Chapter 23 ONE FOR THE BOOKS
ONE FOR THE BOOKS
‘That was quite the outing,’ said Noah as he parked Rosie’s vintage Cadillac in the garage of the Pink House.
He and I had ridden home together, after Finn made it clear he was planning to enjoy the cider flight in the Sunflower Maze greenhouse, and then probably stop by the Hammer and Thistle as well.
Lara and Jack had stayed with him – Lara promising to catch up with me at the book-signing event later that evening.
She’d also vowed to confiscate Finn’s Jeep keys.
I’d contemplated staying – a glass of wine in the cosy greenhouse did sound appealing – but I owed Eddie a draft of my Sandy Balls article. And so Noah and I had driven back into town, golden oldies on the radio, quietly trying to figure out exactly what had happened at the farm.
‘You feel it too, don’t you?’ I asked him. When he took a moment to respond, I clarified: ‘With the town’s magic, I mean.’
‘Right,’ he said, although from his tone I wondered if he’d been about to respond in an entirely different way. ‘Yeah, something does feel amiss. Mom’s roses. Soraya’s ice cream. And the crows, most obviously.’
‘It’s escalating, too,’ I said, frowning. ‘What’s next? A horde of hippos breaks out of the zoo and ransacks Keiko’s art camp?’
‘Not while I’m working, I hope. Unless it’s pygmy hippos.’ He drummed his hands against the steering wheel. ‘It definitely seemed to start after that weird Summerween Festival cloud …’
I shrugged, hoping he couldn’t feel the anxiety pouring off me. ‘I mean, things get weird this time of year. Strange weather, strange magic.’
I was twisting my ring back and forth on my finger – enough to attract Noah’s gaze. Before he could say something, I slipped my hand in my pocket.
‘Are you coming to the book signing tonight?’ I asked, changing the subject. ‘It’s with Vero someone – he has a photobook of hotels throughout Europe. Tiff is really excited about it.’
I didn’t mention that the reason Tiff was excited about it was that she had a crush on the owner of the bookshop. There were already enough complicated romantic feelings in the air.
‘Why not,’ said Noah, with a shrug. ‘But you have to promise me you’ll get your article done first.’
I groaned. ‘I know. Eddie’s been texting me all day. But I’m on vacation!’
‘I feel the same way carting around my law-school textbooks,’ said Noah. ‘But you’ve agreed to it, right? Eddie’s relying on you.’
I nodded, though with a bit of a grumble. Noah was right, but ugh, why did being right involve work? Finn would’ve made me feel fine about blowing off the whole deadline. They can just fill the space with an ad or a wordsearch, he’d have said. Sometimes a bit of permission went a long way.
Of course, Finn didn’t need permission. He was off doing whatever it was he was doing when he stepped out of eyesight. I tried not to show it, but I was worried. Finn had always been a free-wheeling wild child, but recently he’d been taking things to new extremes.
I frowned. Was I feeling this way because I cared for Finn romantically? Or because I cared for him as a friend?
It took me a minute to realize that we’d parked in the garage and that Noah had pulled the keys from the ignition.
‘You’ve got a lot on your mind, huh?’ said Noah quietly. He reached over to rub the furrowed spot between my eyebrows. I blinked – it was exactly the same gesture I’d wanted to perform on him a few days earlier.
‘It’s just the article,’ I lied. ‘It’s harder than it sounds to write about something called Sandy Balls.’
Noah ducked his head. ‘I bet. And also, that whole day was not my best moment. Sorry about … all of that.’
I chuckled. ‘I’ve got some great photos to go with my article at least.’
‘Great,’ said Noah, with fake cheer. He swung the car keys in his hand. ‘I’m going to get some studying done while you do your thing. Why don’t you come find me when you’ve finished your article, and we’ll head down to the bookshop together?’
‘And if I show up without having finished it?’ I asked, teasingly.
‘You’ll just have to live in the shadow of my dismay for ever more.’ He smiled. ‘Or I’ll adjust one of my portraits of you to give you sticky-out ears and buck teeth.’
I gasped. ‘You’d never!’ Then I considered. ‘Wait, one of your portraits? There’s more than one?’
Noah raised an eyebrow. ‘I’ll never tell. Go write your article, Molly.’
I hung my head. ‘Yes, milord,’ I said, in a pathetic voice.
He rolled his eyes as he went off towards his studio, but I could tell he was amused.
Inside the Pink House, Rosie was leaning over the kitchen counter, frowning at a caulk gun.
‘Hey, love,’ she said as she fiddled with the device. ‘I hear it was interesting times over at the sunflower farm.’
‘Almost as interesting as here, it seems.’ Pouring myself a cup of tea from the always-warm teapot, I glanced around the kitchen, which was a mess of paint swatches and trim samples.
Rosie gave me a sheepish grin. ‘I’ve been busy. But the house needs it, don’t you think? I just keep feeling like the energy is all off. But a nip here and a tuck there …’
‘Just so long as she’s still pink when you’re done,’ I said. ‘Because that’s the one change I don’t think I could handle.’
Having managed to get the caulk flowing, Rosie glanced over at me. ‘Is Finn doing all right? I noticed he didn’t come back with you. And he’s been a tad …’
‘A tad Finn,’ I promised, making a placating gesture with my hands. ‘I’ll keep an eye on him, promise. Okay. I’m going to write this article if it kills me. Don’t let me out of my room until I’m done.’
‘Just so long as you’re done before I paint it,’ she called.
The article took me most of the afternoon, though that was partly because I kept getting distracted by my ring and a back-and-forth session with Josephine’s diary.
I’d jotted down a quick note about the drama at the sunflower farm, and she’d responded in her usual acerbic manner.
Crows pecking away at the carrion of your love life, I see.
It was like having a ghostly Dorothy Parker as a pen pal.
But trying to jump into Noah’s arms is … notable. Did he catch you?
I’d hesitated. He hadn’t, not literally. But in other ways he had. He’d brought me home, hadn’t he? And he’d made sure that I was working on my article. Even though I was reneging on my part of the deal by gossiping with a spirit in a diary.
Well, that’s dreary, Josephine had responded.
As always, I couldn’t tell whether she was Team Noah or Team Finn. I sighed. She wasn’t alone in that.
In the end, mindful of the time, I sent Eddie something that could politely be termed a ‘vomit draft’, hoping the accompanying photos would help carry it over the line.
It definitely needed another couple of passes, but I didn’t want to miss the signing.
Mostly because I wanted to keep an eye on Tiff.
And also because Noah would be there. I doubted Finn would make an appearance, but perhaps I’d bump into him in town.
‘There you are, love.’ Rosie was patching a nail hole in a wall – she’d apparently decided that a hanging cabinet of doodads was better on the opposite side of the room. ‘Noah went in a touch early so that he could help Keiko out with something at the camp. He said he’d meet you at the bookshop.’
‘Still no sign of Finn?’ I asked.
She shook her head. ‘He’s probably just joined a beach party somewhere.’
The weather was cool but calm, so I decided to walk down.
It was only twenty minutes or so into town, and every one of those was a delight when the breeze was gentle and the beach was packed with holiday makers.
Even without the Boston terrier chasing a remote-controlled car at full speed, to the amusement of a crowd of onlookers, it was definitely a different vibe from the Sandy Balls event, which was fresh in my mind after spending hours sweating over my write-up.
The main variable: the Tucker Boys weren’t around.
‘Molly!’ called Lara, when I was halfway down the boardwalk. She waved furiously, clearly feeling easy-breezy after a few too many cocktails.
We hurried to meet each other midway, then strolled back up to the main street. Lara somehow managed to trot along the sandy wooden boards in a pair of astonishing heels, while I was slithering around in my flat sandals.
‘No more crow attacks while I was gone?’ I asked.
‘I think all the hairspray I used kept them away,’ she said with a grin. ‘How was your drive home with Noah? Did you stop at any strategic lookout points?’
‘He was a gentleman, as always. I’d give you a shove, but I’m worried about you breaking an ankle in those shoes.’
‘Never,’ said Lara. ‘I have killer ankle strength because of shoes like these.’
‘How’s Finn?’ I asked, trying to keep my tone light. ‘Is he still kicking on at the pub? Rosie was asking.’
Lara scrunched up her face. ‘He disappeared at some point with a group of musicians or something. I think they had a house party going on. But I wanted to get back to the B&B to meet Tiff.’
‘To meet Tiff?’
I frowned, trying not to show my jealousy.
Tiff and Lara had spent more time together this Summerween than I had with either of them.
Although, a tiny voice said, I had spent a decent part of the trip splitting my time between Finn and Noah.
But that wasn’t my fault, not entirely. I had a highly temperamental magic ring to contend with.
Crossing the street, we strolled up to The Last Word, where a few groups of readerly types were gathering, chatting about whether softcovers or hardcovers were superior and comparing their home-made bookbags.