Page 84 of All Dressed Up

When she’d rushed out of the park, she was all but certain she’d find Will’s heart in this car. What if she never found it? Did that mean they would never be together? She held her hand out. “Here. Let me take those.”

Jesse handed her the batch. Her gaze dropped to the first letter. Her fingers began to tremble as she stared down at the nearly faded return address. She waved the envelope. “This is a letter from Jenkins Auto Body.”

“So it is,” Jesse said. “Probably a bill for the engine.”

“May I open it?”

“Sure. Although, if it is a bill, don’t show it to Will.”

“Deal.” She pulled back the flap and removed the lined paper. Her pulse quickened. This was definitely not a bill.

Her heart pounded against her chest. “It’s the note,” she said in barely a whisper.

“Well, what does it say?”

“Dear Rachel,” she started. “You are as beautiful as these flowers. I love you.” She glanced over at Jesse. “It’s not signed.”

“A man who gets to the point.” Jesse chuckled. “I respect that.”

Rachel held Will’s teenage words to her chest, her gaze rising up to her store awning. “Will was my Buttermilk Blooms Bandit.”

“Did you have any doubts?”

She smiled back at Jesse. “Not really, but this. I know Will wrote this and wanted to give it to me that night on the football field all those years ago.”

She sighed. “And he didn’t because seeing me with Adam broke his heart.” She held the letter up. “Jesse, do you know what this means?”

“What?”

“Will’s heart’s been here all along.”

“Riding shotgun.” The old man waggled his bushy eyebrows. “I should back charge him.”

Rachel took a deep breath. “Jesse, I don’t think that’s all.”

“What else?”

“I realized it in the park. I think this note in here is the sole reason why you came back to town when you did.”

He adjusted his straw hat. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, but you came back in March, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And you said your car raced here before you knew where you were going.”

He nodded. “It’s true.”

She took a deep breath. “I overheard Sheila say to you that night in my shop that she’d banished you from Buttermilk Falls.”

“She did,” he said softly. “I don’t blame her.”

“I think Will’s note was already in the glove compartment when she cast the spell on your car all those years ago. You didn’t race back when Sheila finally broke the spell. Will’s heart did. It’d been inadvertently banned, too.”

Jesse leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes for a beat. “Well, isn’t that something,” he finally said. “And here I thought this ole car had some magical properties. Mary, is Rachel right?”

All of sudden the horn went off, blaring through the car.

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