Page 25 of Lovewell Lane

Once he was finished, he helped me drive it back over to mine. Since it was a Saturday, Sam was opening the store and gave Andy a ride back to the car shop. I thanked him one last time and gave him an unspoken look that had been used time and time again throughout our lives— it meant ‘don’t tell my little brother about this’.

I napped on the couch to catch up on as much sleep as possible before Tessa woke up. Slick was too wrapped up in his newspaper to even notice I was back home. So I was graced with prime nap time.

The smell of cinnamon woke me up before I felt a finger poking at my cheek. “Daddy, you’re snoring again,” Tessa whined. I opened my eyes and sat up to find her holding out a plate for me. “I made breakfast.”

‘Breakfast’ looked like a piece of bread with cold butter and cinnamon sprinkled on top. “Thanks, honey. Have you eaten yet? You could’ve woken me up.”

“Grandad made me eggs,” she answered. “Scoot over. Can we watch a show?”

“Spongebob?”

She nodded happily. I choked down my cinnamon bread with a smile. At one point, I muffled my choking by clearing my throat, and I swore cinnamon came out in a cloud of smoke like I was a cinnamon-breathing dragon.

9

Margo

Minty toothpaste and orange juice were the worst flavor combination, and I never failed to forget it. My slight hangover made me cringe even harder than normal as I rushed to the fridge to take a big chug of water to wash the taste out of my mouth.

Despite not drinking much, I felt like I blacked out last night. Did Derek Weston really drive me home? The fact that he picked up my call in the middle of the night was enough to convince me it must have all been a fever dream.

My theory was majorly supported when I walked outside to find… My car?

But I left it at the bar last night. When it broke down. Holy shit, this must be some kind of groundhog day situation. This town wassocursed. I rushed back inside with my mug of orange juice in hand, careful not to spill it.

I opened my phone to look at the date and it just said January 18th. Groundhog Day theory debunked. Boring. So how the hell did my car get from Point A to Point B?

Derek and Tessa appeared on their back porch as I was just about ready to check into a psych ward.

“It should work just fine now,” Derek called. His gaze flicked to the car and back to me.

“How did it get here?” I asked.

“Fairies,” Derek answered. Tessa giggled and ran out into the backyard to chase one of her duck friends. I watched her catch one with astonishment.

“Fairies?”

“There are lots of fairies that do silly things,” Tessa explained. “A fairy brought me a birthday surprise last year with balloons and streamers and all my stuffies had party hats on.”

I gave Derek a look. What the hell was going on? He walked down the steps of his porch to stand beside me.

“The battery died, it’s fine now,” he said under his breath so that Tessa couldn’t hear.

“I need to pay you back for it. Did you fix it?” He shot me a look as my voice got louder. I lowered my voice to a whisper, “You can’t just do things like that. I promise I’m not some charity case, I have money.”

Derek’s brows scrunched into each other. “I don’t think you’re a charity case.”

“Okay, great. I’ll get cash when I go out today and bring it back for you, then.”

“Not nec—” I looked down to find him holding out my keys. Without another look at him, I swiped them out of his hand.

“Thank you,” I said aggressively. “I can take care of myself just fine though for future scenarios.”

“Future scenarios?”

I placed my mug of orange juice on the roof of my car. “Fairy kidnappings. Murder mysteries— if anything happens to me, the duck definitely did it by the way. Bank heists. Car chases. I’ve got it all covered.”

“Good to know.” Derek looked down and kicked at the gravel under his work boots. I thought I saw a hint of a smile there, but it was taken from me when he turned his head away to look at Tessa.

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