Tessa snorted. “I was a kid, but they are good.”
“And so is this,” Paul said. “Try it. I’m going downstairs to help Mom and Dad finish up, and then we’re going to dinner.”
Tessa picked up the sandwich with two hands, closed her eyes, and took a bite. As she chewed, her eyebrows lifted. “Mmm. Deceptively delicious, and not nearly as weird as I thought.” She wiped her mouth on the paper towel. “For such a strange combination of foods, itispalatable. Thank you.”
Paul grinned. “You’re welcome. I might swing by the library again after dinner if there’s time. I didn’t finish one of my projects.”
For as much as she wanted to be alone earlier, she didn’t want that so much now. Paul was obviously working on his freelance writing, which he loved. Now that the house was a destruction zone and she wouldn’t need him as an architect to help with the rehab, would he want to stay in town? Or would the call of adventure yank him from her?
Paul leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “Relax in the silence. I have a feeling tomorrow won’t be nearly as quiet.”
Tessa chewed and swallowed. “You’re the second person to say something cryptic about tomorrow.”
Paul shrugged. “Best be prepared for it then. It’ll be here before you know it.”
Paul left, and Tessa finished her dinner. Afterward she called Charlie to check in on the day’s progress at the house, but she had to leave a message on Charlie’s voice mail. Then she called her parents to let them know that catastrophe had struck yet again in her life, but they, too, weren’t answering. She mindlessly flipped through streaming services, but when she couldn’t find anything interesting to watch, she texted Lily and Anna. Neither one of them answered.So much for not being cast adrift on my own, she thought.
She walked over to the mint plant and ruffled its leaves. “What do you think about tomorrow? Do you think we’ll be ready for it? Will I be able to handle it? Will I be on my own? Is Paul going to stay in Mystic Water with me?” Then she rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Tessa? The mint is not a Magic 8 Ball.”
With no one to talk to and nothing to watch on TV, Tessa decided to read a book in bed. She started toward the bedroom when she heard something bouncing across the hardwood. Tessa turned and glanced around, seeing nothing at first, but then her eyes focused on a small object on the floor. She walked over to it, and her fingers closed around a red heart-shaped pushpin, which had a mint leaf stuck on its metal point. She gaped at the mint plant.
“Where did you get this?” she asked, as though it wasn’t incredibly weird to believe a mint plant had been hiding the pushpin.
Paul had been the last person to have the pushpin after Crazy Kate gave it to him. Tessa left the pushpin on the coffee table and walked backward into the bedroom, pointing two fingers at her eyes and then at the plant. If her mint plant could respond to her, it was anybody’s guess what strangeness tomorrow would bring.
Chapter 25
Shamrock Eggs
Tessaawokethenextmorning with a pulsing headache. She’d fallen asleep before Paul came home, and the novel she’d been reading was still on the bed beside her. Her mind kicked into gear before she could stop it from creating scenario after scenario of what might happen with Honeysuckle Hollow. She dragged herself to the shower. When she reemerged from the bathroom, clean and more awake but still anxious, she opened the bedroom door to the scents of bold coffee and warm donuts.
Paul sat on the couch drinking from a cardinal-red mug. “Morning. How’d you sleep?”
“Skip,” Tessa said as she walked toward a ceramic mug on the table. Steam coiled into the air above the dark brew.
“Did you just swipe my question away?” he asked in a teasing voice.
She lifted the mug, and Paul nodded that it was hers. She took a tentative sip, and the hot liquid slid down her throat. On an exhale, Tessa said, “If only I could swipe away the last two days.”
“Should I be offended that swiping out those days removes me too?” He stood and joined her in the kitchen.
“Nah, I’m only figuratively removing the unfortunate events. Believe me, if I could have swiped you into my life years ago, I would have.”
Paul leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Mom and Dad are downstairs, and they asked to see you as soon as you were dressed and ready.”
“I don’t normally drink coffee black, but I probably need this extra jolt to make it through today.” Tessa glanced around the kitchen. “I smell donuts. Did you pick up some?”
Paul’s eyebrows lifted. “Must be coming from downstairs.”
“The diner doesn’t normally serve donuts. What did y’all do last night?”
Paul cleared his throat. “We had dinner at Milo’s. Again. You were right about the lasagna.”
Tessa finished her coffee. “And afterward? I didn’t hear you come home.”
“I doubt you could hear anything over your snoring.” Paul put his mug into the dishwasher.
Tessa huffed. “I don’t snore. Do I?”
