Page 7 of The Heartbreak Hex

I can see the moment that she registers that I haven’t had a shirt this whole time. Gertrudes’s eyes bug out for a moment and if I thought she went dark green before, I hadn't seen anything yet. She blushes so hard that her whole face goes forest green and then whirls around to face the opposite wall.

“I’m so sorry!” she bursts out. “I’ve been making you sit there practically undressed all morning while I tried to cut this string and . . . oh my goddess, where are my pants?”

“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart,” I say, the pet name sliding out naturally from my lips. Like it’s the most ordinary thing in the world for me to call this witch my sweetheart. “We’ve both been distracted. There’s nothing normal about our situation, so we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves for how we’re reacting or what we haven’t noticed, okay?”

Gertrude peeks over her shoulder. “Really? You’re not mad?”

Mad? I’m thrilled, but I can’t say that. “No, I’m not mad. We’re just figuring things out right now. There’s bound to be some hiccups.”

She sighs again, but it sounds relieved. “Okay. But now, let’s figure out how to get dressed? Neither of us can go to City Hall like this.”

My unruly dick stirs again at the thought of Gertrude changing clothes, but I ruthlessly squash those thoughts. I haven’t been invited to help, so there’s no need to get excited.

“Objects seem to pass through the string,” I say, “so I think we should be able to shut a door. As long as the one outside stays right next to the door, the other should have enough room to maneuver into their clothes.”

“Let’s head upstairs and try it,” Gertrude says, moving toward the stairs and pulling me along with her. But I don’t mind being led around on a leash by her. Far from it.

There’s no other place I’d rather be.

Chapter 4

Gertrude

Luckily Vlad is right and we can close doors. The string is still there and staring at me, a testament to my screw-up. What kind of idiot just drinks a made-up potion without any tests first? A drunk idiot, that’s who. Still, I can’t believe that I did and not only did it affect me, but it pulled Vlad freakin’ Everdark into my messy life. At least he’s been nice about it.

While I get dressed, I also call Gretchen.

“Hello?” she answers, her voice sounding a little worse for wear. Just like I’m feeling. I’m still a bit hung-over and it sounds like my sister is too.Stupid peppermint schnapps.

“Gretchen?” I respond, pulling on my favorite striped tights. “It’s Gertrude.”

“Gertrude! Where are you? There’s already a huge line down the street waiting to get into the shop and you’re not here. The shop’s supposed to open in five minutes!”

“Right, well, I’m going to need you to mind the Eye today. Something’s . . . come up.” I pull a festive sweater over my head.

“You’re not coming in?” she squeaks. “I have to mind the shop by myself all day? Gertrude, I can’t do half of what you do. I won’t be able to help walk-ins . . .”

“Gretchen, calm down. I’ve finished most of the complicated orders for the week already, so you just need to hand them over when they come in for pick up. As for walk-ins . . . help the ones you can and if anything’s too complicated, tell them they have to go on the waiting list.”

“Your waiting list? Isn’t that thing already like five feet long?” Gretchen asks.

Oof, she’s right. My waiting list isfull. That’s going to add to my already heavy workload, especially if the customer is going to need it before Halloween, which most of them probably will. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s all I can think of.

Pulling up a purple pleated wool skirt, I say, “Look, I know it’s going to be hard, but I can’t come in today. You’ll be fine and I’ll work tonight to catch up.”

“But why can’t you come in? Is this about Harry?”

I wince at the reminder of my ex. “No, it’s not about Harry. Look, last night . . .” and I tell her everything that’s happened. Well, I leave out the part where Vlad’s only half-dressed, but everything else.

“Vlad Everdark is in your house?” she shrieks.

“Not so loud. He’s only on the other side of the door. He’ll hear you.”

“You’re permanently tied to your crush who also happens to be Harry’s biggest rival? Oh, that’s going to drive him crazy when he finds out,” my twin cackles.

“He’s not going to find out,” I say firmly. “I’m not trying to start drama. I’ll go with Vlad to City Hall today and then tonight I’ll reverse engineer the potion so that I can break the hex that’s tying us together. It’ll be fine.”

“So you say,” Gretchen replies skeptically. “I think you’re being a little too optimistic about how easy it’ll be to break this thing.”

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