15. Lacie
LACIE
We found Junie with her arms full of towels, standing near the entrance to the spa. The soothing scents of eucalyptus and sandalwood wafted through the hallway, making me crave a little relaxation.
Our spa day was tomorrow, the day before Christmas Eve. I hadn’t yet rescheduled the couple’s massage, and after that moment Jared and I had just shared in his room, the sooner I did so, the better.
“Hey, there,” Junie said, though the greeting didn’t have her typical brightness.
If anything, she acted wary, like we were in a back alley in downtown Fort Worth about to draw a knife on her and demand she give us her purse.
I couldn’t blame her. The last time we’d spoken, I’d all but bitten Junie’s head off.
A small amount of chagrin gnawed at me for that outburst. In hindsight, my accusation of the receptionist going out of her way to cause friction for the guests was not only unlikely, it was just plain ridiculous.
“Can I help you with that?” Jared asked, reaching for the towels she held.
Junie clung to the towels, stepping back and out of his reach. “I’ve got it. I was just about to drop these off to Blanca and Angelica. They run the desk and perform the facials and things.”
“Here.” Jared didn’t let her decline further. Instead, he moved his bulky arms around the stack and took the towels from her.
Junie gave him a puzzled glance. “Care to tell me why you have the sudden need to start doing my job?”
“It felt weird standing here while you had your hands full.”
Junie opened her mouth as if to argue, but I rushed on, desperate to make my apology before Junie walked away.
“I owe you an apology,” I said. “And we’d like to talk to you, if that’s okay.”
I didn’t miss the pain streaking across Junie’s eyes. I was used to being forthright with clients and difficult vendors, but something told me I’d overstepped with someone as sweet as Juniper Harper.
“I really am sorry for snapping at you the way I did the last time we talked,” I said, wishing I could do more than just spout words.
Forget all my nasty thoughts about leaving bad reviews. I would leave the highest review I could for this place in penance.
I went on. “My world was thrown for a loop, and I didn’t behave as I should have.”
“Thank you,” Junie said, though the spark didn’t reignite in her eyes.
She peered warily at Jared as though he was about to make off with her towels.
“Between you and me, she can be a little crazy,” he said, leaning closer to Junie to give her the impression he was sharing a deeply held secret. He added a wink.
Junie’s shoulders lowered. Her lips twisted against a smile. She released a willing sigh. “I really do need to get these towels taken in, and then I can help you.”
“Fair enough. Lead the way,” Jared said.
With a nod, Junie reached for the door. A soothing ray of relaxation swept over my agitated limbs the moment we stepped inside. The music softened. The lights dimmed. The scents of eucalyptus increased, making me want to kick up my feet and stay awhile.
Junie led the way past a bench and a reception desk, curving around the bend where the tile quickly traded places with comfortably receptive floor mats that I could tell would feel amazing on our bare feet.
She opened a closet across from a pair of doors and indicated for Jared to place the towels on the emptiest shelf along with what appeared to be folded robes, small hand towels, and bottles of lotion and aromatic botanicals.
The spa had the ambiance of a library, where it felt sacrilegious to speak above a whisper. The three of us paraded back out the way we’d come and didn’t talk again until we were out in the hall once more.
“Thank you,” Junie said, only a little begrudgingly. “Now. What’s on your minds?”
“I really am sorry,” I said, needing to get it off my chest.
Junie gave me a little nod, though her expression remained wary. “I’ll make good on my offer, that complimentary spa excursion.” She jabbed a thumb behind her in the direction of the spa we’d just vacated. “Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”
“No,” Jared and I said in unison.
“All right, then. What can I do for you?”
Jared peered at me, so I took the lead. “You mentioned something about the radio. I read on your website that magic is rumored to exist here. What does that have to do with the radio playing for us?”
Patches of pink splashed on Junie’s freckled cheeks. “The radio is a matchmaker.”
“Sorry, what?”
“If you’re coming to the bonfire Christmas Eve night, we have a skit that explains the entire story. Are you coming?”
The bonfire. From what I’d read, the bonfire was located several miles up the mountain, where the Harper’s Inn Event Center lodge was located. I had planned on scoping the lodge out as the location for the wedding itself.
“We were planning on coming, yes,” I said. But I didn’t want to wait until Christmas Eve to find out what was going on. “Please, something strange has happened between us. You think we’re married, but we’re not. We called home—even our own parents think we’re married.”
Junie’s eyes widened. “They do?”
Jared went on this time. “We built that snowman outside. We heard music play, out of the blue out there, in the middle of nowhere. And then when we came back inside, everything shifted. We had two rooms booked, but now we’re down to sharing one.”
“Even my name has changed,” I said. “Not only in your system but on my driver’s license, too.”
“Really?” Junie said. This latest bit of news emitted the most shock from her so far.
“Yes,” Jared said. “Even the pictures on our social media feed show that we got married. Gosh, it sounds so psychotic saying it out loud like this, but I swear it’s true. I swear we’re not making it up.”
“I believe you,” Junie said.
Jared’s teeth snapped together, as though he’d been preparing for more arguing only to have her ready acceptance render him speechless.
“You do?” My heart picked up speed.
Junie smiled, the first genuine smile she’d displayed since we’d approached her.
I released a breath. Smiling was good.
“Yes,” Junie said. “Before I say much else, what have you heard about the radio?”
“Only what my clients have told me,” I said. “And what’s on your website—that the radio used to belong to Santa Claus, and it’s the reason you claim there’s magic here.”
“There is magic here,” Junie whispered, her green eyes glinting. “The radio has only just recently begun to play again—for the first time since 1920.”
While my initial response was denial, I attempted to accept this explanation. To suspend my disbelief long enough to accept that magic could be a possibility.
I had asked, after all. How fair would it be to deny her right off the bat, no matter how much I wanted to?
“And what happened the first time it played?” I asked.
“Couples who heard the magic strains fell in love.” Junie nibbled her bottom lip as though the idea were a delicious bit of gossip.
Jared and I peered at one another again. That couldn’t be true. I felt for him what I’d always felt for him. It’s just that—I only just realized how intense those feelings were.
“I don’t think the radio altered our feelings,” I said. “Just our situation.”
“So your question is…?”
“How long is it going to last?” Jared said.
The question had a pang of desperation to it. I couldn’t tell if that was because he wanted our marriage to continue or he wanted it to end.
Junie collected a long, slow breath through her nostrils. Every moment she didn’t reply was agony and storm clouds.
“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “It hasn’t played in over a hundred years, and the others for whom the radio has played this time around have had completely different scenarios.”
Considering how her cheeks reddened, did that mean Junie was one of these others? I knew it was probably not appropriate in the slightest to ask who else had heard the radio play, but oh, boy, I wished I could.
This seemed like a hazard to Junie’s reputation if she shared guests’ personal interactions and behavior, like doctor/patient privacy matters. Still, I couldn’t help my curiosity.
Too bad Jared and I couldn’t talk to these other couples. Maybe we could get some grounding on what was going on here.
Junie’s cheeks turned a deeper shade of red. I knew it. Who had the radio matched her up with?
“I’m sorry I don’t have more answers for you,” she said.
“Is there someone else we can ask?” Jared said. “We can’t stay like this.”
His words were a stinger. They hit me right in the gut as surely as if he’d punched me. Which he never would. But I gasped, hoping neither of them noticed.
I’d been reeling since our kiss, since his confession and the realization of my own feelings. What did he mean now?
“I can ask my mom,” Junie said in a helpful kind of way. “She owns the inn and has lived here most of her life—just like me—though she’s gone on vacation right now. She probably knows something I don’t.”
“That would be great, thank you,” Jared said. “And thanks for giving us your time. We know you’re busy.”
Junie gave a little shrug. “You two should plan on coming to the bonfire. You’ll hear the full story of the radio and its antics then. And after you’ve heard it, you can ask any questions you have.”
A couple of days. Could we go a couple of days as we were now, with this incredible attraction building between us?
“We’d like that,” Jared said. “Thanks, Junie.”
The receptionist sauntered down the hall, and it felt like I waited until she turned the corner and left us alone in the hall before I could breathe again. The air whooshed from my lungs, and I fought the urge to cling to Jared’s arm or rest my face against his chest as I would have done before.
Honestly, could I ever touch him again?
“There you have it,” I said shakily. “We don’t know what will happen.”
“I guess not.” He stared in the direction Junie had gone as if lost in a daze. Breaking free of the distracting thoughts, he faced me. “Now we, what, wait it out?”
Wait it out. Like this faux marriage was unpleasant. “Waiting it out” pertained to things like doctor appointments or shopping in boring stores like Home Depot.
“We could go home,” I suggested.
Would that break through whatever supposed magic had settled over us? Or were our lives altered there, too, and we’d have to slip into this new reality?
I wasn’t sure I bought the “magic” excuse, but what else could it be?
I waited for Jared to pull me to him again, to tell me he didn’t want anything to change. That he wanted to stay married to me for the rest of our lives. But the way he kept his distance was far too noticeable.
He sniffed and glanced everywhere but at me. “Not an option. This is your North Pole or whatever. That wouldn’t be fair to make you leave.”
“Then—” My throat closed. “Then you could leave without me.”
Waiting for his answer was an eternal agony. It took too long for him to offer his attention back to me once more. When he did, his whole body tensed. His muscles flexed. Like when his dad had invited him to come visit in Louisiana, I could sense the conflict raging within him.
His eyes were guarded. Nervous.
“I couldn’t do that to you. I told you I’d give you Christmas. I’m keeping my word. But I swear I’ll keep my distance from you from now on.”
I should have been relieved, and I was. But something about this whole situation was so much more than off-kilter. This was no smooth road with the destination in view. This was more like a train driver knowing the upcoming turn was sharp and taking it as fast as they could anyway, completely derailing the passengers.
I didn’t want him to keep his distance from me. If anything, I wanted a replay of earlier. Or I wanted him to hold my hand or to steal little touches like he always did.
“We’ll have to share your room,” I said, staring toward the window at the end of the hall.
Jared pulled at his neck. “I don’t know about that?—”
“What other choice do we have? Junie said the bonfire is in two more days. If we keep acting like we’re not together when people think we’re on our honeymoon, we’ll look like nut jobs.”
“Maybe we are.” He grinned.
I was grateful for that look. He’d been so solemn, almost condemning, earlier. I was glad to know he didn’t blame me, and that I wouldn’t be alone in this.
“That tinkling noise,” I said, reflecting on the events that had led to this. “The one in the air, you know?”
The sound had been otherworldly and dazzling and had made me feel as though I were floating, as though I sparkled as much as the snow.
“It came from the radio, too,” he said. “The day it played. Junie said it was enchanted.”
Again, I was glad he was on the same wavelength as me. “The website talked about magic, too. Do you think it’s legit? That magic is real here?”
Jared’s expression softened. “I guess we’re about to find out.”