The Curse of Redwood (Ivy Grove #2) - Jaclyn Osborn Page 0,117

taking off my clothes before plopping into bed, still holding Zeke’s book to my chest.

“I love you,” I whispered, before closing my eyes and imagining him staring back at me. He’d smile and touch my jaw before kissing me goodnight.

My lips tingled at the memory.

A memory was all he’d be now.

Chapter Twenty-One

Losing Zeke wasn’t the end of the world—even if it felt like it.

Life went on.

I spent the next day lying in bed like a depressed lump and only moved when Ben and Taylor came over and forced me to get up and eat something. Ben had even made me those chocolate chip pancakes I’d asked for. But they were tasteless on my tongue. They ordered a pizza for dinner and hung out at my house, and not even pizza helped my mood.

“Will you tell us what happened?” Ben asked that Sunday evening.

“Eventually. But I can’t right now.” The pain was still too fresh.

Thankfully, they understood and didn’t press me to talk about it. All they knew was that the banishing ritual worked, the curse was lifted, and Zeke had left. It was all I’d been able to tell them.

On Monday, I pulled myself together enough to go back to work, fake a smile, and pretend everything was okay. Rich asked me a million questions, and I dodged as many as I could, all while convincing him I was fine. And then I did it all again on Tuesday.

By Wednesday, I didn’t even recognize myself anymore.

“Come on, C,” Taylor said that afternoon, as we walked along Main Street. He’d picked me up from the mall after I’d gotten off work and insisted I hang out with him. “Ben and I are worried about you. You gotta pull yourself out of this.”

“Easy for you to say,” I muttered, sliding my hands into my jacket pockets as a cold wind blew. “You’ve never been in love.”

“You’re right. I haven’t.” He turned to me on the sidewalk. “But do you think Zeke would want you like this, so detached and miserable?”

“I don’t know what Zeke would want. He’s not here,” I snapped. A weight pressed down on my chest, as if my lungs were shriveling up. I had never felt sadness so heavily before. “I hate him not being here, Taylor. I keep having to catch myself every time I start driving toward Redwood. Then, I remember he’s not there anymore, and that sadness comes crashing back down on me. It’s relentless.”

“You know…” Taylor paused as a woman carrying a baby passed us, then he stepped closer to me. “We could always whip out a Ouija board and try to contact him.”

“That would be an unwise decision,” a familiar, cold voice said from behind us.

“Callum,” Taylor said, smiling at him. “Didn’t hear you walk up. You heading to your shop?”

“Home, actually.” Dark circles rested beneath his eyes, as if he hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep since the last time I’d seen him.

“What happened to your hand?” I asked, once seeing it was heavily bandaged. He hadn’t performed blood magic the night of the ritual… so had he done something else since then?

“That’s none of your concern.” He put the hand behind his back.

“Why did you say the Ouija board is a bad idea?” I asked. I hated the things, but if it was the only way to talk to Zeke again, I’d try anything.

“Because you hardly ever speak to who you want to,” Callum answered. “And when used by amateurs such as yourselves bad things can happen. Negative entities can be released. I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want is to perform another banishing ritual so soon. Now, if you two will excuse me, there’s a matter I must attend to.”

Taylor stared after Callum with longing in his eyes. “He really doesn’t see me, does he?”

“I don’t think Callum really sees anyone,” I said.

Then, I wondered if, maybe, Taylor did understand how I felt. Unrequited love probably hurt just as much as a broken heart.

“It’s cold today,” I said, shivering as another breeze picked up around us. “How about a coffee? My treat.”

“Sure.” Taylor smiled and turned toward the coffeehouse.

Ivy Grove had changed over the past few days. Halloween decorations were swapped out for Thanksgiving ones; mainly scarecrows, turkeys, and pumpkins. Some stores had even begun putting out their Christmas stuff.

The bell dinged above the door as we entered the coffeehouse. With it being a week day, it wasn’t too busy so we were able to walk right up