By the next morning, Cadence’s head-splitting headache had calmed down considerably to something more tolerable. Ruth had come by to see her briefly right as Cadence had been about to head to the Inquiring Siren to open up shop.
“You shouldn’t be out and about like this,” Ruth had said, her face containing such strong motherly disapproval that Cadence immediately felt guilty.
“I have to open up shop,” she protested.
“The shop will still be there in the two days it takes for you to get well,” Ruth insisted, placing her hands on Cadence’s shoulder and directing her back in the direction of the house. “For now, you shouldn’t be working. Your head should be feeling a lot better from last night, but if you overdo things you could set yourself back and make it worse.”
And even though Cadenc
