I tell him the story, starting with the crackling air yesterday morning. The look of hurt on his face is a hard pill to swallow. If this happened yesterdaymorning, why didn’t I tell him yesterday evening, when we spent several hours together?
It’s a fair question.
Not too far away, in between a booth selling quilted blankets and a cart hung with freshly-cut wreaths, Isabel eyes Jude. I can tell she wants his attention as she chats with a couple I don’t recognize. I hurry onward, eager to tell him the rest now that I’ve started. I can’t bring myself to say Rafe’s name, so I omit the part about the Calloway’s radio and my invitation in their bathroom afterward. Which makes me a coward, I know.
“I didn’t think I would be in any danger. I just wanted to take a peek inside and see what I could see, but the plant attacked, and Mistress Bramble lit it on fire.”
“Mistress Bramble?”
“She was there—at St. Fortuna’s.”
“Jude,” Isabel calls as she approaches.
He shuts his eyes, his jaw ticking with annoyance.
I quickly pull the sleeve of my hoodie over my wrist.
“Darling,” she says, taking his elbow. “I want to introduce you to someone.”
The muscle in his jaw ticks harder—at the term of endearment, I’m sure.
He is not her darling.
But Jude is polite and long-suffering, so he hands me my shopping bag and promises to find me when he’s done. I join Harper and Naomi at the soap and candle stall, courtesy of Flicker and Foam Emporium.
Despite Naomi’s request in the car upon our arrival, she lifts a bar of soap to her nose and asks, “Could he see it?”
Nodding, I lift a candle to mine. “I didn’t tell him about Rafe, so if we could keep that part on the DL, I would appreciate it.”
A police officer nearby nods at Harper.
She nods back.
His presence is another reminder that today isn’t a normal day no matter how much Naomi might want to pretend otherwise. There aren’t typically police officers at the Yuletide Market. So far, I have counted three.
“Jake’s been insufferable,” Harper says, sifting through a bowl of bath bombs. “Nobody wanted to talk about Emma or Sienna yesterday, but he kept going on and on about how irresponsible the media has been. Sloane and Cody finally told him to give it a rest.”
Sloane and Cody are the oldest of the Mahoney brood. There are six of them altogether,ranging in age from twenty-five to fourteen. Jake has always been the insufferable one, even before he became Foggy Hollow’s youngest police officer.
I exchange the candle I’m holding for another while keeping an eye on Jude. He stands stiffly beside Isabel, who has her arm wrapped around his elbow like an affectionate mother. It makes me angry on his behalf. She is the world’s biggest poser.
Naomi purchases a collection of artisanal soaps for her mom, and we meander to the Jam Jar, where Brynn Alcott and her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Caleb Briggs, talk in dulcet tones.
“I can’t believe he’s back,” she says, smearing a gingerbread cookie with apple butter. “Lainey is going to freak.”
“More like Griffin is going to freak,” Caleb replies.
Curious, I follow their gaze and nearly drop my shopping bag.
Upon seeing what I have seen, Harper grabs my injured arm.
I suck in a sharp breath.
“Oh my gosh, Selah, I’m sorry!” she says. “I totally forgot.”
I can hardly hear her apology over the ringing in my ears.
“I thought you said he was a no show,” Naomi hisses.
