He held up Huck Finn, who looked strangely content in his plastic-bag transition home. Paul poked two of his fingers into the corners of his mouth and pulled down his lips. “This is our sad face.”
Tessa snorted. “You’re an odd one.”
“Odd but charming?”
Tessa rolled her eyes but inwardly agreed that Paul was quite charming. She pointed at Huck Finn. “What’re you gonna do with him?”
Paul held the fish up to his face and smiled. Huck Finn swam in a tiny circle. “I’m not sure, but I bet I can sneak a large plastic container from Mom and give him a larger space until I come up with a better solution.”
“No koi patties being sold at the diner.”
“What am I, a heartless brute? Huck Finn is part of the family now.” He waved good-bye and walked toward the diner.
Lily’s shop was located next door to Scrambled. She assumed Lily must be swamped at the boutique and that’s why she hadn’t returned her call. Tessa pushed open the door and saw Amanda, Lily’s sales assistant, folding T-shirts designed with Southern sayings.
“Hey, Tessa,” she said.
“Hey, is Lily in the back?” Tessa paused to admire a peach blouse hanging on the nearest rack.
Amanda shook her head. “She’s gone to Wildehaven Beach with Jakob and Rose for a few days. She’ll be home Saturday. They wanted to time the trip with getting their floors redone at the house since you can’t walk on them for a few days.”
Tessa’s heart rate increased. “No,” she breathed out.
Amanda nodded. “You remember that fancy boutique at the beach. They’re thinking of carrying her clothes, as well as her new line of children’s designs. You know how much money the tourist season brings in. I think her clothes would be perfect for a beach location.”
Tessa massaged her fingers against her temples. “I’d forgotten that was this week.”
“She calls in every day, though. You want me to tell her something?”
Tessa shook her head. “No, but thanks. See you later.”
She stepped out onto the sidewalk, feeling the sun baking her face. Now what was she going to do? Part of her wanted to run to the Great Pumpkin, slide through the open car window like Bo Duke fromThe Dukes of Hazzardreruns her daddy loved, and drive as fast as she could to Wildehaven Beach just to be near her two best friends. They’d know what to do. Instead, she was stuck in Mystic Water with no place to live and sorrow building inside her heart because of Honeysuckle Hollow.Whywas she so attached to that abandoned house? She kicked a stray leaf from the sidewalk.
With Paul in the diner visiting his parents, Tessa felt okay returning to the apartment for a few minutes to reorganize her cluttered thoughts and figure out what to do. She opened the fridge, pulled out the strawberry chamomile tea, and poured herself a glass. Then she sat on the couch and drank it all. Within minutes, her eyes drooped. She yawned, leaned her head against the couch cushions, and dozed.
The sound of a door closing woke Tessa. She jerked into an upright position and sucked in a breath. Paul grunted as he heaved a large plastic box into the kitchen, water sloshing with each of his steps. Huck Finn shifted back and forth in the waves with leaves of lettuce floating on the top like boats.
“You didn’t get far,” he said.
She blinked. Had she fallen asleep? What time was it? She glanced at the clock on the wall. “It’s three in the afternoon?” She stood too quickly, and all the blood rushed from her head, giving her the sensation of vertigo. She tipped back onto the couch.
“Whoa, darling,” Paul said in a phony Southern accent that would have been comical if Tessa hadn’t felt woozy. “You feeling okay?”
“Yes . . . no. I mean, I just got here, and now it’s three. That’s impossible. It wasn’t even lunch yet when I sat down.” Her eyes drifted to the empty glass. A few drops of tea glistened in the bottom. Paul had called the teaa sleeping potionthe night before. There waswaytoo much chamomile in the mix. Was that the cause of it? Tessa thought of Crazy Kate.The garden. Paul was still watching her. She cleared her throat. “I guess . . . I was sleepy?”
“Are you asking me or informing me? Are you here because your room and board fell through?”
Tessa groaned. “I know this is awful. We don’t even know each other. I should pack up and drive to a hotel, but they’re all in the next town over, so now I’m quasi-stuck, with no place to go except an apartment your parents have been waiting two yearsfor youto be in—”
“What do you mean, they’ve been waiting two yearsfor me?”
Tessa looked at him. “This place. They wanted you to visit. They filled it with furniture and knickknacks that they thought you’d like. The bookshelves are full of your writings,” she added, motioning toward the shelves. “And the map, well, that’s all you too.”
Paul walked over to the map. The tendrils of the mint plant had stretched even farther since that morning; runners twined across Canada, as far north as a pin in Maine and as far south as Brazil.
Tessa walked over to stand beside him. “It’s where you’ve been.”
“I can see that. Why? I have a brother.Theyhave another son, Eddie.”
