Chapter 26 Jack #3
“Did he really read that book you love? The one you’re always trying to get me to read?
” Violet asks. I roll my lips between my teeth, attempting to hide a self-satisfied smile as I pour Percy a bowl of food, his plump body moving along my shins as I do.
Rosie had been going on and on about the suspense series she’s been loving for the past two weeks, and after hearing about it so much, she sold me on it.
I’d been listening to the audiobook of the first book in the series for the past few days, but I hadn’t told Rosie about it.
She started talking to her sisters about it at dinner, begging them to give it a shot so she would have someone to talk to about it.
“I listened to the first one,” I said right before the table went completely silent, three sets of similar eyes locking onto me.
“What?” Rosie had said.
“I listened to the first one. It was good. I don’t think I was really prepared for how…
intimate it would be, but it was good. I couldn’t guess who the bad guy was.
” I could feel the blush burning at my cheeks but tried to fight it back, especially when the bond between Rosie and me started to glow, the threads at my chest tugging merrily.
“You listened to the book I was telling you about?”
I shrugged like it was no big deal, because when I downloaded it, it didn’t feel like a big deal, just something I could do to feel more connected to Rosie, taking part in what she likes, the same way she always asks me questions about games when she comes to my place.
“You sold me on it. It was good.”
“Oh my god,” Poppy had whispered with wide eyes.
“He read her book,” Violet added under her breath, bending to Poppy as if having a private conversation while both of them stared at me.
Thankfully, the server came before they could continue to ask about it, and after, the conversation moved on to some other obscure topic. But it seems it was not forgotten.
“I… I guess he did,” Rosie says, and while I can’t see the shrug, I can almost hear it.
“See? He’s perfect for her,” Poppy says to Vi.
“You called it,” Violet agrees, the two of them clearly ignoring Rosie.
“Guys,” Rosie starts, a mix of exasperation and panic coming through the kiss bond.
“I’m just saying. Don’t let this one go. He’s perfect for you, Rosie.”
“Eavesdropping?” my grandfather says low, scaring me and making me lose the thread of their conversation.
“What? No,” I say, my tone guilty even to my own ears. He gives me a look I saw plenty of times growing up, and I roll my eyes. “Not intentionally.” He harrumphs like he doesn’t quite believe me, but swirls above us all the same.
“The potion will be ready in a little over a week,” he says.
“Yup,” I say moving to the living room with him floating behind me. When I sit, I reach for the remote and mindlessly flip through channels. I need a distraction, something other than Rosie’s sisters telling her we’re perfect together or my grandfather rubbing salt into the wound.
“What are your plans after?”
“Plans?”
“After the curse is over. What are your plans? Rosie’s plans?” That churning worsens, but I fight it back, convincing myself it’s the residual panic of Rosie having to lie to her sisters that has me feeling that way, and I shrug as nonchalantly as I can.
“I don’t know. Rosie’s going to go off and find her true love, I guess.”
“Not you?” he asks. My body stills. “Her sisters seem to think you’re a good pair.”
“This is temporary. After the curse is broken, it’ll all be gone, right?” I tell him something Rosie and I have both repeated many times, reminding ourselves and each other more and more frequently lately.
According to my grandfather, once the curse is broken, Rosie will no longer feel emotions for anyone she was with previously.
Neither of us is completely sure what that actually entails, though.
I haven’t really been brave enough to ask him for clarification.
Will it mean her emotions will be wiped, and we’ll be friends?
Or my bigger fear: does it mean she’ll forget me altogether?
I haven’t mentioned that fear to Rosie yet, because it doesn’t matter. What’s done is done: why add more stress to her plate?
“Does it have to?” he asks, and my body stills as he echoes words a voice in the back of my mind has whispered many a time. Each time, I’ve buried it deep.
“What do you mean?” I ask. He looks at me, assessing me as only he was able to do. It’s like he’s seeing past whatever easy facade I’ve been wearing for Rosie’s sake, and as he does, he’s planting ideas. Thoughts. Possibilities.
Hope.
“Do you two have to end? You both seem pretty happy, is all I’m saying.”
“I—” I start, but then Rosie’s footsteps become clearer as she takes the stairs back up to us.
“Just something to keep in mind, my boy. Not all good things must come to an end, you know.” I open my mouth to ask what he means, but then the door opens, Rosie entering and giving me a relieved smile.
“Thank you for enduring that,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “They’re a bit much and very protective.”
I shake my head. “No need. I had fun. They’re good people.
” She smiles then, a real one, relief coming through the bond, and then I open my arms for her to walk into them.
She sinks into the couch next to me, taking the remote from my hand and continuing to click through, but all I can think about for the rest of the night is my grandfather’s words.
Do you two have to end?