I’m sorry about the meltdown Can I do anything to help? And don’t worry about it. We got to have our friend celebration this morning anyway!
Olive
You’re sweet but no, I’ll be ok. Promise
I planted a kiss on Felix’s forehead. “Olive’s having a hard time. I think you should go keep her company.”
His chest puffed up. He had moved in with Olive when she first came to Starlight Grove, and they had a special relationship.
He batted a paw at his bow tie.
“Oh come on, Olive willloveto see you in your outfit. You should keep it on so you can show her.” My friends might not know about my social media account, but they were very familiar with my hobby of sewing extravagant outfits for our mayor.
He sighed, nuzzled his little face against mine, and trotted off to the lighthouse. I watched him go, a pang in my chest at saying goodbye, but Olive needed him more right now.
I packed up my supplies and headed back to town, my steps heavy as I got back to Main Street. There must be something in the air today. This morning had started off so hopeful, but now I could feel a funk coming on. My too-sensitive heart felt tender.
“Lucy! Feliz cumpleaños, cariño!” I jumped as Marisol called out from her spot by the wooden fruit crates outside Mariposa Market. “Are you being properly spoiled today?” She pulled me into a hug and kissed my cheeks.
“I had birthday breakfast with my friends and I’m on my way to my moms’ now.”
“Sounds lovely, and that dress is stunning on you.”
“Lucy! Mi querida, feliz cumple.” Carmen swept out of the market. “Did you hear the news?”
“What’s that?”
“The curse of the Beaufort House strikes again,” Marisol said in an ominous tone.
My stomach lurched at the mention of the home my exes had rented. I’d never beenworthyof moving in with them, but I had spent a lot of time at the house since they insisted my apartment was too cramped for all of us. Which might have been true, but the way they said it always made me feel small.
The Beaufort family had lived in the house back in theday—they’d had three sons around my age but had left town when the parents’ relationships fell apart. That was eleven years ago, and no one had rented the house for longer than a year ever since. During one particularly tumultuous stretch, there were five renters in the span of four months. It was at that point that we all decided the house was cursed.
It was one of the many red flags I’d ignored when I started dating my exes. I’d naively thought they would be the ones to break the curse, but they’d only made it ten months in the house before fleeing town in their egged cars.
“What do you mean? What happened to Mr.Smith?” I asked.
“Salvatore told me he delivered a very official letter to the house two days ago and now Mr.Smith is gone. Packed up in the middle of the night and left the key under the turtle statue on the porch.” Marisol was practically glowing. She thrived on being the first person to spread town gossip.
“What was in that letter?”
She leaned forward, eyes sparkling. “Apparently, he was the heir to a Scottish castle.”
“Psh, that’s not what happened.” Carmen selected a plum from the stand and handed it to me. “He got a last-minute job in Australia doing koala chlamydia research.”
My eyebrows shot up. John Smith had only lived in that house for a couple of months and struck me as a rather dull person, but apparently I had judged the Scottish-Heir Koala-Scientist too hastily.
“No, no, no,” Stanley said.
I jumped with a small scream. “Where did you come from?”
The human mayor adjusted the collar on his cream sweater and ignored my question. “Mr.Smith had to flee the country because the IRS was after him for tax evasion, which is further evidence that we need to have much stricter application procedures for anyone who wants to move to town.”
“Eh.” Marisol shrugged. “Our taxes just fund billionaires and genocide. Good for him for taking a stand for social justice.”
Stanley’s face grew red, and experience told me I had approximately three seconds to extract myself from this conversation before I was stuck listening to a long lecture about civic responsibility.
“Look over there! Did someone parallel park incorrectly?” I shouted.
