“Charlie called. She sounded freaked out. I’m going to the house.”
Paul pushed himself up onto his elbows. “Now?”
Tessa nodded and grabbed her purse from a kitchen chair. “I’ll call you when I find out what’s going on.” She dug her car keys out of the depths of her bag.
Paul kicked off the quilt covering his lower half. “I’m going with you. Give me five minutes.”
On their way to Honeysuckle Hollow, Tessa gripped the steering wheel as though she intended to choke the life out of it. Downed tree branches and overturned garbage cans littered the sidewalks and yards. A million green leaves—ripped from their trees—coated the streets, making it look as though they drove along a forest path. The wind blew the car around as though it were made of paper. Tessa navigated the streets like a drunken driver. When she parked behind a work truck in front of Honeysuckle Hollow, she exhaled and released her grip on the steering wheel.
Paul leaned forward and peered out of the windshield. “Looks okay to me.”
When they climbed out of the car, the wind rushed at them, yanking at their clothing and tangling Tessa’s hair. It was the kind of intense wind that could steal hearts, breaths, and hopes.
Charlie flung open the front door and met them halfway across the yard. She held her hands out like someone offering surrender. “Now, don’t freak out.”
“Thatmakesme feel like freaking out,” Tessa said. “What’s going on?” Another gust of wind whipped her hair into her eyes.
“It’s the backyard. The oak,” Charlie said. “It looks like lightning struck it. There’s a huge scar running straight down the entire trunk.”
Tessa wrinkled her brow. “And it’s dead?”
Charlie shook her head. “No, but one of the largest branches was blasted off the tree, ripped from the trunk. There are wood shards everywhere.”
Tessa glanced over at Paul and then back at Charlie. “That’s it? You thought I would freak out that we lost a tree branch?”
Charlie hooked her thumbs into her front pockets. “Thatbranchflew into the side of the house and crushed the roof, ripped off the second-floor balcony, and landed in the kitchen.”
A buzzing—like the sounds of a thousand swarming bees—filled Tessa’s head. Her vision narrowed until only a pinprick of light could be seen. Then her knees buckled, and Paul caught her before she dropped into a full faint. She gripped his arms, and he steadied her. “I need to see it.”
Charlie puffed out her cheeks before she exhaled a sigh that was lost in the wind. Tessa and Paul followed Charlie through the foyer. Halfway down the hallway that led to the kitchen and living room, Tessa saw the mangled oak branch that had smashed through the house like an angry giant with a club. Gray sunlight streamed through the gaping hole in the back of the house, shining against puddles of water and dampness. She pressed both hands against her mouth and gasped. Paul kept walking, but Tessa’s shoes were glued to the hardwood.
Workers on Charlie’s team milled around the kitchen, scratching their heads and shuffling their feet as though they felt as discouraged as Tessa did. One man swept water out through the back of the house with a broom. Another man gathered pieces of the splintered branch like someone collecting firewood. Leon, the man who’d given Tessa the French doors, stepped into her line of vision. Without asking, he slid one arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. She crumpled against his barrel chest.
“Damn shame,” he said with a voice that rumbled like thunder.
“I—I don’t—This is too much,” Tessa stuttered.
Leon moved to stand in front of her and grabbed her shoulders in his large hands. “We can fix this.”
Tessa’s bottom lip trembled. “It’s—it’s a three-sided house. The money. It’ll take a miracle to fix this.”
Leon nodded. “Miracles happen every day.”
After spending three hours at Honeysuckle Hollow talking with a constant stream of people, including her insurance company again, Tessa felt like she’d spoken with nearly every person in Mystic Water, even without her brain engaged. She clutched a stack of documents—estimates and repair designs scribbled on paper—to her chest like a favorite stuffed animal. Paul opened the passenger-side door of the Great Pumpkin and held out his hand for the car keys. She dug around in her purse and pulled out the car keys and her notebook. After handing him the keys, she sagged into the seat like a wet blanket.
Tessa opened her notebook to the most recent list, which was the reason she’d taken this leap of faith that was now turning into a leap of catastrophe. She’d written,Should I buy Honeysuckle Hollow?Instead of asking anyone else’s advice, like she’d been doing for the past two and a half years, she’d eaten Cecilia’s Courage Quiche and drained her savings account to afford the down payment, just because she’d wanted to. Just because itseemedlike the right choice.
“You don’t know this about me, but I’ve made a string of lousy, impulsive decisions,” she said. “Everything from poor dating choices to accidentally setting off a chain of events that burned down a bakery—don’t ask. But after that, I made a promise to myself that I would ask at least three people about what to do before I made any decisions.” She showed Paul the notebook. “I’ve been true to that until recently. While eating your mama’s Courage Quiche, I got the wild idea to purchase Honeysuckle Hollow, and I didn’t ask anyone if I should. I bought it because I wanted to. Because it sounded like the best idea I’d ever had. Maybe because of the Courage Quiche. Maybe because I decided to believe I was brave and didn’t need anyone’s advice to follow my heart. But look where that got me. This is awful.”
Paul was quiet for a few seconds before responding. “I’ve never heard of quiche infusing someone with courageorwith lousy ideas, but people believe in stranger things. Tess, I still stand by you going with your gut and buying Honeysuckle Hollow. So you’ve made bad decisions in the past. Who hasn’t?” He tapped his finger against her notebook. “You don’t need a list of other people’s opinions on how to live your life, and I think you know that. I admit this current situation isn’t ideal, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t brave or capable of making your own decisions. And this isn’t a total disaster.”
Her cell rang and rather than answer it herself, assuming it was Charlie or another worker, she handed it to Paul. She lacked the energy to deal with anything else.
Paul looked at the blinking phone. “It’s Anna. Don’tyouwant to answer?”
Tessa shook her head. “Send it to voice mail.”
“Hey, Anna,” Paul said, ignoring Tessa’s command. “She’s right here, but we’ve had a long morning. Lunch? Today?” When Paul glanced over at her, Tessa shook her head. “She’d love to. Fred’s Diner at 12:30. See you then.”
