Leah’s one of my weddings; she’s supposed to marry Penelope Parsons next Saturday.
“Their photographer received an email canceling the gig.”
“What?!”
“Right?” Hanna says. “She called Leah because something about it felt off, and of course Leahhadn’tcanceled. But then Leah had a bad feeling, so she called a few more vendors, and sure enough, they’d received cancellation calls, too.”
“What the fuck?”
“I know. Leah called me, in tears, asking if we’d figure out what was going on and take care of it. I’d do it, but since it’s one of your weddings, I don’t want to mess around with it and risk having Weggers say that we didn’t follow the rules. Or having Leah call Five Rivers Weddings up and ask them to take over.”
Five Rivers is a relative newcomer, only a few years old, but they’ve been steadily gaining ground in the unspoken competition to be the premiere wedding site in Rush Creek.
“I’ll take care of it,” I say. “I’ll figure out what’s going on, and I’ll fix it.”
“Thank you.” I can hear the relief in Hanna’s voice but also lingering tightness. “I’m worried it might be?—”
“Sabotage,” I finish for her, quietly.
“Yeah.”
Ever since Weggers unveiled our grandfather’s will and its offbeat demands, weird shit has been happening. And I don’t mean the fact that my brothers and I have been dropped into Opposite Land. There have also been these…events. Plans that have gone wrong, situations that have threatened to keep me and my brothers from fulfilling the terms of our letters. They range from plumbing failures to planting false evidence to shadowy figures in the night—but they all threaten to make it impossible to comply with Granddad’s will.
Just like what’s happening to Leah and Penelope.
“Tell Tucker about Leah and Penelope’s wedding,” I say. “It’s probably time for us to get up in Blue Iron’s face about this bullshit.”
Blue Iron is the company that will get the Hott land if my brothers and I fail at our tasks. That makes them the only ones with enough at stake to actively undermine us—which makes them the obvious suspect for everything that’s happened so far. That said, we’re far from having proof.
“Any progress? Have you talked to Eden about Paul?”
No,I think,but I almost kissed her a few minutes ago.
Not gonna tell Hanna that.
I reset my determination not to screw this up—any more than it already is. “She doesn’t want to talk about it,” I say truthfully. “We haven’t caught up with Paul. He’s somewhere in Montana, and we’re in Galilee, not too far past where 90 crosses the Columbia. Eden figured out he’s on his way to Sioux Falls, so we’re going to fly into Sioux Falls and intercept him.”
Saying that Eden “figured out” where Paul is going is a bit of a white lie, technically. Edenthinkshe’s headed to Sioux Falls, and Ithinkher hypothesis makes sense. But we don’t know for sure.
“So you’ll meet him in Sioux Falls and see if you can sort things out.” It’s a statement, not a question.
“Yeah.”
Sort things out.Meaning watch Eden reconcile with Paul. The thought makes my stomach clench. “In the meantime, I’ll call Leah and fix whatever’s going on with the vendors. And hopefully Tucker will find some proof that Blue Iron is behind all this.”
There’s a pause. Then Hanna says, “Okay. Fly safe.”
“I will.” I end the call.
It’s not the flying that feels dangerous. It’s my traveling companion.
That shouldn’t be the case. I’ve had plenty of experience with burying my feelings for Eden. This is no different.
Except back then, there was no occasion to scoop her up and carry her to bed. No chance to be so close to her that I could smell the strawberry of her hair. I hadn’t felt the scrape of her lace panties on my fingertips, and, worst of all, I hadn’t known the look on her face when she stood face-to-face with something that lit her up from the inside.
I have the distinct, unwelcome feeling that I’ve reached the end of a tether.
Like I said.
