“She said she wanted me to have good luck.” He shrugs, relaxing now that the danger has passed. “I can’t think of a better place for it.”
My gaze snaps to him. “You’re kidding, right?”
His lips quirk. “Yes, I am.” He tilts his head at the window, which isobscured by an overgrown hedge. “She must have crawled through there like a WWII soldier.”
Which makes the whole thing even more bizarre—imagining the old woman pushing her way past the thick branches to set the gnome down. I suppose she found it amusing.
“We have to get rid of it,” I decide.
“Get rid of it?” Brandon turns wide eyes at me, tone serious. “Oh no. No, no, no. That would be bad luck. Very bad luck indeed.”
“You’re messing with me,” I growl, poking his arm.
He seizes my wrist. “I am.” His thumb sweeps the sensitive skin there before releasing it. “It’s adorable to see how scared you were of a harmless garden gnome.”
I groan and follow him into the hallway. “That’s not fair.”
“No?”
“It caught me by surprise!”
Ellenor waggles her eyebrows at us over a frying pan as we step into the kitchen. “Morning lovers! You guys are in luck. I made you eggs to help replenish protein after a vigorous night of—”
“Ellenor…” I warn. I go to the fridge for milk while Brandon deals with the espresso machine.
She props a hand on her hip. “What’s got you so cranky? Brando not performing?”
He chokes on air, coughing hard as he tries to smother the reaction.
“No.” I scowl. “We found the garden gnome.”
Ellenor blinks. “Oh? Well, good for you!” she crows, clapping me on the back. “About freaking time. You know,garden gnomeis a fun name for it. I’ve yet to name Sean’s. I was thinking, maybebasilisk?”
“Oh—My God.” Heat blasts up my neck as I reconcile the enormous killer serpent from theChamber of Secretsto what sheactuallymeant—and immediately wish I hadn’t.
I thunk my forehead against the fridge door, letting the metal cool my face. “I hate everything,” I whisper to it.
“You okay?” Ellenor asks, far too innocently.
I make a strangled noise. “I wish to cease existing.”
Brandon pretends to focus on the espresso machine, but it takes longer than usual for him to prepare our coffees. I hear him curse under his breath as the beans run out and the blades whirr, spinning uselessly in empty air.
I’m relieved when Mum joins us for breakfast. Ellenor always behaves slightly better when she’s around.
My face is still burning when we sit at the dining table for Ellenor’s Canadian pancakes. I like them, but Brandon looks mortified as I slosh my bacon with maple syrup.
“That isn’t right,” he says.
“I don’t want to hear it, Brando,” Ellenor says briskly. She still hasn’t forgiven him for preferring crêpes.
Mum is quiet over her coffee, smiling constantly as she chats online with a friend in London she’s reconnected with.
“Alright, back to business,” Ellenor announces, pushing a dossier to me. “Let’s talk road trip. As soon as your cast’s off, I want us on the road. Now, I know this was meant to be a sisterly-bonding thing—”
“Yippee,” I breathe.
“—but I thought we could invite the boys along. Make it a double date. Plus Mum, of course.” She stirs her coffee, her aloofness betrayed by the way she bites her lip. “What do you think?”
