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“Oh, he needs help,” Travis muttered.

No one spoke. They all watched Travis and I interact. Instead of saying anything, I shoved a piece of toast in my mouth and walked out with the other slices. I’d rather take my chances with the demonic familiar than to try to have a decent conversation with Travis.

Chapter Two

“A Touch of Magic” was still everything and then some. I still got that excited feeling when I walked in at all the possibilities it provided. And plus, it was just so cool looking. It was a shame I hadn’t been properly putting my all into it. It was destined to stay that way though. I was a member of the Order of the Akasha now. Building a business wasn’t my sole goal in life, it was the Order and nothing else. Not that saving others from evil wasn’t a badass goal. It helped me feel closer to Granny that was for sure. Ihadto do something else though. I certainly wasn’t going to stay around at home all day just waiting to get cramps. That sounded like hell.

I smiled as a family came into the shop. I recognized them from the last several days. They had the cutest daughter, her hair always up in pigtails with pink ribbons. She was in love with one of the bright jade stones my store had, but her parents had successfully been able to circumvent the purchase. I didn’t mind. They seemed like nice people.

As soon as the daughter came in, she ran for the stone. “See, Mommy. It’s still here.” She held it up, the green stone such a contrast to her pale, white skin.

“I see, Honey.” I smiled at the mom and she returned it. “Every day since we got here, she’s been begging to come into this store. She says you have the prettiest stones.”

I came out from around the counter and smiled at the young girl. “I do?” She nodded eagerly. “Well, thank you. Do you know what that stone’s supposed to do?”

She shrugged. “I just think it’s pretty.”

I laughed to myself. “That’s exactly what it does. It just sits there and looks pretty.” She had the stone in her open palm and I wrapped her fingers around it. “Why don’t you take that home with you? It’ll look much prettier in your bedroom at home.”

“We can’t—,” the mother said, already waving her hand.

“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s on the house.”

The woman looked around, her mouth dropping. “Will the owner get mad?”

I stood, almost laughing to myself. “I don’t think so. I’m the owner, so…”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry. That was so rude. I didn’t mean anything by it. You just look so young.”

“I’ve been told that before,” I said, already making my way back to the register to mark down the inventory. If I didn’t do it now, I’d forget, and then when we didn’t have any more jade stones around, I’d wonder why.

“Well, thank you,” the woman called out after me.

I heard the young girl say thanks and then two small hands clutched at my legs. I looked down to see the young girl had wrapped her hands around my legs. “So much! I love it!”

I laughed and patted her head. “You’re welcome. Take good care of it.”

“I will!”

She ran back to her parents, and I gave them a wave as they turned and walked out of the store. The cute little girl should have a jade stone if she wanted to. Smiling to myself, I took the rock off the inventory and sat back on the stool I’d purchased for the area behind the counter. There were times when the store was crazy busy with customers, but there were also times when no one came in for hours. I could always find something to do around here, but some of the time, I just liked to sit and think. Especially lately with Liam.

The bell above the door rang again, and I glanced up. The perfect specimen of a man walked through. Large shoulders, peeks of tattoos staring out from under the collar of his shirt and a wide grin just for me. I grinned from ear to ear. “What are you doing here?”

“Coming to see my girl before I head over to the parlor. How’s business?”

Randy leaned over the counter, and I moved forward, giving him a kiss that ended too short. “Not bad.”

“There was an excited girl out front.”

“Pigtails?” He nodded in answer, and I smiled. “I gave her one of the jade rocks. She really wanted it.”

He smiled at the counter before glancing back up at me. “I know a little about business, and if you want to make a profit, you can’t give away your inventory for free.” I opened my mouth to counter him, but he held up a finger. “And excuses like ‘but she looked so cute’, don’t pay the bills.”

I shrugged, laughing to myself because that was exactly what I’d thought. “It was just one rock and you should’ve seen the look on her face. It was well worth it.”

He shook his head. “You’re so much like Liam it kills me.”

“Me?” I stuttered. I was the least like Liam. Liam was in his own category of goodness. Granny could give him a laundry list of how inept I was at being selfless.