Page 31 of Meet Cute Magic

“Okay, enough about me,” I say, with a shake of my head, needing to stop thinking about that depressing topic. “Tell me something no one knows about you.”

“What? Why?”

“Because you know some of my deepest, darkest secrets, and you’re a complete blank slate. I know nothing about you. And since we’re stuck together for five more weeks, I think I might as well get to know the man I’ve lived across the street from for three years.” When he doesn’t bite, I add, suddenly desperate to know more about the man who typically keeps to himself, “Honestly, you won’t even have to think that hard, since I know nothing about you besides you run the Gaming Den and your grandfather is named Phillip.”

“Okay, okay…” he says begrudgingly before thinking for a long minute. Finally, he smiles, and I know it’s going to be a good one from that look alone. “I was almost expelled in middle school.” I turn my entire body to him quickly, staring at him with wide eyes.

“What?”

He smiles and shakes his head. “I had a gambling ring. I was selling trading cards and playing the games in the boys’ bathroom. I was taking kids’ allowances, selling them cards I knew weren’t worth that much, and running games for money. It was kind of wild.”

“Oh my god, a rebel!” I say, fully entertained and clapping now.

“My parents were not what one would call happy about it,” he says with a laugh and a shake of his head. “My grandfather, though, was impressed. Got me a new pack of cards when he was supposed to be giving me a stern life lesson talk. He even gave me some cash and tips on how to be more secretive.”

I smile, able to picture Phillip sitting with a much younger Jack and clapping him on the shoulder, quietly proud of his illegal actions.

“So you kept it going?”

“For years. It grew after a while, and I started an online store selling and trading rare cards as a side business while I was going through college.”

I stare at him, impressed and warmed by this new knowledge. “And then it became the Gaming Den?”

“And then it became the Gaming Den,” he confirms with a smile.

“Wow. That’s… I won’t lie, that is not at all what I expected.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You absolutely should.” I’m still in awe, trying to picture nerdy, shy Jack at twelve or thirteen running a gambling ring in the middle school boys’ bathroom and hustling them for their allowances, when he breaks into my daze.

“Your turn.”

“My turn?”

“Something I can’t find out just from town gossip. Something that’s just… Rosie Mayfield at her core.” I smile, but my pulse starts to pound at his request because I’m not sure what to say.

Who is Rosie Mayfield at her core? I’m not completely sure.

I’ve always been Poppy and Vi’s big sister.

That poor girl who lost her parents too young.

Sarah Mayfield’s oldest daughter.

Gertrude Mayfield’s granddaughter or Sandra Mayfield’s niece.

The romance bookstore owner.

What else is there really to know?

But because I know I owe him that for sharing with me, I give him something I’ve never told a soul. “I…” I push aside the embarrassment at what I’m about to confess. “I always wanted to travel.” His brows furrow.

“Travel? That’s it? That’s not a secret.”

I give him a deadpan look. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know there was a level for the things not a lot of people know about me, Mr. Underground-Gambling-Ring-for-Kids.” He lets out a laugh then and raises one hand as if to say go on before I explain more. “My dad died when I was a kid, and my mom died when I was nineteen. I went from oldest daughter to makeshift mom overnight, trying to help my sisters. Poppy was only sixteen, though Vi was eighteen. I spent every moment since making sure my little sisters never felt that loss too heavily, taking care of them, helping, and supporting them. There wasn’t time to spend my early twenties traveling the world, but I read about all of these places so different than the town I never left and always dreamed of going there. Now I have the store. I’ve barely ever left Heartwood Hollow.” He looks at me like he’s shocked.

“I know. It’s embarrassing that I’m a twenty-seven-year-old who has never left her hometown. I love it here, though, so I don’t feel like I’m missing too much. I just always wanted to travel. Meet new people, try new foods. That kind of thing.”