much that I can’t think and why I can never see you without—” Her face pinkened, and she looked down at the book, her lips thinned as she tried to hold in the torrent of words that threatened to spill out.
Seeing the agony on Sarah’s face, Ava took a step toward her sister. “Sarah, don’t look like that! Please don’t. And, Blake, this—all of this, it’s my fault. Not Sarah’s. I just didn’t know…” The words, tumbling and incoherent, locked themselves in her throat, and she was left speechless.
“You ‘just didn’t know.’ ” Blake gave an odd, shaky laugh. “God, you Doves. You’re something, aren’t you? You always think you’re the answer to the world’s problems, but the truth is, you can’t even fix your own.” Blake eyed Ava. “When did you give us this tea?”
“The summer before Sarah’s junior year.”
He turned to Sarah. “That’s when you suddenly realized I was alive.”
Sarah, her face red, swiped at her tears and gave him a short nod. “After that, I couldn’t speak to you without my tongue bumbling over itself. I kept losing track of what I wanted to say, or I’d just ramble on and on and— Oh God. I’m doing it now. I can’t talk to you without wanting to share every thought, every hope, every—” She slapped her hand over her mouth and looked at him pleadingly, her eyelashes spiked with wetness.
Blake’s face tightened. “Since Ava gave you that tea, you’ve thought you were in love with me, but you’re not.”
Sarah, who looked as miserable as Ava felt, nodded. She lowered her hand from her mouth. “I’m sure that’s a relief to you, but—”
His laugh was harsh. “Good Lord, Sarah. You never got it, did you? You might have been enchanted, but I wasn’t.”
Ava frowned. “I gave you the same tea I gave Sarah. I watched you both drink it.”
He cut her a hard glare, his tone as icy as his stare. “Unless you slipped me that magic tea when I was seven years old, then how I feel about your sister has nothing to do with you or your potions.”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “Seven?” The word was more a whisper than anything else.
“We had art class together. You remember that, don’t you?”
Sarah nodded slowly.
Blake’s lopsided smile was bitter. “This isn’t how I’d planned on telling you. Heck, I hadn’t planned on saying anything ever, to be honest.”
“Why not?”
“You know why not.” He clenched his jaw, suddenly looking as tired as Ava felt. “Sarah, you and I have danced this dance a million times. And it never works for us, although”—Ava felt the weight of his gaze—“now we know why.”
“It was a mistake,” Ava said desperately. “I know that now.”
“So you’ve said, for all the good it does. Tell me, Ava, what would a love potion of yours do to a person who was already in love?”
Ava took a deep breath. Over the years, while looking for a remedy, she’d spent thousands upon thousands of hours reading ancient, dusty tomes about potions, teas, and other herbal remedies. After a moment, she spread her hands wide. “I don’t know.”
“Now you do. It kills it, Ava. That’s what it does. Not that it matters, as apparently Sarah never felt anything for me to begin with. Not anything real, anyway.” Sarah made a protesting noise, but he didn’t give her time to speak. “Meanwhile, I grew so exhausted by the song and dance that, to keep sane, I refused to be a part of it any longer.”
“Don’t blame Sarah,” Ava said. “Please, Blake, this is all my fault. I just wish you’d told her how you’d felt. Then there would have never been any need for—”
“Tell her?” Blake turned to Sarah. “When we were in high school, how many times did I ask you out? A hundred? Two hundred?”
Her face pinkened. “In high school, yes, but later—”
“Later? After you’d rejected me so often that my buddies started calling me Blind Blake? And now… Sarah, I saw you at the Moonlight Café last night. I was eating alone. I waved at you, and you turned on your heel and ran away without even placing your order. That was last night, Sarah. You run away every time you see me, as if I have leprosy or—” He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I’m tired of it. A few years ago, I decided we’d never be anything but acquaintances. Finding out about this now, I can see how right that decision was.”
Sarah shook her