Hope flutters its wings inside my chest.
Paige goes to the kitchen, and returns moments later with a steaming platter of tea and cookies. We spread out across the couches, flicking between bad reality TV shows. It’s so completely normal that it doesn’t feel like my life. But it is.
Monday, I’ll go to school. I’ll do my homework in the evenings, and work shifts at the Black Cat, and I’ll mourn my mom and everything I’ve lost.
I’ll bring flowers to her grave.
And if more curveballs get sent my way, I’ll just keep picking myself up. It’s all I can do.
“Hey, haven’t you got a date to get to?” Paige finally says.
I’d completely forgotten.
I flick my eyes to Aunt Penny. “I don’t know, I should probably stick around here….”
“Oh please.” She rolls her eyes. “We’ll be just fine without you. Besides, Jessie’s coming over with that new friend of hers—Brooke or whatever.”
“They are? Do they…Has Jessie…”
We ended up telling Jessie everything. I mean, we figured we at least owed her that much—if it weren’t for her, we might not have figured out about the spell happening on All Hallows’ Eve. I keep waiting for her to have a mental breakdown or something, but so far, she’s been handling it remarkably well. But with Brooke coming over I have to wonder if she’s finally spilled the beans.
“Oh, relax, Brooke doesn’t know anything,” Aunt Penny says, guessing my thoughts. “Jessie is trustworthy. Go see your man. And have fun!”
“But use protection,” Paige adds. I chuck a pillow at her head. She dodges it easily, laughing.
I can’t help smiling as I trudge upstairs to get ready.
I check out my reflection in the bathroom mirror, turning to see myself from all angles. Bishop wouldn’t tell me where we were going for our date, no matter how much I begged, pleaded, and insisted that it was imperative so I could dress appropriately. So I settled on a simple pink flutter-sleeve blouse paired with a short black skirt and wedge sandals. I was tempted to slick on my trademark red MAC lipstick but decided against it at the last minute for reasons that have nothing to do with kissing, settling instead for a clear gloss. My hair falls in loose, springy curls around my face. I have to admit I look pretty great. (Well, if you discount the fading purple bruises faintly visible under my makeup, and the ugly pink battle scars zigzagging across my right elbow.) An engine rumbles up the street.
“He’s here!” Paige calls up the stairs.
Nerves flutter inside my stomach.
I haven’t seen Bishop since I came back. I told him I needed to focus on taking care of Aunt Penny, on building a new relationship with Paige. And all of that was true. But if I’m being honest, I was also confused. I know I love Bishop, and so I don’t know why or how I could have let myself have feelings for Cruz—there, I admitted it. I had feelings for him. I used to look down on the girls in movies who fell for two boys at once, until it happened to me.
I grab my bag off the counter and go downstairs.
“You look ah-mazing,” Aunt Penny says. She’s propped up on the couch, eating cream puffs.
“Total babe,” Paige agrees.
All at once I’m reminded of homecoming night when the two of them ushered me off on my date with Devon. My chest gets tight. I wonder when the memories will quit hitting me so hard. When they’ll quit making it hard to breathe.
“Well, I better go,” I say, forcing a smile.
“Have fun,” Aunt Penny says. She waggles her eyebrows suggestively. I roll my eyes as laughter follows me outside.
Bishop leans against the door of his Mustang, a single red rose held up under his nose. The setting sun makes copper highlights shine in the dark hair that falls in perfect, messy waves around his jaw. He’s wearing his usual worn leather jacket, but underneath it is a button-down and tie. He gives me a crooked grin that makes adorable laugh lines sprout up around his eyes. My heart gives a thump.
I cross the road to him, and he holds out the flower. My first thought is that it’s so unlike Bishop to get me flowers, but then I realize that he’s never been given the occasion. We’ve never been on a real date.
“For the lady,” he says, wiggling it in front of my face. “You look gorgeous.” I give an embarrassed smile and take the stem from him, holding the bloom up under my nose.
“Well, come on, we don’t want to be late.” He crosses to the passenger door and holds it open for me.
“Late for what?” I ask.
“Nice try. Get in.”
I fall into the seat. When he starts the car, the radio blares a song I recognize—the same song that we sang on our way to the Guadalupe sand dunes the day I tried to seduce him. He goes to turn the volume down, but I stop him.
“Don’t. I love this song.”
He smiles across at me before putting the car in drive.
It’s so normal just driving around with Bishop that I’m sort of sad when he announces we’re at our destination. He parks the car off the curb on Spring Street, right in front of the Last Bookstore. It’s a grand building made out of light gray stone, with ornate carvings under the windows and a gilded placard across the door. The Open sign is switched off.
Bishop pulls a big canvas backpack out of the backseat.
“What’s in there?” I ask, giving the bag a wary look as I recall the snake he’d brought along on our last excursion.
“You’ll see.” He climbs out of the car.
I trip after myself to catch up to him as he ducks into an alleyway. I find him tinkering with the lock of a metal door set at the side of the bookstore.
“So we’re breaking and entering for our first real date? Nice.”
“I have permission,” he says.
I raise my eyebrows at him, a grin pulling up my lips. “And that’s why you’re using magic to unlock the doors?”