“He didn’t mean for that to sound so creepy. He’s way more interested in the engineering of the trailer than your underwear,” Dani promised her, rubbing absently at her sternum, as if she was suffering heartburn. Charlotte’s head tilted, listening to the tiny pattering sound only she could hear from Dani’s middle. Between that and the lovely, warm energy she could feel radiating from the energy witch, Charlotte could barely contain her giggle.

This town was going to be so much fun.

“Would you like to take a look inside?” Charlotte asked.

Zed gave a nod more suited to a small child than a public figure the size of a boulder. She handed him the keys. “Go ahead.”

“I’ll just put these grocery bags on the counter!” he said, fiddling the keys into the lock. Once inside, he yelled. “It’s so girly inside! And everything smells so nice!”

“We live in a man-made cave. It doesn’t take much to impress him,” Dani sighed, turning to Charlotte. “You sure you don’t mind a stranger just going into your space like that?”

Charlotte shrugged. “Eh, the Silver Stork has served as an exam room and once, a birthing suite for a very tense manticore, so it’s not exactly sacred personal space. I just keep the unmentionable stuff locked up.”

“Considering the number of people who will be dropping by that’s a good idea.” Dani stopped suddenly, turning a sickly shade of green. “Excuse me.”

Dani turned precisely ninety degrees away from Charlotte and vomited all over the blacktop. Charlotte poked her head inside the trailer and pulled a can of ginger ale she always kept on hand for her patients. Zed was engrossed in the overhead storage compartments but when he heard retching noises outside, he moved towards the door–or at least, he tried to, Charlotte was standing in the way.

“Abeille? You all right?” he called, when he couldn’t fit around Charlotte in the narrow corridor.

“You might give her a minute,” Charlotte whispered. “Nobody wants to be seen all vomit-y by the man they love.”

“You sure?” he frowned, craning his neck towards the windows.

She nodded and took the soda outside, pressing it into Dani’s hand. “Do you feel better now?”

Dani nodded, her dark curls bouncing as she wiped at her mouth. “I’m sure it’s nothing, food poisoning, maybe. I haven’t felt right this morning since my breakfast pie.” And then she turned ghost-white and said, “Please never tell Siobhan I said that. If she thinks I’m blaming her for throwing up, she’ll never let me near the pie again.”

“My lips are sealed,” Charlotte promised.