“Collette Michele Higginbotham,” Cristina says sternly, “you have to fix this. Not tomorrow. Not in two days. But right now. You cannot let Stone Maddox believe y’all are engaged. You can’t. If you don’t figure this out, I’ll tell him myself.”
“Wait. Just wait. We still don’t know what the lunaria bloom is. Can you imagine what will happen if we tell him the truth and we’re not able to fix his amnesia? That’s even worse. Don’t you think?”
It’s not that I’m afraid to tell him. Okay, I’m terrified of telling him for many reasons I’ve already pointed out—the resort, the ley lines, the way he looks at me.
And how I’m probably looking at him.
I know. It’s so bad. This can’t go on forever—but maybe it can go on just long enough to ensure the resort gets built with the ley line–friendly materials ... or Rhett sues him. Whichever comes first.
“Okay.” She clicks her tongue. “You’re right. We can’t tell him without the cure. So that’s where we start. We find out what we can about the lunaria bloom.”
A little knot of worry loosens inside me.
“And, Coco, the sooner you fix this, the better off you’ll be and he will be, too.”
A pool of dread doesn’t simply open in my stomach—it swallows it whole. Cristina’s right. “In the meantime, while we’re still trying to figure out the flower, there’s a party at Sparkle Bar.”
“For what?” She shrieks so loudly I pull the phone away from my ear.
“To celebrate.”
“Good Lord, Coco. Celebrate what? Your fake engagement?”
“Something like that.”
“Wow. Just wow. I’ve already beat my drum, so I won’t keep harping, but all I’ll say is, this is spinning so far out of control it’s heading straight into the black hole of another dimension.”
It’s finally time for her to understand what I’ve been holding in. “If I hadn’t done this, Stone Maddox would’ve destroyed the magic in our town. His project was killing the ley lines, Cristina.”
The silence on the other end of the line stretches for an ungodly amount of time.
Sweat sprouts on my palms. It leaks onto my forehead.
I blast myself for telling her. This was one bombshell that should’ve stayed locked away.
“And how do you know the resort was hurting the ley lines?” she asks, like,And you can be sure of this, how?
My throat shrivels. “Because I can see them.”
“You canwhat? I didn’t hear you.”
I exhale so hard my bangs lift off my forehead. “I can see the ley lines.”
“You’re a—”
“I’m not a witch,” I hiss. “But I can see them, and because of the potion we gave him, Stone can see them now, too, and before we did it, he couldn’t. He was set to destroy our town and take all the magic with it.”
“You don’t know that. There are ley lines out by Wadley Farms.”
“The ones the resort is built on lead directly into town. The damage would have been severe. Detrimental. I did what I had to for this town and I won’t apologize for it.”
Cristina says quietly, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why would I? You know how people act whenever anyone brings up the topic. I was afraid you’d—”
“Oh my God, Coco.” She sounds hurt. “You thought I’d turn on you?”
Her words vibrate inside my ribs, rattling the bones. “I hope at least you can understand why I did it.”
