Grimoires and Where to Find Them Raconteur, Honor (read along books TXT) 📖

usual wide-brimmed hat that covered her boy-cut short hair, blue shirt sleeves down to the elbow, and work pants smeared with dirt. She never looked any different. The bright grin on her face was in sharp contrast to her tan skin.

“Beautiful, aren’t they?”

I couldn’t stop my happy bounce. “They’re certainly a sight for sore eyes, I’ll tell you that. And they smell delightful. Have you tried one yet? Is the magic you’re using working okay?”

“Only this morning. It was a sweet, juicy berry. It tasted precisely like the first batch.” She regarded the berries in question with a slight frown, shoving her straw hat back, revealing her closely cropped red hair. “Feel free to eat one and double-check me. I’ve only had the two berries, after all.”

“No need to twist my arm.” I promptly reached for one, snapped it off the plant, and bit into it with relish. Then I groaned in pleasure as my taste buds reported nothing but good tidings of great joy.

“I can tell from the look on your face,” Pam informed me dryly. “It’s perfect, isn’t it?”

“I could write odes to the strawberry,” I assured her, already reaching for another one. “Man, these are amazing. How many berries do we have altogether?”

“I didn’t count, but I estimate each plant has about five ready to be picked.”

We had twenty-four plants. So that was a lot. Quick math said, somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred and twenty berries.

Can I eat a hundred and twenty strawberries? You betcha.

Should I? Probably not. Adults are supposed to share. Or, so I’ve heard.

It was hard, really hard, but I had promised to let people try the berries when I first convinced them to help me get seeds over here and plant them. I should probably make good on that promise at least once. Still, it pained me right down to my stomach.

“I’ve got people that are due berries,” I told Pam reluctantly. “If I portion them out, give you addresses, can you send a runner out to deliver them?”

“I certainly can. I have a runner on hand.” Pam gave me a knowing smile as if she could read the reluctance right off my face. She probably could. I wasn’t doing a stellar job of hiding it. “I do have some good news to bolster your spirits.”

“Yeah?” I tore my eyes from the berries to look at her.

“First, while I have verified they are an invasive species, they’re no more a danger to native plants than any other weed would be. I think it’s safe to grow these outside the greenhouse.”

I had no idea how she’d tested that but trusted the woman to know her business. “Excellent! That means we can plant them in all the places.”

“You can, and I suggest you do, as this flavor will be wildly popular with the public once it’s out.” Pam held up a finger. “And in that vein, I want to form a partnership with you. I’ve drawn up the paperwork to have you patent this seed.”

I blinked at her. What, now?

“And if you will sign that, we can form a business. I’ll grow and handle distribution. I have the right contacts for it. You take charge of advertising and information, as you know better than I what all can be done with the plants.”

Blink. Blinkblinkblink. Uhhhh. “Pam, I didn’t anticipate forming any kind of business. I just wanted strawberries for me, myself, and maybe my friends.”

Her response was patient.

“I know you did. But I’ve already eaten the two this morning, that after I told myself to only eat one, and I’ve had to ward the place to keep my workers from sneaking berries. All of that alone tells me we’re sitting on a potential goldmine. I’d be very lax if I didn’t offer this idea to you. You don’t need to answer me immediately, but at least sign the patent paperwork before someone tries to lay claim to this.”

That…was a good point. Okay. “I’ll sign. Let me sleep on this, but I’m really interested in partnering up with you. I think it’ll be great if strawberries become a common food here.”

She practically beamed at me. “I thought you’d be agreeable. You’re very much the entrepreneur type, after all.”

“Mostly by necessity.” I shook my head, amused at this impression she had of me. “I want the shiny things, too. Might as well share the love. How many baskets do you have that I can use for gifts?”

Pam fetched small baskets and I started in on the berry picking, being very firm with myself about the numbers.

Queen Regina got ten. Sherard got ten. Jules got ten. Gibson got ten. Colette got ten. Ellie got ten. Henri’s parents got ten. And the rest were mine to share with Henri.

Okay, no, twenty of them went back to being seeds. But the REST of them were mine.

Pam saw the division I had, then frowned at me. “Why aren’t you taking those in your basket?”

“Don’t I need to leave some for you to seed?”

“Those I can pick from the ones that will ripen over the next few days. Take these. You’re too busy to swing by every day.”

That was unfortunately true, but yay! That means today-me gets to have all the berries. No argument from me and no need to tell me twice.

I might have cackled. Aloud. Hard to keep that sucker in.

It probably took far longer than it should have as I had to keep smacking my own hand to keep from eating all the berries instead of putting them into the baskets. But eventually, everything was all wrapped up and addressed.

With my own basket hanging onto my arm, I paused at the door and said to this amazing, trustworthy woman, “Thank you. Really. I wasn’t sure who to turn to for this, and you’ve done such an amazing job.”

She smiled at me, pleased by the gratitude. “You’re very welcome. Thank you for the challenge. I’ve enjoyed it.”

“And I’m seriously interested in partnering up with you on this. Can