Page 66 of Hand Picked
“Aw.” I turned the camera back around to face me. I wanted that, too. Especially now that I actually had friends for her to meet. “One of these days,” I agreed. “Maybe next year. When you’re stronger.”
“Sooner than that!” Her face was flushed with excitement. “That’s why I’m calling. We got the all-clear from my doctor on Friday, and Susie just got the time off work. We’re heading up there in three weeks!”
I blinked. Then I blinked some more.
Aaaannd the roller coaster dipped again.
“Lukey? Lukey, did your FaceTime freeze?”
I wheezed out a breath. “I… you… I have school,” I said desperately. This couldn’t be happening. Not that I wanted her to be too sick to travel, it was just… no. No. It was too soon. There was too much left undone at the house, and she’d be so worried.
My chest felt so tight, I could hardly pull in enough breath to fake a bright smile. “And is your doctor reallysureit’s safe for you to travel? Do we believe her?”
“I’m fine! And don’t you worry about us. Susie and I can amuse ourselves while you’re at work. Strolling the fields and exploring the attics and whatnot.”
“Oh.” I was pretty sure the noise came out more like a cross between a gasp and a whimper. “About the attics…” I looked at Webb in panic.
He nodded encouragingly… but I had no idea what he was encouraging me to do.
“I can’t wait to meet you,” Aiden said. “We can eat chocolate pancakes!”
“It’s a date, babydoll! Okay. Off to the movies with Sue. Love to all of you! Talk to you soon, Lukey.”
She hung up.
I stared at the phone.
Gage’s voice seemed to be coming at me through a tunnel. “Does she know about the handfasting? Because she seems like the kind of person to get a kick out of that.”
Knox looked at me with furrowed brows, but his words were for Gage. “Hush, baby. Can’t you see he’s—”
I shoved back my chair, making a painful screeching noise on the floor that seemed to draw all the eyes in the entire place onto me. My face flamed, and my skin prickled. It was too much. All of this was too much. The townspeople being nice to me and including me in their thoughts and plans, the mayor bringing up the handfasting and trying to interview Aiden, the Sunday family including me in breakfast, my mom springing an unexpected visit on me when I was living in a tangled web of my own lies… and Webb… Webb kissing me full on the lips in front of the entire town as if… as if…
As if we meant something to each other.
I stumbled through the cafe, dodging chairs, nosy stares, Katey’s glare, and God knew what other stuff in my desperate attempt to escape.
When the frigid cold air of Vermont took what little breath I had away, I braced my hands against the metal siding.
Mistake. The cold burned my palms and left me shivering.
Real Vermonsters probably knew better than to touch freezing metal with warm bare skin. Yet another way I wasn’t cut out to live here in the Hollow.
So I did what my people have done for centuries when faced with an insurmountable challenge.
I closed my eyes and let the tears come.
ChapterFourteen
WEBB
Ah, shit.
“Wait, what just happened?” Ms. Fortnum demanded as I pushed my chair back to stand. “Is Luke okay?”
“He will be,” I assured her. I’d make sure of it. I hesitated before sharing Luke’s business, but they needed to understand… some of it, anyway. “Luke’s house… Ben Pond let the whole thing practically fall to ruin before he left town, and when Luke won it, it was unlivable. It needs a new roof, plumbing and electrical work, a new kitchen, the whole nine yards. Luke’s been living in a camper on the property for eight months because he doesn’t have the money to repair it. And his mom doesn’t know any of this. She’s been sick, and he didn’t want to worry her.”
“The poor guy,” Em said. “That’s awful.”
