Tess poured a mug of coffee for herself, then sat at the table where Nadine stared at the plate of food. The woman had dark circles under her eyes, as well as cuts and bruises caused by the men trying to pull her out of the car.

“Humans First and Last,” Nadine said, her voice barely audible. “I thought they were strutting blowhards who enjoyed the sound of their own voices. I expected some trouble from them, but not this.” She looked up. “They were going to throw me in the fire. How can someone call himself a human and do that?”

Since she thought that savagery was completely in keeping with human behavior, Tess said nothing.

“I need to do something.”

“What?”

“I don’t know. Work. Something to occupy my hands while I... I’ll talk to my insurance company. Not that it will do much good if they’re sporting an HFL decal on their door, but I’ll file the paperwork.”

“Then what?”

Nadine shrugged, then winced. “I appreciate you letting me stay here last night, but I’m not comfortable living on charity.”

Tess stood. “Come with me.” She led Nadine to the work area in her shop. “Does this have everything you would need?”

“Appliances? Yes. But you’d need to get your hands on some loaf pans if I was going to bake bread here.” Nadine pointed to the cookie sheets and muffin pans. “Someone already does some baking?”

“I do when I’m in the mood,” Tess said. “I don’t do enough of it to supply A Little Bite with food.” She hesitated. She should discuss this with the rest of the Business Association first. Then again, Simon had been making a lot of decisions on his own, and this was her shop. “You’re welcome to use the room above the Liaison’s Office until you get yourself sorted out. You can make the food for A Little Bite as your rent. We can sell loaves of bread so that people like the Denbys can make their own sandwiches. Or I can take you over to Meat-n-Greens to have a look at the kitchen there if you want to cook other things.”

Nadine studied the workspace. “How do we get supplies?”