Page 86 of A Love Like Pumpkin Spice
Nic
“You don’t look as happy as you should be,” Lauren points out.
We’re strolling through the streets of Wayward Hollow, soaking in the crisp autumn air after helping Amanda upload some pictures of new furniture to her website. It has rained the past few days, and even now, the sky is hidden behind thick layers of clouds that might be announcing an apocalypse.
Just what I need: some end-of-the-world vibes.
“I don’t know,” I say with a nervous shrug, my cold fingers playing with the hem of my shirt. “Everything went too good to be true.” A deep sigh falls from my lips, and I shake my head.
“Marissa got her comeuppance on stage? Then she and Jay get arrested after it took Erik forever to build a case?” I lift my eyebrow, wondering if she doesn’t see it. “It’s very teenage rom-com made by Disney in the two-thousands, isn’t it?”
“Now that you say it,” Lauren agrees, tilting her head as she thinks. “That doesn’t have to mean it’s too good to be true.”
“The ‘everybody claps’ happy end might be a cliché for a reason. And maybe it’s nothing, but a part of me keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop,” I explain, stopping by the flower shop to stare at their bouquets. Not that I could ever put up any flowers in my house without the ghostly or living cats pushing the vase off wherever I put it. But hey, I can have a look, right?
They have the most beautiful autumn wreaths in their window, and I can’t help but stare at them, mesmerized. That couldwork. Then again, Chaos can also push frames off the wall—she’d probably get a wreath off its nail too.
“God, this is beautiful. Buy it,” Lauren says, like the little devil on my shoulder that she is, but I shake my head.
“They’re fresh flowers. It’s going to sound irrational as fuck, but they’re going to die at some point in the near future, and I can’t deal with”—I make a vague motion with my hand—“sadness.”
“Chaos never really left, though, did she?” Lauren points out, and I shake my head.
“That’s different. Flowers can’t exactly haunt me.”
“Touché,” she says with a giggle, and pulls me away from the window, linking her arm with mine again.
“Why do you think this whole thing isn’t over?” Worry seeps through her voice, but I can only shrug.
“I can’t pinpoint it. It’s a gut feeling. The two of them, they’relucky,” I try to explain, my voice turning to disgust on the last word. “Really damn lucky. I mean, how else do you think they’ve made it this far without landing themselves in jail or six feet underground?”
“I don’t know. Maybe their gaslighting abilities? And being somewhat attractive?” Lauren says, tapping her lips as she thinks. “Nope. Can’t think of any other reason.”
“For some reason, the universe has decided that those two would be its favorite people. Especially Marissa.” I lay my head back and take a deep breath. “Marissa loses her job? The next, way better opportunity comes along a day later. She has a car accident? It’s minor enough for nothing to happen to her. But by chance, it’s a rich dude who throws enough money at her to buy a new car, to settle without involving the police or insurance.”
“Damn,” Lauren curses and I nod.
“It’s infuriating.”
“But I can’t imagine this is something that luck is going to pull her out of,” Lauren says, but I shake my head.
“Trust me. Stranger things have happened.” A shiver runs down my spine like a bad omen knocking at the door, but I push it aside. “Now, enough about those two. I’m probably overreacting; I need to manifest that this thing is over. No more doubts.”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to shake the negative energy off me. And when I open my eyes again, I’m calmer. I ignore the amused expression on Lauren’s face.
“How is your house coming along?” I change topics quickly. “Are you regretting the DIY approach yet?”
“Oh, hell yes! Started to regret it one hour in,” Lauren says way too quickly, and I burst into laughter.
“I'm afraid that craftsmanship is not one of my yet-to-be-discovered talents. So far, I’ve put a chair together backward, my table collapsed the moment I finished putting my food on it, and a bunch of stuff I ordered isn’t getting delivered anytime soon,” she adds, making a vague gesture with her hand. “Some boat got itself stuck in some kind of canal that apparently issuperimportant for furniture delivery. Who knew?”
“Oh, wow, luck is really on your side for this one.”
“You have no idea.” She exhales a deep sigh. “For now, I have my bed, I have a couch … and a lot of blank walls to stare at.”
“My slightly less-blank walls are always there for you, along with my two extremely dumb kittens who adore you.”
“Oh, come on. They aren’t that dumb,” Lauren says with a pout, but I shake my head, biting back a chuckle.
