The collaborative gardening session was, for Leo, both blissfully rewarding and sweetly agonizing. When their work was done, he insisted on giving his helpers a generous portion of the day's harvest. He filled two baskets this time, one for Elara and one for her "father," piling them high with carrots, tomatoes, and fey-kissed strawberries.
"A gift, for your help," he said, bowing to Lord Arion again, who received the tribute with the solemnity befitting a sacred offering from a divine being. Elara gave him another one of her heart-stopping smiles before they departed, leaving Leo alone with his thoughts and a rapidly beating heart.
He sighed, shook his head to clear it, and headed back through the portal. He had his own work to do. His food stall and noodle shipment were due to arrive today.
When he walked into the garage, he was greeted by the sight of his father and a woman he didn't recognize standing over a pallet stacked high with cardboard boxes. Each box was emblazoned with the garish, cheerful logo of an instant ramen brand.
The woman was in her late forties, with a severe haircut, sharp eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses, and an immaculately professional pantsuit that seemed wildly out of place in the garage. This had to be the person Evelyn had sent.
"Ah, son. You're here," Frank said, looking up. "This is Maria. Ms. Hayes sent her over. She's... very efficient."
Maria stepped forward and offered Leo a firm, no-nonsense handshake. "Mr. Costello. A pleasure. I was just helping your father log the new inventory." Her voice was crisp and business-like. She seemed utterly unfazed by the fact that her new job was in a suburban garage. Leo guessed that working for the Hayes family meant you saw a lot of strange things.
"Leo is fine," he said. "Thanks for coming on such short notice. So... the shipment arrived?"
"It did," Frank grumbled, gesturing to the mountain of noodle boxes. He picked up one of the colorful packets. "Son, what is this? Five hundred packs of instant ramen? I thought we were past this. Please, tell me you're not going back to eating this stuff." His voice was filled with the genuine worry of a father who had seen his son live off sodium-and-preservative-filled meals for years.
Leo couldn't help but laugh. "No, Dad. This isn't for me to eat. This is for a new project. A new market."
Maria raised a perfectly-plucked eyebrow. "Forgive me, but is there a large market for budget noodle products among the clientele who purchase fifty-dollar bottles of water?"
"It's... for a different clientele," Leo said evasively. He looked at the boxes, the portable stove, and the folded-up food stall sitting in the corner. This was the gear for his other life. "Don't worry about it, Dad. This is just an experiment. It's R&D."
Frank and Maria exchanged a skeptical glance, but they didn't press the issue. Leo was the boss, and the boss apparently had a new, inexplicable fondness for instant noodles.
"Just keep it separate from the Clarity inventory," Frank said with a sigh. "I don't want the smell of chicken powder getting on the premium produce."
"Will do," Leo promised. He started carrying the boxes of noodles and the new stall equipment out of the garage. He didn't take them into the kitchen or a spare room. He took them straight to the master bathroom—the one connected to his bedroom. He stacked the boxes against the wall, next to the tub, turning the clean, suburban bathroom into a strange, trans-dimensional pantry.
From now on, this bathroom was the door to the Plaza of Wonders. The garage bathroom was the door to the Sanctum. He had to keep them separate. Organized.
Later that night, as he lay in bed, he looked at the sealed boxes of ramen stacked high in the adjacent room. To him, they were just noodles. But in another world, a world of magic and fairies, they might be an exotic delicacy. An unparalleled convenience.
Project Noodle was officially ready for launch. Now he just needed to find the courage to actually step through that door and become a street vendor in a world where magic was real.