Page 63 of Manors & Mischief

It was never luck for my mom. It was always hard work and determination.

“Sorry I don’t have better news for you. You might want to tell Ember first before Nichols shows back up. He’ll be less than friendly, I’m sure.”

I swallow. Things were going so well, too. I got her to forget about this mess. We went on a date, and I crashed the sleepover with Bea. The look on their faces when they didn’t know who it was coming through the front door was priceless. Ember’s round eyes might forever be singed on my brain now. It actually made me feel a little bad for scaring her. I only wish she’d taken Bea up on the offer to leave.

She and I need to have a conversation about what’s holding her back. We both feel the same way, everyone can tell, so why is she putting up blocks? I can tell by the way she kisses me it would be easy to take the next step. Not that I want to hurry her in anyway, but I also want to make sure we’re on the same page.

None of that seems to matter now that I have to tell her about Nichols. She’ll be so distracted and worried. My stomach twists. What if this is another reason for her to put up more barriers? Why would she start something with me if she has to worry about losing the manor? She already said she’d have to go home.

I can’t let that happen. She said Harvest Falls is her dream, and right now, I want that more for her than accomplishing even my own dreams.

I suck in a breath. The well.

Maybe it’s time for me to introduce it to her.

I say goodbye to my mother, telling her I’ll have a conversation with Ember first thing, and I immediately drive out to the manor. When I get there, though, I spy the code enforcer’s truck already parked on the street.

Son of a bitch.

I pull up to the curb in a hurry, the truck tires squealing as I put the brakes on. I jump from the cab and hurry toward the door only to have Nichols come out of it with his stupid suit and tie. “You jackass.”

“Just doing my job,” he monotones as he walks past me on the very porch that I put my blood and sweat into.

I don’t bother confronting him because it’ll only look bad for my mother. Even though I wish it wasn’t true, she can’t treat Ember any differently. I knock on the front door and let myself in. I just step into the foyer when Ember throws her arms around me.

“I know,” I tell her before she can even get a word out.

“You know that it’s real? I have to pay the fine?”

I nod, and she holds me closer. “This is just the worst news. I don’t know what I’m going to be able to do.”

“Well, we have the $800 from the tip jar.”

She shakes her head. “That’s supposed to go toward renovations. I’m not going to lose everyone’s trust by using the money for something it wasn’t intended for.”

She’s right. That was just my desperation coming out to try to fix the problem. “I want you to know my mom tried hard, but her hands are tied.”

“I know. Your mother is a good one.” Ember steps back and wipes her eyes.

I want to make it all better. I want to soothe every worry she’s ever had.

“Can I show you something?” I check my pockets for change and come up empty. “You’re going to need a quarter though. Do you have one?”

She eyes me. “This is a change in topic I was not expecting.”

“Just trust me.”

Ember goes to the bench to get her purse. She pulls out her wallet and fishes out a quarter. After putting everything back where it was, she holds up the quarter as she walks toward me. I reach for her hand, and then we step out onto the porch.

I’m about to go to the well for the first time in a long time.

“My grandfather actually showed me this,” I start the story. “Old Man Lewis used to talk about it all the time. It held such a mystical quality that I was always intrigued. Then one day, I was pretty down. I was just a kid, but apparently, I was having an existential crisis. I think it was soon after my dad left.”

As I tell her the story, I walk her through the side lawn, then out past where Old Man Lewis used to mow. The line is divided naturally. Overgrown grass gives way to a forest of trees. I never knew why he didn’t make a bigger deal out of the well when he loved it so much. It seemed to me it should have its own path and a plaque placed there. It wasn’t even that he wanted to keep it to himself because he used to tell people to drop a coin in there all the time, but over the years, the well has largely become forgotten.

“Where are we going?” Ember asks as I move a branch out of her way. The forest floor is littered with rotting stumps and years’ worth of decayed leaves and other tree refuse.

“You’ll see.”