Page 147 of Flirty Fall Fling

“You’re right. It is.”

He makes breakfast shirtless and cracks eggs with one hand.

“You’re a show-off.”

“Babe, so are you. Sitting over there, looking like a dream.”

After we eat breakfast and before the sun rises, Jamie drops me two streets over from the manor. Our fingers brush at the door because that’s as far as we can push it. I take a shower, then walk to work, pretending that the cameras following me don’t exist.

Today, there are nearly a hundred people waiting.

The Love Loaves have been selling out within the first hour, no matter how many Josie makes. No one is surprised. When Autumn used to work at the coffee shop, she’d bake mini versions, and they’d be gone just as fast.

Over the past week, I made Winter and Josie aware of my and Jamie’s situationship. They stopped asking questions about it. My best friends and roommates know this ends on Halloween. They all think what I’m saying is utter bullshit, but Jamie is also repeating it to Zane and Nick.

According to Jamie, Zane laughed so hard that he hung up on him.

Last night, we cooked dinner at his place in the glass house on the ridge, wanting to be alone and away from Pine Haven. He reminded me of how many days we had left. Lately, one of us says the number out loud randomly, and the other repeats it. We treat it like a joke, but neither of us is laughing about it anymore. Our time together is really coming to an end, and it’s impossible to pretend it’s not.

It’s been eleven days since I’ve heard from Teddy. I let myself believe it’s over.

At a quarter past one, Ivy’s phone dings on the counter. Then Martha’s goes off in her apron pocket. Then phones ping around the store like a mass message was sent.

Ivy looks at her screen, and her smile fades.

Winter comes out of the back. “Blaire, you need to see this right now.”

The headline is in the middle of the screen.

Jameson Cross Is Under A Witch’s Spell!

Beneath it is a photograph of our hands up close on different days on the street.

I scroll, and they’ve posted lunar records to confirm.

There’s another website where there’s an exclusive interview with Teddy. My nostrils flare.

“She cast a love spell on me. I lost ten years because of her recklessness.”

Everything fades away for a few seconds because I see red. He promised me he’d never speak about our relationship. Instead, he put everything on a worldwide stage.

“She never cut into me, but she’s desperate to be loved. Look up what witches do to men.”

There’s an entire paragraph about Jameson Cross joining a cult in Pine Haven. The fifty-thousand-dollar payment is confirmed by an anonymous source. The last line of the article is about my shop and how I fool desperate people into giving away their money. I’m written like I’m some sort of scammer.

The strange part is that my hands don’t shake. I keep waiting for it to happen.

When I look up, every customer in the shop is staring at me.

“Okay. Everybody, out,” Winter announces, using her very direct doctor’s voice. “We’re closing early today.”

Two customers already have their phones up, taking pictures of me.

Martha steps directly into their line of sight with her arms crossed. Her eleven years of retail in a boutique in town has given her zero fear. “Ma’am, my boss said we’re closing, so we need everyone out of the building.”

Ivy herds the rest toward the door with her arms out wide, like she’s moving geese. Once the last customer is gone, Winter turns the dead bolt and flips the sign.

I move to the back, where no one can see me through the windows, and wait to fall apart, but it doesn’t happen. Instead, I get angry. My fists clench, and I’m ready to combust.