Chapter 7

Willow

"Oh, sleeping beauty! Don't you have somewhere to be?"

I woke up to Tess flitting above my face. The small breeze from her wings tickled. I almost swatted at her before I realized what I was doing.

"Ugh, I've warned you not to wake me up like that. What time is it?"

"8:00 in the morning."

"It's Sunday."

"Very observant, or so you would think. But it isn't."

I should have swatted her. I pulled the blankets back over my head, trying to block out the light.

"What do you mean… oh crap, it's Monday."

I sat bolt upright, flinging the covers off me. And papers went everywhere.

"Oh, shit."

I'd fallen asleep in bed last night looking through my recipes again and working on what edits I could. Luckily, my laptop was sitting on its little desk I used, off to the side of the bed. That could have ended badly, and I really didn't want to explain it to the IT department.

Tess giggled madly and flew out the window to the garden.

I stared at the mess I had made. And then looked down at myself.

"Welp. This is grand."

An hour later, I had the floor cleaned up and papers all gathered and back in my bag. I was also out of the shower, and braiding my hair back. Tess came flying in, smiling widely.

"Is that makeup?"

"Just a little. I look like I haven't slept in a year. Leave a girl alone."

With a little flip in the air, Tess landed next to the faucet and ran her hands under the water. I eyed her, but she didn't seem like she was going to do anything evil.

"I had alarms, by the way. Why did you wake me up?"

"Your alarm went off three times. I was tired of hearing it."

"Fair." I finished my braid, checked my eye makeup, and went back to the bedroom. Grabbing my backpack, I decided I still had time to grab my first cup of coffee at the café. It was much better than what I brewed in my office and added creamer to.

When I stepped outside, I was thankful for the chunky cardigan I had grabbed. The air was chilly, colder than it had been. Winter was edging ever closer, and I growled. I loved Fall, but it never seemed to last as long anymore.

"Remember to watch the streets!" Tess said as I almost started crossing without checking.

Yep, I needed more sleep. Or coffee. Or both.

Both sounded good.

The brisk walk helped, and I made it to the café with almost no accidents. It was calm inside, as the bell jingled, announcing my approach.

"Professor! Good morning. I was beginning to wonder if you were coming today."

"Charlotte! Please, coffee."

"Always."

She turned and started making my regular coffee, and I finished making my way up to the counter. I pulled out my card and looked in the case. As she handed me the coffee, I said, "How about one of those pumpkin muffins?"

"Sure thing. That'll be $8.00."

I was fixing to reply when Winston walked through the kitchen door.

"You know, I appreciate the business, but you must spend a third of your check here."

"Ha. Ha." Then I thought about it. "Well, maybe. But it's in the budget. Coffee is very important. Then again, I didn't used to buy all the muffins."

He shook his head, loading up the display case. I took my card back, then the coffee and the ever important muffin. Waving the coffee in lieu of my hand, I said, "I'll be back this afternoon. Later, everyone."

Walking to my office, coffee in hand, I appreciated how much hustle and bustle was still happening mid-Monday morning. It was about time for students to be switching classes, and I saw a couple of professors hurrying past me to their own courses. The coffee helped fight off the chill, and the muffin was wonderfully delicious, fluffy with a cinnamon crumble on top. I gave Tess a bit as she rode on my shoulder, huddled in the cardigan's edge and scarf I wore.

My office was chaotic as normal, but I sat down at my desk plugging my laptop into the dock and getting everything loaded. I finished the muffin, ignoring the work I had waiting for me. I watched Tess land on the desk. I hadn't answered emails in two days, so my inbox was probably exploding. Especially since papers had just been turned in. Many students would be panicking.

With the help of coffee, the morning passed quickly. Tess had duties in the university library and left before my class. I taught, came back and caught up on emails, chatted with a few students, and then finally taught my second class of the day. Students were indeed panicking over their paper, and I told them I was grading as quickly as I could, reminding them it hadn't even been a whole week yet.

Tess arrived at the same time I made it back to my office.

"Heading to the café with me?"

She landed on my shoulder as I made my way inside, then flew to the desk.

"Sure, why not? It's chilly outside."

I packed up my laptop and turned off the coffee pot. Putting my backpack on, I gathered the hood of my cardigan to lie on top of it, and Tess landed in the middle. I felt her sitting, pulling the hood around her.

"Good to go?"

"Yep! Thanks."

I headed out, pulling the office door closed and locking it. It was much earlier than I normally left, even on a weekday. Technically, though, my office hours were already over—I just normally liked to work here. Less distracting than at home. An image came to mind of Winston baking, and I had the thought that it was probably much less distracting than the café now, too. That said… The café was calling my name.

When I arrived at the café, the place was quiet. I grabbed my table close to the windows and Tess settled on the edge. With a coffee in hand, I went back to work. It wasn't long before Winston came out with a few things to put in the case. His shirt clung to him from the heat in the kitchen, and I bet it was very warm and cozy in there. His dark brown hair hung down into his face as he bent to put a muffin on the shelf and he caught my eye.

He had just caught me staring. Trying not to show how embarrassed I was while my cheeks grew hot, I raised the coffee cup high. He smiled, and went back into the kitchen.

I drank some of the coffee and ignored Tess, nearly rolling in laughter on the table. This was just not my day. Maybe I should cut my losses and go home. Who needed to grade, anyway? I could take a nap. Read a book. Pretend none of this mattered, and I didn't have only 16 days to finish my book.

16 days. That wasn't nearly enough time.

Or maybe it would all be fine. I had Winston, after all.

After another few luxurious drinks of my coffee, I went back to grading. As much as I wanted to work on my book, there wasn't much to do at this point until I had more information. My students would keep badgering me until I got their grades in, two week general policy for returns notwithstanding, and I wanted that off my to do list.

I was lost in grading the last few papers when suddenly, a sandwich plopped down on the table with chips and some water.

"What's that?"

"Well," Winston, who had appeared with the sandwich I now noted, said, "we call this water. It keeps us alive."

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Hilarious." I glared at him. "I didn't mean the water. I meant…" I gestured at all of it.

"This is called food. We normal humans eat it to stay alive. It might be hard for you to imagine, but there are things besides coffee."

I scoffed at him. "I'm aware. I eat food. I love food. I ate a muffin this morning."

Winston laughed, and said, "That only barely counts. And what about lunch?"

"How can you say that about your muffins? The one this morning was heaven. Pumpkin, with cinnamon swirls, and that occasional chocolate chip? It's…" I stopped, realizing that I was gushing about his own food to him, and fixing to say "orgasmic," to boot.

Foot was forward all right. Straight into my mouth.

"It's almost 4 pm. You should eat something besides straight sugar. After that, if you could help me out, I'd appreciate it. Lyzzie called in sick. I promise we'll look at the book tonight."

"We need to find you more servers. I bet I have some students who would be interested."

"Let me look at the books. And talk to my aunt. I haven't had much time to figure out all the finances, so I'm not sure of the pay I could offer."

I saluted him, picked up the sandwich, and took a giant bite. "Happy?" I said around my mouthful.

"Very." He smiled, and I almost melted right there, but he had already turned and walked back to the kitchen.

The sandwich was actually fantastic. It was chicken salad with tomato and lettuce. The bread was crispy and soft all at once. Rather yummy. Of course, it probably helped that the whole café smelled delicious.

I ate some chips and drank the water.

"I'm going to head out. Working in the café is boring. I should get back before the temperature drops anymore, anyway." Tess flew up and around me, then shot towards the front door, leaving as soon as someone opened it.

Having finished the food quickly, I packed up my notes and laptop, grabbed my bag, and headed into the kitchen. Charlotte waved as I went through the door, and I plopped my stuff on the table there.

"Charlotte is fixing to head out. Aprons are hanging up over there. I've got food to finish cooking."

"So what happens when you are too sick to work? Is there another cook?"

"Not that I know of. I have no idea what my aunt was doing."

I shrugged, curious if there'd been a magical spell she was hiding for quick cooking, and grabbed the apron. I tied it around my waist and headed out front. Charlotte was handing a customer a sandwich.

"Sorry about this."

"About what?" I asked, confused.

"You have to work?"

"You didn't call in. And besides, I'm helping in return for a favor. And maybe free coffee."

Charlotte laughed, the beads in her braids clicking. "That works. All right, it's slower usually on Mondays. Back to work blues. I'll see you around!"

She took her apron off and disappeared into the kitchen. I leaned on the counter, surveying all the food options. I'd learned how to make a few drinks the other night, but I knew there were several things I had no clue about. I'd have to bug Winston if anyone ordered them.

Charlotte was right, though, and I only had about 3 customers in the next hour. Monday afternoons were usually pretty empty. A few students were in the back corner, and mostly it was just people grabbing coffee to go.

The evening passed by, with me learning how to make 4 new drinks. Well, learned is a loose term, because Winston taught me by making the order, and I didn't have to try it.

My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out of my pocket.

Piper: Kissed him yet? -emoji-

I rolled my eyes.

Willow: No

Piper: What? Seriously? You've spent hours together!

Willow: Working in a café, mostly.

Piper: Ugh. Girl, you need better game.

Willow: I have no game Piper. What are you doing?

Piper: Ignoring my own problems. New coworker at work is driving me batty.

Willow: Ah.

The phone was silent for a few minutes, and I was starting to put it back in my pocket when it buzzed again.

Piper: Do you want to kiss him?

I felt the blush creeping up my cheeks. Too many times today, I had caught myself watching Winston as he was doing something in the café. He was so kind to every person who came in, and he remembered so many of their names. It was sweet, and they all brightened up when he talked to him.

He was certainly better at the retail thing than me.

"What has you smiling so big?" Winston's voice was right behind me.

I nearly threw my phone over the counter.

"Don't do that!" I exclaimed.

A few of the patrons laughed, and I shook my head. Winston just smiled like a doofus. A really hot, really fit, doofus.

"Just texting with Piper," I finally said in reply.

"Awesome. Well, we close up shop soon. I'm going to go round and talk to the couple of people left in here."

I nodded, and he went off to make the rounds and start wiping off tables. No one else came in, except for Tess. She landed on my shoulder and smirked at me. I had been watching Winston.

"Not you too." I groaned, praying she didn't say anything in earshot of Winston.

"What?" she asked, still smirking.

I shook my head and started closing down some of the less used machines. I didn't know enough to do all of them. I realized quickly that it was just Winston, Tess, and me alone in the café. I wasn't sure why that mattered now, since we'd done this twice before. But I was hyper aware of his every movement.

Tess grew bored and went off investigating in the kitchen. I wished for the thousandth time that I could fly. I'd had Tess describe it to me many times since we met five years ago. I was almost finished with my dissertation, doing a history of magic for all folks — the ones who often got overlooked in our society for whatever reason. Pixies were on the list, and she'd been the one I wound up interviewing. We'd bonded, and due to some circumstances at the time, I'd offered to let her live with me. She had ever since.

I heard humming suddenly and realized that it was Winston. He had just finished mopping up the floors and was making his way back.

"All clean?" I asked.

"Yep. Time to do so back here. Oh, wow, you've already done some. Thanks!"

"Of course. I need to learn to do more. Just in case. I cashed out the drawer, put out the closed sign, and cleaned these." I gestured to the two normal coffee pots and the two blenders.

"Hey, that's awesome. Well, if you want to learn, watch! It really isn't too difficult."

And so I spent the next 30 minutes watching Winston clean various machines. By the time he was finished, I had more of an appreciation for my coffee. Tess came by and made comments about how close we were while I tried to actively shoo her away. I felt my phone buzz a few times in my pocket, but avoided pulling it out near Winston where he might see any of the texts Piper had sent me.

Finally finished cleaning, we headed into the kitchen. I plopped down at the table. Then I looked down at my apron. The café logo was on it—a cauldron bubbling with a brown liquid—presumably coffee.

"Hey. Had a thought. You should do reward cards. Like, you get a punch for each coffee, and a free one every 20 or something."

"Aiming for freebies, huh?"

I untied my apron and thought about throwing it at him, but changed my mind. I just said, "I already get freebies! I declare it for my work."

"It isn't a bad idea. Tomorrow I've got to spend the day looking through my finances."

"Oh right. You are closed on Tuesdays. Terrible day for me to be without coffee."

"You can make your own. A whole pot. At work and home." Tess said, landing on the table and putting her hands on her hips. "I sometimes think you want to bathe in it."

Winston choked back a laugh. I shook my head.

"Okay. I have 16 days left. Less, really. I need us to get cracking. Less time spent making fun of me."

"Totally understand. I slept last night, but I started working on it. I plan to spend quite a lot of time on it tomorrow. When are you free?"

I pulled out my phone, since he was across the kitchen, and looked at my calendar.

"Class at 10 and 1. So I'm done by 3. No meetings either."

"Can you not remember your class times?"

"I can't always keep track of what meetings I have when. There are a lot of them."

"Sounds terrible."

"Nah, most are okay. All part of the job and all that. Academics is its own world, but I love it."

"I can tell. Okay, so I don't have much to give you tonight. I'm sorry. I do have this, though."

A bowl of soup was placed in front of me with grilled cheese. It was steaming hot, and the smell took me straight to fall and my childhood.

"Oh! This looks scrumptious."

Winston sat down with his own bowl. "Eat up. Thanks for the help today. And I can always make you a cup of coffee in the morning, if you're desperate."

The image of Winston bringing me coffee in bed was not safe, so I shoved it out of my mind and took a bite of soup.

Yep. Scrumptious.

I made a slight groan and heard Winston chuckle.

I looked up to see him grinning at me. I smiled back, and then quickly went back to eating.

"You are a very good cook. Did you go to school for it?"

"Nope. Just loved learning how to. My grandmother had a restaurant, and I cooked with her a lot. And with my aunt when I visited here in summer. Though we mostly baked."

"Makes sense. And potions are the same kind of thing."

"It is. Most don't really think of it that way."

"Of course it is. It is much less spooky to realize you measure ingredients and don't sing around a cauldron, hoping everyone drops dead."

Winston laughed again. "Aren't they all required to take a magical history course?"

"At our college, yes. Many of the public four-year universities require it. Though they have some choices about whether it"s magical history or something else. It really depends. And of course private colleges, being religious, often don't. Those are fewer and further between, though."

"I know we did at my school. I guess I hadn't really thought about it. Of course, much of our history is a part of your history too."

"It is. But it's often a different perspective. Witches have often had to fight for their rights against a world that might not be accepting of them. I'm glad witches are still here. I cannot imagine a world without magic."

Winston made a "Hmmm" sound as he ate.

I finished my soup and grilled cheese and tried to stop lecturing. It was a bad habit of mine, even in general conversation. Hard to exit the "Teach all" mode I was in so often. I could never tell if others meant it as a compliment or complaint when people said I was always teaching them something new.

The meal finished, I sat back and examined the room. It was tidy, even though I knew Winston had been baking up a storm back here. The smell of bread was everywhere, and I wondered if a candle had been successfully made to mimic that scent. Though then I'd want to do nothing but eat bread, and that seemed like it might be a terrible idea, actually.

"What are you thinking about?"

"What?" I said, coming back down to earth.

"Your face was just so serious."

"Oh." I said, trying not to blush. "Um, nothing important."

"Come on, share." He goaded me.

"Bread." I mumbled, picking up my bowl and plate and carrying it to the sink.

"Bread? Did I hear you right?" His voice had risen an octave.

"Maybe. What if?"

"Nothing, nothing. Bread is a good subject."

I laughed, and started washing my dishes, and then grabbed his to follow, waving away his protests.

"I'm sorry we don't seem to be making much headway on this spell. I know you need the recipe."

"16 days. But it's okay. I can't force it, and you are helping me out of the goodness of your heart."

"You've covered my café now 3 times. I think I owe you."

I smiled and turned around, drying off my hands. "Agreed. I'm even having to learn to make my coffee."

"Okay. If you're done by three, why don't you stop by here? We can make some coffee and start going over what I have. If we can figure out enough, and I have the ingredients, we might even try to brew it."

"Really? That'd be amazing."

"Then maybe in 16 days, once all this is done, we could go out on an actual date?"

I stopped, having started to move back to the table. I turned to fully face him.

"Or not. Sorry. Didn't really mean to say that out loud, yet. It's no biggie. Really."

Winston tried to turn away towards the shelves. I put out a hand to stop him.

"I'm sorry," he started to back up at that reply, so I rushed on. "No, not that kind of sorry. I didn't mean to make you think I was saying no. I…"

"So you aren't saying no?" His head tilted, and he studied my face again.

"No. I mean, no, I'm not saying no. Yes. I'm saying yes."

That was the absolute most botched acceptance of a date in the history of dating. I could never tell Piper.

"Really?"

His grin nearly made me swoon. "Yes. Really." I smiled back.

And we just stood there, and I realized I was too awkward for any of this.

"Okay, so yeah. I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, tomorrow afternoon then. I'll have the coffee ready."

I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder, heading for the back door.

"See you then!"

And as the door swung shut, I was met with Tess's maniacal laughter.

Shit, she'd heard the whole thing. I'd never live it down.