Maisie blew out a relieved breath. “I’ll text you once I know. Thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” Penelope said, warmth enveloping her voice. “You’d do the same thing for me. See you soon. Bye.”
“Bye.” Maisie ended the call, sat up, and leaned against the wall of pillows behind her. Penelope was probably the only one who wouldn’t judge Maisie for taking a wild next step.
Determined to get her life back on track, Maisie opened her web browser on her phone, pulling up Luna’s website. Using the online booking system, she selected the only available appointment for nine thirty and settled back into bed with her phone on her chest.
Something good would come out of this. She wasn’t sure how she knew that with such certainty, but she felt it bone deep. She’d gone to high school with Luna, and rumors said she’d come from generations of psychics and mediums. Maisie didn’t know what to believe, but doing things the normal way was getting her nowhere, and if there was a hex on her, she wanted it off. Pronto.
Going back to sleep was impossible. Maisie decided to deal with the laundry from the road trip. She showered and shaved, spending a little more time than normal, just in case she saw Hayes later. She dressed in a floral print baby doll dress and paired it with strappy sandals, leaving her hair down and letting the natural wave take over, and added light makeup.
Before she knew it, nine o’clock arrived, and she was on the way to pick up Penelope. She opened the roof of her MINI convertible, letting the warm sun give her the big dose of vitamin D she needed. When she arrived at the two-story house Penelope shared with Darryl, Penelope was already waiting outside on the porch. She wore jean shorts and a pretty, flowy tank top, her long dark hair was in a messy bun, and fresh makeup on her face. While Maisie was close with her sisters, she’d been on the same wavelength as Penelope since birth, and Penelope’s sweet smile when Maisie pulled into the driveway loosened the tension in Maisie’s chest.
While Maisie had become closer to Clara and Amelia since Laurel’s death, they would never understand Maisie the way Penelope did. They’d question her sanity or try to talk her out of letting a psychic solve her problems, but the only thing Penelope said after the getting into the car was, “All right, you big nut ball, what are we asking Luna today?”
Maisie hit the road again. “I take it you’ve heard what happened to Hayes’s truck and my trailer, right?”
The strands of Penelope’s hair blew in the wind. She laughed and grabbed her hair at the base of her neck. “Maisie, we live in a small town. Everyone has heard what happened.”
“Right,” Maisie muttered, swallowing back the bile in her throat. Of course, everyone knew she’d failed. Again. “Well, here’s the thing. I’ve always just gone with the flow and accepted that life is just a big cesspool of disappointments, but I need answers now. Luna will give me those.”
“Okay then,” Penelope said, as if that explained everything. “So, how was the sex with Hayes?”
Maisie swerved on the road, her tire hitting the curb before she righted the car. “Please tell me that is not running along the gossip train?”
“Ha! I knew it. You totally slept with him.” Penelope nudged Maisie’s arm with a playful shove, crossing her legs. “Tell me everything. Leave no detail out. I want all the juice.”
Maisie had planned to tell her already. She heard the dreaminess in her own sigh. “The sex…God, Penelope, the sex was out of this world.”
“Not surprised,” Penelope said with a waggle of her eyebrows and a shit-eating grin. “Hayes is all broody and rough, a total man.”
Train track lights flashed up ahead. Maisie slowed the car to a stop and put it in park as the gates lowered, blocking off the road as the train suddenly flew by. “I actually think being with him was even better than I could have imagined. There’s just so much…”
“Passion? Tension? Chemistry?”
Maisie nodded. “Yeah, all that. But there’s more, like, I know Hayes. Really know him. It makes the whole experience just different, I guess.”
“Because of what you’ve been through together?”
“That,” Maisie agreed with another nod, “and that we’ve seen each other at our best and at our very worst. It’s like having a best friend who knows every single thing you’ve ever been through, but then somehow ignites explosive passion too, because they know you enough to do that. I’ve never had sex like that.”
“That’s the good stuff,” Penelope said. “The everlasting stuff.”
Maisie’s heart squeezed in agreement. “Tell that to Hayes for me, would ya?” s
he joked, placing her foot back on the brake and shifting into drive as the train finally vanished and the gates lifted again.
As the car bounced over the tracks, Penelope asked, “Do I want to know what that even means?”
“It means I’m still not sure where things are going with us,” Maisie explained with a sigh. Penelope knew everything. Maisie leaned on her when Laurel passed away. She told Penelope when she started developing feelings for Hayes. “And isn’t that weird? I mean, I don’t really get the feeling that he’s holding back because I’m Laurel’s best friend; this is something different.”
“Hmm,” Penelope hummed. “He won’t talk to you about what’s going on?”
“I haven’t really asked,” Maisie admitted. “And yes, I’m know that’s because I’m scared if I ask, then he’ll shut me out.”
Penelope gave a dry laugh. “Okay, then I won’t say that, because you have your answer. You just have to talk to him.”
Seemed so easy, but it wasn’t at all. Hayes had been through a lot. Too much. He finally seemed happy again, she didn’t want to push him too fast, too soon. Maisie stayed lost in that thought for the last few minutes of the drive. When they reached downtown, people were already walking the streets, visiting the farmer’s market, and shopping in the quaint stores. She pulled to a stop next to the red brick storefront with the black awning next to an old bookstore. The hanging wooden sign read: LUNA WHITTLE. HOUSE OF MAGIC.