14.

J ack drove toward her house with Alex in tow. He sat forward in the passenger seat of her little Nissan. It was a new-to-her car, one she couldn't really afford, but she'd needed something to get Alex around. Jack had made a point to keep on visiting him throughout the year. Building a relationship with Alex had been a bridge to Zeke, but it had also been a link to the past. Thanks to him, Jack had learned all about the old house she'd spent the night in with Zeke, and she'd heard all sorts of stories about when he was little. She'd had the opportunity to fall in love with him in so many ways, and she'd had the chance to learn exactly what their life could be like together.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Alex asked.

"Nope."

"Then why are you doing this?" He clasped his hands together as she drove. She was careful, cautious.

"As far as I can tell, the witch didn't realize that you aren't my uncle."

"She didn't seem to make any moves," Alex agreed.

"She certainly doesn't know that I'm in love with him."

"If she did, she would have tried to put you out of your own misery by now," Alex said.

"I'm not miserable," Jack told him.

"Not yet. She'd do her best to make you, though."

"Oh, I'm sure she would."

"She'll do her best to make sure you don't reach him."

"There's a reason I moved to a new home," Jack said. "And I made a big deal about how I found him at a garage sale. I told multiple friends, and I mentioned the weird pumpkin to Renee a few times."

"Good," Alex said. "I'm sure that helped."

Jack had quickly figured out what Renee was a form of Eleanor, the witch who had cast a spell upon Zeke. There had been many tells, but mostly, it had been the waning magic that really gave Eleanor away. Sometimes, she would come to work as "Renee," but her face wouldn't look quite right. Nobody else at the assisted living facility seemed to notice, but Alex and Jack noticed.

That was when she'd hatched her plan.

"I'm nervous," Jack said as she drove through the streets to her apartment.

"You don't have anything to be nervous about," Alex said kindly. "I'm sure he'll say yes."

"But what if he doesn't?"

There was always a chance that she'd read the situation wrong, that she'd made a mistake, but she was pretty sure she hadn't.

Zeke hadn't just used her the year before as a way to break his curse. He'd actually cared. They'd had a connection. She'd spent the whole damn year telling him stories about herself so that he could really get to know her on a deeper, more intimate level.

Now it was time to see if her plan was going to work.

It was time to see if she could save her man.

She reached her home in record time. Jack and Alex got out of the car and hurried inside. Just like last year, it had started to rain. Just like last year, everything was going to be different.

"He should be himself by now," she said to Alex as they headed up to her second-floor apartment. "Maybe he'll even be in his normal body."

"Don't count on it, love," Alex warned her. "Magic is tricky."

When they headed into the apartment, Jack glanced around.

"He's not here," she said, pointing at her kitchen table. Zeke had sat there all year: a fixture she hadn't known she'd needed. She had found herself talking to him at the most surprising times: when she was scared, when she was sad, and when she missed him.

"So he's not," Alex said, glancing around. "He might have gone to the graveyard."

"To visit his mom?"

"And to look for me," Alex said. "Zeke is worried about losing me. He thinks that if he breaks the curse, it'll be too late for us to get to spend time together."

Because it had been a lifetime since Zeke turned, and Alex was an old man now. He moved slowly, barely able to navigate on his own, but his mind was still sharp.

"Zeke was twenty-two when he was turned, and I was forty," Alex said. "I'm an old man now. I'll be dead soon, but I'm glad I had this chance to get to know you."

"Why's that?"

"Because I know you two are going to do it. You're going to break the spell, and oh, he's going to be so damn happy."

Jack was going to be happy, too. She couldn't wait for their day together, for their night.

"Wait here," she told Alex, and she headed into the bedroom. Jack put on the black lace dress she'd picked out, curled her hair, and headed back into the living room. When she arrived, Alex was seated on her sofa.

"You look perfect," he said.

"You think he'll like it?"

"I know he will."

They didn't have to wait long for a knock at the door, but it wasn't Zeke who opened up. It was Emma.

"Emma? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know," Emma shrugged.

"This isn't really a good time." They hadn't been talking much. Jack had never told Emma about the night she'd spent with Zeke. She certainly hadn't told her friend she was falling for a cursed guy.

"You have company? Who is this?" Emma pushed past Jack, ignoring the gorgeous dress she was wearing, and stared at Alex. "Who are you?"

"This is my uncle," Jack said before either of the others could speak. "Emma, we're having a visit. He's not allowed out of the nursing home very often."

But Alex and Emma were staring each other down, and Jack realized something was wrong.

"That's not your friend, Jack," Alex finally said. "That's the witch."