“I’m curious…” Holly said to herself, pulling out her phone.
She scrolled until our breakfast came, muttering littleohs andhmms, but I didn’t mind. It took the pressure of trying to figure out what to say away. I’d planned everything down to a tee, except this part. I grilled her about her job already. I didn’t want breakfast to teeter into awkwardness. Besides, long-term couples don’t talk every minute they’re together. They have to learn how to coexist in the quiet spaces. I liked to think this was the first of many moments like this and that we were rocking it.
When the food arrived, Holly’s eggs Benedict looked picture-perfect, while my French toast casserole was every bit asindulgent as I remembered. We both dove in hungrily devouring each bite.
“This isamazing,” Holly said between mouthfuls, her eyes lighting up as she savored her meal.
“Alice knows what she’s doing,” I said, spearing a piece of my casserole with my fork.
That was all the conversation we had. Holly was too busy savoring every bite and I enjoyed watching her. By the time we left, the sun was high in the sky, casting a golden glow over the street. It was nearly mid-morning and if I was honest, I was starting to feel the wear of not sleeping last night.
The drive back to Holly’s house was quieter than the ride over, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, Just peaceful. When we pulled into her driveway, Holly lingered on the porch after I walked her to the door. I could tell she wanted more, just like I did last time I was here, but I was teetering on exhausted. If I were to sit on her couch for too long I’d probably fall asleep.
“Thanks for today,” Holly said, her voice soft. “Do you want to come in?”
I hesitated, the invitation tempting, but I shook my head. “I’d love to, but I should probably get going.”
“Oh.” There was a flicker of disappointment on her face that gutted me. I almost saidfuck it,but then she quickly added. “I enjoyed this. Maybe we could hang out again sometime?”
“Absolutely,” I said, grinning. “I’ll text you later.”
“Okay.” Her smile turned playful, almost hopeful and I couldn’t help the rush of excitement I felt.
I started to back away and believe me it was the last thing I wanted to do. Top of the list of what I wanted was to kiss her goodbye, middle of it was take a nap, then go to Abbott's and finish that inventory list I was supposed to have finished two weeks ago. Of the three, I was committing to the latter. I neededto stay busy. As far as my brothers were concerned, everything would carry on as expected.
Until I was ready for them to know otherwise.
HOLLY
Liam: What do you call a fish wearing a bowtie?
Me: I’m sorry, what?
Liam: What do you call a fish wearing a bowtie?
Me: Oh, gosh. This is one of your jokes. Isn’t it?
I stared at my phone, smiling. Two minutes. Liam had been gone for less than two minutes, and he was already texting me. I liked it more than I probably should. Letting myself like Liam was dangerous.
Liam: Humor me,
Me: Alright. What?
Liam: Sofishticated.
The joke was so stupid, but I laughed, the sound surprising me. It bubbled out of me in a way I couldn’t control, warm and genuine. I pressed my phone to my chest, letting the moment linger. It was a silly, ridiculous joke, but it was so him.Thoughtful, sweet, always trying to make me smile. Just like I remembered.
I closed my eyes and savored the weightless, giddy feeling that came over me whenever Liam texted.
Out of all my sisters, I liked to think I was the practical one. River’s mood changed with the wind. Autumn wanted to fix the world. And Dahlia was… well, Dahlia; always inserting herself into people’s lives without warning.
Whereas I was the glue of the family, the level-headed one when chaos came out to play. With my magic accessible only one day of the year, I lived a mostly normal life—unlike my siblings—and often had to do damage control when their mischief didn’t go as planned. Then, when mom died, I stepped into the “watchful eye” roll and made sure life kept going. River stayed in school, though it took a lot of convincing. Dahlia kept her job in finance despite wanting to drop everything to start a dating app. And Autumn… well, the goal had and probably would always be to keep her out of jail. That girl had a wild streak that got her in trouble more days than not.
The point was that I was one hundred percentnotthe type to lose myself to a boy after onemaybedate. That was Dahlia’s m-o. And yet here I was, my back pressed against the cold door, my stomach alive with butterflies, my heart racing like I’d just run a marathon and my cat… well Daisy had every right to be side eyeing me.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
Her head tilted a fraction of an inch and she let out a singlemeowin response.
