Page 30 of Ella and the Enchanted Bookshop

“Well, that just makes the mystery even more tantalizing,” I said, finally pulling the box open. And what I saw took my breath away. “Asher,” I breathed. “Did you pick this out?”

Sitting in the box was a silver tiara with dozens of tiny white crystals winking up at me. Azurite crystals dotted its highest points with others scattered about.

“I might have had one of my coworkers help me,” he said in a sheepish voice. “I can’t really claim to have any sort of knowledge of tiaras or what makes a good one.”

Entranced, I lifted the tiara from its tissue paper bed in the box and turned it from side to side. “It’s incredible,” I whispered. And then I laughed. “And you’re right. I have absolutely no idea what it’s for.”

“You’ll know soon,” he said, a smile in his voice. “But you really like it?”

“Asher, I might just wear this out to the stables to muck the stalls.”

He laughed again. It was a happy sound, and I liked knowing I had been the one to make him laugh.

“Thank you,” I said as earnestly as I could. “I may have no idea what it’s for, but never in my life have I needed an excuse to wear one.”

“I hope you do,” he said. Then he paused. “I’m so sorry, but I’ve got to go. It’s late over here, and I’ve got to get some sleep before my next shift.”

“Thanks for calling,” I hurried to say. “And thank you again for the tiara. I think it’s one of the best gifts I’ve ever received.”

After we’d hung up, I searched my room carefully for a place to hide it. I didn’t think Jaelyne would purposefully try to steal it, but I wouldn’t put it past her to borrow it without asking. Likely, she would snatch it up to try it on in her room, and then forget where she put it after.

It was funny, I thought to myself as I finally settled on placing it between two of my cowgirl hats, how quickly my mood had changed with his call. Fifteen minutes before, my blood pressure had been soaring while I argued with Casey about her refusal to run our business. But now I felt happy all over.

Unfortunately, I knew that happiness couldn’t last. Not with Casey nearby, at least. Maybe I should just let her go on the stupid trip and take the consequences, come what may. It had to be better than the constant friction that seemed to materialize every time we were within ten feet of each other. So rather than face her again, I went out to the stables and did something I hadn’t done for a long time.

I saddled Nevada and we started up the mountain.

14

Surprise Chai

Riding through the Colorado mountains in October was like stepping into a fairyland. The aspens had turned a vivid yellow, and the maples had become a brilliant orange. There were warm gold cottonwoods and crimson red tupelos.

The air smelled different too. I could smell the cold coming–it was the smell that told all the little forest creatures to prepare to burrow in for the winter. But to me, it promised snuggles under blankets on cold nights and cinnamon hot chocolate. Freshly chopped logs burning in the fireplace and the scent of my mother’s pumpkin pie.

At least, it had before my parents died.

There had been so much I’d wanted to tell Asher today. I wanted to tell him about my argument with Casey, and about how she’d unenrolled me from my class. But there hadn’t been time. And even if there had been, now I wasn’t so sure if I would have told him even if I could have. After all, he was somewhere far away doing… well, important stuff. Who knew what kind of real world problems he was dealing with? Surely he didn’t need my petty problems on his mind as well.

I guided my horse past a squirrel she was eyeing suspiciously. Nevada didn’t spook easily, but due to a traumatic experience involving squirrels that had taken place when she was a colt, she loathed the creatures.

“Shhh,” I murmured to her, gently urging her down the path. “You’re fine. The squirrel isn’t going to get you.”

She turned her head to give me a disapproving look, but to my relief, she did begin to walk again.

The whole situation made me feel powerless, I realized. And I hated feeling powerless, much in the same way Nevada hated squirrels. She feared them, and therefore, she despised them. Unlike my horse, however, I loved the ranch. It both tied me down and drew me close. I’d never seen myself anywhere else.

But then again, I wondered, what had I imagined myself doing for the rest of my life? Working under Casey’s thumb? When my parents were alive, and even when it was only my father, it had made sense to see myself at the ranch five or even ten years down the road. It was where my parents had lived and had always wanted to be.

“Unfortunately,” I told my horse as I turned her down a fork in the path, “I’ve got to face the music. My parents are gone. And my father…” I swallowed hard, unable to go on.

My father’s lack of insight had led him to marry a cruel, selfish woman. And under her spell, he’d given it all away. Every dream and hope he and my mother had cherished–every hope we’d cherished in my mother’s memory–he had given to her.

Anger bubbled up inside me as I squeezed the reins between my fingers until my knuckles turned white.

After my father had died, I’d mourned him just as I’d mourned my mother. I’d been angry that he was gone. I’d cried myself to sleep for months. But never had I felt such white-hot anger directed at him before this.

Then again, I’d never felt so betrayed before either.