I know. I agree.
Liam was going to be trouble. He was handsome, kind, and determined. From what I could tell, he checked all of my could-we-be-a-match boxes. He was the kind of guy I would want if I were looking for a relationship, not a hookup.
I chewed on my thumbnail, my lips lifting slightly, until I remembered everything that was on the line for Liam. I sighed and pushed off the door. He might be the one for me, but I wasn't the right girl for him. I couldn’t be. My magic would make me flirt with people every year to earn their secrets and that’s not something you do when you’re in a relationship, let alone married.
Nope. Until I found my soulmate and gave my gift up, I was forced to be single.
I bent down to pet Daisy as I ambled to my room, but she ran away and hid behind the sofa. Typical cat. Judge me but don’t have the gall to face the consequences.
Around lunchtime, my phone dinged and I was painfully surprised at how disappointed I felt when I realized it was just Dahlia lighting up the family group text and not Liam.
Dahlia: Alright bitches you know what day it is. Who’s bringing what tonight?
Autumn: I’ve got dessert: strawberry cheesecake, cupcakes, and the lemon macaroons.
River: That’s a random assortment. What’s wrong?
Autumn: Nothing, I just felt like baking.
River: The only time you bake that much is when something is wrong.
Dahlia: She’s right. Everything OK with you and Max?
River: We’re fine. I just felt like trying out some new recipes.
Dahlia: Uh-huh, sure. Holly, you're awfully quiet. Are we still getting together at your house tonight?
Me: Yeah. Sorry. Just a little distracted. Tonight is great. How does pizza sound?
Autumn: We had pizza last time. How do you guys feel about lasagna? I can stop at Gio’s and pick one up.
Me: It doesn’t matter to me. I was just going for easy.
River: I like lasagna.
Dahlia: Cool, see you guys tonight, then. I love you bitches!
The rest of the day dragged. I vacuumed, mopped, and did the load of laundry that was sitting in my hamper. I scrubbed my bathrooms, cleaned the litter box, and by the time I looked at the clock, only two hours had passed. I groaned and fell onto my bed, then stared up at the ceiling.
Liam had invaded my thoughts so many times over the last two weeks, but after seeing him today it was becoming increasingly hard not to think about him and the singular dimple that came out of hiding when he smiled.
It was crazy how much I liked him. I knew he was a problem I needed to get rid of, but I’d never felt this way for someone before. Not even with Joe, the guy I lost my virginity to, and I would have sworn on the Bible that I loved him with all my heart. Or at least as much as a seventeen-year-old heart can lovebefore you break up, go to college, and then find out he was cheating on you your whole relationship.
Joe was a jerk, but Liam is a sweetheart. If he was anything like the man I knew in college there was zero chance of Liam doing me dirty like that. I chewed on my lip, still trying to make heads and tails of this thing with him…me…us.
Dahlia already said she didn’t meddle the night we met. She swore it, but I know her. Sometimes, if she gets even the tiniest inkling of a tingle, she’ll give people who don’t need a push a sprinkle of magic.
Half the time, though, Dahlia’s inklings wereverywrong. Like the time, we saw this couple, or at least these people she thought should have been a couple, at the mall. In her defense, they kept laughing and looking at each other with bedroom eyes. They had an essence where you could tell there was something between them but life was holding them back.
After fifteen minutes of stalking, she decided to give them a little magical push. The boy leaned over and kissed the girl. For one beautiful heartbeat, it seemed like everything was going to go smoothly, but then the girl slapped him across his face, and their mother turned to the corner and freaked the F out.
Turned out they were step-siblings. He might have had a massive crush on his sister, but from what we saw, the family did not approve. Which led me back to my dilemma. This crazy, mind-spinning, stomach turning, heart racing anxiety was what I imagined a love spell felt like.
And there was only one gentry in the tri-county area with the gift of love.
I grabbed my phone off the bedside table and called my sister. I needed to hear Dahlia say she didn’t mess with my life. I needed to look her in the eyes and have her tell me what I felt was real. And this wasn't a conversation I wanted to have in front of my sisters.
The phone rang and rang, but she didn’t answer. I sat up, chewing on my thumbnail, and then called her again. She still didn’t answer. It was Sunday. I knew she wasn’t working, so what the hell was she doing? Why wasn’t she picking up?
