Chapter Three
When Blair walked inside, her sister Belinda was on their old, plush cream sofa in their living room reading a book. Kass, their cat, was watching Belinda from the plaid armchair, his black fur contrasting the muted fall colours of the chair.
Belinda smiled at Blair. ‘Hey! I made squash soup with grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. Do you want me to warm it up for you?’
Blair nodded, a contented sigh escaping her lips. Soup sounded perfect to soothe Blair’s nerves right now. Belinda may not be the most adventurous cook in the house, but she made the best comfort food. Belinda got up from her seat and headed to the kitchen, Blair following.
Belinda, the middle sister, was the tallest of the Briarwood sisters, and easily the sweetest. She was wearing a sweatshirt and wide sweatpants with her hair in a messy bun tonight since she was off work, but Belinda normally wore floral dresses and kept her long wavy hair down.
Even in sweats, Belinda looked ethereal and angelic, her warm brown skin glowing under the kitchen lights.
After pouring soup from the fridge into a bowl, Belinda put it in the microwave and put on a pan for a sandwich.
‘So . . .’ Belinda said as she put a pat of butter on the pan. ‘Anything interesting happen today?’
‘I’m assuming you’re asking because Bianca told you about my run-in at the new bakery next door.’
Belinda squeezed her lips together a moment, holding in a laugh. ‘Did you expect Bianca not to tell me?’
Blair huffed, pouring herself a glass of water. ‘No. Where is she, anyway?’
‘In the greenhouse checking on her night-blooming flowers. She mentioned we’ll need to replace the back fence soon.’
Blair exhaled, sitting at the kitchen table.
She remembered when their father built that fence.
This house on Acorn Lane was where the sisters had grown up, and sometimes Blair wondered if the fact that she still lived here with family meant her life was stagnating.
But Blair loved this house. It wasn’t large, there were only three bedrooms and one and a half bathrooms, but the house dripped with charm and comfort.
With wide mouldings, pine floors and lots of windows, it was bright and comfortable, and it reminded Blair of her parents, who she missed terribly.
Yes, the kitchen could use an upgrade, and there were still black marks on the ceilings and walls in the dining room after an adventurous conjuration spell went sideways last year, but there was nothing wrong with Blair wanting to stay in this home. Or in this town.
After putting the curried squash soup with crackers and a grilled cheese sandwich in front of Blair, Belinda sat next to her and smiled. ‘Okay, do you want to talk about it?’
Blair took a bite of the sandwich. It was only a tiny bit burned. ‘About what?’
‘About seeing Luke again. That must have been a lot. Bianca said you were spiralling.’
Blair put her sandwich down, annoyed. ‘Bianca should keep her commentary on my mental state to herself. I wasn’t spiralling.’
‘She was trying to help.’
‘Yeah, well I don’t need help.’ Blair paused. ‘And of course I was upset. Wherever I went today, Luke was there! He even came bursting into the bookstore when I was helping Gladys after hours.’
Belinda’s eyes flashed with worry. ‘What’s wrong with Gladys? Is she okay?’
Shoot. Blair wasn’t supposed to say anything to Belinda. ‘The lights were flickering in the store, so she called me. It was weird, a breaker was flipping on and off, and books flew off the shelf in the storeroom. Thankfully Gladys didn’t see that.’
‘Books moved on their own?’ Belinda’s eyes widened. ‘Maybe I should check on the store. I might be able to detect if there is a magical reason. There was a strange delivery today, too.’
Belinda started to get up, but Blair put her hand out, stopping her.
‘Leave it for tomorrow,’ Blair said gently, hoping to ease her sister’s anxiety.
‘Gladys didn’t want me to tell you because she knew you’d worry.
I don’t think there’s a magical reason, anyway.
Maybe astrological? Is Mercury in retrograde?
’ Blair herself was worried about everything happening and had been feeling all day that something wasn’t right.
The episode in the bookstore had scared her out of her wits.
She didn’t remember there ever being unexplained magic in Moonbeam Hollow, but their father died after a series of events that started with unexplained magic somewhere else.
Blair didn’t want Belinda to stress about it now, though, or she’d develop one of her debilitating migraines.
This could just be an equinox glitch, and tomorrow everything would be back to normal.
Well, normal except for the presence of Luke Caldwell in Moonbeam Hollow.
‘Luke reappearing can’t be because of magic,’ Blair added.
‘You don’t know that. I mean, yeah, Luke’s not magic, but the timing is suspicious. On fall equinox. Let me at least get my tarot cards. Maybe we can gain some clarity.’ Belinda moved to stand again.
‘It’s fine, Belinda.’ Blair placed her hand gently on Belinda’s arm.
‘I don’t want to think about it right now.
’ She paused. ‘Can you believe Luke Caldwell is opening a café right next door to me? The nerve. He hasn’t changed a bit – still cares more about winning than anything else.
Remember my grade eight science fair? He smeared peanut butter all over the windows of the science room on my presentation day so all anyone could hear was squawking birds.
’ Blair smiled to herself when she remembered that she’d still won the science fair that year, with the help of a small silence spell on the birds.
‘He doesn’t remember who he’s dealing with.
I know this town and its tastes better than anyone.
He’s an architect . . . This is my turf, and I’m a witch. There’s no way Luke can win this.’
At that, Kass the cat came into the kitchen meowing loudly at Blair. Blair rolled her eyes. ‘Everyone’s a critic.’
‘No, Kass has a point,’ Belinda said. Kass jumped onto the table, and Belinda scratched his head. ‘We’re not supposed to use magic to win petty disagreements. It’s unethical.’
‘This isn’t a petty disagreement, it’s to keep my café! Don’t worry, Belinda. I got this. Luke Caldwell isn’t going to know what hit him.’
Bianca came into the kitchen from the back door, wearing a black hoodie over black cotton pyjamas adorned with cutesy witches and black cats on brooms. Blair had once reminded Bianca how risky it was to wear literal witches on her clothes when they had promised their parents they would keep their identity a secret, but Bianca said to chill because they were just pyjamas.
Kass was offended by the print, though. He glared at Bianca from the table, meowing loudly, as he did whenever he saw those pyjamas.
Kass was a vocal opponent of stereotypical portrayals of black cats.
‘Oh my God, Kass, calm down,’ Bianca said. ‘I don’t need fashion advice from someone who gets startled by the bell on his own collar.’
Blair snorted a laugh. ‘Hey, Bianca, what happened at the farm today? Are the pumpkins okay?’
Bianca sat at the table, shaking her head.
‘It’s strange. The pumpkins themselves show signs of white blight, but the leaves and stems look fine.
Raj said it only started today. I treated the plants with a fungicide, anyway.
The festival is only six weeks away; the pumpkins had better recover.
Did you hear what happened at the florist? ’
‘No, what?’ Belinda asked.
‘All the roses mysteriously died overnight. Every other flower was fine, but each rose was dried and pitch-black this morning.’
Blair frowned. ‘What the hell? The pumpkins at the farm, the lights at the bookstore, and now the roses at the florist?’
Bianca swiped a cracker from Blair’s plate. ‘Don’t forget the return of Luke Caldwell. Raj said he heard Luke owns that bakery. You guys will be in competition with each other.’
‘I know,’ Blair said. ‘And I’m not at all worried. I got this.’ She wasn’t entirely sure she did have this, considering the effect Luke had on her when she saw him earlier, but maybe now that the initial shock was behind her, she’d be able to focus on their rivalry, not their short relationship.
Blair didn’t really remember how their rivalry had started.
It had probably been inevitable since the schools in Moonbeam Hollow were quite small, and Blair and Luke had always been the best and second-best students in their grade.
Blair honestly didn’t remember a time in school when she wasn’t striving to be better than Luke Caldwell.
Everything had changed at the end of grade eleven, though, when Blair and Luke had to work together on a project for the first time.
It was for a robotics competition, and while building their battle-bot, Blair had realized that there was more to Luke than witty quips and (mostly) harmless pranks.
He was whip-smart – but he was also fun.
He could talk for hours about romantic comedies as easily as he could talk about Star Trek.
Blair had realized that playfulness was missing from her responsible, driven life.
And she’d realized that she liked the way her skin tingled, her breath hitched and her heart raced whenever she was near Luke Caldwell.
But Blair needed to push her old attraction down now.
It was time to reignite their rivalry. It would be easy.
All Blair had to do was pretend that Luke Caldwell wasn’t the only person in the world who Blair had imagined spending her life with.
Pretend he hadn’t been the only person who made Blair feel valued, wanted and cherished. Pretend he wasn’t her biggest regret.
Shouldn’t be a problem at all.