Page 11 of Hexed & Hazy

I exchange a look with Laurel, who shrugs.

This would be easier if my sisters were around to help, but they’re going to school. Right where they should be. If they can live a better life than I do, I’ll know I did my job right, or at least close to it.

It’s not like I’ll be far from Mom. Just across the street.

I lock the door behind me as we leave.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on with you?” Laurel asks as we cross the street.

I wince. “Is it that obvious?”

I thought I was doing a good job hiding it all, but of course, my best friend can always see through me.

“Um… yeah. I know your fake smile. The one where your lips turn down instead of up.”

“All right, all right.” I step outside and lower my voice, well aware that the people inside have better hearing than I do. “But don’t make a big deal of it.”

She crosses her arms. “No promises.”

“My, uh…” I scratch the back of my neck. “I guess someone hexed my love life, all right?”

Her eyes widen, and then…

She laughs. Aloud. Doubling over, hand covering her mouth, bursts of giggles. When she recovers, she claps me on the back and walks inside. “I bet you deserved it.”

“Stop.”

Of course, she doesn’t stop. In a sing-song voice, she says, “I told you being a fuck boy would come back to bite you in the ass.”

And as annoying as it all is, when I follow her in, I know she’s probably right.

“I guess you’ll be going to the Lovers Ball alone, huh?”

I wince. I hadn’t even thought about the ball—and she’s right. It’s right around the corner. I’ve never gone alone, but… “Yeah. Guess so.”

Dinner at the Hawthornes is always a treat—a loud, crowded treat, but I don’t mind the chaos. Rowan does, though. I know that about her. After dessert, she’s quiet while everyone else chats, sitting at her little corner of the table. Alone. It’s a new table, large and rectangular, with enough room for everyone—but just barely. She’s squeezed between Juniper and Aspen, and hasn’t looked up from her plate all night.

Maybe that’s my fault. I put a lot of stress on her, with my hex and all.

Finally, she looks at me, and I smile at her. She doesn’t return it.

Even with her lips turned down and the wrinkle between her brow, Rowan is beautiful. Her hair reminds me of the leaves in fall when they deepen to something close to burgundy, and her blue-gray eyes are like the ice of winter. Considering that she spends her days working inside, her cool complexion is always pale—even more than her sisters’—but there’s a soft hint of freckles across the bridge of her pointy nose. Her body has changed over the last few years, from slim to round and soft, but she always seems so confident.

And she should be.

She wears the same cozy sweaters, pleated skirts, and knee-high socks from before, but with her thicker thighs, they somehow look better. And, of course, those glasses are always perched on the top of her button nose.

She lifts an eyebrow at me, still unsmiling, and I tear my gaze away.

It’s always been easy for me to fit in with the Hawthornes, even now that the family is growing. Fast. That just means I have new friends in Ozan and Mac, though the former is friendlier than the latter.

When the house finally settles down, with Aspen and Maple going to their respective homes, I know it’s time for me to leave.

“Thanks for the invite,” I say to anyone who’s listening.

Juniper smiles in that subtle way she often does. “Thank you for coming. You and Liezel are always welcome.”

“Oh, we know. And we’ll be here.”