Page 44 of Herbs & Hex-breaking

“Magistra for a female and Magister for a male. Got it.” Taylor continued with her sweeping. “Thanks for being honest with me, and before you ask...yes, I will keep this to myself.”

“I appreciate that Taylor,” I said, going back to my closing reports.

***

Alone at my kitchen table, I measured out the ingredients for my bespoke pumpkin pie spice blend. The mulling spices were already finished and tucked in a large box on my counter. At that moment, I had eight ounce containers neatly labeled, lined up, and ready to fill.

When I came home, I had changed into comfortable clothes. Putting on a soft sports bra, I added a raglan sleeve t-shirt over that, paired with casual leggings. In addition, I tied a big chef’s apron over my clothes and was wearing food prep gloves and a dust mask as I mixed the pumpkin pie spice in a very large bowl. The gloves were for obvious reasons, and as to wearing a mask…well, I’d learned the hard way that I would end up sneezing if I got too big of a whiff of the cloves.

I was moving a bit slower than usual but was still getting the job done. Once I had the mixture blended well, I began to ladle it out into the containers. Using a digital scale kept all of the amounts uniform. In the background the radio played, and I felt my shoulders begin to drop as I finally relaxed for the first time that day.

I had only finished snapping the lids on the last in a row of containers when there was a knock on my door. “Just a minute!” I called out.

Peeling one of my gloves off, I went to check the spy hole. It was Dex.

I opened the door. “Hey,” I said through the mask.

“God you’re cute.” Dex’s lips trembled against a laugh. “Dare I ask what in the hell you’re doing?”

“Mixing up my custom pumpkin pie spice mix for the shop.”

“Can I come in?”

“Sure. I need to keep working on this though.”

He walked in and sent a considering glance over the table and kitchen counters. “It looks like a mad scientist’s lab in here.”

I pulled a fresh glove out of the box and rolled my eyes at his comment. “I think you mean it looks like an apothecary.”

“Would you like a hand?”

“No, that’s okay,” I said, pulling on a new glove. “I’m almost finished with this batch.” Placing the empty container on the scale I added in the mixture and kept an eye on the weight. Once it hit the amount I wanted, I plucked it up and started filling a new row on the table.

We talked casually as I worked about the seasonal sales and the new releases at the bookstore. By the time I finished up the last row of pumpkin pie spice containers, he had helped himself to a pair of gloves and was snapping the lids down on them all.

“You can put them in the box on the counter with the others,” I told him.

With a nod he complied and I began loading up my sink with the bowls, whisks and ladles I’d used. Dex offered to dry for me, and so I told him where the kitchen towels were and he got straight to work.

“You still have the mask on,” he reminded me a few minutes later.

“I know,” I said. “The cloves make me sneeze, and I really don’t want to do that today.”

Dex’s lips twitched. “I don’t blame you.”

“So, I’ll wait until everything is washed and wiped down before I take it off.”

Once I finished the dishes, I wiped down the counters and tabletop, then rinsed out the dish rag. I removed the gloves, washed my hands and finally took the mask off. No sooner had I dropped the mask in the garbage when I felt Dex’s hands on my shoulders.

He turned me around, gently reeled me in, and kissed me.

Dex was careful not to jostle me, and yet his kiss was passionate, and I responded to it. When he lifted his mouth from mine, I blinked up at him.

“Wow, what brought that on?”

“I’ve wanted to kiss you all damn day.” Before I could respond, he kissed the tip of my nose. “And also, because you’re pretty,” he added.

I smirked at that. “I think you may have inhaled too much cinnamon.”