Jack frowns. “Yeah, me too.” He swipes a hand through his hair. “I’ll be over the moon to have you as mine, but I know you love it here. And I just wish we could stay here.” Chelsey opens the door, smiling. “And see? We would be near your family, too.”
We walk inside Chelsey’s to find candied carrots on the stove, a fresh carrot cake on the counter iced with cream cheese frosting, carrot juice in a pitcher, and deviled eggs on an egg-shaped porcelain platter. “We could live here,” I argue, unsure of why Jack feels like we can’t.
Chelsey’s head ping pongs between us as we continue the talk.
“We can’t. As long as Goodall is mayor, I’m sure that—” Jack stops, and faces my sister, realizing that we haven’t officially told her anything, but instead let our private conversation roll over into her place. He cuts me a serious glance then looks back to my sister. “Chelsey, we need to talk.”
Chelsey’s grin is ear to ear. I’m talking The Joker levels of grin. I put my hand on her shoulder. “We need to talk to you about something but…” I take in her widespread grin. “Are you okay, sis?”
She clasps her hands together, driving her knuckles into the underside of her chin. “I’m so good. Please, sit. Let’s talk. I can’t wait.” Her grin is eerily wide.
Jack pulls out two chairs, and my sister and I each take a seat, while he remains standing. “Chelsey, I have something to tell you.”
She bobs her head, bouncing her legs off kilter, tapping her toes as she nearly bursts. “Tell me, tell me.”
He frowns. “I’m afraid you’re thinking this first bit of news is… good.”
Chelsey rolls her eyes. “Spit it out, Hopper.”
Jack looks to me for reassurance, then spills his carrot guts. “I’m a were-bunny. I come from a long line of were-bunnies. And Easter is my mating season,” he nods his head. “Are you following so far?”
She nods, but I can’t get a read on her expression for the first time in my life. “I’m following,” she says, burying a giggle in her hands.
“Okay well, I–”
“I knew,” she says, bursting to her feet. “I saw you shift once in the moonlight, when I went out back to take out the trash a few months ago. I saw you eating carrots and all of the sudden, you started to get hairy and–” she just shakes her head, eyes wide. “I knew, and it took me a while to believe what I saw, but then I watched you for a while. And I saw you shift a few more times.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask my sister, shocked that she was able to keep a secret.
She shakes her head. “We’ll get to that. But first, Jack, finish what you were going to say.”
Jack runs a hand up the back of his head, cheeks flushed. “I can’t believe you knew. I’ve been hiding out, trying my best tokeep myself a secret.” He pushes out a breath. “If you know, who else knows?”
Silence fills the space between all three of us, because Chelsey and I can’t possibly know what Jack is facing. What it will mean for him if Carrot Creek knows he’s not just a handyman.
He looks between us. “Wait, each time you saw me shift–”
She nods vehemently. “Keep going, you’re getting warmer.”
Now I’m confused. “What is going on, Chelsey?”
She paces between us, the medical wrap on her foot coming undone, piling on the floor. She kicks it away. “My foot isn’t hurt. That was a lie to get you to come here,” she admits to me, then turns to Jack. “The first time you shifted, I was outside taking out the trash, like I said.”
We both nod. “Yeah, and?” Jack asks, curiosity vibrating in his voice.
“And I was wearing the gift that you sent me, Esther. I was wearing the sweater, you know, the one you sent for my birthday?”
I think about the cream fuzzy sweater with the bunny ears on the front, and how soft it felt against my cheek when I found it in the boutique that day. I nod. “I remember. The one with the cute bunny ears.”
“Yes,” she beams, “that one.” She looks at Jack. “The second time I saw you shift, I was getting mail from the box. You were going to town on carrots in the garden and out of nowhere, you turned into your bunny form.”
“I shifted,” Jack corrects.
“Yes, you did.” She looks between us, giddy as ever. “And I was wearing your perfume, Esther. The one you gave me when you moved out.”
I’m still not following, but when I peer over at Jack, his eyes are wide, like he is following. “What does any of this mean?” I ask, getting to my feet so I’m not the only one sitting.
Chelsey rushes off to the guest room, where I’m staying, and returns with an armful of books. She dumps them onto the table, shiny covers of women in the arms of wolf men staring back at us. “I went to the only source I could trust.” She nods at the spread of romance novels covering the table. “Romance books.”
