Page 49 of Welcome to Fae Cafe
Kate followed Lily out to the street. Lily’s hair was down for the first time in ages and unbrushed. Likely unwashed, too. She fashioned an oversized concert t-shirt from an indie band she and Kate saw two years ago.
“That guy attacked you last night!” Lily said, and through the window, Kate noticed Mor look up from the glass display as though he could hear them like Shayne said.
“Yes, but now I’ve told themnotto attack me,” Kate explained all over again. “And besides, it’s just for a week so we can open on schedule. We’ll still hire, you know, ahumanor whatever.”
Lily shook her head and pointed at the café. “This is insane. You need to get far away from these people. Let me arrest that guy who attacked you! What he did is no joke!”
“I can’t, Lil. Let me just do this my way, okay? We could really use the help right now,” Kate tried again.
“No!” Lily’s cheeks flushed. “I don’t trust them, Kate. And you shouldn’t, either! You can’t just command someone not to hurt you and expect them to obey!”
“Actually, I can—”
“Send them away!” Lily shouted. “Send them away, right now, or I’m officially done with this café. I won’t come here while they’re here!”
Kate gaped. “What? Seriously? You’re really doing the whole, ‘choose me or them’ thing?”
“Yes.” There was no joking in Lily’s face. “Send them away.”
The wind grew cold. Kate slid her hands into her pockets and released a heavy breath. “I’m not sending them away yet. We have no one else to help us, and you don’t realize the opportunity this is. Can’t you just trust me?”
Lily was quiet for too long. When Kate looked up, she saw a strange mix of anger and hurt on Lily’s face. “I always knew you’d go crazy one day, Katherine Lewis, but this takes the cake!” Lily finally blurted.
“Gah-p-shhhh!” Kate slapped her hand over Lily’s mouth. “Don’t say that nameeveragain!” Kate’s wide eyes drifted to the counter where the three fae had gone perfectly still inside.
Kate cursed and burst into the café with her finger up. “Don’t ever repeat that name!” she shouted. “Do you hear me? Don’t say it, don’t write it down, don’t even think it! Don’t help that fae Prince learn my name!”
Shayne moaned and went back to admiring himself. Dranian shoved his cappuccino away and stared back at her with death in his eyes, and Mor snatched the dish soap to scrub the new mugs.
LilygrabbedKate and dragged her back outside.
“Kate! Get it together!” she shouted. “You don’t really expect me to believe that you enslaved a bunch of mythical beings, do you?”
“What? You said you believed me.” Kate looked back and forth between Lily’s eyes. “You were there, Lil. You saw him evaporate into thin air—”
“I lied, Kate. I don’t believe you. How could anyone believe those things you said? And I don’t know what I saw.” She glanced toward the fae assassins setting up the café. “Who are those guys? Please, for the love of all that’s good in this world, give menamesso I can do background checks.”
“I can’t do that,” Kate said. She cleared her throat that suddenly felt tight and dry. “I wish you really believed me.”
A beat of silence moved between them, filled only with the rumble of car engines and the distant chatter of early-morning pedestrians. A horn sounded in the distance. A storefront door slammed down the road. A child began crying by the flower shop.
Lily’s chest rose and fell. “I can’t associate with criminals. So, if you’re really choosing them, Kate, then I’m gone.” A strange flash of fear crossed her face, like she was realizing for the first time Kate might not pick her. But she still didn’t take her words back. She didn’t apologize or try to assure Kate that she was still on her side. “Send. Them. Away.”
Kate looked down at her hands, thinking about the money she owed Ben. About the bills waiting to be paid. About how she’d have nothing left if this café failed. “This might be a bit unconventional, but these are going to be the best workers you’ve ever seen. You just watch.”
Without another word, Kate went back into the café. She didn’t turn around. She waited there, hoping to hear the café bell. Finally, when minutes passed, Kate turned and looked back at the street.
A family crossed the road to get to the breakfast diner. A bird soared past the window.
There was no sign of Lily Baker.
16
Prince Cressica and the Way of the Pen
Cress was waiting outside the front door the next morning when Thelma Lewis came hobbling out, leaning her weight on a cane. The old woman raised an eyebrow at him standing in the early chill. Cress lifted two cups of coffee—purchased with human currency he traded some young fool for with a pile of pebbles.
The Prince’s mind shouted in frustration when he thought about how he’d spent his evening at this old woman’s house, and he hadn’t even gotten what he came for.
