Page 68 of Holiday Hook Up

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as her gaze rested on Adam. She’d always made the same wish that Adam Reed would have feelings for her. However, when her mom and dad asked her if she wanted to stop in for a cupcake for her seventeenth birthday, she’d said no. A month earlier, Adam had started dating Rachel.

But now her birthday wishes were finally coming true.

She glanced over at Rachel, who’d begun chatting with Pauline. Maybe it was finally time for her best friend to get her happily ever after—and who knows, perhaps itwaswith Will. There certainly was a lot of chemistry between the two. She closed her eyes, wishing her best friend would give Will a chance.

She flung her eyes open.That’s it. Bethany, you’re brilliant.There was a way Rachel would have to give Will a chance. If Adam did the spell on Rachel, there was still a fifty-fifty chance that Will’s name would appear in the batter. It could prove to Bethany that he was still outing last kisses, but it might give Rachel some encouragement to explore whatever she had going on with Will if she believed he was “the one.”

Zoe would probably be relieved to see she was no longer his intended. She glanced around the bakery for the frozen yogurt shop owner, but she was nowhere to be found.

This could work. She tilted her head down and blew out the candle.

“What did you wish for, Bethany?” Adam asked.

She turned toward him and took a deep breath.Here goes nothing.“That you would do the spell on Rachel.”

“Me?” Rachel swung her entire body in Bethany’s direction, wide eyes. “Why would you wish that?”

“Why not? You deserve to know who your soul mate is just as much as any of these women.”

Adam seemed to like the idea by the way he was nodding his head. “Let’s do it, Rach. I really feel I’ve got this right. Mrs. Stevens has been teaching me great concentration techniques.”

“Sheila,” the matriarch corrected.

“Sheila,” he repeated.

By the apprehension on Rachel’s face, Bethany wasn’t sure she’d go through with it, but seconds later, her best friend sat up, pushed back her shoulders, and agreed.

“Atta girl!” Adam clapped his hands and picked up the shimmering blue mixing spoon.

“So what do I do?” Rachel asked, her voice a little shaky and her gaze fixed on the blue spoon.

Bethany realized how desensitized she was becoming to spells, ghosts, and magical mixing spoons. She reached for Rachel’s hand. “It’ll be okay.”

Adam nodded in agreement. “I got this. You sit pretty and concentrate on the man of your dreams. Maybe someone you saw last night.” He winked.

Bethany bit down on her lip, twisting on her stool. Well, that was interesting. Did Adam just wink at his ex-girlfriend? And wasn’theat her house last night?

Oh wait.She brushed off the paranoia. Rachel had mentioned Will stopped by twice. Did Adam know about Rachel and Will?

He had to, and of course, that must have been what the wink was about. Adam wasn’t the type of guy to string two women along, and he certainly wasn’t a jerk who flirted with his ex in front of the woman that he’d only twenty-four hours ago hinted he’d like to explore his feelings for.

She settled onto her stool and reached for her cupcake, taking a bite. If Adam was still outing last kisses, she’d have to tell him, but then again, Will could be Rachel’s soul mate.

“Ladies, your matchmaker is ready.” Adam picked up the blue mixing spoon and dived into the batter using smooth even strokes. He closed his eyes, and she assumed he was repeating the spell.

How did this get so complicated, and how was she going to tell said matchmaker the truth when all he wanted was to get the spell right and prove to this town that he had the magic chops that Emma and Abby had?

Her heart squeezed knowing the information she was holding would deflate his. She watched silently.

Suddenly, his eyes opened and he dropped his head down, looking into the bowl.

“Oh boy.”

“Who does it say?” Rachel peered in without any hesitation. “Oh, wow,” she said and moved her face back from the bowl, staring right at Bethany. “That’s unexpected”

“Who is it?” Bethany leaned over. A giant wave of nausea slammed against her stomach, as she read the four cursive letters in blue.

Adam.

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