Page 30 of The Mechanics of Broomstick Racing

“I know.” He walked away from the window, setting up her kitchen island with flour, eggs, and milk. “Just take a breath. No one makes good decisions while panicking. Go deal with your ex. Then come eat.”

One of those things she really didn’t want to do. “Keep Dale inside. I don’t want to become an accessory to murder.”

Chapter 15

Jaxon Wendt did not belong in Pumpkin Hollow. He was flashy, loud, and wore blue-tinted sunglasses, though the sun had yet to rise. All of those things used to describe Zephyr—except the sunglasses thing.

He smiled when she answered the door, though it wavered when she quickly closed it behind her to keep him outside. Jaxon flicked his sunglasses to the top of his head, his too-white teeth flashing at her. “Hey.”

Frustration built inside her chest. Why was he here now? When she was just starting something good? She’d seen clips of his interview after their last phone call, where Jaxon had broken the news that Zephyr McAllister had ended their engagement. Which she wished were true, but it was actually the other way around. And she had read the thousands of sympathy comments he had received, all claiming Zephyr didn’t know what she had and that he deserved so much better.

“I mailed the ring back to you. If it’s lost, good. It was gaudy, anyway.” She didn’t miss the cluster of diamonds weighing her down, though it would have been more cathartic to throw the ring at him rather than seal it inside a bubble mailer.

Jaxon, lean and long and unfairly handsome, kept his stupid smile. “I can’t believe how much you’ve healed. You still look hot.”

Screw it, she thought. Zephyr reached behind her without looking and turned the knob. She had only cracked the door a few inches before Dale flew out like a missile, talons tearing at Jaxon’s honey-blond hair.

Jaxon knocked his glasses down to protect his eyes. “Zephyr! Call your damn pigeon off!”

“He never liked you, you know. I should have paid attention to that.” She leaned back against the door and crossed her arms. And she nearly fell backward when Neil opened the door from within.

He caught her because, of course, he did. “Everything okay out here?” Neil asked.

Zephyr nodded. To Jaxon, she snapped, “I have company. Go back to Florida. I don’t want whatever you’re selling.”

With a frantic gust of air, Jaxon sent Dale flying back at Zephyr. She caught her familiar, cradling the tired bird in her palms. Jaxon ignored her glare. He fished inside his racing jacket, his colors black and gold, and retrieved an envelope. “Fine. You don’t want to talk, I get it. I admit things could have ended better.” Something he would never say on camera and risk losing his adoring fans. “Just read this letter. It’s not from me. It’s from Blackened Salt.”

Zephyr stiffened, and Neil, still holding her, regarded her curiously. What did her former racing sponsor want? She wasn’t going to do a commercial for them, how pathetic. “If they wanted to talk to me, they didn’t need to send you.” Why, why would they send her ex, anyway?

“You changed your number. Blackened Salt Apothecary sent a dozen letters, and no one heard anything from you.” Jaxon left the sealed envelope at her feet. “I’ll be in town a few days. My number, in case you forgot it, is on the back of the envelope. Let me know your decision.” He finally noticed Neil, and his eyes narrowed. “Just read the letter.”

Jaxon left her yard and slipped inside a rental car. As he drove away, Neil let her go once she proved steady on her feet. He pointedly avoided looking at the fallen envelope.

Transferring Dale to a single palm, Zephyr bent down to pick up the envelope. She stared at the black paper and the gold-foiled text. Sure, she was terrible at going through her mail in a timely manner, but she would have noticed an envelope as fancy as this one.

While Neil set the table for their breakfast, Zephyr stepped over to the small table at her main entrance. There sat the Racing Cauldron—one of three she had won. The golden cauldron now overflowed with letters. She rifled through the envelopes and found not a thing from Blackened Salt.

Strange. So strange.

She mulled it over with a mouthful of buttery pancakes. No matter how she tried to ignore it, it still bothered her. She worked at the post office—she even delivered the damn mail! How could so many letters to her have gone missing?

Neil didn’t ask about the letter or why Jaxon was staying in Pumpkin Hollow. Ninety-nine percent of her was grateful for the silence, but she needed to do something about this.

She needed to get to work as soon as possible.

Neil brushed a kiss on her left temple. She straightened in her seat. He asked, “I’ll see you during your route?”

“Legally, I can’t say no,” she answered, and her joke almost hit.

Once Neil had left, Zephyr rushed through her morning routine and slung her mailbag over her shoulder. Her head rested on her doorframe before she looked down at the pile of mail and the black envelope on top. She took Blackened Salt’s letter and stuffed it inside her mailbag to read during lunch.

After leaving Dale a special ‘thank you for trying to kill my ex’ breakfast of sunflower seeds and a one-finger pat on the head, she was gone.

Chapter 16

Zephyr wanted to be the type of person who could leave a potentially harmful mystery alone, but she wasn’t. She knew she would not last long in a horror movie. If there was a spooky noise behind a door, she opened that damn door and suffered the consequences. She would satisfy her curiosity—even if the way was painful.

She didn’t even make it until lunch. When it was time for her first fifteen-minute break, Zephyr cut through the park, flying low until she found a secluded bench. She sat, the bench icy underneath her butt, and placed her mailbag in her lap.