Shade left the doctor's place at two thirty that afternoon. Considering that both Luvia and Priest Augustus had taken leaves of absence lasting more than half a month, there was a good chance neither of them would be around next week either. The doctor sighed:
"Must be nice, being able to take leave whenever you want."
"You could take leave whenever you want too. You work for yourself, after all."
"Precisely because I work for myself, I can't afford to relax."
On his way home, Shade naturally did not forget to visit Betty's Coffee Tearoom in the north of the city and buy the fresh cream scones Dorothy had mentioned.
The dessert was indeed popular. The moment Shade asked for thirty, the shop did not have nearly enough in stock. But the tearoom would not turn away a customer like Shade, so they asked him either to wait half an hour or to let them send a clerk to deliver them to his home shortly.
"I'll wait here. Half an hour will pass quickly."
He ordered a coffee and sat at a table. Before long, the young waitress also brought him a pastry, saying it was a gift from the owner.
"Meow!"
Little Mia woke from her nap at once, staring without blinking at the delicious food on the table.
Of the thirty scones Shade brought back, Dorothy kept ten and asked Shade to bring the rest to Moon Bay for Angelina and the ladies there to try. Naturally, she could not finish those ten by herself either, so she invited the maids at home to take a break and have afternoon tea with her.
Neither Leisha nor Miss Galina would do something like that, but Miss Writer, who came from a commoner's background, did not care about such things.