaned. He curled up and went to sleep next to Dahlia’s chair.

16

Talula did call her mother when Dahlia said goodbye and they closed up shop. No answer. She sent Sara a text, made dinner, then checked her phone again. No response. She went up to her bedroom and was an hour into translating the next recipe in the mysterious Jinn cookbook when Talula finally got a text back.

Sorry to miss your call, my love!

Don’t worry about the town hall meeting. I’ll handle it when I’m back.

Sweet dreams my wonderful girl!

Talula chewed her lip. She was worried. About her mom. It wasn’t like her to not call Talula back. But there wasn’t much she could do about it. Her eyes were heavy, her body exhausted from the stress of the day. So Talula set aside her dictionaries and got into bed.

In the midst of a dream, Talula woke to a tak tak at her window. She brushed it off—some late bird looking for worms or a large insect smacking into the glass. She tried to sink back into sleep.

But then it came again.

Tak tak.

Wishing the bird would figure out the house did not stand for worms or tardy avians, Talula turned over tiredly. She needed sleep after the long day.

Tak tak CLONK.

Talula bolted upright, her heart a skittering panic. Okay, so, not a bird. She turned on her bedside lamp and quietly padded over to the window. Soon, Talula’s heart was pounding for a whole different reason.

Dahlia was there, on the sidewalk cloaked in shadow, with pebbles in her hand.