Page 15 of Novice Girlfriend

Really, it did.

“Your loyalty is commendable, but I have not a single objection to Tracey,” Mrs. Reid told me when she found me after I stormed off. “I was simply shocked because my son is…” She cleared her throat and looked away.

I was glad but also not going to push and try and figure out what else was going on. “Thank you for your help today.” I went into the kitchen and grabbed the flowers I’d purchased for her. “It meant a lot that I could call in for help and you all showed up.”

She didn’t hide her surprise but then beamed at me. “You are such a darling girl. It’s my pleasure more than my duty as a leader in our community who hasn’t done as she should.” She smelled the flowers and winked at me. “They always brighten your day, don’t they?”

“Yeah, they really do.”

“Thank you.” She set them off to the side and moved her hands to my arms. “Let’s see if we can’t fix the situation for the moment while we work on Mr. Green’s plan for a way to turn you solar powered, yes?”

“The blankets,” I surmised.

“Yes, good,” she praised, seeming impressed. She studied me a moment. “What made you think of them?”

I considered my answer carefully a moment. “I need happy vibes to make toys and that’s not where I am. More sessions are stressful because everyone expects more and answers, and even I know high-energy outputs when the… Reactor core is damaged would be stupid.”

“Yes, very. Well done.”

“And right now I need comfort. It’s the easiest way to get this magic out safely until we figure out the nature thing. Though I do think that’s the right answer.” I swallowed loudly.

“Your magic is telling you that?” she hedged.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I would think yes if I wasn’t so close to a reactor core meltdown?”

“Fair enough. Okay, I have things set up at my house again. Let’s head there and just see what happens. It’s next on your schedule anyways.”

I smiled at her, glad everyone was more accepting of my daily schedule now. People had pushed back on it or teased me about not having time to take a shit—mocking me basically.

But it was just a fucking road map. When everything was so chaotic, there was nothing wrong with doing better and trying your best to bring some order to the crazy.

And I was proud of myself for saying that.

I left the flowers for Tracey and then left a note to not touch the last ones that I put in water to give Wyatt later. Then I went with Mrs. Reid and was touched by how she had everything set up again in her huge party room. I knew she was paying people on the side to do this because everything was too crazy.

We needed to get things handled better for sure.

“This is a lot more,” I realized when I saw the piles just kept going and going.

“And it’s fine if you never touch them,” she said quickly, giving a half shrug when I glanced at her. “So what? It will be done later or another time.” She took my hand in both of hers. “A few of the people who work for Taylor—their families struggle. That was why they went into the military and left bad situations. They needed that steady income and…”

“You hired them for this?”

“No, their siblings,” she sighed. “It’s very complicated and they’re not my stories to tell. I hope Taylor can have some housing for people to protect more than his employees in this community that he’s building. They could work for you and simply be safe and have easy lives.”

“That would be nice. The logistics and getting so much done so fast is just daunting.”

“Yes, but we have magic,” she chuckled. “Another four houses have been built and are almost finished in the time since he hired Kevin Rose and other clean officers. Things will move fast. I believe they’re going to ask you to put in some lovely housing for their familiars.” She moved one hand to cup my cheek. “Hold on, Bevin. Things will get better even though rough.”

“It will never be easy,” I accepted.

But right then was.

Amazingly so… Even if I felt bad for making Mrs. Reid my personal assistant again. I told her that if the problem was Tracey shining too much, then we need others to shine. More witches.

Sergey’s mom, Nina, was as the manager of the brushes, but it was time to put Kelton’s mom, Rita, into the mix. She’d done an amazing job managing so much with the treat trucks, and now we were going to open actual ice cream trucks.

I would mix the main part, and the machines would basically give pup and kitty cups. Frozen yogurt that normal dogs and cats could have. A short list of other animals, but the bulk of familiars were cats and dogs or we would have been busted a long time ago.