Rowan
My face is scalding long after Seth goes home, and far after I follow Juniper and Ozan inside.
Normally, at this time of night, they would go up to their room. I would sit by the fire, knit for a few hours, and go to bed when my eyes wouldn’t stay open. When I beeline toward the couch, the sound of Juniper clearing her throat stops me.
I watch her from the corner of my eye. “Do you need a cup of chamomile? I can put the kettle on.”
“No.” She lifts an eyebrow. “But I’m curious about what you and Seth were really up to. You looked cozy.”
I turn to face her and cross my arms. “Of all my sisters, I thought you would be the one most likely to mind your business.”
“And I thought you were helping Seth with a love hex.”
“Well… yes. That’s because I am.”
“Holding hands isn’t the way to help him.”
“I know that, thank you,” I say, my voice firmer than I’ve known it to be.
Gods. She’s right to question me. Why on Gaia’s green earth did I nearly kiss someone who is notoriously hexed, unlucky in love? It wasn’t right for him. It wasn’t right for me, either. I know better.
Ozan presses his lips together and glances at the stairs, doubtless planning his escape.
Her expression softens. “I’m only trying to make sure you’re not the next one to fall for his… charms.”
What Juniper doesn’t know is that I’ve already fallen for his charms, and it happened far before the hex.
I can’t say it’s his charm that did it, actually.
The flirtatious act he puts on with others has never amused me—it’s everything else.
The moments in between, when the mask falls, and he’s the Seth I’ve always known.
Seeing how much he cares for his mother and sisters.
The effort he put into planning tonight.
The genuine smiles he hands out at work.
That’s the Seth that’s always lived in my heart, even if it seems to disappear around people like Victoria and David.
Still, I scoff rather than admitting the truth. “I’m not. You know me better than that. When have I been one to fall for a pretty face?”
“That’s why I’m so surprised.”
At last, I plop onto the couch and pick up the sweater I’ve been working on.
I began knitting it last spring, but I’ve been too busy to get far.
At this rate, it won’t be done in time for me to wear it this winter.
I shove the needle in, wrap the yarn around it, and aggressively knit.
A relaxing hobby has become anything but.
“Don’t take too long down here,” Ozan says to Juniper, likely trying to free me from the conversation.
I don’t expect it to work.
Juniper doesn’t even acknowledge him. She stands in front of me, her slight height somehow looming as the fire casts shadows around her.
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed how much you’re doing, and not just for Seth.
For your other clients, for us, the charms for Ozan’s shop. And now, you’re taking on the hex.”
“Why didn’t you care about my workload until I began helping Seth?” I look up, frowning. “I know you aren’t as close to him as the rest of us, but surely you don’t want him to be hexed.”
“Don’t say that. I care about him as much as you do. He’s the annoying little brother I never wanted.”
“Not very convincing.”
“This isn’t about him.” She presses her lips into a line. “I’m worried that your helping him will keep him from learning the lesson of the hex. Maybe there’s a reason the cleansing rituals haven’t worked.”
“But what if my helping him is the reason he learns the lesson?”
“Hm…” She turns away, looking longingly up the stairs. Juniper works just as hard as I do, and if the fates are on my side, her exhaustion may be what saves me from this conversation. “Slow down when you need to. That’s all I want to say.”
I lift my knitting. “I am. Right now. This is how I relax.”
“Uh-huh.”
Juniper pads up the stairs, and I attempt to do as she asks, to focus on my sweater. That lasts for roughly two rows. She’s right. Seth is hexed, and nothing can move in his love life until that’s taken care of.
At this rate, it may never be. We’ve already interviewed two out of three of the witches he’s dated.
It takes everything in me to focus on my knitting. One row. Two.
Three.
That’s it. I can’t take this anymore.
I scurry up to the attic, where our family grimoire lives on a cluttered desk. I’ve pored over it so many times over the last few days, desperately searching for answers, but this time it’s different. The book opens itself up, pages fluttering about until it lands on a blank page—
But not blank for long.
Modern handwriting, my mother’s handwriting, slowly appears on the page. It’s as if she’s writing it before my eyes: Foolproof Hex Breaker.
Juniper is wrong. There is a way to break this hex. And my mother is still here, helping from the other side. This isn’t the first time she’s assisted us with spells since passing, and knowing her, it won’t be the last.
I look up to the ceiling and nod, emotion swelling in my chest. “Thanks, Mom.”
While I’m gathering the ingredients, my phone lights up with a text. I half expect it to be Seth—maybe he has learned his lesson, and perhaps he wants to talk about our almost-kiss, but…
It’s David. In all the hustle, all the distractions, I nearly forgot about him. Heat rushes to my cheeks.
David
I know it’s late.
I snort, typing out a response.
Me
And perhaps I should be the one asking if this is a ‘sex thing’ now, yes?
David
Ha ha.
No, nothing like that.
I wanted you to know I’m serious about taking you out. Just us. Whenever, wherever.
I look across the street, where Seth’s house rests. Peaceful. Lights out. He’s probably sleeping.
Why do I feel as though I’m being disloyal to him? In a moment of weakness, I tried to kiss him, and he didn’t want to. I know this dance well enough to know that he’ll never want to, and that’s his right. He may make moon water for me, he may be a good friend, but that’s all he is.
I can take a hint.
Seth and I are breaking this hex so he can move on with someone else, but David is here. He wants to see me, and he looks at me as more than a friend.
Me
Friday?
David
You do know that’s the Lovers Ball? Right?
Damn it all.
The Lovers Ball is a Starbrook tradition, one I attend every year, but I usually go to the charity event alone.
I certainly don’t attend on a first date.
The last thing I need is for the event every year following to remind me of yet another failed relationship.
I’d forgotten all about that, and now I’m being far too forward, just as I had been with Seth.
Before I can text an apology, another text comes through.
David
But I’m down if you are.
He’s handsome, affirming, and clearly doesn’t have commitment issues. Why wouldn’t I go out with him? Seth be damned.
Now that I have a date for the ball, I need to acquire a dress. Wearing my dress from last year simply won’t do.
How does one date, anyway? It’s been too long since I’ve put myself out there, and figuring it all out is just another thing on my hefty plate.
Aspen sticks pins and needles into the sapphire dress, and I stare at myself in the mirror.
Guilt churns in the pit of my stomach. “I’m sorry to ask this of you with such late notice.”
The silk is soft against my skin and clings to every curve. When Aspen fixes the bust, which is too big, that will be even truer.
She clicks her tongue. “Stop it. You know I’m more than willing to help.”
I adjust one of the slim straps. “I know.”
But that doesn’t make me feel much better.
She stands and wiggles her finger. “Give me a twirl. What do you think?”
“I…” I do as she says, twirling and glancing at my backside in the floor-length mirror.
Just one part of my body that’s changed over the years—plump, making the dress tight around it.
Aspen would probably loosen it if I asked, but it’s a date.
Perhaps I should draw some attention—gods, this is silly.
“I don’t know how to feel, to be perfectly honest.”
“Well, I think you look lovely. Still very you—it will match your glasses.” She boops me on the nose.
“Thanks,” I mumble.
“I can’t believe you’re going with Dave. I didn’t know you two were so close.”
“It’s… a recent development.” I bite the inside of my cheek, thinking over what Juniper said—she was right. I’m busy. Too busy for this. “Brand new, actually. It likely won’t go anywhere, but I thought it would be a good idea to have a date this year.”
And a good idea to distract myself from Seth—difficult, considering that I’ll be seeing him tonight.
Aspen watches me with more perception than I’m comfortable with. Her knowing whom I may or may not be dating is out of my comfort zone as well, but since we’ll be attending a town event, there’s no hiding it.
I turn around and gesture for her to unzip the dress.
“Mac and I will be there if you need anything,” she says.
“I’m unsure what I could need from the two of you, but thank you.”
Aspen giggles, even though there’s no hint of humor behind my words. She’s always been strange. If we weren’t sisters, I doubt we would be friends at all, but as it is, she and Laurel are the ones I’m closest to.
“You’re good to go,” she says. “‘I’ll have this ready by the morning of the ball.”
“Thank you.” I slip into the dressing room. “And—”
“Don’t ask about payment. You do too much for me. Let me do one nice thing for you, all right?”
Aspen has already helped me. When my body began changing, she was the one who helped me create a wardrobe in my current size that still feels like me—and while I insisted upon paying for the fabric, she put in all the work for free.
Even when she was working in high fashion, she made it her mission to make clothing accessible to all sizes.
Now that she owns her own shop, it’s easier to do.
And she should be paid for it, damn it.
But Juniper was right. I do a lot for them, certainly for Aspen, and I should let my sisters help me from time to time.