Chapter 9
BLAIRE
“Oh, please make sure to get underneath. It’s always so wavy under there,” I say.
Winter pulls the flat iron through another section of my hair. “Yes, and then I’m going to make sure your center part is perfectly straight. Morticia demands perfection.”
I laugh. “Do you think it’s too kitschy?”
“Hell no. It’s a great costume. Immediately recognizable. And you look hot.”
Josie enters the bedroom with a dress on a hanger. “I steamed every wrinkle meticulously. Should fit like a second skin now, guaranteed.”
“Thank you so much.”
She stands in front of me. “Still being weird?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You alphabetized the tea this morning.” She pulls black tourmaline from her pocket and presses it into my palm. “It’s because of Jamie, isn’t it?”
I roll my eyes. “No.”
The lights flicker.
“Liar,” Winter says.
There’s no rebuttal that would convince either of them.
I don’t even believe myself. It’s been three days since I left Jamie in the cemetery with the spirit box and the last of the candles.
The conversation we had out there has been playing on repeat ever since.
What happened shouldn’t have, and I’m blaming the witches’ brew.
If we’re meant to see each other again, we will, and if we’re not, then walking away was the smartest thing I’ve done all season.
Twenty minutes later, the girls help me slide into the black dress.
It goes to the floor with a slit up one side, and the neckline makes my boobs look great.
Winter works on my part, then lets the rest of my long hair fall straight down my back.
Afterward, Josie does my makeup. Before long, she’s leading me to the mirror in the bathroom to show me the dark eye shadow, crimson lipstick, and contour that makes my jawline look snatched.
My mouth falls open. I can’t remember the last time I looked this great.
“You’re a total smokeshow,” Winter says. “So sad I won’t be able to make it tonight.”
“Me too,” Josie says. “Please go and break some man’s heart tonight.”
I playfully pout. “Don’t wish that upon me. I’m going to make an appearance, stay for ‘Happy Birthday,’ then sneak out before anyone notices.”
“Are you nervous?” Winter asks.
“No. I just dislike not knowing everyone in my space. I pick up on energy too easily.” I tuck the tourmaline into the bodice, where the neckline hides it and where it won’t fall out.
“But I promised Autumn I’d be there, so I’ll keep my word.
She still hasn’t let me live down the Fourth of July celebration. ”
“Honestly, she probably never will. But you know she always thinks no one is going to show up to the parties she and Zane host.” Winter laughs. “And it doesn’t help that Julie and I won’t be there. You’re it.”
“Exactly. Thank you both for being my fairy godmothers.” I grab my phone. “Have fun volunteering. I’ll be back before you, probably.”
On my way out, I bend down to pet Charlie, but he scurries away. I’m trying my best not to take it personally.
The drive to Cozy Creek takes forty minutes.
I spend the first ten flipping between radio stations before I give up and shut it off.
As soon as it’s quiet, my thoughts go straight back to the cemetery and the kiss I keep pretending was the brew’s fault, which is exactly why I turn the music back on and sing along with Britney Spears the rest of the way over the pass.
At the last red light before the valley, the mood ring catches my eye from the cupholder, right where I dropped it on Thursday night. I slide it onto my pointer finger. The band is gray against my skin.
Hollow Manor sits at the end of a private drive on the ridge above Cozy Creek, toward the far side of Xander Ski Resort.
The black mansion is lit up, and every window in the house has a pumpkin in it.
A valet in a tux and a gorilla mask takes my keys, and I climb the front steps behind a couple dressed as a plug and an outlet.
Spooky music plays overhead, so at least I know what kind of night this will be.
Autumn spots me before I fully enter the foyer. She’s in a red dress with little devil horns, and she shrieks loud enough to turn heads.
“Morticia!” She grabs both my hands and holds my arms out to inspect me. “You look gorgeous. Holy shit.”
“You’re one to talk. The horns suit you, ya little devil.”
She loops her arm through mine and steers me deeper inside. “Come on. Birthday boy first, then champagne, and then I’m introducing you to everyone you don’t know.”
“Speaking of, where’s Zane?”
“Somewhere pretending he didn’t want a birthday party. But wait until you see what he’s wearing. It was my idea, and he hates it, so obviously, it’s perfect.”
The great room is packed. A band plays covers in the corner while a bartender pours drinks the color of antifreeze.
I don’t recognize a single face, but it’s hard to when half of them are behind masks and wigs.
A man near the bar in a werewolf head howls at his own joke.
The energy is light and everywhere at once, and I focus on the tourmaline pressed against my skin.
We find Zane near the dessert table, and I burst into laughter. He’s an angel, wearing a crooked halo, wings, and a white robe.
“Look at the devil in disguise,” I say.
He turns and nearly clips me with the wings, then hugs me hard enough to lift my heels off the floor. “Blaire. My favorite witch.”
“I’m the only witch you know.”
“Still counts.” He grins. “How was the drive? How’s the new job? The house?”
“Overwhelming. I miss Cozy Creek. I miss you guys. I’ve been working a lot and trying to stay focused on making my aunt proud.”
“You’re doing a great job, and we miss you too.” He straightens the halo, and it slides back to where it was when I approached. “Please tell me you’re staying for cake. Autumn ordered one the size of a bathtub, and if we don’t eat it, we’ll be having it for breakfast until Christmas.”
She scoffs. “We had over one hundred people RSVP!”
He leans in and kisses her. “You’re cute.”
“You’re cuter.”
His friends pull him away, and Autumn takes the opportunity to walk me through the house, room by room, because she knows the decorations are my favorite part of the season.
Black garland winds up the banisters. Candelabras drip black wax, and there are fake ravens placed in different areas of the house.
I nurse a purple drink while she parades me past her ski club friends, who love the costume.
When she leads someone to the bathroom, a man in a Zorro mask corners me by the cheese table to chat with me.
“Let me guess,” he says, looking at me from head to toe. “A vampire?”
“Morticia Addams.” I try to stay polite.
“Right, right.” He points his plastic sword at me. “You know what you should invest in?”
“I’m going to stop you—”
“Crypto.”
“Ugh. You realize it’s shady and full of grifters, right?”
He opens his mouth to speak, and I raise my glass and escape with a smile.
When the band ends the next song, the lights dim.
Staff in black chef jackets wheel in a cake taller than me.
Autumn gives a little speech, welcoming everyone to their home for Zane’s birthday and the equinox.
When they look at each other, it’s obvious how in love they are.
The whole house sings “Happy Birthday” while he stands off to the side, smiling.
Afterward, he blows out the candles on the first try. Autumn kisses him while we applaud.
I check the time, loving that I’ll be home even earlier than I promised myself. I showed up; I stayed for cake; I kept my word. I place my empty glass on a passing tray and plot my escape route to the door when Autumn appears at my side and grabs my hand.
“Nope. You have that leaving face.”
“I have a very early morning at the shop, and I have a forty-minute drive over the mountain.”
“Just ten more minutes.” She’s already pulling me through the crowd while I protest. “There’s someone you have to meet first.”
“Autumn. Please.”
“It’s an introduction, not a proposal.” She stops at the edge of the room and taps the shoulder of a man in a pinstriped suit.
He turns around, and there’s a thin mustache penciled above a mouth I know better than I should. My smile fades.
“Blaire.” Autumn is glowing and maybe a little too tipsy.
“This is the guy I was telling you about. Jameson Cross. Retired hockey player, spoiled brat, but he has the same sense of humor as you. Jameson, this is Blaire, one of my best friends in the entire world. Without her love spell, I’m not sure the universe would’ve ever sent me Zane.
” She looks between us and claps once. “And would you look at the two of you? Morticia and Gomez. I couldn’t have planned it better if I tried. ”
“Stranger things have happened,” he says, smirking, not taking his eyes off me.
Jameson Cross. Ex-hockey player, from a world of money, and clearly friends with billionaire CEO Zane Alexander.
Three nights ago, I tied a cord around this man’s wrist and kissed him under a half-moon. Now I’m supposed to shake his hand like a stranger while my best friend recites facts about him that I never knew.
“Hi, Jameson Cross,” I manage. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“The pleasure is all mine.”
He lifts my hand and presses his lips to my knuckles, really giving the full Gomez character. The mood ring sits one knuckle from his mouth, and it’s violet.
Shit. I take my hand back and calm my breathing.
Autumn gives me an encouraging nod, thrilled with herself. The universe has such a sick sense of humor.
“Jameson is from New York. He’s here until November first,” she says. “And did you know he’s staying on the ridge in Pine Haven? He’s in your town.”
“Wow, really? The ridge.” I have a million more questions than I did days ago.
“Since I’m in town, we should have dinner sometime,” he says, pushing his luck in front of an audience. “Get to know one another.”
“Yes!” Autumn screeches.
“Right. Well, it was very nice meeting you, Jameson.” I take a step back.
A waiter passes with a tray of drinks smoking in chemistry beakers, and I take two because one is clearly not going to be enough. I escape up the staircase, past a mummy and a disco ball in heels, and try the farthest door at the end of the hall, hunting for one quiet room in this entire house.
I find Zane’s personal library instead. Shelves run two stories up with a ladder on rails. I’m alone. I set the beakers on the desk. For the first time since Autumn grabbed my hand, I breathe.
The last thing I told him on Saturday night was to let the universe decide. Now we’re at the same party in a couples costume neither of us planned. Nothing I’ve ever read could’ve prepared me for this.
Behind me, the door opens, and I don’t have to turn around to know who found me.