I thought about Magnolia, my last sighting of her in the Piggly Wiggly, and smiled at Grady's butchering of her name. "Not her, not really. Her dad struts around Green Valley like a peacock though. I met him a couple of weeks ago and it wasn't an experience that I need to repeat anytime soon."
“And his eyes are shifty. Never trust someone with shifty eyes.”
I narrowed my eyes. “How do you know?”
Grady shrugged. “I met him once too.”
“Where? How come I didn’t hear about this?”
“Beeeecause you were off screwing your secret boyfriend?” he supplied oh-so-helpfully.
My response was a pointed look.
“No sense of humor, geez,” he mumbled. “I don’t know, maybe last week? I was meeting Jethro for a beer and J.T. was there.”
Was my jaw resting on the table? “Who’s Jethro?”
“Jethro Winston? He used to be a park ranger. Figured it’d be good to pick his brain about how to make my idea work.”
“And you just … made friends and met him for a beer.”
“Yeah.”
Blink. Blink. “And J.T. was there, and you met him too.”
Grady shrugged. “Unfortunately.” He clucked his tongue, sounding very much like the woman at the Piggly Wiggly. “It’s a nasty business, that’s for sure.”
I rubbed my temples. “What is?”
“J.T.,” he said slowly. “Small town politics. The law firm. Why is this so confusing to you?”
It felt like he started speaking a different language. He had friends. And was meeting people for beers and knew park rangers. He’d been here for less time than I had.
“How do you know all this already?”
“Jethro was filling me in on everything.”
“I’ve never even heard that name before and you’re gossiping with him?”
He gave me a pointed look of his own. “His brother fixed your car, Grace. How do you not know this?”
“I feel like I’ve been dropped into crazy world,” I murmured incredulously. “Is that why you’re being so twitchy about all this? Because you have one conversation with the locals and suddenly you feel like you’re the relationship expert?”
Grady sighed. “I’m not claiming to be an expert in anything. A little insight is always a good thing, especially if it affects my sister, okay? There’s nothing wrong with being worried about you.”
It shouldn’t have chafed so badly, that my brother seemed to slide right into Green Valley so easily. I still got curious looks and sideways glances.
It did chafe though. It twisted something uncomfortable inside of me, tighter and tighter, like a laced corset binding my ribs into the wrong position.
Probably because he was a man. And good looking. Beautiful men were welcomed with open arms.
Beautiful women, for better or worse, were often treated with cautious reserve, especially by other women, until they’d proved their mettle. In LA, the way I looked was a commodity, something that could be valued and traded and judged.
“Another reason you shouldn’t be slinking around in the shadows.” He laid a dramatic hand on his chest. “I have friends. You have imagined enemies.”
“There’s nothing imagined about it.”
He huffed. “Yeah, no shit. I mean, you’re not his enemy. But he’s no one to ignore, obviously.”
His certainty made me study his face. I pointed my fork at him. "I don't want to risk that that man would put Dad's job in his crosshairs. It's easier to just …"
"Hide?"
"We're not hiding, Grady."
My brother covered his face and groaned. "I swear, if you try and convince me that that's not exactly what you're doing, I'll jab myself in the eye with that fork. It's not fair to either of you, is the truth. Dad is a grown man, and if he gets fired because you're blissfully happy in a fated relationship, then he'd probably find a new job with a smile on his face."
On cue, Dad laughed at something on the show he was watching. "Where'd you two go? The show's on."
"Be there in a second," Grady called.
"So what do you expect me to do? Flaunt it in everyone's face? Consequences be damned?"
"I never said flaunt," he said with lifted eyebrows. "But yeah. You two can't hide forever."
"How very Gen Z of you. Happiness at any cost, right?"
"If you need to turn it around on me, you go right ahead. But when you do, try to remember that it's because of me that you met the one-time love of your life."
"Yes, thank you for making my car break down," I deadpanned. "It's not so easy as you're making out to be. And I tell you what, brother, I hope that when you meet your person, The One who will spin your head in circles, I hope she's got a mile and a half long list of complications that come along with her."
He held up his hands. "Why do you think I refuse to make eye contact with a single member of the female species under the age of fifty when I go anywhere in this town? If I can just get my business going, I'll be able to hide out in the mountains and hike the trails in peace. I am determined to be the first person in this family to outwit whatever the hell it is making y'all crazy."
"Y'all?" I teased. "Listen to you, sounding all southern."
"My point, dear sister, is that you know how strong your feelings are for him. Whether their origins make sense or not, you're sitting on this big piece of the truth, and you're sitting on it alone. In the dark, because you can’t tell anyone that you’re even with him. It’s messed up."
I set my jaw and refused to say anything.
"Are you in love with him? Really truly?"
Rubbing a hand across my forehead, I sighed. "You know I am. Sometimes I feel like it'll drown me because it's so big."
"And you think it's a great idea to keep this from him?"
I shook my head. "Telling him about the curse accomplishes what?"
"The same thing that you two owning your relationship does. Those things, from what I can see, aren't bad. They're
