Alice claimed one of Riley’s larger duffle bags without asking. To Riley’s shock, the slight woman didn’t buckle under the weight. “He might be stuck at the office. I could take you there, but honestly, I think you need a bit of a pick-me-up before you meet any more strangers.”
Riley’s rational traveler limits quailed at the idea of going somewhere with Alice, whom for all she knew, was trying to recruit her to another pyramid scheme. But the idea of being able to clean up a little before facing her aunt was very appealing.
Riley’s feet made contact with Starfall for the first time, sending a bolt of lightning sizzling through her system. She felt ill all over again, and it took all her concentration to stay upright and in control of her limbs as a strange energy rippled from the ground to the top of her head.
Alice’s eyes went wide and she stumbled a bit, nearly tumbling left under the weight of the bag. Riley sniffed, grabbing her arm and righting her. “Are you all right?”
“Sure.” Alice nodded shakily. “Just getting my legs back under me. Would you like to stop and get a coffee or some water? Maybe something to get some sugar back into your system?”
Riley sighed, “Yes, please.”
Still not quite steady on her feet, Riley followed Alice to Starfall Grounds, a spot of modern in the middle of a row of shops intentionally engineered to look quaint and historic. The blue shake exterior was a calm contrast to the energy of the chalkboard style logo on the window, declaring, CAFFEINATED SERVICE, SWEET TREATS. PETRA GILINSKY-FLANDERS, PROPRIETRESS.
Opening the door was like walking into a cloud scented with cocoa, coffee, cinnamon, and unabashed gluttonous sin. A display case that ran the length of the store showed whole cakes, cookies, brownies, cupcakes, tarts, and some stuff she didn’t even recognize. Riley’s mouth watered, and she was reminded all over again that she’d thrown up what little she’d eaten that day and was suddenly starving. She was going to do some serious carb-based damage in this place.
A blond woman with broad shoulders and a rosy-cheeked, no-nonsense sort of face waved them in. A man of equally broad proportions and improbably high cheekbones was grinning as if he’d just said something clever, while the woman called, “Welcome to Starfall Grounds! How can we fuel you today?”
The woman’s name tag read PETRA, so Riley assumed she was the owner of this establishment. Her masculine doppelganger didn’t have a name tag, so Riley wasn’t sure what that meant. As Riley and Alice approached, Petra ignored the man but spoke in low tones to a grumpy-looking, curvy brunette slumped against the muffin display case. The shorter woman seemed to be inhaling her caffeine through her nose, but given the dark circles shadowing the pale skin under her wide whiskey-brown eyes, Riley was going to guess she was a bartender.
Riley remembered that warily exhausted expression greeting her in the mirror every morning after her graveyard shifts at the just-off-campus sports bar her senior year. There was a special sort of tired that came from dealing with drunk people for hours at a time. She felt a strange affinity to this stranger.
“Would ‘one of everything’ be too ambitious?” Riley asked, keeping her question short because she didn’t want drool leaking down her chin.
“Well, ‘one of everything’ might be a little much for one weekend,” Petra replied, chuckling. “Maybe we can narrow it down to just one pastry group? Alice, your usual?”
Alice nodded, keeping her lips pressed together before saying, “Yes, please, Petra. Good morning, Caroline.”
The little brunette inclined her head, but kept her face attached to her coffee cup. Riley noted that Alice was also ignoring the large blond man. What was that about?
“Oh, come on, Alice, you can’t still be mad about one little bowl,” the man said, dipping his bearded chin almost to his chest and making his bright blue eyes seem bottomless. “I did say I was sorry.”
Alice seethed, “Do not attempt to give me the baby doll eyes, Igor Gilinsky. That was not ‘one little bowl’ as you called it. That was rare porcelain and part of a washstand set, which is even rarer. And it no longer exists because that dog of yours refuses to stay out of my store!”
“Iggy,” Petra groaned. “I’ve warned you about that dog.”
“Mimi is a free spirit,” the blond man protested. “She goes wherever she decides she belongs. And on that day, she decided that she belonged in your store, instead of that very pretty pitcher and bowl.”
“Which is now worth nothing, because Mimi rammed herself into the washstand and knocked it off,” Alice snipped at him. “Shattering it into tiny, yet expensive pieces.”
“Technically, it’s still worth whatever the pitcher is worth, because it got a pretty good bounce and wasn’t damaged that much,” Iggy said, making a face that he probably thought was persuasive. “Which I am happy to pay, if it will put a smile back on your lovely face.”
Alice continued to glare at Iggy, unmoved.
“Just think of the impression you’re making on this nice weekender, being all unforgiving and holding a grudge against an innocent dog,” he said, nodding at Riley and leveling a devastating smile at her. “Hi, there. Welcome to Starfall.”
Riley raised a hand in greeting, while Alice plucked what looked like a very official invoice from her shoulder bag. She handed it to Iggy. “I accept cash or credit, no checks.”
“You just had an invoice ready in your purse—” Iggy’s brows rose. “Two hundred and seventy-five dollars for a bowl?”
“And the pitcher,” Alice told him.
“That’s insane!” Iggy cried. “I’m not paying it!”
Alice replied, “Then keep your canine companion indoors!”
“Mimi won’t even wag her tail at you anymore! I’ll tell you that much,” Iggy told her, striding across the café.
“Hurtful, but I think I can live with that,” Alice retorted.
“You know you’re paying that right, Ig?” Petra called before Iggy reached the exit.
“Yeah, I know,” Iggy grumbled, jerking the door open and slamming it behind him.
“My brother is going to pay you extra for your trouble,” Petra assured her. “Without being a jerk about it.”
“I know. He’s a good person under the bluster,” Alice sighed. “And a certain amount of breakage is expected, especially when tourists let their children rampage unsupervised through the store. But honestly, that dog is unnerving in its insistence on being inside my store. It’s not as if I store bacon in the cabinets.”
“You’re not wrong,” Petra replied. “And Mimi is just a little more stubborn than most dogs. And people.”
“And I’m not a weekender. I’m a new local, Riley Everett.” She reached over the counter to shake Petra’s large, long-fingered hand. Riley gestured to the display case. “I’m just going to sign over all of my money to you now, because you’re going to have it eventually anyway.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize,” Alice whispered almost inaudibly, making Riley regret not bringing up her aunt on the ferry. Alice had seemed so confident and pleased for just a moment, and now Riley had taken that back from her.