Page 40 of Sweets and Sycamores

YOU’RE NEVER SMILING, BUT YOU’RE SMILING NOW?

Allie and Dominic spent the rest of the week buzzing around the bakery during the day and roaming around the forests at night, baby dragon in tow.

Her baking skills had improved compared to one month ago, but she still had so much to learn.

Two bad batches of pie filling later, Allie finally got the correct ratio between the fruits and the sugar and added this to the list of her daily tasks.

Between cleaning, decorating cupcakes, preparing the croissant dough—which Dominic had insisted on rolling himself—and now mixing the pie fillings, Allie found a lot of joy in such full days.

After they closed the bakery, she fed Ekko and cleaned the space while Dom went on the end-of-day volunteer deliveries.

He had asked Allie to join him one night, and as excited as she was at the prospect of being a part of the community, the sneers that still followed her around town came front and center into her mind and kept her away.

But she decided to let nothing take away from the weekend’s festivities.

Mia had told Allie that the town businesses and residents were going to put up Hallows Eve decorations during the next couple of days.

Allie loved decorating for Hallows Eve, but doing it in Pearls Fields or Green Creek had lacked a certain charm, with all the crude greens, the bright colors, and the heat.

Of course, she had never noticed these shortcomings before coming to Sycamore Falls and being surrounded by the auburns, the reds and oranges, the sycamores with their burnt colors that painted the perfect Hallows Eve atmosphere.

So when the weekend finally came, she and Ekko sprinted out of the studio room into the bakery fifteen minutes earlier than usual.

Allie made two cups of coffee, fixed the hair she’d hurriedly pinned into a sloppy bun, and started cleaning.

Ekko brought her cloths and anything else he could carry between his claws while Allie hopped between tables, humming a song she vaguely remembered hearing during her time in Green Creek.

She was so focused on her task that she didn’t notice until an hour later that, well, her boss was an hour late.

“Wait here,” she told Ekko after she peeled a pear for him and tossed a bunch of almonds and raisins in a bowl.

Allie stood in front of the staircase that led to Dominic’s floor. There had been no reason for her to go upstairs so far, and now she considered whether she was crossing any boundaries by climbing up uninvited. She perched on the third step and shouted, “Dominic?”

Silence was her only answer, so Allie jumped up a few more steps and tried again. “Dom?”

Nothing. Maybe he wasn’t home? But Allie had been up for a while, and that would mean her boss had left in the middle of the night. Not impossible, but highly unlikely.

Worry trickled into her heart, and Allie gripped the wooden stair railing until her knuckles went white. She called for him one more time, and when the same quiet echoed back to her, she damned all protocol and climbed up to the end of the stairs.

The floor was open plan, with a den on the left that hosted a surprisingly tidy desk, the mostly empty living room except for a blue sofa and a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, and a small kitchen identical to Allie’s by the window.

Between the living room and kitchen space was a closed white door.

Allie walked to it and knocked softly, her heart pounding in her fist’s rhythm.

“Dom?” Nothing. Allie knocked again, louder this time. “Dom, are you in there?”

A muffled groan.

That did not sound good. Allie shouted again, but no other sounds followed. By now, she was filled with dread thick as molasses, so she pounded at the door and yelled, “I’m coming in!”

As she turned the doorknob, Allie remembered Dominic had uttered the same words during her first night here, when she’d lost the fight with her sofa bed. The time when they were strangers seemed so long ago, and Allie didn’t miss it one bit.

The bedroom was dark with the curtains drawn and the sunrise an hour away.

Allie made out the form of the bed between two low nightstands, but she accidentally kicked the dresser next to the door.

A standing lamp swung on top of it, and she caught it and turned it on.

The warm light revealed a messy bed with a tall and broad form in it.

Dominic was still asleep.

That didn’t seem right. In the mornings, he was energetic in his own broody way; for sure, he did not sleep in.

“Dom?” Allie said softly. The cover shifted with the weight under it, and Dominic groaned again. If it was her name, or a plea to the gods, Allie couldn’t tell. She inched closer to his bed until she distinguished his face.

Sweat trickled on his forehead down his neck, messy locks of chestnut hair plastered to his temples and cheeks.

Dominic had a mild frown, nothing like the one Allie was used to, the serious and threatening one that was seared into her memory.

She called his name again, undoubtedly close enough for him to hear her now.

When Dom made no sign that he’d heard her, Allie kneeled next to the bed and touched his skin with the back of her palm.

“You’re burning up,” she whispered. Allie went into caretaker mode as if she had flipped a switch.

Sam was a sickly person, and she’d taken care of him during their years together.

With the Silverbarks, it was considered part of her chores to attend to her sisters who had fallen ill.

Allie’s mind raced, already lined up with ingredients she needed for the medicine potions and the healing food Petra had taught her to make for these times.

She propped her hand on the edge of the bed to hoist herself up, but stopped when Dominic grabbed her by the wrist. His skin was scorching hot, yet his grip was firm, desperate. Allie used her free hand to remove Dom’s hair from his face.

“I’ll be right back, I promise.” She caressed his spiky, unshaven cheeks for a moment longer, a selfish moment, then gently loosened her wrist from his fingers. This time, he didn’t resist, his hand falling limp over the blanket.

“Hello?” Allie recognized Mia’s voice coming from downstairs and rushed out of the room, back into the bakery. She found Dom’s sister scratching Ekko between his wings as he lay sprawled on his chubby belly, looking as if he was in dragon heaven.

“Hi, Mia,” Allie said, a little out of breath.

“Allie—what’s wrong?”

“I think Dom’s sick.”

Mia’s brows furrowed. “Sick how? He never gets sick.”

“He’s running a fever, and he’s not exactly…lucid,” Allie described. Mia’s head jerked back.

“That has never happened before. At least, not that I know of. Dom’s healthy as a horse, and the only times he gets sick it’s just a mild cold.”

Huh. That was strange, indeed. Allie inventoried their last couple of days, went through every moment that could have led to this, and found nothing.

Except…

“Mia, how much do you know about Dominic’s power?”

“I only know he’s a Mage. Every time I tried to pry details out of him, Dom came up with an excuse to leave,” she said, and raised her arms in defeat.

“I think…I think he might have used too much power lately.” It was a bold assumption, given that Allie knew as much as Mia did about a Mage’s power. Yet she couldn’t dismiss that during their practice last night, he looked…off. Spent. Allie hadn’t thought too much about it at the time, but now...

Dominic hadn’t looked off, he had looked exhausted.

“I don’t know how his other missions as a Mage have gone, but I think he’s trying too hard. Giving too much.”

“Why?” Mia asked, perplexed. “Why would he consume himself so much?”

Allie offered her a sympathetic smile. “Because Sycamore Falls is his home, and he wants it to be safe.” Even if no one else knows why he’s back, Dom is putting pressure on himself more than the town would.

“Que tonto,” Mia muttered. “What do you want to do?”

“I’ll run to the market to get ingredients for medicine potions, and for soup too,” Allie answered mechanically, then realized she might have overstepped assuming she’d be the one to take care of Mia’s brother. “Unless you want to—”

“You’re obviously more qualified than I am to take care of him,” Mia said with a vulpine smile that Allie decided to log in her memory and dissect later. “How can I help?” Allie looked at her awkwardly, not feeling like bossing around Dom’s sister. “Really, Allie. Don’t overthink it. Just tell me.”

“Okay.” She nodded once, mentally listing everything that needed to be taken care of today. “What should we do about the bakery?”

“Closed,” Mia declared. “The people of Sycamore Falls could do with a sweets and pastries break.” Allie chortled.

“Can you put a sign on the door—”

“Done.”

“Ekko—”

“You’re coming with me today, you spoiled creature.” The baby dragon flew to Mia’s shoulder and nuzzled her jaw. Allie bopped his nose and warned him to be on his best behavior. “What else?”

“Oh. Brandon has his weekly pick-up.” It was Allie’s turn to smirk at her friend. “Please let him know we can’t make it today.”

Mia looked as if she’d asked her to run around the town naked. Allie didn’t want to give her time to find an excuse not to talk to Brandon, so she grabbed Ekko’s food from the kitchen and shoved it into Mia’s arms as she guided her out of the bakery.

“You can bring the sign later!”

Mia mumbled something that made Ekko fly up and around her with loud chitters.

Allie grabbed a bowl of cold water from the kitchen and a clean cloth and rushed back upstairs.

She sat by Dom’s side for the next hour before the market opened, dabbing the skin on his face with the cold material until that unfamiliar frown disappeared and his features relaxed.

Dominic fell into a calm sleep, and Allie left the cold cloth on his forehead before running to buy all the ingredients she needed.