Single Witch's Survival Guide by Mindy Klasky

everything they ordered, a couple of Cinnamon Hearts, three Lemon Sparkles, and a handful of Ginger-Butterscotch Dreams in a separate bag. Melissa smiled as she took their money and told them she’d see them next weekend.
    “Regulars?” I asked dryly.
    “Like clockwork. They insist they’ve each worked off 3500 calories by playing doubles tennis for half an hour. I’m afraid of the hit on my bottom line if I tell them the truth.”
    I waited for Melissa to get back to the real matter at hand—her struggle to declare independence in her wedding travails—but she was rescued by two more customers, a father and his adorable toddler. The little boy debated between four different treats before going back to his first choice, a Vanilla Vroom.
    As they walked out the door, I said, “I miss this.”
    “So come around more often.”
    “I would, if I could. Things are getting … interesting out at the farm.”
    “Interesting, as in you’re learning where little bitty lambs come from? Or interesting, as in you’re discovering you and David can’t live under the same roof?”
    “Interesting, as in class is in session at the Madison Academy.”
    “Do tell!”
    Between interruptions from customers and refills on my Mango Madness, I caught Melissa up on all the dramatics. She laughed until I told her about Norville Pitt and the Court’s demands.
    “So what are you going to do?” Melissa asked.
    “What can I do? I’m going to start official classes tomorrow morning. The next four months are going to be like final exams in college. Why sleep when I cram in one more detail about reading runes?”
    “You’ve got plenty of time,” Melissa said confidently.
    I shook my head. “Maybe if I’d done this teaching thing before. I’m starting to think I bit off more than I can chew. I mean, I’ve completed difficult rituals on my own, and with Gran and Clara. But whatever made me think I can do something like that with absolute strangers? I should have thought things through a bit more before I registered the Academy.”
    “You’ve wanted to do this for months,” Melissa reminded me.
    I feel like a fraud , I wanted to say. I’m as bad as Sister Moonsilver. But I shoved down that nagging voice of self-doubt. “Enough about me. I came here because I’m your maid of honor. And as your maid of honor, I’m telling you, you’ve got to put your foot down on some of this wedding stuff.”
    “Fat chance,” Melissa said. As if to avoid my quirked eyebrows, she took out a pasteboard box and started to fill it with two huge squares of Almond Lust. She carefully centered a square of tissue paper on top of David’s favorite treats before adding a couple of cream-filled Lemon Pillows for Neko. She tucked in a few of the peanut butter treats she kept for the canine companions of her favorite customers. Spot would be in heaven.
    I let her tape up the box before I forced her back to the matter at hand. “Am I going to have to Friendship Test this?” I was pulling out the big guns. If I made her promise on a Friendship Test, she’d have no choice but to follow through. “Seriously. Talk to Rob. Find out what he thinks about tattooed roses. And if he thinks they’re an abomination against nature, then tell Aunt Agnes she’s out of luck.”
    Melissa smiled wanly. “And you’ll back me up, when the Four Horsewomen of the Wedding Apocalypse come riding to my door?”
    I laughed. “I don’t even know who the Four Horsewomen would be.”
    Melissa counted them on her fingers: “Vanity. Gluttony. Avarice. And Pride.”
    “Not Lust?”
    “Ewwww. I don’t want to put Aunt Agnes and Lust in the same conversation . Much less the same sentence.”
    I laughed and reached for the box of treats. “Really, Melissa. Just do it. Stop the madness now, or the next nine months will be a nightmare.”
    A trio of kickball players tumbled through the door, already shouting out their drink orders. As Melissa set up glasses on the counter, she