Page 87 of No Charm Done
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Luna landed on the grass outside the Stargazer Inn. She sat down hard. Stayed sitting.
Through the dining room window, she could see her sisters inside. Scarlett and Delilah, laughing over their cups of tea, unaware that their sister’s world had just imploded. She should go in. Tell them what happened. Even if she had to face their “told you so” looks.
But she couldn’t move.
The night hummed around her. Crickets. Distant traffic. And faintly, the brassy strains of “Stars and Stripes Forever” still playing.
Luna pulled her knees up to her chest and tried very hard not to cry.
The air beside her shimmered. She didn’t look up. She didn’t have the energy to be surprised.
A portal opened. Adrienne stepped through and plunked down on the grass beside her.
They sat in silence for a while. Then Adrienne said, in a carefully neutral voice, “The coven felt it. When the token was misused? We all felt it happen.”
“I’m sorry. Oh my gods, I’m so, so sorry, Adrienne. I gave him the satchel for just a second, and he . . . I should have been more careful. I should have—”
“Diego and Hector are concerned. But also a little impressed? Which is probably not the right response, but . . .” She shrugged. “Apparently Burke has been a menace to the city for a very long time, so the coven isn’t exactly torn up that he got a bit of comeuppance. Still, I, um . . . I’m gonna need that satchel back.”
Tears pooled in Luna’s eyes. “Of course, can’t blame you at all. Clearly you were wrong to entrust them to me.” She gingerly offered up the satchel like it might explode in her hands.
Adrienne tucked the satchel away and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. “Luna. Breathe.”
She breathed. Or tried to. It came out shaky.
“Seems you had yourself a day.”
“Define ‘day.’”
“The kind that ends with you dumping a man in Oklahoma.”
Luna groaned and put her face in her hands.
Adrienne’s voice softened. “You did the right thing. The hard thing. Funny how often those are the same.”
“I knew romance was a bad idea,” Luna muttered into her palms. “I knew it. I’ve always known. All that Love Actually crap isn’t for me. I should have just kept everything professional . . . kept my distance. Should have—” Her voice cracked. “I’m so stupid.”
“Romance isn’t your problem, kiddo. Hope is. Hope is what really gets you. But still, I wouldn’t trade it.”
Luna looked up. “Even when it hurts like this?”
“Especially then.” Adrienne stood, brushing grass from her jeans. “The coven’s not angry, if that helps any. Between you and me, following along with The Luna Melrose Show is the most entertainment we’ve had in years.” Her portal shimmered open behind her. “Get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be another disaster—I guarantee it.” She stepped through and the portal closed.
Luna sat alone under the stars, the distant sound of patriotic music a bizarre soundtrack to her messed-up life. She looked up at the night sky. “Enjoy the sharks, Shaw. You’ll fit right in.”
Chapter 25
One Honest Job
The trucker who picked up Elias outside Tulsa was a whirlwind of opinions with the lung capacity to share them.
“Country’s goin’ to hell. You got your inflation, your TikTok, your avocado toast. Don’t get me started on avocado toast. You know what I mean? Course you do. Everyone knows it. Nobody wants to say it, but I’ll say it. That’s what’s wrong with this country—nobody says what needs sayin’ anymore. Woke gone wild, that’s what it is. Back in my day—”
Rain streaked across the windshield. Elias watched in silence, wondering if jumping from a moving vehicle at sixty miles per hour would be worse than enduring this for another three hours.
“—and don’t even get me started on electric cars. Total catastrophe if you ask me, which nobody does, but anyway—”
