Page 98 of Fairy Godmothers Aren't Cheap

She was cozy and warm and like a giant pillow of sweet kindness. As much as I hated to admit it, I knew she didn’t belong here in Calgary. She belonged back home, amongst the rolling foothills with a stable full of horses.

Just maybe not with Kade.

“I hope it’s real, Tam-Tam,” I whispered, tears streaking down my cheeks.

She released me, wiping her eyes. “Well, I was missing Eagle Ridge anyway, so…” She shrugged. Her voice wobbled, and I could see the way my words had destroyed her happiness.

“I know you were. I’m sorry if you stayed here for me. And I didn’t mean to be unhappy about you and Kade.”

Tamara shook her head hard, once. “Don’t.”

The door to the stairs closed and footsteps—high heels—climbed our way. Samantha.

“What’s going on?” she asked, coming around the corner and taking in our somber faces.

“Tamara’s moving back home.”

“Oh.” Samantha’s tone was casual. Had she already known? “When?”

“End of the month,” Tamara said.

“Huh. Well, that’s um…”

“Do you know someone who’d make a good roommate?” I asked. I caught Samantha’s look and cringed. Oh no. What was coming my way now?

“Is this pizza?” Samantha opened the box, helping herself to a slice. “Wait. There’s cake!” She added a slice of cake to her plate.

“What?” I demanded. “What were you going to say?”

She carefully rearranged the placement of pineapple on her pizza so it was more evenly spaced. “Malachi asked me to move in with him.”

“He did?”

Samantha gave a sheepish smile, but the joy on her face couldn’t be masked. She was in love. And she’d said yes.

Everyone was in love.

I felt left behind. The kind of woman who could only get true love if she wished for it.

CHAPTER35

~ Char ~

Finding replacements for Samantha and Tamara was going to be tricky, but it got even worse than simply trying to find someone to fill their awesome roommate shoes. Josie had come home, and said she had been thinking about moving to the mountains for her business. Which made no sense at all. Then Gabby started talking about how Lamonte had an extra room in his suite, and that maybe she’d just crash with him.

That left Felipe and me as the only ones with nowhere to go.

In other words, the GAL PAL squad, or whatever Tamara called us, was breaking up.

But to make it official, we had to tell Randy, and quickly, since we were already past giving him the required thirty-day notice. I’d joked to the girls that moving out at least would mean no more evading Randy. The joke had hit an unwelcome note of déjà vu.

Josie lost a mega round of paper, rock, scissors, and she zipped downstairs to let Randy know we were leaving.

After pizza and cake, I sat outside and waited for James to pick me up for baseball, looking up apartments online. I figured I could sneak Felipe in wherever, but finding a place for myself was harder than I’d anticipated. And expensive. I’d gotten used to having a big space and splitting costs with four friends.

Thank goodness I had baseball to distract me. I hoped James didn’t give me any of those long questioning looks I sometimes caught him sending my way. I wasn’t sure I could handle it tonight. It was bad enough that I was head over heels for the man, but was constantly haunted by a mean whisper in my ear telling me it wasn’t real. That none of it counted. That it would soon end.

It didn’t help that his gaze would often linger on my lips, making me want to launch myself at him and kiss him senseless.

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