Muscle memory let me slip into Sweet Treats Bakery without triggering the welcome chime. My shoulders rexed at the smell of cookies and cake. As I looked around the familiar space, I couldn’t help the grin. All these years, and it hadn’t changed a bit.

  The register sat unmanned on top of the gss counter. Underneath it was a collection of small ptes holding everything from mini ecirs to donuts. My stomach growled at the sight, but even through my longing, I spotted something that made my grin falter. Gaps. A breath caught. That wasn’t right.

  Quickly, I tried to think of a reason for it. It was past lunchtime. Perhaps she wanted to get a start on the dishes? With a shake of my head, I turned away from the counter. None of that was why I was here. Besides, I needed to hurry. Beast-kin hearing was amazing, and there was almost no chance she hadn’t heard my stomach growling.

  Empty spots or not, that was something I would have bet my meager life savings on not having changed. Now on a timer, I hurried past the twin four-seater tables, and over to the rge bay windows. In the nook the window created, various pillows sat in a disorganized pile. Among them, old paperbacks, mostly tattered romance novels, y scattered, though I also spotted several comics with torn pages. None appeared recently used.

  A furtive gnce confirmed she was still out the back. Good. I crouched, my hands trembling as I pushed aside the faded purple curtain. I swallowed the joyful noise I almost let slip. She hadn’t gotten rid of it.

  Two stick figures, in permanent marker, stood out on the light purple wallpaper. One male, obviously human by the ck of animalistic features, ran hand-in-hand with a female beastkin. Her tail, a mass of scribbles, drew my eye before the twin triangles that denoted her ears.

  We had thought we were so stealthy at the time, and I remembered the excitement at our artistic genius. My father had been the one to catch us. His fierce lecture was somewhat muted by the fact it was being delivered to a fairly unrepentant five and three-year-old.

  She had never gotten rid of it, despite all her cims she would make me scrub it off with a toothbrush growing up. I had to wonder if she would try the same tactic again now. The sound of approaching footsteps cut off that train of thought.

  I silently resettled the curtain back into pce, then I shot to my feet. With a forced casual gait, I strode to position myself in front of the counter. If I were lucky, the owner would assume it was a customer pacing and looking around the store. Not something that would give the game away.

  My hands shook with nerves as I focused on the pastry dispy. I had no idea whether this joke would work. But I had changed during my extended stay in the city, hopefully enough that I could pull this off regardless of how often I had spent in this very building.

  While I hadn’t become a bodybuilder, there was little trace of the gangly teen that had left. A side effect of making friends with the students majoring in physical education and nutrition. It was easier to build good habits when you had people whose grades depended on your success.

  More than my body had changed, which helped. I had become more conscious of my wardrobe. No longer buying things that hung off in such a way as to hide my physique.

  Today’s was a simple bck t-shirt, form-fitting enough that it showed off my work. Combined with a pair of scks, I hoped it straddled the line between informal and yet grown-up. When the doors to the backroom opened, I settled into my best casual stance. Then she was there, and my feelings that had dimmed during my absence suddenly hit me once again, all at once.

  She walked in backwards, her long, fluffy white tail sweeping around behind her. When it brushed against the counter, she turned fast enough that her basset hound-like ears swayed. It reminded me of the dangling earrings she had always compined were tacky.

  With a thump, she pced the stack of donut boxes she carried onto the gss next to the register. Once her hands were free, she reached up and brushed away a strand of her ptinum blonde hair that had escaped her usually tight bun.

  “Just a moment, sweetheart.” Her southern belle twang that had haunted my dreams made me smile. After a shrug, I waved in acknowledgement. I had all the time in the world today, and I was more than happy to spend it with her.

  Plus, the longer it took for her to recognise me, the funnier I knew her reaction would be.

  While she busied herself neatening up the stack, I studied her. The years hadn’t only affected me. Crow’s feet sat in the corners of her golden eyes, and there were smile lines around the sides of her mouth. When she reached up to shift a box, her uniform came more into view.

  A pink apron, once that was much tighter across her chest than I recalled, partially covered a green shirt. That was new. It used to be blue. I remembered her daughter cheerfully picking the colour.

  Though I quickly looked away, when I met her golden eyes, they held a familiar mirthful twinkle that told me I hadn’t been as subtle as I assumed. She smirked and leaned on the counter. “Afternoon, stranger. Are you here to work the mines? I heard they weren’t bringing anyone else in.”

  Her attention flicked over me, taking in my appearance in a way she never had when I was younger. Interested, approving, not dismissive or amused. When she spoke again, her curiosity was palpable.

  “No, that’s not why I’m here.” I continued the charade, holding down my ughter at the fact that she seemed genuinely oblivious to who I was. At two years older than her daughter, Vanni, I had spent enough time around her. Between sleepovers and making mischief, we had been the talk of the town more than once.

  “Is that so?” She rested a hand on her hip and cocked it while her tail swished slowly behind her. “I heard your stomach rumbling from out back. You must be starving, sugar. Don’t worry none, I’ll get you fed. As you can see, I’ve sampled enough of my product to guarantee it’s the best you’ve ever had.”

  The way she patted her stomach failed to emphasize her point. If her cooking had gone anywhere, it wasn’t to her waistline. I silently cursed the unfairness of beastkin genetics. Some of us had to work to keep the pounds off, plus humans didn’t get anything cool like tails.

  “But tell me then, if you don’t mind my being nosy. What brings you to Hollow Oak? We don’t exactly attract many young folk. Are you heading down south?”

  “Actually.” I let the silence stew for a bit before I answered in my best attempt at a professional tone. “Ms. Delite. I’m here for you.”

  She paused, though because of my words, or the fact I properly pronounced it as delight and not delete I didn’t know. Her eyes narrowed, and her tail swished quickly behind her in a tight back-and-forth motion. Concerned curiosity, I knew, after spending so much time around them growing up.

  “Is that so?”

  “It is.” I gave a nod, and let my hands slip into my pockets.

  “And why, pray tell?” Her slow words made me want to chuckle, but I forced it down. “Would you need to come out here to see little old me, sweetheart?”

  “Oh, that’s simple. College didn’t have your cooking, and I wanted to check up on my old neighbour.”

  Before I could focus on the relief that flickered across her face, excitement repced it. Her tail went rigid for a beat before she whispered, almost too low for me to hear. Volume was always an issue with beastkin. With so many species with different hearing ranges, it could be a struggle to get it right every time. “Liam? Liam Sutton, is that you?”

  “It’s me.” The ughter that had been brewing burst out, and I grinned at her. “I finally graduated and—”

  Her joyful bark caught me by surprise, cutting off my words. She hurried out from behind the counter and pulled into a tight embrace. This was no greeting from an adult to a child. It was her welcoming me home.

  I returned the squeeze, letting how much I missed her seep into the hug. She didn’t pull away. This close, her floral deodorant was obvious. It failed to hide the scent of the oven, or whatever frosting she used, but none of that bothered me. When she finally released me, it wasn’t to break the embrace.

  Instead, she studied my face as her hands slipped from my sides to trace along my new biceps. Goosebumps prickled my skin at the light touch and I froze with indecision. I continued to stand, arms around her, as I wondered if I should move away.

  Before I could decide, her eyes narrowed. If it weren’t for the delight that infused her voice, I would have been worried she was actually scolding me. “You’re too old for Mrs. Delite now, I think. Call me Caroline, sweetheart. But honestly. Four years! You stay locked away in that college for four years, and then out of the blue you waltz in here and let me ramble on about my cupcakes? Shame on you. I had to get all my updates about you from Vanni. Not that she shared much.”

  “Oh, she passed those on? Great, then you don’t need me to tell you anything else,” I pretended to sound relieved.

  “I see higher education didn’t cure you of being a smartass.” Her tail swung around and swatted the side of my leg, which was a bit like being hit with a feather duster. Then she shook her head, an act that made her dog ears fp. “Look at you. You’ve gone and grown up.”

  “Slimmed down, actually. I had help working off all those cupcakes you slipped to me.”

  “Hmm, no, grown is right. You certainly didn’t have these when you were chasing my little girl around the pyground. Even two years your junior, she could run you quite the race. Oh, I can’t believe you’re back. I have to admit these changes are something else.” Caroline’s light touch turned into a firm poke. I tensed, not in embarrassment, but because I wanted her to get a good sense of how much stronger I had gotten.

  Her hands lingered, as though she didn’t want to pull away. I wasn’t going to tell her too, but unfortunately my stomach ruined the moment. It growled, reminding me I had skipped breakfast in my haste to be on the road. Caroline stared at me before she stepped out of my embrace. A hand fell to her hip as she studied me, her expression calcuting.

  “Let me guess? Someone got too distracted with getting home and forgot to eat?” Her tone was more pyful than contrite.

  “Not true. I had half a muesli bar I found in my glove box. Besides, I didn’t want to make any stops.”

  “Color me surprised.” She rolled her eyes and gestured to the nearby tables. “Take a seat, and we’ll make a deal.”

  Her amused tone was new. As kids, if one of us came to her hungry, we would get a stern look and a single command to sit until she couldn’t hear our stomachs compin. This was something else, and I liked it a lot more.

  “I can pay.”

  “Oh, you will. Don’t you worry about that.”

  The grin she wore made me nervous, but I sat anyway. As I did, I spotted her reflection in the gss. She was watching me, an intrigued expression on her face. Then she turned quickly and grabbed a box of donuts. It soon hit the table, followed by a handful of napkins.

  Before she took her own seat, I stood, and moved around to pull out her chair. She paused and then gave a slow nod before sitting herself. For a moment, she appeared unsure what to make of the gesture. I pretended not to notice as I settled in across from her.

  I tapped on the donut box. “So what do I owe you for these?”

  “First, you’re going to expin how you went from a gangly teen who couldn’t look me in the eye, to this.” Caroline pointed a finger at me. Her grin turned predatory, at odds with her soft, almost intimate tone. It was the kind that told you that you were in trouble, and there was a chance it would be the fun kind. It was like nothing I had heard from her before. “Then? Why don’t you tell me exactly what interesting mischief you got up to when you were away?”