Chapter 32

thirty-two

LUKE

“I just dropped off more books at our Little Free Library. It’s bursting with words and adventures and it makes me so happy.” Gaby is all smiles as she closes my kitchen door, the crisp scent of fall weather blowing in behind her.

Often, I waffle back and forth about who reminds me the most of Mom between my sisters, but today it’s Gabrielle. Her biggest joy is making people happy.

“I can’t believe you put one of those in front of the farm.”

“Everyone deserves access to books, Luke.”

After the chaos of the last few days, it feels good to have a little normalcy around here. I’ve enjoyed the time with Ella, but I’m struggling with keeping the balance. Especially with trying to keep Lucy’s life as normal as I can.

She’s used to fall being wild. Thankfully, she loves all the extra time she gets with my siblings and parents, but it doesn’t ease the guilt. I know I can’t be there for every little thing.

“Aunt Gaby—are we doing story time later?” Lucy is across the room, diving into a pile of freshly made pancakes.

“Are you going to join me this afternoon? ”

She nods and points to her newest fairy tale on the countertop. “I want to read Bigfoot Cinderella.”

Gaby picks it up and eyes me before crossing the room to pick it up. “I haven’t read this one.”

“It’s pretty amusing.” I squeeze another round of pancakes onto the countertop griddle.

At least her teacher is diversifying the stories. I haven’t enjoyed all the books we’ve read, but some have made the inundation of fairy tales tolerable.

“That’s saying a lot for ‘Mr. I Hate Magic’,” she chuckles, flipping through the pages.

“It’s Bigfoot.”

“It’s so good. You’ve gotta read it.” Lucy smiles, revealing the tooth she lost last night.

There’s a squeal as Gaby drops the book back on the counter. “Yay! It finally fell out! How much did the Tooth Fairy leave this time?”

“Five dollars!”

Gaby raises her eyebrows. “That’s the going rate these days?”

“The Tooth Fairy probably had a hard time seeing in the dark,” I grumble.

She snorts in response and snags a pancake from the freshly made stack.

“Just make yourself at home.”

“Don’t I always?” she grins.

“It’s still opening weekend. Do you really think they can spare both of us?”

I’d really like to spend some time with Lucy before I have to head out and make sure everything is working the way it needs to.

“I think with all the extra help we hired for the season, I have time to wolf down a few pancakes before I duck back out.” Gaby examines the twin braids in Lucy’s hair. “Your dad is getting really good at these.”

Lucy’s hair is in a double French braid this morning. Her current favorite princess is Anna from Frozen, so I may have stayed up a few nights watching YouTube videos with one of her dolls to learn.

“Hey Dad.” Lucy’s full concentration is on the refill of pancakes I just set on her plate.

“Yeah, sport.”

“Could I invite Ella to my Cider & Story Time?”

Gaby’s eyes widen as my spatula clatters to the countertop.

I clear my throat. “What?”

“It’s at school.” She sticks a massive forkful of pancakes into her mouth. “I want her to come.”

It sounds more like ‘eh forkman to none’, but her message is loud and clear.

“You don’t want Aunt Gaby to come?”

She shrugs. “Aunt Gaby always comes.”

“Why do you want Ella to come?” Gaby asks softly, crouching beside her.

“She seems cool. You’re all friends, right? She could be my friend, too.”

Wide green eyes blink up at me, and I sigh. We don’t talk about her mom. I’ve got nothing to hide, but she doesn’t ask. And it’s not a conversation I want to bring up for the sake of bringing up.

It was only a matter of time before this came up. I’m not even sure what this is. She’s not asking me for a mom. Clearly, I’m not the only one Ella is making an impression on.

I scrub my hands down my face and clear the griddle again.

“We can talk about it later, okay?”

“Sure,” she says. Thankfully, she’s mostly distracted by food .

Gaby has maneuvered her way to the counter in front of me, watching my every move with squinty eyes.

“You doing okay, champ?” She leans on her elbows on the counter, lifting a piece of crispy bacon to her lips.

Not really. I’ve got no self-control when it comes to Ella. We’re not only fake dating, but now my daughter wants to bring her to class. This is so far out of my realm of reason, I’ve got no clue what to do. I’m driving blind.

“Just tired,” I reply.

“You’re sure there’s nothing you want to share with the class?”

Evil. She’s evil.

“There’s nothing I want to share with the class ,” I reply, motioning toward Lucy, who’s switched gears into organizing the sprinkles on the table she wants to add to her whipped cream.

Gaby just takes this as a hint to lean closer. “Tell me.”

I don’t want to unload on Gaby. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t know where to start. Actually, that’s a lie. I know a great starting place, and it begins with the man I’ve never seen set foot on our farm until yesterday.

“I don’t know,” I mutter, rearranging pancakes on a plate.

She straightens, the teasing smile vanishing from her face. While Sam is closest in age to me, she’s the closest in age of my sisters and she’s got some special sibling sixth sense that tunes her into my thoughts and feelings.

“Come here,” she whispers, grabbing the spatula out of my hand and tossing it on the counter. “Be right back, Lucy!” She’s surprisingly strong as she wrestles me into my room down the hall and shuts the door.

“This is my personal space,” I whisper dramatically.

“Be quiet about your personal space.” She rolls her eyes. “Spill it. Right now. ”

“What do you know about Sebastian? Or the Gold family in general?”

This question takes her aback. “You’re asking about magic?”

I consider for a minute. Rumors have made the rounds for years about what kind of family the Golds are, but the one thing that is always consistent are the deals they make. I hadn’t given it much thought, but it makes sense those deals would involve magic. My parents have made it clear they’re not to be trusted or dealt with.

“I guess I am.”

“Why are you asking?” All the teasing is gone from her voice.

“It’s probably nothing—” I move to push past her and she waves her hands defensively.

“These aren’t questions you ask. Why are you asking?”

“He was here yesterday.”

Her nostrils flare, but that’s the only sign she’s angry. I give her credit for keeping her reaction so subdued.

“Why?” The single word is clipped.

“He was talking about that weird patch I’ve been worried about.”

There’s a throb forming at the base of my skull, so I reach back and massage it.

“Did he do it? I told Mom and Dad we need more cameras.” Her hands clench into fists so tight, her knuckles turn white.

“I don’t think so, Gabs. There’s not actually anything wrong with them other than how they look. Calm down.”

As soon as the words are out, I wince. There’s nothing worse than telling a woman, especially your sister, to calm down. I might as well wave a red flag in front of a bull. At least the goring experience would be quick.

“Why else would he be here, then?” She snaps.

“I don’t know.”

Her eyes turn worried. “Ella?”

She connected the dots quicker than I did. It doesn’t settle the unease in my stomach.

“He was talking to her last night and said to tell Charlotte hello.”

She whooshes out a heavy breath. I understand the sentiment.

“You need to be careful. Sebastian is one thing. He doesn’t exactly work with his family—he’s more like a lone wolf.”

I think of the castle built on a bluff overlooking the lake. Living in a space so large would get lonely. Maybe he’s just lonely.

“But does he do the same work as his family?”

“I think his deals are less traditional than his parents.”

“You seem awfully knowledgeable about Sebastian Gold.”

Her face reddens as she glares at me. “Maybe pick up a book.”

I want to retort about how I wasn’t aware there was a book about Sebastian, but I think better of it. My mind travels to another subject that’s also been plaguing my thoughts. It could be a coincidence that a deer ran out in front of Ella’s car in the middle of the day. It’s not typical, but it’s not unheard of either.

When I pair that with the weird pumpkins, Sebastian’s appearance twice in one day, and their time capsule unearthing itself — it reeks of magic.

But why?

The more I think and try to make sense of it, the less I understand it.

“What about the town magic?”

“Who are you, and what have you done with my brother? ”

“Would you just,” I make a hurry motion with my hand. “Answer my question?”

“Mom and Gran always said it kind of does its own thing. Most of the time it’s content to just be , but sometimes it interferes. If it senses a match, it will do what it feels necessary to help push people together.”

That tracks with what I remember and does nothing to calm my thoughts.

“Not anything nefarious though,” she adds quickly. “Usually it’s silly stuff.”

She’s like Ella with the big words.

“Did you buy yourself a calendar, too?”

She raises an eyebrow. “I own many calendars. You need to be more specific.”

“Nevermind.”

“Can you please tap me in here? Give me a clue what you’re thinking?”

Everything I’m juggling feels like dead weight at the moment. Maybe if I share some of it with my sister, it wouldn’t feel so heavy. Eventually I’ll have to loop Ella in, but I don’t want to add to her plate until I’m more sure.

Right now, everything is simply suspicion.

Besides, maybe Gaby will tell me I’ve lost it. I’m reading too much into things and letting the spirit of the Jubilee get under my skin and in my head.

“I don’t think the deer was an accident. I think Sebastian knows something, but he’s being his usual ridiculous self. And I think there’s a bigger reason behind why Ella is here right now.”

The tension coiled between my shoulders releases as I say the words out loud. It’s too coincidental that the deer was on the road only moments before I came through the same place. Anywhere else, sure. But not in a town where magic gets a kick out of shoving two people together when they’re say—struggling to get on the same page.

And have been for years.

She presses her lips together and considers. “You think she’s here because of magic?”

“Well, when you put it that way…”

She shakes her head, then freezes, her eyes growing wide. “Wait.” She grips my arm and I can almost see her mentally piecing together everything I’m not saying. “WAIT. Is this more than faking a relationship? Are you actually together?”

“No. It’s a fake relationship, Gaby. We’re not… no.”

Gaby smacks me right in the bicep. Hard. “You’re the worst liar on the planet.”

“I’m working through some things,” I admit.

“Oh my gosh , she would finally be my sister!” Her voice has hit a level of high-pitched that would make the dogs howl.

“This is exactly why I didn’t want to say anything. There are a ton of unknown variables here. Let’s pretend this didn’t happen.” I turn to leave my room and Gaby ninja slides between me and my door.

“Nope! No can do.” She shakes her finger in my face.

Yep. Gaby reminds me most of mom.

“What do you want from me?” I step back to reclaim some space.

“I want to know how you feel. And be honest, because I saw those moony glances you gave her yesterday.”

“I don’t give moony glances.”

“You absolutely do.”

“There’s a lot going on right now, and our focus is on Holly’s wedding. We don’t need to complicate our fake relationship with a real one.”

She gives me a deadpan stare paired with long, slow blinks. “Can you hear yourself when you say things out loud? ”

“I don’t want to get between her and pulling off the wedding she needs to pull off.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere.” She smiles. “What else?”

“I don’t know.”

“Just don’t tell me you can’t do anything because you don’t want to ruin what you have.”

Gaby has spent entirely too much of her life with her nose in a book.

I shift uneasily from one foot to the other. “Why can’t that be true? I don’t.”

“Because it’s a dumb excuse. Nobody wants to ruin what they have with someone. But if you don’t take a risk, there’s no reward. She’d be lucky to have you.”

“Thanks. I guess.” My eyes widen. “We left Lucy alone with whipped cream and sprinkles.”

We throw open the door and race down the hallway that leads to the kitchen. There aren’t any words for the scene that waits for us there.

“I ate all the pancakes and got bored. I saw a video on Uncle Dean’s phone where people have these eating contests and I wanted to see the best time I could get!” she exclaims.

From what I can tell, she took the bowl I filled with whipped cream and tried to eat it with no hands or utensils. There’s whipped cream on her whole face, a la Mrs. Doubtfire. It’s in her hair, in her eyelashes, probably even up her nose.

“I’ll take bath duty,” Gaby replies. “I made you have adult talking time.”

“I will fully place the blame on you. Bath duty is yours.”

“That means you get kitchen duty,” she whispers.

At least I won’t have to get the whipped cream out of her hair.