“Yes, straight away; it’s urgent.”
No, don’t take him away. Boo!I want to cry now.Who am I going to flirt with and tease all day?
He takes the box, kisses me on the cheek, and reluctantly leaves. The lingering sage, lemon, and browned butter disappears with him, stealing my happiness.
“Good, you come with me,” Lorelei says. “You can help me with the decorations on Main Street.”
I frown thoughtfully, watching her back. There’s something off about her tone. I know this woman; I've spent years with her and her family. There’s clearly something wrong. Even her steps are wrong, her heels clomping hard on the pavement.
But I also know you can’t push her.
She will tell me when she’s ready. Or she won’t.
Hours later, I run into Katsu and Sebastian. We have a moment alone when, not to anyone’s surprise, Yolanda suddenly appears.
“Hi!” she says, looking nervous. She gulps and then forces a too-bright smile. “I need someone to help me. Please, Cordie?”
I glance at Sebastian, who looks up and shakes his head, muttering in frustration.
I know she dated him for a year in high school. The worst year of my life. But I’ve never hated her. In fact, I would consider us friends now. Not close but still friends.
“Okay.” I turn to my alphas. “I will be back.”
They wave as I disappear with her.
“What’s going on?” I accuse. The beta gets all shifty-eyed and turns red as a beetroot.
“I don’t know anything.”
“Yolanda,” I growl.
She just ducks into the café.
“Wash your hands and start boxing cupcakes.”
I pester her for another couple of hours, but she doesn’t give me anything.
As soon as I escape, I find Fox, but before I can even get close, he’s whisked away by Milton and Franco.
I put my hands on my hips and glare after them. I thought this game was done, and we were past it. Why is the town conspiring to keep my alphas from me?"
“What are they doing now?” I mutter and make a decision to get to the bottom of it before I unalive some poor fool.
Floyd grabs me to help with a job, then I’m handed off to Gwen. And it continues. I see them in the distance, in passing, but I don’t get close.
The day passes quickly in absolute torment.
And then it’s night, and there’s just twenty-four hours left until I make my match. The urgent need to tell them contrasts with the crippling yearning to be with them, to touch them. My omega instincts are crying, and it’s almost painful being apart from them. The ache in my chest encompasses all my thoughts.
Mum is waiting for me when I finish hanging white snowflakes on the beach railings.
“Hey.”
“Hey, you. I thought we could have dinner together since it’s going to be the last night.”
“It’s not the last night.” I protest, but then I realise it really is. She is moving on, and so am I. One way or another, after tomorrow, things won’t be the same.
“It is. Everything is changing after this,” she says, echoing my thoughts.
