Chapter Fifteen
Luke met Blair behind the café on Saturday afternoon, and together they drove to the fairgrounds in his Subaru.
It was another clear day with perfect blue skies, which Blair was thankful for.
She loved cats, but those stray cats who only came out in the rain were unsettling.
And a trip to the festival grounds in the middle of farmland was better in picturesque weather.
On the way, Blair told Luke that she’d brought over an anti-inflammatory power shot to Earl Hawkins for his rash.
The pumpkin, turmeric and ginger power shot was Blair’s mother’s recipe, made with an anti-rash spell.
Blair’s mother had been a gifted healer, and her healing potions had been more effective than Blair’s, but this was a relatively simple one that was extremely effective on magical rashes, and pretty good for regular ones, too.
Blair had been happy that she was able to do something to help, instead of flailing around feeling useless whenever she thought of the festival problems.
‘This rash might not have anything to do with this sabotage, though,’ Luke said. ‘I mean, unexplained rashes are common, aren’t they? Are you suggesting someone tampered with his soap or clothes or something?’
‘Someone could have exposed him to an allergen like poison oak or ivy.’ Bianca would probably be able to tell if the rash was from a plant or magic. But Blair was still determined to keep her sisters out of it.
‘Maybe.’ Luke paused. ‘Hopefully, I get the approval for the vendor stall soon. The city and the festival committee have been making me go in circles all week to get the thing approved. The whole point of me starting the bakery now was to get it open by the festival. Mom’s already made the menu for the stall. ’
Blair frowned. It was strange – in the last week and a half she’d barely thought about the fact that the bakery he was working on every day would soon open.
Well, it wasn’t that she’d barely thought about it, more like she’d consciously stopped herself from dwelling on it.
‘What is she hoping to sell?’ Blair asked, even though she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer.
‘She wants to do a fall afternoon tea box with a finger sandwich, a small pumpkin tart, a little apple pastry and a cranberry walnut scone with clotted cream. Served with a cup of gourmet tea.’
Blair tensed. She’d thought about serving afternoon tea when she opened her café, but because she didn’t bake, she didn’t bother. But she did always get extra tarts, muffins and scones from her bakery supplier for the festival.
Was there any point when Shirley’s Sugar Mountain would have freshly baked afternoon tea boxes? With gourmet tea?
She exhaled. What was Blair doing, sleeping with Luke Caldwell again?
Yeah, she didn’t think he was actively sabotaging her café anymore, but he was still opening a bakery.
Maybe she should have listened to her instincts when he first got here.
She’d been sure that he was here to ruin her.
Opening a bakery café right next to her would take away from her sales, and wearing jeans that hugged his shapely rear made it hard for Blair to think about anything when he was close.
And look at her now – she wasn’t even fighting him when he talked about his mother’s perfect little afternoon tea boxes.
Blair knew he was still keeping something from her, and she didn’t even care anymore because the orgasms were great.
And the companionship, too. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d watched old reruns with her sisters or talked politics with friends.
Luke had come along and filled all the empty spaces in her life, making her forget her priorities. He had ruined her.
This was a mistake. Luke was her rival .
. . He had been for years. She had to remember that he was still her rival, even if they’d fallen into bed again.
The bakery he was building for his mother could very well result in Blair losing her café.
All the bad things that had happened in this town started when he got here, and Blair still didn’t know why.
Somehow, he was also the key to stopping it all, but again, Blair didn’t know why.
And Luke was still the man who painfully reminded Blair of her biggest regret: the lie she’d told that had broken both their hearts.
‘I haven’t been this way in years,’ Luke suddenly said, pulling Blair out of her thoughts.
They were on the road toward the festival grounds.
It was only fifteen minutes from town, but there was nothing at all between Moonbeam Hollow and the Moonbeam Hollow Fall Harvest Festival grounds, just Dewy Bramble Acres on one side, and a forest on the other.
‘We should stop for ice cream on the way home. Isn’t there a farm store around here that sells Kawartha Dairy?
We went for eggnog ice cream together once. ’
Blair shook her head. ‘They stop selling ice cream in late September. We can grab some from Moonbeam Market, though.’
Luke laughed. ‘I love that you still go nuts for ice cream.’
Blair smiled, looking out the window. It was a small thing – Blair’s preference for ice cream over most other desserts, but still, Luke remembered it about her.
‘Every year at Halloween I’ve thought about coming back to Moonbeam Hollow for the festival,’ Luke said, voice almost wistful, ‘but I never did.’
He didn’t say why he hadn’t come back. They’d had their first kiss at the last festival he’d been at. Maybe the memories were too much for him.
‘You always loved the festival,’ she said.
She remembered the first year that he’d beat her at the Halloween costume contest. She and her mother had worked very hard on a homemade costume – Padmé Amidala from Star Wars, expecting that he’d also have a Star Wars costume since he did every year.
But Luke showed up wearing a to-scale cardboard re-creation of his favourite skyscraper.
And now he was an architect who worked on projects like that. He who makes tall buildings.
‘It was my favourite time of the year,’ he said. ‘My mom always refused to go, so I’d come with friends.’
That was weird. ‘Why would your mother refuse to come to the festival?’
‘Her tree allergy is the worst in the fall. She always used to say it wasn’t something to celebrate.’
That sounded torturous. Why would Calista Caldwell move back to Moonbeam Hollow now, a town surrounded by farmland and forests, if she was allergic to trees?
Blair didn’t remember Luke’s mother much, other than the vague feeling that the woman hadn’t liked Blair, but Blair had always chalked it up to her not approving of her son dating the girl who’d been better than him at most academic achievements.
What would his mother think about what Blair and Luke were doing now?
Not that they were doing anything. Casual sex, that was all. There was no way he’d tell his mother about Blair, would he?
‘Is your mom excited the bakery is almost done?’ Blair asked.
He nodded. ‘Yeah, she is. Her last day in the hotel is in a week.’
‘Then she’ll move here?’ Would his mother be staying in that tiny apartment with Luke? Because that would definitely put an end to their fling. Which might be a good thing.
‘Not right away. She’s going to take some much-needed rest first. I don’t want her here until the construction is one hundred per cent done. It will be too stressful for her.’
Blair looked at him. Her own complicated thoughts about Calista Caldwell aside, it was admirable how much Luke looked out for her wellbeing. ‘You’re a good son, Luke.’
Luke smiled, his eyes not leaving the road in front of him.
‘We’re all each other have. We’re not co-dependent or anything, and I’m not really a mama’s boy.
And she’s not overbearing, either. Mom’s been through a lot, though, so I like to ease her burden whenever I can. To thank her for being there for me.’
‘Been through a lot because she’s a single mother?’ Blair asked. She wasn’t sure what the story was with Luke’s father, or if he had a relationship with him at all. He never spoke about him when they were young, so Blair figured it was a difficult topic for him, and she hadn’t wanted to push.
‘No, not that. I mean, yeah, it couldn’t have been easy to raise me alone, but I mean because of her illness.’
Blair frowned. What was wrong with his mother? Blair didn’t want to pry, so didn’t ask.
‘Mom has multiple sclerosis,’ Luke said after a pause. ‘MS. She’s in remission now, but her last episode was while her department at work was understaffed. Stress like that isn’t good for her health.’
Oh. That’s why he was doing this. It was heartbreaking, but very sweet of him. Blair put her hand on Luke’s leg. ‘I’m so sorry, Luke – that must be so hard for her.’
He looked down at Blair’s hand on his leg. ‘I’ve been offering to build her a bakery for years, and she finally agreed. Small-town living will be a lot better for her – even with the trees.’ He chuckled. ‘Antihistamines have come a long way. Maybe I’ll tell her to drink your power shots, too.’
Blair kept her hand on Luke’s leg, hoping it was telling him that she cared about what he and his mom had been through.
Sick mothers always reminded Blair of her own mother’s death.
Her mom had died from an undiagnosed heart condition, and a part of Blair was grateful that Mom, or the rest of the family, hadn’t known she was sick, because it would have put a dark cloud over their childhood.
Bad enough that their father had been killed by witch hunters, but if they knew that they wouldn’t have long with their mother, either?
‘It must be hard for you,’ Blair said, ‘but she’s lucky to have you as a son.
’ Blair’s voice cracked. She looked away.