Page 54 of Passion in the Pentagram

Normally, Glyma would never condone crime, but Claryn was poaching their staff, so she may have been willing to turn a blind eye. Not that Tad was serious. She didn’t think…

“This is gonna be a disaster!” Glyma sniffed, wiping at the tears gathering in her eyes.

Hope brightened Tad’s expression, and she leaned forward expectantly. “Does it make you mad, Glyma? It does, right? I bet it just…ignites your rage, doesn’t it?”

Glyma scowled at her. “I’m not going to lose my temper, Tad.”

“You’re no fun,” Tad pouted, kicking at nothing with her webbed foot.

“Glyma,” Quin called from the dining area.

“One minute,” Glyma called back, picking dough off her fingers.

“Glyma!” Quin barked, more urgent than the first time.

“Oh my gods!” She wiped her hands on a towel and tossed it down. “I said, one minute. I can’t just let the dough lie here, Quin. It’ll be a ruined batch.” Shoving through the swinging doors, Glyma splayed her hands at Quin. “What?”

Quin stood near the front door, a look of sheer panic on her face. She pointed at the door, and through the glass, Glyma saw a line. Alongline. People. Customers! Oh my gods, they had a line of customers, waiting for their grand opening.

“I think the advertising worked,” Quin said as Glyma came to a stop beside her.

A line of at least twenty Hellians, with a few humans thrown in, winded through the sand. At the front was a tall, femme Araknis with red-streaked hair and a mini skirt. Beside him—them?—was an Elas with his hair slicked back and a t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off. They were young, not a day over twenty if Glyma had to guess, and they were barking at the people behind them.

“Oh my gods, stop pushing me,” the Araknis shrieked in outrage. “I’mma drop-kick a bitch here in a second!”

“Yeah, you heard him,” the Elas shouted, backing up his friend. “He’s about to drop-kick all you bitches if you don’t stop shoving!”

“Oh shit,” Glyma said, and Quin laughed, a little manically. “Tad said Kimi isn’t coming, but I have to finish the kriltcake.”

“I can…” Quin swallowed thickly. “I can try and do the espresso machine.”

“I’m better at it,” Glyma said.

“But I can’t bake for shit,” Quin said. “And we still need someone on the register.”

Tad groaned behind them. “I can run the godsdamned register, but only today, and only because I want to be here when she has a meltdown and eats everybody!” She pointed at Glyma, then at Quin. “One favor, but don’t get used to it.”

“Okay, Tad on the register until the dishes pile up too high. I’ll make the drinks for the first wave, and once it calms down, you take over for me so I can finish the kriltcake,” Glyma said, and Quin nodded.

“I’ll take the bakery case for now.” To Tad, she said, “The free muffin coupons have to be authentic, from the paper. No photocopies or anything. And try to encourage people to pay with card; I won’t be able to leave to get more cash if we run out, not if the whole day is gonna be… this.”

A knock on the door sounded, and they whirled around. The Araknis waved exuberantly.

“I love your dress,” he shouted in a femme lilt, pointing at Glyma. “Also, it’s ten o’clock, which is opening time, and I really have to pee.”

“Are we actually doing this?” Glyma asked, and Quin piled her dreadlocks into a knot atop her head.

“Seems like it. Let’s get your dream started.”

Before Quin could flip the open sign, Glyma grabbed her face in her hands and kissed her soundly. The Araknis and Elaswhooped obnoxiously, but she ignored them. She kissed Quin with all the love and nerves and fears and excitement. She kissed Quin with all of it.

“You're my dream, Quin,” she said when they parted. “No matter what happens today or tomorrow or a year from now, you’re my dream, and I love you.”

Quin blinked rapidly, clearing away the welling moisture. “I love you, too, and one day, I’m going to marry you. That’s my dream.”

Pressing their foreheads together, Glyma breathed in Quin’s smoke and scorched earth scent, mixed with cherry wood and nutmeg and cardamom. She smelled like Glyma. She smelled likethem. They both did.

“Sounds like pretty great dreams to me,” Glyma said, and Quin smiled.

After one more kiss, Quin stepped back and extended her hand. “Ready?”

Glyma took her hand and twined their fingers, giving them a squeeze. “Ready.”

With her other hand, she reached out, unlocked the deadbolt, then flipped the sign, and just like that, The Passing Through Cafe was open.