Chapter 3
Ethan
Ethan Hale had survived a small toaster fire, a goat escape, and the daily chaos of raising three daughters on his own, but nothing tested his patience like a Brim’s Hollow Town Meeting.
Most weeks, Ethan would’ve skipped the town meeting without a second thought.
Ever since becoming a single father last year, the people of Brim’s Hollow had given him more grace than he knew what to do with.
They showed up with casseroles he didn’t need and advice he didn’t ask for.
Sure, he’d caught Poppy discreetly straightening the living room more than once when he dropped by, and the school principal was losing patience with their lack of punctuality, but for the most part, they let him keep to himself.
So, yes, they’d forgive him for skipping one more meeting.
But today was different. It was only days until the Bureau of Compliance was coming to his home. As much as it pained him to admit, he needed to know what the town planned to do about it. If anyone could keep bureaucrats at bay, it was the stubborn, privacy-loving folks of Brim’s Hollow.
By the time he got the girls ready to drop off at the neighbors, he was late, but he brought baked goods. In Brim’s Hollow, that was as close to a formal apology as you could get.
The school parking lot was packed, so Ethan nudged his truck halfway up onto the grassy curb. Balancing the foil-covered tray on one arm, he jogged up the steps two at a time.
Juniper Marrow, principal of Brim’s Hollow Elementary and unofficial mayor of, well, everything, blocked the double doors.
She was in her mid-thirties, dressed in a midi skirt and a fitted cardigan embroidered with tiny moons.
She pushed her glasses up her nose and checked something off on her clipboard as he passed her.
Her eyes flicked up. “You’re late.”
“I brought apple pie cookies.”
“You think you can bribe me with sugar and cinnamon?”
“I think I brought you three that are just on the right side of burnt, just like you like them and a promise not to interrupt public comment.”
Juniper hesitated, then glanced at the tray. “Are they still soft in the middle?”
“I’m not a monster.”
“Hm.” She stepped aside just enough to let him pass. “If anyone asks, you were here early helping me set up.”
“Lying now, Principal Marrow?”
“Creative reporting. I learned it from your daughter’s last book report.”
Ethan bit back a smile as he stepped inside. “You know, one day, you’re going to admit you think we’re charming.”
“I’ll admit I think your daughters need the extra help I’ve been offering.”
“I can manage.” The refrain rolled from his tongue easily these days, but he struggled more and more to believe it.
Juniper arched her brow, and Ethan couldn’t help but feel, not for the first time, that Juniper saw more than she let on and knew exactly when not to say it out loud.
“Find a seat, Ethan.” She stepped aside. “We have a lot on our agenda today.”
Ethan slid past with a nod of his head.
The school gymnasium buzzed with the sound of folding chairs scraping the floor, paper programs flapping like fans, and someone already arguing about parking permits.
He went to the long folding table at the back and set out the tray of cookies. Then he dropped into the nearest folding chair in the back row.
“About time,” came a voice from Ethan’s left.
Theodore Nolan, Brim’s Hollow’s chief of police and Ethan’s best friend since they were both dumb enough to jump off the Hollow Creek bridge at age twelve, took the seat beside him.
He was halfway through a coffee and wearing his usual uniform—pressed shirt, badge, and that calm, unreadable expression he used to great effect on both suspects and ex-girlfriends.
“You see Juniper out there? I was lucky to make it past unscathed,” Ethan said.
“She’s mad because her PowerPoint about proper mushroom foraging crashed. Again.”
“Then we’re all better off.”
Juniper’s heels clicked across the gym floor as she took her place at the front beside Percy Bloom—known to all as Poppy—Brim’s Hollow’s mailman, rideshare driver, and unofficial town gossip.
Poppy banged a gavel far too enthusiastically for a Tuesday. “If everyone could settle down.”
Juniper lifted a clipboard, lips pursed. “Let’s begin with a petition submitted by Mrs. Gribble, regarding” —she squinted—“‘limiting the BooBees’ walking hours due to excessive sidewalk loitering and traffic interference.’”
The BooBees were a long-standing walking group made up of retired nurses, an accountant, and at least one banker.
They took up the front row and wore their signature black and yellow tracksuits with pride.
They’d originally formed for a breast cancer walk over a decade ago and now walked every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at dawn, armed with gossip, granola bars, and alarming energy.
The BooBees crossed their arms in perfect unison.
One leaned forward to whisper, far too loudly, “Tell me how we’re a public safety hazard when Trent’s goats are still roaming the library parking lot.”
Ethan leaned over to whisper to Theo. “Hey, listen. I got this text I meant to ask you about.”
Theo didn’t look up. “There’s no way out of the audit.”
“I didn’t say I was trying to get out of it.”
“You didn’t have to,” Theo said, wincing as he took a sip of the black coffee he insisted on drinking when he was in uniform despite his preference for something much sweeter.
“But if I did want to at least delay it, would you have any pull?”
“Nope.”
Ethan sighed, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “I just don’t love the idea of someone poking around the orchard. Especially some bureaucrat from the city who thinks laws are more important than people.”
“We all have our principles,” Theo said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Like you think pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps is more important than letting your friends help you?” Theo said.
Ethan opened his mouth to argue, but Poppy banged the gavel again with startling force.
“It’s settled,” Juniper said. “The BooBees may continue their walking, but they must remain in motion so as to not obstruct traffic on Brimrose Lane.” She shot them a stern look.
“Moving on!” Juniper called. “Before I introduce the next matter, a reminder to please refrain from interruptions, or I will break out the talking stick again.”
A collective shudder moved through the room.
“We’ve received word,” she continued, “that Brim’s Hollow will be visited by a member of the Bureau of Compliance.”
Gasps and mutters filled the gym. Ethan sat up straighter. The town’s outrage was exactly what he’d hoped for. If he were lucky, they would shut it down right now and put the whole matter to bed without Ethan having to even discuss it.
“The bureau will not be reviewing our civic compliance,” Juniper continued. “It is a targeted investigation.”
The room erupted into a full-on hornet’s nest of indignation. Mrs. Gribble clutched her shawl. Mr. Fritch muttered something about drones tracking our thoughts. Someone near the front was already drafting a strongly worded letter on the back of a napkin.
“Who are they investigating?” Tammy Gribble called out.
The chatter died off as everyone strained to be the first to hear the news. Juniper pinned Ethan with a look, and he swore he saw the slightest quirk of her eyebrow as she left the question unanswered.
Hell. He guessed he’d better get it over with.
Ethan stood slowly. “I’d like to request that the bureau stay off my land and out of our town.”
As expected, a chorus of assent rang out.
But Juniper cut it off with a raised hand and a regretful smile.
“Unfortunately, we cannot. I’ve tried. We have repeatedly and unanimously voted against appointing a Director of Arcane Relations.
” She looked up with pointed satisfaction.
“Might I add, it remains the only issue in the entire history of Brim’s Hollow to receive a unanimous vote. ”
The crowd hummed in agreement. Someone clapped. Someone else hissed, “Down with the government!”
Juniper lifted her chin. “Therefore, we have no local representative in the bureau, and despite being from the Anchor House, the Bureau does not care what I have to say.”
She consulted her clipboard again. “An official from the city will be arriving this week. Though their intention is to review only the Hale Family Orchard, we are to be on our best behavior. Which means, among other things, no unapproved potions, no spelling your animals to talk, and absolutely no hexing. Even if it’s ‘just a temporary magic-induced accent.’” She looked pointedly at her sister, Clover Marrow, who sat in the front row.
“Ridiculous,” someone whispered.
“I liked hearing what Buddy had to say,” someone else muttered.
Ethan nodded at Juniper, who still watched him like she expected an outburst, and sat back down.
Poppy banged the gavel for a new matter while Ethan stared at the scuffed floorboards. The meeting rolled forward. Talk of zoning permits and potholes filled the air, but it all bled together.
This is why he almost never asked for help. All the time, people tell him that it’s good to lean on people. Let them be there for him and the girls. That it’s healthier that way. Well, he tried.
Someone’s baby cried from the other side of the gym, and, though his kids were far from babies, the sound was enough to remind him why he didn’t get to wallow.
Theo eyed him, then leaned in to whisper. “You know she’s just coming for the well, right? You have nothing to worry about.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened. “I’m not worried about anything.”
“Didn’t say you were,” Theo said. He took another sip of his coffee, scrunched his nose, and placed the cup beneath his seat. “Just wondering what you’re scared she’ll find.”
Ethan didn’t answer.
Not because he didn’t know.
But because he did.