Page 38 of The Lightkeeper

“Sure, I can,” her twin argued. “If he doesn’t sell to you, he’s afool, and I will do whatever it takes to make him see the error of his thinking.”

“And how will you do that?” Lou asked calmly, clearly used to challenging her sister’s wild plans.

“Well, my first thought is that we could start squatting there, but I’d have to look up squatter’s rights in Maine?—”

“Francesca Marie, no one is squatting at the inn,” Ailene chided.

I pressed my fingers to my mouth to try and conceal my laugh. I loved Frankie’s determination. It reminded me of my own except hers had a reckless edge. I was sure Kit would argue that mine did too, but at least mine was unintentional.

“Fine.” She huffed. “Well there’s always bribery.”

“And what do you have to bribe him with?”

Frankie paused as Kit and Jamie returned holding trays of jam-filled pastries, Gigi directing them to put one at each end of the table.

“Now, I made some puff pastry tarts. The tray on my end is cherry jam and the tray on Jamie’s side is blueberry.”

“Of course, it is.”

Lou leaned closer to me. “Blueberry is Jamie’s favorite.”

For a few minutes, the discussion ebbed in favor of eating. I took one of each tart to try, and even though they were both delicious, I went back for a third one of the cherry.

“The cherry is my favorite, too,” Gigi said with a wink.

“Maybe we could bribe the new owner with jam and candles,” Frankie said, shoving the last bite of a blueberry tart in her mouth.

“That’s not much of a bribe.”

“Fine, then we’ll hold him hostage.”

“My word.” Ailene shook her head.

After several more equally egregious suggestions, all I could focus on was the soft tap of Kit’s finger on the tableas though he were counting down the minutes until he could leave. Until he could distance himself from me.

The thought shouldn’t hurt as much as it did, and I only had myself to blame. I was the one who begged for the kiss. Begged for his touch. Begged for everything. I thought not knowing would be the worst fate, but as it turns out, having to forget the experience was far more painful.

“I should get going,” I said somewhere in the middle of the conversation, but I couldn’t focus. All I could feel was Kit’s irritation with me—with my presence in his family’s home.

“Oh, you can’t leave just yet. I have to give you some jam.” Gigi rose in a flurry of blue.

“Jam?” I looked at Lou who stood and ushered me up.

“Come with me.” She hooked her arm through mine.

I looked over my shoulder, catching Kit’s dark stare once more before I was led downstairs into the basement.

“Every few weeks Mom and Gigi make a limited-edition batch of jam and we hand-label the jars,” Lou said. “From those, Gigi will sometimes make a… special… label for people.”

“Her Premonition Preserves,” Violet said from behind me, the smile on her face indicating she’d been given one of these jars at some point.

“Premonition?”

“Think of it like a fruity fortune cookie,” Frankie added.

“Come over here, Aurora.” Gigi took my hands and led me to the worktable in the middle of the basement, the surface covered with fabric and ribbon and stacks of blank labels. Next to the table were shelves of small bottles of jam, the color a rich red.

She handed me a square of check fabric and a string of ribbon before grabbing one of the jars from the shelves. She placed it in my hands and then cupped hers over mine. Her expression softened as she closed her eyes, took a deep inhale, and held it for a second or two before her eyesflung open.

---