The front door opened. Fog rushed from the room and out the door as though sucked up by an exhaust fan. Paul stepped inside and closed the door.
“Honey, I’m home!” He dropped his keys onto the kitchen countertop.
Tessa glanced around the room. Had she imagined the fog? Were Paul’s spices hallucinogenic? Was she losing it?
“Mystic Water has unusual weather,” he said. “First the flood, and now there’s a fog settling over everything. It’s thicker than anything I’ve ever seen, even on the moors of England.” He unlaced his boots.
“Fog,” Tessa repeated. “It’s going to stick around for a while. At least a day.” Her own words startled her. What was she saying? The words came naturally to her, but they felt foreign on her tongue.
Paul raised an eyebrow. “What makes you say that? Mom said she’d never seen this kind of fog in town before.”
Tessa glanced at the bowl. The first explanation she wanted to give—the potatoes and thyme told me—guaranteed Paul would think she was nuttier than a five-pound fruitcake. Instead, she shrugged and said, “Just a hunch.” She walked to the window and peered out into the darkness. Almost instantly, white mist curled across the windowpanes and pressed against the glass. Within seconds, the entire view was hidden, concealing Mystic Water in a shroud of vapor.The fog is protecting the town, she thought, but the words felt spoken by someone else, placed into her mind.Protecting the town from what?Tessa wondered.
Chapter 12
Over-Easy Eggs
Tessashutofftheearly-morning alarm ringing on the bedside table. She wanted to be at Honeysuckle Hollow before they tore it down. It might not make sense to anyone else why she wanted to see the house before they bulldozed it, but maybe the house needed as much comfort as she did. Nobody wanted to be alone at the end, maybe not even a dilapidated house.
The bedroom shimmered in the filtered light. Tessa pushed herself up on her elbows and looked toward the window. She had never been lost in a snowstorm, but she imagined the view looked a lot like it did right now—opaque and white.Fog.
She kicked off the bedsheets and walked to the window. Morning light pushed itself through thick fog and created sparkles out of water droplets. Tessa unlocked the window and lifted the sash. Misty fog rolled through the window and spread out across the floor like vaporous glitter. She closed the window, shutting out the fog while watching the mist dissipate into the floorboards.
After a quick shower, Tessa dressed as quietly as possible and then tiptoed through the living room. She glanced at Paul’s sleeping form and paused. He’d taken off his shirt and lay sprawled out on the couch in nothing but his boxers, having thrown off the light summer quilt during the night. Fog pressed against the windows and cast a pearly glow onto every surface. Paul resembled a tan Italian statue carved from marble, and Tessa’s mouth twitched. It wasn’t proper to stare at his half-naked form, but she took in one more long look anyway before she headed toward the door.
“I feel so used,” Paul said in a husky morning voice. “Leaving without a good-bye?”
Tessa flinched with her hand on the doorknob. She glanced over her shoulder. “I didn’t want to wake you.”
He yawned and sat up. His lack of clothing caused her cheeks to burn. She glanced at a spot on the wall above his head. Paul reached for his watch on the coffee table. “Where are you off to so early?”
“Honeysuckle Hollow. They’re going to tear it down by eight.”
“And you’re going to assist them?”
Tessa frowned. “Of course not. I’m going . . . Well, I don’t know why I’m going exactly, but I want to be there.”
“You’re not going to chain yourself to the front porch, are you?”
Tessa laughed.
“Because I don’t think that angry old guy would hesitate to bulldoze right over you.”
She sighed, and the mint plant wiggled in its pot. “I want to see it one last time. Before it’s gone.”
Paul reached for his T-shirt and tugged it over his head. “Did you make us coffee or breakfast?”
Tessa snorted. “Why would I make anything when I have your folks downstairs?”
“Fair point.” Paul stood and stretched his arms over his head.
Tessa tried not to stare and failed. Her fingers itched to text Lily and Anna and tell them she had stayed in the same apartment with Paul without a third person confirming it was a good choice. But it was worth counting her own opinion this time because she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had an attractive, likeable man in her living room—ortemporaryliving room.
“Why does it look like we’re in a cloudy snow globe?” he asked.
“Dense fog.”
Watery sparkles twinkled across the dark wood floors. Paul toed a few with his bare foot.
