Moondays by the Sea

“Hello! Welcome to Sweet Tooth Confections, how can I help you today?”

The girl behind the counter at my local bakery when I walked in was new, probably in her mid twenties, and very pretty. I steeled myself for the usual type of interaction.

“Hi there,” I tried to match her enthusiasm, after all, my pain isn’t her fault. “My name is Weston. Danny Weston. I have a standing ord-”

“Morning Mr. Weston!”

I sighed in relief at the sight of Anna coming through the swinging doors from the back, drying her hands on a towel. Her tone was clipped and businesslike but not unkind. “You’re a little earlier than usual. We’re just boxing it up now.” She made an odd head jerk at the poor girl behind the counter and I was soon alone. I understood the intent, but as often happens, the mortals underestimated my hearing.

“Don’t cry! You’re not in trouble!” Anna could be brusk, but she always meant well in my experience. “You just need to know that he is a regular. Every full moon he comes in, picks up his order, and leaves. It’s always the same, every month except July.”

“What happens in July?” Now I could smell the faintest quiver of fear through all the other mouth watering scents of the bakery. And… Nah, had to be my imagination.

“He gets one on her birthday too. Poor man. Can’t stop even though she’s been gone five years now.”

“Who?”

“His wife. Sweet woman. Died of old age. But he never will.” My gut twisted. Had it truly been five years? They would know. They made the cakes. I just showed up out of habit.

“You mean he’s a w--”

“Hush girl! They’re like a gangster family from the twenties. No matter what the propaganda says, they keep this city safe from everyone but themselves. They do at least make reparations for their own messes. Anyway, we don’t make a fuss. Just smile, be kind, but don’t mention -that- and he’s always on his way again straight off.”

Poor kid. Getting the fright of her young life today. I pulled a twenty off my money clip and made sure it was loose in my pocket to grab easily so I could drop in her tip jar before I left. I couldn’t help but smirk at Anna’s old school gangster comparison though. In some ways she wasn’t wrong.

The new girl came out a moment later carrying the expected box with care. I looked at her name tag and nearly choked on my tongue.

Saoirse

I recovered as she watched me with bright green eyes so much like HERS and announced the total politely.

I paid, snatched up the box and turned to leave.

“If I may, sir… I have one, probably stupid question?”

I stopped and looked back at her, how her dark hair framed her ivory-pale face in soft ringlets. She could have been HER daughter… But there was no guile or hostility in her posture, just a curious kid. I sighed. “Yes?”

“Since werewolves turn into, well… Canids, dogs... Can they eat chocolate?”

It was definitely not the question I was expecting and it made me laugh which broke the spell she had seemingly cast over me. “Only when we’re in our human form.” I winked and suddenly remembered to drop the bill in her jar before I left.

Sitting in my truck with the box in my lap, my mood became much more somber. I knew what was in it. I didn’t even need to lift the lid, even if I hadn’t been able to smell it. I set it in my passenger seat and drove to the beach.

The tide was high. The water felt the pull of the moon same as my blood. Tonight was the moon hunt. I would run with the Pack. But right now, I would remember HER with our tradition.

Until the day she died, my very human wife had loved three things, maybe more than me. Chocolate cake, the ocean, and books. Every full moon, before I would be gone all night on the hunt, I bought her a cake and brought her to the beach for some ‘us’ time. I usually did the same for her birthday, only I usually also bought her new books as well.

She often came here on her own; bought her own books and cake as she pleased; and made no bones about it, but I knew it was the time together that meant the most to her. We would spread a blanket, eat cake, and she would read to me. I had always loved her voice. Even as it had aged and lost its resonance, it had remained like a siren’s call to me. We joked that she must have had selkie blood and if only we could find her a pelt, she could change with me and stop the progression of time.

The fact that the new girl at the bakery shared her name and looks had been startling. I put the window down to savor the familiar scents of the seaside and tried to put her out of my mind. This was ‘our’ time before the hunt, even if SHE was only a ghost in my memory.

I didn’t actually go down to the beach, just sat in my truck to eat my cake and read with my windows down. It had been slow going through this book because I only read it here. It had been one of my wife’s favorites; a selkie myth. I always heard it in her voice as I sat here. I remembered her reading this chapter. The author had written a harrowing death for the heroine previously, but now she returns, reincarnated in the form of a selkie; as all faithful sailor’s wives and fisher women do…

If only my Saoirse hadn’t been devoted to an old wolf like me… I polished off the cake, stuck the bookmark in the new spot till the next full moon, then set off for home.

I had showered and was brushing my teeth when the perfume bottle still sitting on the counter caught my eye. There weren’t many I could stand because of my sensitive nose, but that one… It was the closest thing we had found to match the seashore. I picked it up and sniffed at the nozzle.

My hands shaking, I carefully replaced it. I had to go on the hunt tonight. No wolf I had met could resist the pull of the moon at its peak, but tomorrow I knew I had to speak with the girl from the bakery again. That wispy scent had not been my imagination after all and the coincidences were stacking up too quickly to be dismissed.

~*~*~*~

“I’m sorry, Mr. Weston, but she’s off today,” Anna looked and smelled shaken at my presence on an unscheduled day. “Is there something I can help with instead? She didn’t offend you, did she? I warned her.”

I tried to shrug off my frustration and smile reassuringly for poor Anna. It wasn’t her fault. “No! No… In fact, she made me laugh. I just wanted to ask her something. Have a good day.”

I did have other errands to run on this side of town and my favorite coffee shop was just a few doors down the street, so I set off in pursuit of the perfect cup of joe before my day got too hectic. The barista smiled and offered a half wave when he saw me. He was actually Pack. Last night had been his first hunt and he looked like he was dragging a bit this morning. I smirked. “You look like you could use a couple of these, yourself, kiddo.”

“Yes, sir. Thirty more minutes till break.”

“Good man. You can make it.” I palmed a twenty on the counter but didn’t move my hand yet so he couldn’t see what it was.

“Your usual, Mr. Weston?”

“Yes please. And keep the change.” I grinned at his flustered expression as I walked to the end of the counter to wait. He really was a good kid and I didn’t mind helping him out. I knew he was working hard to support his sick human mother since the death of his wolf father last year and was now going through the first year of the change.

I was about to take my first sip when a breeze through an open window brought it to me, mingled with the scents of coffee and all the various trappings. That teasing, faux seashore. I looked around and spotted her, curled up in a corner booth, her nose buried in a book. No. THE book. I strode over to her and waited for those shimmering green orbs to meet mine. “May I sit? I have some questions I’d like to ask.”

She laughed then and my heart felt like a twisted wash rag. It was HER laugh. “Bout damn time, Danny Weston! It sure took you long enough to notice me!”