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‘Fine.’

‘Not a little annoyed, or anxious, or a bit hyper?’

‘Umm…’

And that answers that question, Mist grumbled.

‘It wasn’t deliberate.’

‘But you do know better.’

Aiden quickly retreated to the kitchen to dry up the tidal wave and finish washing up while they squabbled. When he was done, they were still discussing how best to end the spell, with Mist advocating incinerating the brush. He put the kettle on to boil and pulled out his phone, thinking they all deserved a drink before starting to clear up the shop.

He smiled when he saw a message from Mia.

Hey, how’s your week been?

Not that great. His mum had had another fall, badly bruising her wrist and knee, but she was OK and nothing had been broken that wasn’t easily replaced, so he’d settle for that and focus on the positive. And he couldn’t tell her about the latest chaos in Glimmers.

Same old, same old. But it’s Friday afternoon, my bakes for the café are all pre-prepped. Bit of chaos in the store, but nothing I couldn’t clear up. How about yours?

It got a lot better after my brownie delivery, thanks. Lots of happy patients and no terrible news this week.

Sounds good.

Yeah, I’d say so. Are you still planning on coming over later?

I am. If I’m still welcome?

Of course you are.

The little emoticon rolled its eyes at him, making him laugh.

Hey, Emily?

Nope. What?

Damn. Thought that was a good guess. Is it really bad that I’m wondering what you’re doing right now?

The little dots for her reply appeared almost immediately.

I wouldn’t say it’s bad. Bit cheeky, maybe.

How do you feel about cheeky?

From you? Usually amusing.

So what are you doing right now?

He felt a rush of air and his hand tingled, and he watched in shock as his words blurred and rearranged themselves on the screen:

What are you wearing?

He tried to recall the message, but could see Mia had already seen it. When her typing dots didn’t immediately appear, he sent another message.

Sorry. Bloody autocorrect. Obviously, I meant doing. What are you doing?

Haha. Of course you did. In answer to the question you didn’t mean to ask… not much. Because in answer to your actual question… I’m about to get into a bath.