Chapter 7 #2
He picks up the first card and reads over it with a blank expression.
“Are you ready to release it?” I ask.
He nods.
“Throw it into the fire.”
The parchment curls and blackens, and then it flashes bright before it’s nothing but ash. I throw a pinch of salt into the fire, and the flames burn bluer.
“Now, the second.”
This time, he doesn’t hesitate. The second parchment gets folded and tossed in. His jaw loosens right after, and the tension that was building melts. I scatter a fresh circle of ingredients from the second jar over the coals. The salt hisses when it hits.
Above us, the sky fills with stars. The aspens have vanished into the dark, and it’s just the two of us in the circle of firelight, the mountain closing in on every side.
“Last one.”
He holds the third paper a little longer, spending more time with it than the others. A spark pops off the logs and drifts past his shoulder. He reads it like he’s trying to memorize his own words. His fingers press hard into the sides.
“No rush,” I say.
He stares at the paper, and then he folds it and lets it go. The flame takes it, and I don’t think he blinks once. His hands rest on his knees, and he relaxes.
There are three more jars. I remove the lids and line them up for him.
“Now you’ll empty these three on top, concentrating on what you’ll gain when the curse is broken,” I explain.
One after another, he dumps them on the first. The smoke curls in the air, and the breeze shifts around us.
I throw the last of the salt in a wide arc over the coals and whisper the sealing words, “Let it be done.”
Those three things that hurt him are now ash. My breathing slows, and a calmness settles over us.
After the parchment and the clearing, I sit beside him.
“It’s quiet up here,” he says when I get up to add more logs to the fire.
“Escaping is the point. You can learn a lot about yourself without the noise of the outside world. This is bliss,” I say, smiling.
“Never thought of it like that,” he says, and neither of us moves.
My breathing changes, and everything that’s been running on a loop in my brain stops. His arm is close enough that warmth bleeds across the space without any contact.
“Blaire.” His voice is low.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
When I turn my head, he’s closer than I expected. Firelight catches in those blue-green eyes. He’s not guarding anything, just sitting beside me in the dark and looking at me like I’m someone he recognizes.
My hand rests on the bench between us. His pinkie shifts half an inch toward mine without making contact. The gap between our fingers says more than either of us could.
“We should consider heading back,” I say, standing, not wanting to find out what would happen if I didn’t move.
“Do we have to leave?”
I turn to him. “We can stay as long as you want.”
“Great. I think I need more of this.”
He tilts his chin toward the sky, and I sit beside him, leaving inches of space between us this time. The fire has burned to a bed of embers, and they’re pulsing orange. Darkness moves in around us. The coals warm my shins as the cold brushes across my shoulders. A shiver rushes over me.
Jamie stands, removes his jacket, and hands it to me.
“I can’t take it,” I say. “I can add more wood.”
He doesn’t allow me to argue, just places it on my shoulders. I smile, snuggling into the thick fabric. It smells like him.
“Appreciate it. I brought tea,” I offer. “Want some?”
“Yeah, sure.”
I walk to the Bug, grab the thermos from the back seat, and return to him. I pour steaming tea into the lid cup and hand it to him. We take turns sipping it.
“I used to keep the fire going until sunrise when I was a teenager,” I tell him, wishing for simpler times. “My aunt Flora didn’t believe in curfews.”
Just as we both look up, a star shoots across the sky.
“Make a wish.”
He wears a smirk I’m starting to recognize.
My heart flutters, and every alarm bell goes off.
As if he can read my mind, he speaks. “Enjoy it.”
I take his words at face value and try to take in every passing second, wanting to remember this for some reason. We drink the tea until it’s gone. Before we leave, I move inside and grab a bucket of water, making sure to douse the coals. I load everything I came with.
“Are you turning off the lights?” Jamie asks.
“No,” I tell him. “I’m returning after I take you back to the shop.”
I half expect him to ask to stay, but he doesn’t. We climb into the car together, and I start the engine. I turn on the radio for the drive down and realize we spent three hours at the cabin.
The drive back is quiet. His window is cracked, and cool air fills the car. The gravel turns to pavement, and soon, Pine Haven’s downtown lights grow closer. I park outside Charmed Cauldron and kill the engine.
“Saturday,” I say. “Same time.”
Our bodies are too close in the cab.
“Two days?” he asks.
“Don’t want you getting attached to me,” I say, shooting him a wink.
“Keep playing hard to get.” He opens the door and climbs out. Before shutting it, he leans down and ducks his head back in. “Good night, Blaire Witch.”
“Night, Jamie.”
He holds my gaze for a beat longer than I ever imagined he would.
The door closes, and he walks to a Mustang parked a few blocks up.
I pass him with a wave and take the block back through town.
At the first stop sign, I glance down at my mood ring, seeing the color violet again.
I pull it off and drop it into the cupholder.
When I return to the cabin, it’s exactly how I left it.
I start a small fire and realize I’m still wearing his jacket. I keep it on and lie down on the couch.
My eyes grow heavy as I think about how he looked at me tonight. I convince myself it’s nothing because it can’t be.