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She’s right. I do.
But needing people has never served me well.
Even though I don’t say it aloud, when I leave, I get the sense Jewel knows exactly how I feel. She has a way of knowing all the things I’m trying to keep hidden, doesn’t she?
Chapter 35
Sterling
I hate lying to Aurora. Being with her is equal parts the best thing that’s ever happened to me and the most stressful. I meant to tell her before we became official, but one thing led to another, and it’s been weighing on me ever since.
She deserves to know. About Wendy. About my magic. Even if it means losing her. This has gone on too long.
There’s still one thing getting in the way: me. I’m a little too self-aware, or so my therapists have said, which means I know very well that my anxiety manifests in avoidance. Healthy? No. Is it what I need right now? Probably…?
Aurora didn’t want to date me at all. She said it herself. I was the one who wanted this relationship, not her.
How could she stay with me if she knew the truth about Wendy?
“So…” Pops says, fighting off a smile. “When are we going to meet her?”
Of course, they can never let me avoid a topic in peace.
Who told them? Farrah, probably, but I came over for breakfast, not to talk about my love life. That’s off limits with my family, and they used to know that, but maybe I was single for too long. They must have forgotten my boundaries.
I bite into my toast—a little burned, as Pops tends to get distracted. “Never, if I can help it,” I grumble under my breath. Then, I speak louder. “You’ve already met her.”
My fathers are great, pretty much the best people to introduce a date to, but they’re a touch on the embarrassing side. A big touch, actually, the sort to bring out old baby pictures and tell stories I would rather keep buried. Not the horrors, of course.
Not about her. About the cottage.
But about how I looked with braces, and that my date for homecoming stood me up as part of a brilliant prank.
“We need to meet her officially,” Dad says, pouring creamer into his coffee. “Starbrook is small. You can’t keep her away forever.”
“We’re dying to see who’s made you this happy,” Pop adds. “And Farrah says you’re perfect together.”
A smile tugs at the corner of my lips. “The love witch said it, which means it must be true. I can’t be trusted to make my own decisions.”
Though sarcasm is dripping from my every pore, there’s some truth behind it. Farrah didn’t like or approve of my last relationship—the only one I had after Wendy—and I wrote it off, but I shouldn’t have. She was right. She’s always right. Pesky little thing.
I almost wish I hadn’t fallen for Aurora at all, so that Farrah couldn’t rub it in. But then again, no one has ever made me this happy, and I’ve never had a chance to make someone as happy as I hope I make her.
Until the day she realizes I’m betraying her, of course.
Pops chuckles. “That’s usually how it works.”
Despite that, Farrah isn’t the first person—or even the second—I would go to for advice on the topic. My dads, however, have been together for years. They know love.
“There’s one problem,” I say slowly. “She’s living at the cottage.”
They nod, exchanging a look with one another.
“It wasn’t a problem at first,” I say. “And I think I got too comfortable because of it. They made the home their own, and I forgot about Wendy. But the more time Aurora and I spend together, the more it seems to upset her.”
Her. The cottage.
The first and last person my magic killed.
