For the last week of November, it surprised Noah at how busy the Christmas tree lot was. He had figured people wouldn’t be getting their trees for at least another week if they didn’t want them to dry out. But instead, people were getting into the seasonal spirit early. “Hey boss,” Charlie said, sitting down […]

“How’s your mom doing?” Those were Ryan’s first words as he squeezed Cleo tightly seconds after walking in the door. She hugged him back, oddly touched that it was his first concern. When he’d called to ask if he could stop by on his way back to Boston tonight, Cleo had assumed it was just […]

“Good morning, Roman.” Roman was standing outside the general store, taking a sip of his coffee before he got in his truck. At least, that was his plan until Charles Baxter had stepped up beside him as he leaned against the side of the truck. And suddenly the icy wind felt just a little colder. […]

“Thanks for letting me crash on your couch.” Cleo was sitting in the backyard of Noah and Olivia’s house, watching as Noah finished throwing down salt on the stairs with his good hand. She’d offered to help and he’d refused, so she wasn’t going to push it. So now she sat on the stone wall […]

Cleo was coming out of Olivia’s bathroom when Olivia walked into the kitchen. She’d clearly just woken up, with the torn UMass Amherst shirt she wore and with her hair tied up messily as she poured a cup of coffee. “Morning,” Cleo said. Olivia looked over and smiled. “Morning,” she said. “How’d you sleep?” “Oh, […]

Cleo wanted to stay at Olivia’s another night, just in case her mom needed anything in the night. When she’d left, her mother had been awake and eating the supper that Mrs. Stevenson had brought. The two of them were going to spend some time together tonight, but Mrs. Stevenson couldn’t stay and her mother […]

Noah hadn’t expected to be fully recovered the next day. He wasn’t that stupid. But he’d hoped that a day on the couch would at least let him function afterward. So he was irritated to realize it had been two days since he’d re-broken his wrist and he couldn’t do much more than get up […]

Iris hated the way her thoughts were consumed by Vivien lately. And the worst part was that she couldn’t even pinpoint her feelings about the other woman. Vivien was frustrating. She was arrogant. And she was so immature with her magic work that she couldn’t even form a proper salt circle without Iris coming in […]

Andrew rapped lightly on Noah’s door before opening it and stepping inside. “Just me,” he called softly as he walked into the kitchen and nudged the door shut behind him. “Noah?” He called softly as he set down the soup on the kitchen table. “Couch,” Noah called softly from the living room. Andrew walked in, […]

About fifteen minutes after waking up the next morning, Cleo and Edie were in the car and pulling out of Olivia’s and Noah’s driveway. Edie was driving as Cleo tried to blink awake. She knew they could stop for coffee at the general store before leaving New Winslow, but the last thing she wanted was […]