Page 110 of Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places
Three weeks of control, straight down the drain. Opening the box had been a rookie mistake. She’d gone through incredible lengths to keep Maverick and Rebel off Hennessee’s radar and it’d all been for nothing.
Lucky took a deep, shuddering breath. Shoulders hunched, she bowed her head in failure and fear. There’d be no stopping it now. Specter-Maverick was going to break her heart.
Gengar yowled softly in front of her on the counter, headbutting her arm. He sat down, yowling again in her face.
“I’m fine,” she lied with a smile and scratched behind his ears the way he liked.
Lucky fixed the chairs, putting them back into place, and sat down with her baked goods box. She realized she hadn’t read the letter yet. Might as well.
Dear Lucky,
I made the macarons by myself!
We miss you! I asked Xander if you could come to movie day and he said maybe! You have to finish your work first so hurry up okay? We’re going on Saturday. Riley says hi. I told him all about you and he said he thinks you sound made-up. I showed him the pictures we took at Penny Place and he shut up about it. His mom says he has a crush on you now but I don’t believe her. Riley likes Cathy at school. Don’t tell him I told you, please. It’s a secret.
Love, your Shortcake
“Oh, Rebel.” Lucky searched for the macarons to eat them first. A little lopsided in shape, they came in a variety of creative colors as vibrant as Rebel, like robin egg blue, pastel green, and salmon pink.
“Good afternoon, Lucky.”
She squinted at Xander darkening her doorway for their weekly check-in. “You.”
Xander never looked anything less than immaculate. Dark colored, well-fitting suits seemed to be his preference, but not so stuffy that he didn’t own jeans and tennis shoes. He probably had his plain white T-shirts tailored, though.
“Would you like some baked goods?” She gestured to her box. “This is a test. You don’t strike me as the sugar type. I want to know if I’m right.”
“What is a sugar type?”
“Someone who ingests sugar and other bad-for-you foods for fun.”
Xander ignored her offering, sitting in the chair across thetable. He might’ve sat next to her, but she had her feet up and had no intentions of being a hospitable host.
He asked, “Did you buy these?”
“Special delivery from Maverick and Rebel.”
Upstairs, a door slammed. Lucky sighed.
Xander gave her a questioning look. “I take it that means your embargo has been lifted?”
“Yep,” she said. “Lifted. Smashed. Destroyed. Whatever works.”
“Maverick continues to be furious with me. He believes I tempted you away from him.”
She snickered. “Did he say it like that?”
“I’m not comfortable repeating his exact words. Don’t worry—I didn’t fire him.” Xander stared at her for a beat and then added, “He needs someone to blame other than himself.”
Shehadn’tbeen worried until he said that. “Blame himself? For what?”
Xander shrugged, a disgustingly casual gesture for Mr. Formal. “Your happiness is of the utmost importance to him. He would never stand in the way of you attaining it.”
“A non-answer answer? I must be rubbing off on you.”
“Perhaps.” He shrugged again. “How has the week been?”
Every fiber of Lucky’s being dreaded what was coming at sunset. A distraction might be nice.
