Page 26 of Enchanted to Meet You

“Oh, you’re welcome, Jessica,” he continued in the same sarcastic tone. “It was my pleasure. So glad I could be there to rescue you when the rift beneath your town tore open and unleashed meteorological death upon you. Does this kind of thing happen often around here? Because weirdly, they didn’t mention it on Tripadvisor.”

She grimaced as she prodded tenderly at one knee. “This one wasn’t the rift. It was Rosalie Hopkins.”

“What?” He slammed on the brakes—not because he was shocked at what she’d said, but because the car in front of them had stopped.

She nodded. “I didn’t see her at first, but it turned out she was there the whole time I was talking to Esther.”

“Did she see you?” He dreaded the phone call he knew he was going to have to make, explaining all of this, even though none of it was his fault. “Talking to the kid?”

“No. Calm down. She was at a table around the corner, trying to get girls to sign up to be this year’s Harvest Princess, whatever that is. Why?” Jessica continued to massage her knee. “What would be the big deal if she saw me talking to Esther? Rosalie’s a member of the World Council of Witches. Do they not know about the rift and prophecy?”

He’d been sworn to secrecy. But how could he not tell her? It had been easy to shrug and say he’d stay silent when he hadn’t met her.

But now that he had, keeping the truth to himself felt like a betrayal.

“They do, but they have their own theories about it,” he settled for saying. “We were hoping to confirm our opinion on Estherbefore sharing it with the rest of the witching world. Would you care to tell me why Rosalie Hopkins would want to unleash a hailstorm upon you?”

Jessica shrugged and pulled her cell phone from her bag, then began swiftly texting someone. “Rosalie and I didn’t get along so well in high school, that’s all. And sometimes when she sees me now, she’s reminded of it and gets... upset.”

“That wasn’t upset, Jessica. That was homicidal. She was trying to kill you.”

She continued to text. “Don’t be dramatic.”

“I know West Harbor is sitting on the brink of disaster, but has your entire town lost its collective mind, as well?” The assault from the sky had gone from massive hailstones to rain. It was pouring. But at least the clouds had lightened, and now he could see that the reason the car in front of them had stopped was because the traffic lights at the intersection were out, making it into a four-way stop. Every car was patiently waiting their turn. Rosalie’s assault had caused a citywide power outage. “That woman just tried to murder you in front of my eyes and you’re saying I’m beingdramatic?”

She turned her brown eyes toward him. They were so big and so many fathoms deep, he felt as if he could dive into them. “What do you want me to say? That Rosalie Hopkins is a storm witch who can control the weather, and that she occasionally uses that power to intentionally hurt people? Yes. But because she’s a board member of the World Council of Witches, she’s never gotten caught, or even remotely reprimanded for doing so? Also, by the way, yes.”

“Wait.” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Are you telling me that Rosalie hasdone this before?”

She snorted. “Oh, this is nothing. Do you remember the Valentine’s Day Blizzard of 2006?”

“Why would I remember the Valentine’s Day Blizzard of 2006?”

“Because that’s the year we got thirty inches of snow in one weekend.”

“Jessica, I’m from Montana. We get thirty inches of snow every weekend.”

“Oh. Well, that much snow is pretty rare here in Connecticut. It’s only happened here one time in my memory, and that’s because Rosalie was mad at me over a love spell.”

“A love spell?” He narrowed his eyes at her. She hadn’t struck him as the type to dabble in love spells. “Why was she mad at you over a love spell?”

“Because I gave it to her, and it didn’t work.”

“How is that your fault?”

A car horn sounded, long and loud, from behind them. The electricity to the traffic light had come on again, and he’d failed to notice because he’d been looking into Jess’s eyes.

“It’s a long story,” she said. “You’ve got the green light. If you make a left here, we’ll be at my house. I’m sorry, but I need to check if my cat is okay.” She waved the cell phone she was holding. “I already heard from my assistant manager Becca that Enchantments is fine. It didn’t even rain downtown. The entire storm was focused on this side of West Harbor. But Pye isn’t at the shop, so I’m a little worried—”

He turned left.

“Isn’t Rosalie a little old to still be upset about a crush she had in high school?” he asked, as they pulled onto her street.

“I know, right?” Jessica rolled her eyes. “But it’s slightly more complicated than that. Are you living in this car?”

Startled, he looked away from the hail-capped piles of leaves around her street and glanced instead at her. “What? Why would you ask that?”

“Because.” She pulled a pile of compostable coffee cups fromWake Up West Harbor from the compartment on the inside panel of the passenger door. “There are so many of these in here. And your bag is in the back seat. And this book.” His copy ofPlutarch’s Lives. “And that smell—”