Lindy’s hand rises to her collarbone, like she wants to hide the color rising there. And it’s definitely rising. “I’m not upset.”
“I think he’s nice,” Jo continues as though Lindy didn’t answer. “I gave him my favorite picture.”
Lindy’s eyes go to the paper in my hand again, and she sighs. “Pack your things, Jo.”
I lick my lips. “Lindy—”
“You can’t be here,” she says, not looking at my face.
I clear my throat, but still sound hoarse, and way too needy. “Could we just—”
“No. We can’t. I … can’t.”
“But why are you here?” I ask.
“Why are you?”
“My dad and I stopped in for lunch.” That’s not the full answer, but the whole story is a little too complicated. Based on the way she’s responding right now, I probably need to ease her into the idea of Tank buying her hometown.
Mari appears through the swinging kitchen door. She looks at me, then at Lindy.
“Everything okay out here, mija?”
“Yes,” I say, just as Lindy says, “Not even a little bit.”
Mari nods, winding up a dish towel in her hands as she approaches me. “We’re closed.”
“It’s almost lunchtime.” I plant my feet.
Mari snaps her dish towel at me. “Closed.”
“Ouch!”
I start moving toward the door as Mari shoos me on, the towel snapping on my arms, my back, my hip. She is a fierce little lion tamer with a whip. Snap!
“Lindy, please!”
I see the corner of Lindy’s lip lift when Mari’s dish towel snaps on my arm. That hint of a smile plants a seed of hope. I always did make her laugh. I could again—I know I could.
I only need a chance. I need to find out why she’s here, why she looks so sad, and how I can fix it.
I’m going to fix it for her. For her and Jo. I’m going to fix ALL the things. I just need—
Snap!
“Ow! Mari—I thought you liked me!”
“That’s before I knew who you were.” The towel connects with my thigh and I take another step back.
The door to the kitchen swings open and a man I’m guessing is Big Mo ducks through the doorway. He has bright eyes, rich umber skin, and a dark beard hanging down his chest, fitted with a hair net.
“Need a hand?” he asks, eyeing me.
“I’ve got it. Just uno necio—a little pest.” Mari practically shoves me out on the sidewalk. I hear the metallic clack of the lock turning. Then she snaps the blinds shut one by one until the view inside is obscured.
Tank stands with his arms crossed a few feet away, one brow lifted. “Took you a minute. Did you get some food to go?”
“Uh, no.” I lick my lips and rub my arm, where the worst of the towel whippings left a red mark. I’m still seeing that little twitch of a smile on Lindy’s lips. Those beautiful, kissable lips.
Tank pats me on the shoulder, and I jump. “Well?”
“What?”
“Are you going to help me convince your brothers?” Tank asks.
Oh, right—the brewery. The whole reason I’m here. Or the reason I was here.
I clap him on the shoulder before heading for the Aston, careful to keep Jo’s drawing from getting bent.
“Are you kidding? This place is coal just waiting for someone to squeeze a diamond out of it.” I relish the look of shock on his face.
“Are you serious?”
“Deadly. Now, come on, Pops.” I unlock the doors and climb behind the driver’s seat. “Let’s discuss how to convince the rest of our family. Most especially James.”
Tank’s grin is too big for his face as he climbs into the passenger seat. “I knew once you saw it, you’d see the magic.”
I did see magic—just not the kind he thinks. The enchantment is all about Lindy. I am no less under her spell than I was years ago. If anything, it has strengthened with time.
That said, I’m not sure if fixing up the town or somehow earning a second chance with Lindy is the more daunting task. I have a feeling the town is going to be a piece of cake, comparatively. No pun intended.
As I start down one of the country roads, Tank squints through the windshield. “You’re going the wrong way.”
“I’ve got one more stop we need to make before heading back to Austin.”
“What else is out here?”
Nothing much—only the woman I think might be the love of my life. The one who just had me chased out of the diner like a dog.
Which I probably deserved, and then some. But I plan on fixing that, on making amends beginning today and every day after that. As long as it takes, starting with a sincere apology that’s long overdue.
Chapter Five
Lindy
“You look like you just saw a ghost,” Jo tells me, her green eyes seeing, as usual, far too much.
I FEEL like I’ve seen a ghost. My heart is a shivering, hollowed-out husk and my hands are shaking. “I don’t believe in ghosts, Jojo.”
Whether I believe in them or not, I did just see a ghost. A Class IV entity, according to the Ghostbusters classification system, which I know about thanks to an article I wrote on real-life hauntings as classified by the Ghostbuster’s system.
The particular ghost who just appeared in Mari’s diner—Patrick Graham—has haunted me for years. Until today, he’s done so in memory, not in person. And if I see him again before I have time to recover, I will fall completely apart.
“Grab your colors. We need to go.”
And quickly, before Pat bursts through the window or climbs down the ventilation system above the stove in the back. He’s persistent—when he wants to be—and harder to kill than a cockroach. He’s the kind of man who will squeeze through the smallest bit of wiggle room I give him, despite locked doors and closed-off hearts.
My stomach is fluttering with a horde of resurrected butterflies. They are still blinking awake, flitting blindly around in my stomach and trying to get their bearings after so many years.
It’s the Pat effect. Which is why we need to leave NOW. I cannot have Pat. Or butterflies. Nope.
Anger is far more productive and much safer. I can channel all the feelings Pat woke up into a pure, white-hot rage. The resurrected butterflies can be an avenging zombie horde. That’s a much better use for them.