Forever (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 5)

Mina didn’t follow them outside into the driveway right away. She went back to the kitchen, and her footsteps slowed. The glamour of flowers and the celebration had disappeared. The room was back to the way it had been right before her mom disappeared. This was the last place she had spoken with her mom.

Moving on so soon seemed wrong. But these weren’t normal circumstances. Mina was a young girl trying to protect her little brother in the best way possible. Helping him heal was what was most important right now. But they didn’t have time to mourn, not when she had a feeling there was so much more to come.

She stared at her mother’s purse but couldn’t open it up to take money out of it. It felt wrong. Instead, she went into the pantry and pulled out an old coffee tin, to take money out of their emergency stash. Her mother was always prepared in case they had to pick up and move again, so even though they felt strapped for cash, there had always been a couple hundred in there.

The wad of money was even larger than Mina remembered. Probably because they weren’t paying rent on this place, her mom had been able to add to their fund.

Mina took three hundred dollars and shoved it into her jeans pocket. Then she placed the lid back on the tin and pushed it back up onto the top shelf.

She grabbed her jacket and locked the door before following the others. They’d apparently split themselves up into two cars instead of taking one—Nan in her Volkswagen Beetle and Brody in his SUV. Ever already sat in the front seat of Nan’s car, and Mina could see Charlie strapped into the back seat. The girls were talking very animatedly, trying to keep him entertained.

Mina didn’t feel like being surrounded by false joy, so she willingly jumped into the front passenger side of Brody’s car. She had barely gotten her seatbelt buckled when Nan meeped impatiently. Nan’s car horn wasn’t threatening at all. It was kind of hilarious and matched her personality.

Brody gave a wave, drove down their driveway, and turned left. Sailors Grocery wasn’t a long drive, and Mina was too far out to pay Brody much attention. Until she realized that he had asked her a serious question and was staring at her, waiting for her answer.

“Um, I’m sorry. What was the question?” Her cheeks heated in humiliation.

Brody’s face flushed, and he stammered. “Yeah, I’m the king of asking questions at the wrong moment.”

“No. I’m sorry. I’m here in the moment. Ask away.”

He glanced in the rear view mirror to check his blind spot before changing lanes.

“I asked you if you got to see it.”

“See what?” she mumbled and felt horrible.

He didn’t make eye contact. “What was in the box I gave you two nights ago.”

Oh crud. Mina blinked in disbelief. A ring? There was a ring. When? Where? Two nights ago! That would have been the night of the explosion. Then it all came rushing back to her. Brody on the balcony, holding up a small box and saying how old fashioned he was. He’d opened a box to show her a class ring. His class ring. What happened to it? She remembered the explosion, and that’s it.

“Your class ring.”

“Yes and…?” he trailed off.

“And…” she repeated trying to delay the answer so she could think. If he had given her the ring before the ball, she would have said yes without a doubt. But then she had gone back in time and started to fall in love with Teague, before she’d torn his life in two with the curse. Before she’d seen how ruthless he could be.

When Teague was hell bent on trying to destroy her, why would she pause? She had loved Jared—she was able to freely admit that. But a small part of her still wondered if something of him remained within Teague. Could there be a small bit of love for her within his blackened heart?

Why couldn’t she just date the boy she’d had a crush on for years? It was obvious he liked her, and she really, really liked him. And this time there was no Story-funny-business messing with his feelings.

“Oh man,” Brody grumbled and pulled the car over to the side of the road.

“What?” Mina glanced around somewhat fearfully, and they had pulled over by the school. Cars were lined up and down every street, and kids walked by with balloons and large overstuffed prizes. “Oh, the school carnival.”

Brody groaned and ran his hands over his face. “Yeah, I was supposed to volunteer with the polo team in our booth today. I got out of it for Friday night, but I blew off yesterday.”

“Well, you did have a lot going on, like being chased by a death omen and all.” Mina tried to tease him, but it didn’t help. Brody’s face looked guilt stricken.

“You don’t understand. This was my idea—to raise scholarship funds for underprivileged kids to go to summer camp. The team is going to kill me.”

Mina understood. She had seen the banners all over school promoting the fair. Most of the clubs and teams manned a booth—it was the biggest fundraiser of the year. Luckily, Mina had been able to avoid getting roped into volunteering.

Nan pulled up beside them, and Ever rolled down the passenger window. “What’s the hold up?”

Brody rolled his window down. “I’m supposed to be working today and yesterday.”

“Uh oh! Somebody’s in trouble,” Ever taunted.