My gaze drops to the glass jar. Jam? Mrs. Malfree gave me jam? Isn’t she supposed to tell my mom when I’ve done something wrong? Spy on me? But here she is, giving me jam?
“Oh—and, Coco?”
I turn around and she gives me a thumbs-up.
“Good job.”
Good job?Is she talking about last night? But before there’s a chance to ask, Mrs. Malfree has rounded a corner and disappeared out of sight.
Huh. That was weird.
As I continue down the street, a few folks I recognize but don’t really know wave. I wave back.
Is this all because of the flowers?
The more I walk, the more people grin, wave. Until one girl, who’s maybe eight or so and walking with her parents, runs up and hands me an iris.
“Can you make more?”
A slow smile spreads across my face. “Yeah,” I tell her. “I can make more. I can make a whole field of them.”
Which gives me an idea. A great big glorious idea.
One that I hope my parents will go for.
When I get home, there’s a note inside my mailbox. Worry knots my stomach for a moment. Is it a challenge from Luke Preston? Does he want to duel?
But when I unfold it, the handwriting is in cursive. It’s feminine, unsigned.
You made things bloom. That’s not what evil does, and this town will remember it.
Warmth spreads through my body, the feeling lingering like a heated cloth on my skin. So I won’t be kicked out or shunned.
I’ll be accepted by the folks of Mystic Meadows, which is all I’ve ever wanted my whole life anyway.
Chapter 49
Stone
I’m miserable. Completely miserable. Hercules can’t make me feel better. Not even the resort can.
The reason I’m miserable—I won’t say her name. Irefuseto say her name.
I rub my eyes before staring at the computer screen, going through the last of my emails, cleaning up the inbox.
Someone knocks on the trailer door. “Boss!”
“Yeah?”
“Delivery!”
I yank on my hard hat and meet Isaac outside. A flatbed truck has arrived filled with steel beams, a material that will probably kill a few ley lines. Hell, there’s a lot of them running under this resort. A few pieces of steel in one area couldn’t hurt ... that much.
I tell them where to unload the metal and turn to go back into my office when Hercules barrels past, bleating and basically being a happy baby.
Must be nice to have that kind of innocence.
I reach down to pet him as a black SUV with tinted windows rolls up. I frown, because it’s not Pane’s vehicle.
