Page 78 of The Heart of Moonlight Falls

“Or you could think of it as fate. I mean, it is magic. Maybe we were all meant to be here.” Eli shrugged, his cheeks going red. It was the closest James had ever heard Eli come to admitting he believed in the mystical side of the citizens’ connection to Moonlight Falls.

“I like that.” James slung one arm around Eli and the other around Sebastian. “We were all meant to be here, together.”

“Agreed,” said Sebastian, and Eli seemed pleased.

James gave them each a squeeze before releasing them, turning to Sebastian. “Should we go find Mila?”

“Actually, I want to talk to the museum curator first.”

“Princeton?” Eli tucked his notebook away. “He should be back at the post office. He stopped by to talk to me earlier about getting all my research displayed. I said he might need more space, at least when I’m finished.”

“You’re interested in sharing your research?” Sebastian asked.

“Yeah. He asked me before, and I was inclined to blow him off, but I feel like people here will really like it. And if everything I learn is as unique as I think, it’ll be of interest to a lot of people outside Moonlight Falls too.”

Sebastian seemed excited by the idea. “I agree, and I might have some more questions for you about displays later, but we’ll leave you to it for now.”

“Okay.” Eli nodded happily before turning back to his notebook.

James followed Sebastian toward the post office. “What do you want with Princeton?”

“I want to see if he’d like a new museum. A couple rooms attached to the post office isn’t much.”

James stopped in his tracks. “You mean Storm House?”

Sebastian shrugged, a hint of shyness in the motion. “Yeah. It’d be good to do something with the house. Have people out there again. And if Princeton wants to do the town history, what better place to display it than the property where the vein intersection lies? He can put the details of the Storm curse on display, let people see the house, and fill the many rooms with interesting stuff like natural history or the story of the town’s founding or whatever. Not to mention Eli’s research.”

“That’s a wonderful idea.” James glowed with pride for Sebastian. It was a perfect and rather healing end to Storm House. “Princeton is going to be beside himself.”

“This means you’ll have to finish rewiring Storm House, you know,” Sebastian added in a conspiratorial tone. “Now that the power-draining issue has been solved, I can’t expect a museum to function without electricity.”

“Way to bring it back around, Sebastian.” James looped an arm around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss on the cheek. “But I’m dragging Hazel out there with me this time, just to be safe.”

“That’s probably for the best. I hope she and Princeton like green.”

28

SEBASTIAN

Two months later.

Miss Moo let out a snort of satisfaction and bent down to munch the grass. Sebastian patted her shoulder. She’d settled in nicely to her new home at 110 Pine Street.

“James will be here soon,” Sebastian told the cow. “I’ll make sure he says hello.”

Miss Moo didn’t acknowledge this, but then, she’d always liked Sebastian over James. It made sense after the years they’d had together.

Sebastian moved on to feeding the chickens. He’d painted their hutch red to match the brand-new barn at the far end of his property. Sebastian was going to leave green for the trees from here on out.

He collected the day’s eggs and wandered back to the house. He loved it more than he should, given he’d only just moved in. He had plenty of renovations planned to make it his, but that was just the thing: this house was his. He was here because he’d chosen to be and could leave whenever. He just didn’t think he’d want to.

Sebastian entered the kitchen and placed the eggs on the counter before setting the coffee brewing. The window above the counter had a perfect view of his vegetable garden, or what would eventually be his vegetable garden. At the moment, it was nothing but dirt and a pile of wood for planter beds.

He had an outdoor picnic area beside it and plans for a woodfire pizza oven. Sebastian was going to ask Parker if he minded alternating Sunday dinners with him so the group could hang out here and Sebastian could cook for them all. He expected Parker to like the idea. He’d never failed to make Sebastian feel like part of the group.

Across the house, the front door opened, and James called, “Hi, Sebastian. I’m here.”

“In the kitchen,” he called back.

---