A Little Night Magic Page 0,3

You want the cherry on top or is fruit too healthy for you?"

The woman leaned forward. "Are they those little radioactive red ones, all soaked in sugar and artificial dye?"

"Maraschino?" he said. "Yep."

She ruminated, then said, "Give me four. And some coffee, please."

"You got it," Tobias said, and pulled out the baby coffeemaker the morning waitress, Brenda, kept under the counter for days when she had to open at the crack of dawn; our industrial coffeemaker didn't deliver the goods fast enough for Brenda. I set the mop in the pail and hurried over.

"I got it," I said, quickly rounding the counter and taking the coffeemaker from him. "It'll go quicker if we work together."

He eyed me for a moment. "Go home. I got this."

"Quit arguing and cook." I plugged in the baby coffeemaker, flipped open the filter basket, and grabbed the carafe to fill it with water. By the time I looked up, he'd already disappeared into the kitchen. I stared at the door, then was overcome by a strange tickle inside my nose. I sneezed, turning my head into my shoulder in classic waitress style.

"You feeling all right, baby?" the woman asked, watching me intently, as she set her purse, still open, on the counter next to her.

I picked up two mugs and set them on the counter, shaking my head to rid myself of the tingly sensation in my sinuses. "Yeah. Guess it's a bit of hay fever."

"I see," she said, her eyes still on me. "You get hay fever often?"

"Not typic - " and then I caught a scent of something sharp and sneezed again. I sniffed a couple of times and sneezed again. "Hell," I said once I recovered. "What is that?"

"Hmmm?" She reached for the ceramic bowl filled with sugar packets.

"That ... smell. It's kind of tickly, like pepper but it smells more like ... licorice, maybe?" I looked up to find the woman watching me, one eyebrow raised. She took her purse off the counter and set it on the stool next to her, then pushed the sugar packet bowl away with a sound of disgust.

"What is wrong with women these days, filling their bodies full of unnatural chemical substances until they're nothing but skin and bones? Let me tell you something, baby. Any man who can't appreciate a woman with a little meat on her doesn't like women much in the first place. You got any real sugar?"

It took me a moment to realize she'd asked me a question. "Oh. Sure." I reached under the counter and grabbed the sugar dispenser, then got some half & half from the cooler and set that in front of her as well. I pulled the carafe from the coffeemaker, poured us each a cup, and put it back. I left my coffee black, sipping it while she loaded up her mug. I don't really like black coffee, but the calories in cream and sugar weren't worth it, and it wasn't like I could dump my usual sugar-free nondairy creamer in my cup after her little speech.

"So, what's your name, baby?" she asked as she stirred.

"Olivia." I glanced down, motioned to my name tag. "Most people call me Liv."

"Davina Granville." She held out her hand, and we shook, and then she watched me for a moment. "Pretty name, Olivia." She sipped her coffee, keeping her eyes on me. "Are you named for anyone in your family?"

"Not from my mother's side."

She stopped stirring. "What about your father's?"

"I never knew my father." Behind me, Tobias slid a plate onto the pass and dinged the bell. I went to the pass, and when I reached for the plate, he tugged it back.

"Go home," he said.

"Give me the plate or neither one of us is ever going home," I said. He hesitated a moment, then released his grip on the plate. I slid it in front of Davina and said, "So, are you staying in town or just passing through?"

She angled her head at me. "I haven't decided yet, but I think I might be staying."

"Oh, there's a great bed-and-breakfast over on Augustine Street, just two lights down that way, take a left, there's a big, yellow nineteenth-century Victorian there, you can't miss it. Grace Higgins-Hooper and Addie Hooper-Higgins run it, and they've restored it completely to the period. It's amazing." I leaned in and spoke in a hushed tone, even though we were alone. "Come here for the breakfast, though. Addie puts flaxseed in everything she cooks."

Davina laughed, took