Page 51 of A Touch Enchanted

Wes left while Sandy continued to circle the discarded beer bottle, growling at it because she couldn’t get a good grip on it with her teeth. I grabbed another drink, my last for the night, and stared up at the sky. Dark clouds still gathered over the beach, but now, I could’ve sworn they had spread out a little more. Like they were making moves to cover the whole island.

If I was going to beg Violet to forgive me for being an ass, there were some necessary steps I had to take first. One, I needed to get Sandy back to my parents’. As much as I’d missed my dog, and appreciated her keeping my feet warm last night, having a wild animal tearing through Violet’s apartment was not a great way to start. I also needed to go in armed with lavender honey ice cream, because I needed to loosen her up a bit before I started groveling.

I hooked up Sandy’s leash and headed out to my parents’ house as the sun began to rise over the forest. They were both early birds, genes that must’ve skipped a generation, so I knew they’d been up for at least an hour already. We still had a fair number of tourists on the island, despite the beach being closed, but most of them were still sleeping. It would be a few hours yet before they were given refunds and told to pack up their things.

The streets were quiet and empty. A dark mist curled around the iron lamp posts and mosaic flowerpots as it flowed over the sidewalks. The curse didn’t try anything with me, but it still made me uneasy. The spread into town was growing. Inky black tendrils of smoke climbed up building walls, feeding on the fear and discontent the mayor had bred on purpose.

Sandy stopped in the street and growled at the smoke as it continued to hover around us. I tugged on her leash. “Let’s go, girl. Can’t do a damn thing without Violet anyway.”

After a few more tugs, she finally let it go and kept walking with me. The rest of my journey passed uneventfully. I took the trail that wound down the cliffs to my parents’ private cove. They had an estate similar in size to the mayor’s next door, but their place was warm and open, while I could feel the chill coming off the mayor’s house from here.

My mom was already in her garden, digging her hands into the dirt with a pallet of burnt orange chrysanthemums beside her. She had her ash blonde hair tied in a knot at the nape of her neck, and her warm brown eyes filled with affection as I approached. “Bringing her back already? Wes just picked her up last night.”

Sandy ran straight into the garden, tongue lolling as she dug up all the flowers my mom had just planted. I cringed. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine, we’re always happy to host our grandpuppy, aren’t we, baby?” My mom scratched Sandy’s ears and she went mad, rolling over to expose her belly. My dog was a sucker for unending love and attention.

A squirrel on the other side of the yard caught her eye, and she flipped over and bounded off. My mom laughed, dusting the dirt off her hands as she stood.

“Thanks for keeping her this week for me,” I said.

“It’s not a problem.” She gave me a sly look. “How are things with Violet?”

“She probably hates my guts right now.”

“Oh, honey.” My mom squeezed my cheeks. “I very much doubt that’s true. She looks at you like you hung the moon, always has. It’s about time you two got together.”

I dragged a hand down my face. “I screwed things up big time.”

“You’ll fix it.” She said it like it was a statement of fact.

While I appreciated my mom’s support, there were only so many times I could mess up before Violet decided I wasn’t worth the hassle after all. She already had half the guys on this island eating out of her hand. It wouldn’t take more than a finger snap to replace me with someone who wouldn’t walk away during a fight without hearing her out.

“The prodigal child returns.” My dad’s booming voice carried across the yard. “Just to be clear, I’m talking about Sandy.”

He wore a pair of red-striped overalls, purple rubber clogs, and a big floppy straw hat with sunflowers decorating the brim. My jaw dropped. “What in holy hell are you wearing?”

My dad stood next to me with his arms crossed over his barrel chest. It was like Paul Bunyan had raided an old lady’s closet. “This is my gardening uniform. Your mom decided I needed a hobby more relaxing than yelling at strangers on the internet. She locked me out of my Twitter account and bought me this ridiculous outfit.”

My mom patted his arm. “I think you look very handsome.”

“There’s too much going on here.” My gaze darted from the overalls to the floppy hat with the comically large sunflowers, to the purple Crocs. “I’m not sure what to look at.”

“I was thinking about buying something similar for you and your brothers,” my mom said. “We could make this a family activity.”

If that meant Cole would also be forced to wear that outfit and plant flowers, it was a sacrifice I’d be willing to make, just for the photographic evidence. I gave my mom an evil smile. “You do that, but if Cole won’t wear it, then none of us will.”

“You boys leave your poor brother alone. He’s under a lot of stress.”

The way she babied him was downright appalling. It was like watching a dragon being bottle-fed gasoline. It could only make him worse. “Which is exactly why he should garden.”

My mom tapped a finger to her lips. “Good point. Thomas, go online and order the full garden attire in Cole’s size.”

My dad raised an eyebrow at me, as if to say I was going to be in a world of hurt once Cole found out, but that was Future Donovan’s problem. I still had another stop to make, so I said goodbye to my parents and let my goofy dog lick my face before I headed over to the Big Dipper for Violet’s favorite ice cream.

The thick, smoky mist I’d encountered on the way to my parents’ house remained. A handful of tourists filed down the sidewalk toward the ferry, bleary-eyed and disgruntled about having their trips cut short. Every so often, the curse’s smoke would funnel around one of them, but they didn’t appear to notice. When the smoke cleared, they wore a scowl. As if it had exacerbated their already foul mood.

That was odd. I’d only ever seen the smoke funnel around a descendant, when it would reach into our minds and toy with us, using our own memories. But I had no clue what it could be doing to tourists, or why they couldn’t even see the smoke.

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