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“Now, listen here…”
Tonnolum is fuming. The customer is just pacing around the front of the shop, looking at our offerings in fascination.
“We wouldn’t want to be caught with our pants down.”
Tonnolum bites his lip as the other bakers roll dough behind him. He moves to the back, grumbling to the other women about how much of a problem I am.
Clearly, he’s decided I’m not worth his time.
I watch the customer as he moves over the kaffa, finding one at just the right temperature. He scrutinizes our bakery offerings as though hoping to find some hidden gem.
“The order should be under Vylco.”
He moves up to me with two hot kaffas and a side order of baked goods.
“You do know it’s rude to stare?” Suddenly, he dons a more serious expression, his eyes having the cold, lifeless quality I’m so used to.
But there’s still something so familiar about him…
“Sorry,” I reply. “It’s just… and I could be crazy… but something about your voice…”
He pauses, moving through change and calculating out his payment. “My voice? First staring, now my voice?”
He looks up at me, setting the change on the counter, and immediately cracks a smile, as though aware of a joke I’m not privy to. “Nah, I’m just kidding around. You’re totally fine.”
I breathe a sigh of relief.
“I do need those goddess hearts, though. If you don’t mind?”
My eyes widen in surprise. “Gods’ mercy! I’m sorry!”
I rush to the back oven, where I pull large quantities of goddess hearts, placing them inside brown bags. It’s quite a sizable order.
Before Tonnolun can scold me – I will have to deal with him later – I rush up to the front with all of Vylco’s bags, laying them out on the counter. “Planning for a party?”
“Something like that.”
He smiles at me. I expect him to leave, as I notice a crowd shuffling into the store. But as they eye the shopfront, it looks like the gods dissuade them, moving them over to the general goods store across the street.
But Vylco lingers. I think I see, etched in his features, an expression of surprise. Or perhaps it’s admiration?
“Do I know you somehow?” I ask. “I’ve got the faintest feeling we’ve met somewhere before.”
“That depends. Do you travel a lot?”
My heart jumps, and I shake my head. I could be imagining it, but at that moment, I swear one of the snakes on his head slithers to life briefly only to return to its stasis.
He shrugs. “I’m sure if you saw a face like mine, you’d never forget it,” he says.
“Because you’re one of the few gorgons in the city?”
“No.” He cracks a wide, toothy smile. “Because I’m just that damn handsome.”
I nod, giggling slightly.
“May I say though, and forgive me for intruding…”
“Yes?”
