I didn’t know that would be the end of my solo mornings. Because from that day onward…

“What can I do to help out?”

“You don’t have to do anything,” I told her. “This isn’t your job.”

“I know this isn’t my fucking job,” She spat. “I’m just trying to be helpful, dumbass.”

“Sure, because you cussing at the slightest provocation is soooooo helpful.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Lily asked/ordered.

I leaned against the counter and pointed at one of the rare early customers who had just walked in and walked out once Lily started talking.

“Oh... meh, it’s only one guy,” She said completely unabashed.

“You are a ray of sunshine.”

“Like you’re one to talk.”

When I tried to hand her a puff the other day, Lily just barged past me and into the bakery. She asked me how she could help me open up, just like today. Against my protests, Lily refused to leave until she helped out. I relented and told her some of my morning chores. She set to work without another word. Lily started the fire and started moving the tables and chairs back out onto the patio. I was able to grab the ingredients and start on the pastries right away. When my uncle came down, all I could do was shrug when he saw Lily helping to prep the bakery. He had chuckled and started guiding Lily around the rest of our morning routine. She left after a few hours, saying that she had other things to do.

Admittedly, she was a huge help. An extra worker made the day so much easier; however, it became clear that she couldn’t help with the actual baking. After an incident involving a cloud of smoke, flavorless clumps of indistinguishable dough that were both over and undercooked, and a series of events that ended with me covered in batter and a bowl dangling from one of my horns, we avoid having her near the food until after it was baked.

This process continued for about a week. Today, things went a little differently. Near the end of Lily’s self-assigned shift, Cobalt came rushing through the door, clutching a scarf to her chest. Out of breath, she sagged against the counter, gasping, “Lily… you… left your… scarf… at the tavern… I’m out of shape… Damn sweets… and a lack of… motivation.”

Lily had popped over to her side with visible signs of concern, which slide right off to be replaced by annoyance. “I don’t own a scarf.”

“What…” Cobalt panted.

“I don’t have a scarf, and that has a Harpy insignia on it,” She pointed out. “That’s from a messenger.”

“Oh… well… too late now…” Cobalt swallowed dryly, pounding her fist on the counter.

“Water?” I offered her a cup.

“Thanks,” Cobalt took the cup and drained it of its contents. When she was done, she hopped up and clapped. “Alright! I’m good to go!” She placed an energetic hand on Lily’s shoulder that caused the younger Naiad to take a step back. “So you weren’t kidding when you said that you were helping out here. What are they paying you?”

“They aren’t paying me,” Lily replied as she tried to free herself from Cobalt’s iron grip.

“You’re not?” Cobalt asked me.

I shrugged. “We tried, but the most she would take is more Spew Puffs.”

Cobalt turned on Lily. “You work all night, used to sleep the rest of the day away, but now you’re working here for free? What’s wrong with you?”

Lily’s purple eyes flashed. Her fingers twitched. “I’m just helping out, that’s all.”

“Reeeeally?” Cobalt sang. “Or do you actually like hanging around here? Maybe you want to spend more time here?”

“You make it sound like I should be working here,” Lily said

Cobalt was making a face as if she had just won some sort of game. Where’s my uncle? I think he’s in the storeroom. Based on what I knew about Cobalt and the conversation taking place, I had a decent idea of how the next few seconds were about to go.

“That’s a great idea! Ripple!” Cobalt called. “Is it okay if Lily got an official job in your bakery?”

“Cobalt!” Lily piped, too surprised to draw any of her usual annoyance into her words.

“Of course!” My uncle called back from the storeroom. “The more the merrier! She’s been a joy to have around so we would love to have her on board! That is,” Ripple poked his head into the main room. “If my nephew doesn’t have a problem with that.”

Cobalt and Lily turned to me: one pair of eyes merry and light, the other as if they were scanning for cracks in a sheet of ice. My head exploded.

You won’t have any time to yourself in the morning!

What if the two of you don’t get along?

Come on, it would be fun to have someone else around!

There’s no reason to have her around…

This is my place in the morning!

It would be nice to have someone else helping out!

Why would I want to be close to her…

She’s been so nice to me!

It’ll just fall apart…

No, it won’t!

I’ll just end up in an awkward place with Lily around…

But-

She’ll act nice and then it won’t matter if I’m here or not…

She’s a good person!

What does that matter… I know what’ll happen… Turn her away…

Let her join!

Keep her away…

There’s a chance that we’ll be friends!

There’s not…

Take a chance!

Say no…

Just say-

“Sure,” I finally said. “I don’t have a problem with that.”

I did it!

This was a mistake…

My uncle nodded his approval. Cobalt’s smile somehow grew even wider. Lily shook her head, but she didn’t insult me. Instead, she said to Cobalt, “But I already have a job. I only help here for an hour or two. I don’t want to go from one all-night shift at the tavern to a daytime shift here.”

“Right,” Cobalt tapped her chin. She gave Lily a stern look and said in an authoritative tone, “You’re fired.”

“What was that?”

“You’re fired.”

“You can’t fucking do that!”

“I can because I already asked Snapper,” Cobalt said as if she were explaining this to a small child. Lily tried to snap back, but Cobalt talked over her. “I asked him after that incident. He gave me permission to fire you if I thought the time was right. And,” She gestured to the windows, the ovens, the baskets of baked goods, and finally on me. “I believe this is the right time.”

And that’s how Lily started working at Tidepool. We quickly fell into a routine: Lily waited for me to unlock the door; I gather the ingredients while Lily started the stove; I started to bake, and Lily prepared the bakery for customers; we traded off taking orders from customers and cleaning the floor. With an extra person, my uncle started taking to the streets and handing out fliers while promoting the bakery to anyone who would talk to him. Like I’ve said before, my uncle could talk to about anyone. It worked; he sent customers directly to us, and we managed to help them. At some points, I had to bake more food while Lily dealt with the customers, and she managed to keep her swearing to a minimum.

At the end of the first week, Lily and I were wiping down the tables after pulling them inside for the evening. The sun was starting to set when my uncle returned. He looked around the room, which was cleaned much faster than it used to be with only two workers around. Ripple chuckled happily and said, “You two should head out for the evening, I’ll take care of the rest.”

Lily and I looked up. We usually didn’t leave for another hour or so. “Are you sure, Ripple?” I asked. “We could finish up here.”

“I insist. Besides,” he chuckled again. “You two seem to have finished almost everything, so the least I could do is let you leave and have some fun before the sun goes down.”

“Ripple,” Lily started. “It’s no problem-”

“That’s enough,” He persisted. “Just get out of here already. Go, be young and have fun!”

After another few minutes, Lily and I were standing outside the bakery as the door locked behind us. We looked at each other. Lily and I hadn’t done anything after work together, so we would probably just end up saying goodbye and heading home. I was about to do just that, but Lily asked, “Well, what do you want to do?”