Page 57 of Meet Cute Magic

“Jack doesn’t need my help,” I say with a roll of my eyes.

“His grandfather… ?” she says, like I’ve completely lost the plot. Oh, yeah, I forgot she thinks I’m doing this out of the goodness of my heart and for no self-serving reason.

“He’s haunting my place, so it’s really helping me, not him.”

“What about all of his socializing?”

“What?”

“The man doesn’t go out, Rosie. Suddenly, he’s out and about all the time, walking around town whistling. Saying hi to everyone he sees. Everyone is talking about it. I know it’s your doing.” Is that true? No way. I look over at Jack, who’s smiling at Mr. Crockner and making small talk with him. Small talk! Jack Haggerty!

That one I can’t deny.

But honestly, I have to think anyone who spends a chunk of time with me becomes slightly more chatty. It’s inevitable. I’m not overhauling him or helping him overcome anything. At all.

“You’re reading into things far too much,” I assure my sister. “I’m fine. I’ve got this under control.” She stares at me with doubt in her eyes but must see the determination in mine because she lets out a sigh and shrugs.

“Alright,” she says. “I just love you and worry about you.”

“Maybe you should find a friend-with-benefits nerd like I did. It does wonders for your worry levels.” She lets out a loud laugh, then shakes her head at me.

“Not happening,” she says, then she tips her chin toward Jack. “Go. Be with your hot nerd friend-and-definitely-not-anything-more guy.” I want to argue at the sarcasm in her tone, but I choose the high road instead and just roll my eyes and shake my head.

“Love you, see you later,” I say, reaching over the counter to hug her.

“Love you more,” she tells me, returning the squeeze before I walk over to Jack.

While I contemplate eating at Vi’s place, now that I know she’s going to pick apart our every move, I’d much rather be in the comfort of one of our own homes. “Want to take it to my place? I have to feed Percy, and although he likes your grandfather, Phillip unfortunately for him cannot grab cabinet handles or pour cat food.” Jack smiles, then presses a kiss to the side of my head that I feel all over.

“Sounds perfect.” The smile he gives me is soft and sweet and filled with so much emotion. I could overthink it, but then my name is being called, and Jack is stepping away to grab our order before waving at my sister as he guides me out. She gives me wide eyes, and I try to ignore them before Jack holds my hand the entire walk back to my place. It’s silent as we move, but not in an uncomfortable way, and try as I might, I can’t seem to stop thinking about what Violet said.

But I’m not falling into my old ways of helping someone out and becoming attached, because Jack is helping me, which never happens. Which I never allow. I know if my sisters knew that part, they’d see it differently, understand we truly are friends.

Friends who are temporarily fucking since there’s no way we could have the time to get with anyone else while we work on our mission.

Easy.

Truly, a win-win. Economical, even.

Percy rubs on my legs when we walk into the bookstore, and even though it seems cute, I know it’s just because he wants me to feed him. He’s been that way since he was a kitten, sweet and gentle when he wants something. When Phillip floats down to greet us, he smiles wide, eyes focusing in on our entwined fingers. Rolling my eyes, I let go of Jack’s hand before bending to grab Percy and scratching behind his ears. I make my way up the stairs and head right to the cat food cabinet, Jack and Phillip chatting behind me.

Jack gets our breakfast set up on the coffee table while I feed Percy before we both sit down. “God, I miss food,” Phillip says, hovering around us, and I roll my eyes.

And then we eat our breakfast as our strange little crew.

It’s the best Sunday morning I’ve ever had.

CHAPTER 20

Jack

23 days until Halloween

“Hey, Jack Attack,” Rosie calls as she walks into my shop. I don’t fight her on it anymore, because there’s something so Rosie about her calling me that, I can’t be mad. And although all things deeply Rosie used to annoy me to no end, I can’t seem to muster up that same irritation anymore.

It’s been almost a week since our night getting the moonflowers, and she’s spent nearly every night since in my bed. There was one night when we stayed at her place because she had a late-night book club, and I waited for her upstairs, talking with my grandfather. I still haven’t wrapped my head around the fact that he’s here, and though I keep trying to get as much time as I can with him before he’s gone again, he seems much less bothered by that same pressure, always telling me to spend time with Rosie instead. That night, she made sure to cast a spell to keep him out of the bedroom and block sounds, but we didn’t do anything more than some below-the-covers hand action since neither of us is fond of my grandfather being nearby while I fuck her. Thankfully, we made up for it the next day when Rosie texted me around lunch and asked if I had time for a quickie at my place.

The answer was yes, obviously.