Chapter 12
Alyssa
Jade’s house was exactly like I would have expected from her, the coziest thing ever, a little bungalow out in the woods with beautiful wood paneling and a gable roof crowded in with the pine boughs around the eaves, nestled in the woods where I could see sweeping views of the mountains behind the house before I even got inside.
It was dark this far out at night, but a small, rustic streetlamp emerged from the bushes at the front of the house and cast a soft glow through the driveway as Jade put the car in park and pulled her keys from the ignition.
“Well, here we are,” she said.
“This is your house?” I sounded like a kid at a candy shop.
“No, a stranger’s. Fancy breaking in with me?”
“Well, this stranger has great taste in design, because their house is beautiful. Let’s absolutely storm the place.”
She laughed, stepping out of the car, and I joined her to walk up the wooden steps that groaned under our shoes.
Jade unlocked the door, stepped inside, and she turned on the lights, and it was like stepping through a magical portal into a fairyland workshop, warm and low lights filling a space with rustic wood finishings.
A huge rug laid out across the floor, and it smelled amazing, like a bakery with a big crackling wood fire.
It was also really nice and warm inside. For as much as I was embarrassed, I was really relieved Jade called me out and didn’t let me go sit in the dark and the cold behind Daniela’s house for however long until she got home.
“Don’t mind the mess,” she said, dropping her keys into a bowl by the door and shrugging off her coat. I turned slowly as I took it all in, closing the door behind me.
“It’s gorgeous.”
“Did Daniela get back to you?”
I checked my phone, and sure enough, a message from Daniela was lit up across the screen from just a couple minutes ago. I am SO sorry I didn’t even think about the key, tell Jade I said thank you!! and enjoy her house, it’s cute
“She says thanks,” I said, slipping my phone back into my bag. “For hosting her little errant wanderer. And also told me I should enjoy your house, because it’s cute.”
She stopped halfway through unlacing her boots, looking up at me with a smirk. “Was it a friendly cute or a condescending one?”
“Oh, probably condescending,” I said. “You know that castle she lives in.”
She laughed, getting her boots off and standing up. “I’ll give her a piece of my mind later,” she said. “For now… do you want a drink?”
“I wouldn’t want to bother you.”
“You’re doing the thing Daniela was doing with not letting me know what kind of candle she liked.”
I laughed. It was nice seeing this sort of…
playful teasing side come out of her, when she’d been so stiff at first. Sawyer had always been teasing too, but it was always on these toxic little things that made me feel like I was the worst person alive but that I couldn’t be upset because it was just a joke.
With Jade, though, it was… well, I didn’t know how, but it was just different. “What are you offering?”
“Tea, wine, beer, water, soda… could try to make you a cocktail if you don’t mind it being barebones.”
“Tea sounds great. You’re a good host.”
“Just trying to butter you up so you’ll put up with me complaining at a candle later,” she said. “Take off your shoes and get comfy. I’ll be right back.”
I slipped off my heels and set them down by the door, padding softly over warm wooden floors to the big window at the back, where I drew the curtains and felt my breath catch at the sight.
Through the trees, the roll of a valley below us, blossoming in soft spring colors lit only by the moon and the stars, a thin line of road running along it gleaming with streetlamps, and then beyond the valley, the crest of the mountains ahead of us…
it was so big. Like I could have taken a thousand pictures and I still couldn’t have captured all of it.
My chest ached with this soft yearning sensation, leaning gently on the glass, and I only pulled myself away at last when I heard footsteps behind me, Jade’s thick socks on the hardwood as she brought a tray of tea out from the kitchen, a smile dancing on her lips.
“Awed by nature, city girl?”
“Awed by this nature. I grew up in the countryside, but it was Indiana…”
She laughed, and she set the tea down on the table, flicking a switch that lit up a gas fireplace on one side of the room. “Glad you’re liking our humble town.”
I sat down on the plush green couch next to her, and I softened as she poured a mug of tea for me from the handmade ceramic teapot with little birds painted on the outside.
“Honestly, it’s really nice,” I breathed, taking the mug and saucer in both hands, staring down into the deep burgundy surface of the tea. “Everyone’s so sweet to me here…”
“Mm. Tight-knit,” she said, a touch of bitterness in her voice, and I looked down.
“I’m sorry.”
“I just feel like that’s the double-edged nature of it all.
You have a connection to someone who’s already here, so you’re one of us.
Everything’s beautiful and happy and perfect, community, family.
But then you step out of line and you lose it all.
And do you think they’d be quite as welcoming to somebody new in town who doesn’t have a pre-approved connection? ”
I frowned, staring down at my tea for a while, before I said, “I would.”
She looked at me for a minute, studying, before she softened into a smile. “Yeah, I believe it,” she said. “After slapping them in the face.”
“Please.” I sipped the tea and set it down, flashing my ring. “I don’t do that for just anyone. Sexy scars are in high demand.”
She laughed, eyes sparkling. “Well, aren’t I honored to be chosen?”
“As you should be, Jade.” I emphasized Jade with her name sign, and she smiled wider.
“Have you practiced your fingerspelling?”
“I have, as a matter of fact,” I said, puffing out my chest. “It was actually helpful as a grounding exercise when I was, um… not feeling so well earlier today. I was just thinking of random words and spelling them out. Doing something with my hands is helpful, I think.”
“Oh, look at you. Fast learner. Want to try out a couple signs for words, then?”
“I love a challenge.”
We sat on the couch together for a while, and on some level it was turmoil in my mind—the idea that this Jade, who was so sweet and made me feel so safe, was the one who’d wound up a pariah among my other new friends.
That she was the one who’d insulted Charlie about her relationship like Abby had said.
But I didn’t need to worry about any of that right now. What was important was that we were making progress with her and Daniela. She’d admitted to having had a crush on Daniela, and she’d been open to the possibility of something coming from it if Daniela came to her and leveled about everything.
It gave me a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, like some part of me was afraid of it, but I didn’t want to dig into that. Probably just the small, panicked part of me that was afraid they’d both stop talking to me if they got together.
I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.
For now, we were… friends? Could I call us that now?
It certainly felt like it, the two of us sitting side-by-side on the couch sharing tea while she taught me more sign language, and once the chatter wound down and the tea ran dry, she flashed a smile at me.
“So, want to smell some wax?”
“Really?” I laughed. “That’s how you offer?”
“Take it or leave it.”
“I’ll take it, just… I’m not exactly experienced, so be gentle with me.” Jesus, that came out sounding wrong. Jade turned her back to me as she stood up, so I didn’t get to see her reaction, but I really hoped we weren’t bringing me up on it.
“Well, let me get the table set up,” she said, a little too quickly. She’d absolutely thought it sounded wrong, too, and was just not addressing it. Maybe I should have just laid down outside.
I sat with her as she prepared a big wooden table, stocked with glass jars and wax melts, with a big shelf of what looked like scent oils, some equipment I couldn’t make sense of.
She laid out a wide, shallow box between us and opened up to a collection of little wax discs inside, handwritten labels next to each one with percentages of different scents.
“These are samples,” she explained as she lifted one marked as peach/bergamot/black tea, 50/30/20.
“The final candle will smell a lot different than the melted wax solution when you’re actually adding the scents, so you can test it live to find something in the right range, but to know for sure what the candle is going to be like, you have to prepare a sample like this. ”
“You have so many different blends listed here.”
“Like I said,” she said, gruffly amused, “this one’s been a pain in the neck for me. It doesn’t normally take this much effort.”
“They all smell amazing.”
“Well, don’t go Daniela on me and just say it’s all good,” she laughed. “We’ll test all of these and see how they smell cold, and then I’ll turn on the wax burner and we’ll see the hot throw, which is how well it casts scent when it’s hot.”
“Okay. I can follow that.” Honestly, sitting around smelling nice things sounded like a great way to spend some time. She took two small white candles from the shelf next to her, and she set one down in front of each of us.
“A neutral scent. To reset in between candles.”
“Why do I feel like I’m at a wine tasting?”
“I’m not classy enough for that. That’s why I called it smelling wax.”
“Please, let’s not call it that anymore,” I laughed, but I went ahead with the wax-smelling event. It was a little tricky at first to pin down what she was talking about—they all smelled amazing, but she held them up to her nose for much longer, clearly thinking deeply about them.