When Samson starts back toward home, I follow, mindlessly. He casts a look over one big, beautiful shoulder, then offers his hand. “Come on. Let’s put your mail away, get the puppies and some breakfast, then I’ll help you with the harvest…and any necessary weeding.”
My heart swells when his hand closes around mine again. “Are you sure we need breakfast? I never have breakfast.”
“You’re never up this early.”
“I was excited at the prospect of wealth.” Just as soon as I recalled its existence and all that. “It’s like when you order something online, and sit by the door the second you get home from work, waiting for your fancy new thing to come, you know?”
“Nope. I don’t know. Not even a little bit. You’re speaking your language again.”
Oops. Fair enough. “One day, I’ll regale you with tales of the insurmountable power of the internet, and then I’ll hope that no one here creates anything like it in my lifetime.”
Samson chuckles. “I’ll make sure your tales never get back to Slate.”
Truly a good plan.
Feeling the weight of my ability to afford a circlet balance against the warmth of Samson’s hand in mine, I decide…it’s time to start the ball rolling on another very, very good plan.
Chapter 34
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Oh. Okay. So thishas beenhappening. Got it.
Dearest darlingest Citrus,
I have received your plea, and I answer your cry for help.
Come hither at your earliest convenience.
With lemony love,
Ines
I haven’t entered Ines’s clothing store since I was checking off mygreet the townboxes way, way back at the beginning of Spring. Even though it’s only the start of Autumn now, two seasons past still feel like a million years ago.
I have only lived in Gem Ridge for two seasons as long as the Februarys I once knew…yet it has been decades between now and then.
So much has happened.
And, if I’m right, so much more is about to happen, too.
Starting…today.
Within Ines’s shop, beautiful clothes adorn every wall, accessories filling every feasible nook and cranny. Mannequin stands hosting casual attire create a circle on the side of the room opposite the checkout counter, and if I didn’t know better, I’d assume they were sacrificing the elegant black gown in the center—
No.
Actually.
Upon closer inspection, that’s totally what’s happening over there.
I guess I was far too nervous to notice the first time I was in here, but there’s absolutely some kind of ritual going on with that display.
If I know my in-game Ines and compare her to the insanity that is real-world Ines, I’d have to speculate that the display is a metaphor for all the creativity she’s forced to sacrifice given that the demand for frilly gowns in this town is actually quite remarkably low. She has been forced to trade her pretty things in for practical wear.
Poetic.
I think I’ve just decided to ship her with Laumon.
