Page 35 of Spiced!

Then my rational brain decided to play.

It was six-twenty in the morning.

Normal people were asleep.

Veterinarians were probably asleep.

Only bakers, military dudes and dudettes, and the extremely anxious were awake at this hour. I was only one of those things.

Probably.

I was elbow-deep in empanada dough when my phone finally dinged.

I got flour on the screen retrieving it, which I wiped on my apron before reading, smearing the flour across the glass instead of removing it.

Puck’s Dad: Hey yourself. You’re up early.

I grinned at my phone like an idiot.

Me: I’m always up early. Baker, remember?

Puck’s Dad: Right. I knew that. How’s the bread. Does talking to me make your loaf rise?

I nearly dropped the phone.

Had he just made a . . . no . . . surely not.

He was talking about bread.

Not my . . . I couldn’t stop blushing. I could feel it. Heat crawled up my neck into my cheeks like tiny fingers with long nails and itty-bitty, pointy teeth.

Fingers don’t have teeth.

That was weird.

Never mind.

I looked at the timer on the oven.

Me: Twelve minutes from finding out. How’s your felonious ferret?

Puck’s Dad: Felonious ferret? That’s pretty good. He’s currently asleep in my left shoe. I discovered this when I tried to put it on.

Me: Is he okay?

Puck’s Dad: He’s fine. The shoe is morally compromised, though. I’m wearing my backup shoes.

Me: You have backup shoes in case your ferret makes your other shoes feel uncomfortable?

Puck’s Dad: I have a ferret. You develop contingency plans.

I laughed out loud, right there in the kitchen.

Doña Carmen looked up, one dramatic brow arched almost to her hairline, which was challenging because her hairline had receded beyond the normal bounds of a human forehead.

“It’s nothing,” I said, waving my hand in the air before realizing I was actually waving my phone. “Just a funny TikTok.”

She went from brow arch to squint. Then she looked at my face. Then she went back to her work with a smirk on her lips and the serene confidence of a woman who already knew what she needed to know.