Page 23 of Finding My Charming

“Well? What is it? What aren’t you telling me?”

“There’s a time limit.”

That was definitely not what I’d been expecting, not that I’d really had time to process and start making guesses. “What kind of time limit? A year? A season?”

Mom looked at me with an apology in her eyes. Oh no. “Each girl has one lunar month.”

My jaw dropped. I sat there staring, waiting for one of them to crack and laugh. Surely, they were joking.

“Elise, we’ve read and reread every family book we have. It seems like this hasn’t ever happened, a girl not realizing when the charm changes, but it’s been passed down from the beginning that there was a limit.”

My eyes stayed on her for a few heartbeats before I turned to Grandma. “You were serious? I’m really the first?”

She shrugged slightly. “From looking through all the records, yes.”

Huh. Just one more thing to make me different from my sisters and the rest of my family.

“So how much time do I have?”

Mom slid over the calendar, which usually hung on the wall in the kitchen, across the counter to me. “The last full moon was May 21.” She tapped on the date then flipped the page. “The next full moon is on June 20.”

Her words were simple enough, but my brain was refusing to comprehend. I turned the pages back to May, stared, then flipped forward to June. Today was June 8. I had less than two weeks to find the right guy.

“What happens?”

They looked at each other then back to me. My mom shook her head. “What do you mean, honey?”

“What happens if I don’t figure out who he was? What’s the catch?”

Mom let out a breath and looked to Grandma. “The spell is broken. The charm will cease to work. Not for you and not for anyone ever again.”

A shrill scream pierced through the silence. All three of us turned toward the entrance of the kitchen and watched April stomp her way in.

My sister looked at me with murder in her eyes. “You are going to ruin everything! How could you be so oblivious? So, so stupid!” She was shaking.

I could see the individual muscles in her arms and hands tremble. I’d seen her angry before. After all, I was her older sister. It was my job to annoy her growing up, but this was pure unadulterated rage and hatred.

“April, you need to calm down. We’re going to help her figure things out.”

She tore her eyes away from me for a second then glared at Mom before they darted back to me.

“You’d better fix this, Elise. This is my natural right as a Glover daughter. You will not ruin this for me.”

Her voice was low, and I knew she meant every word. I wasn’t afraid of her as a person, but I knew she was the most passionate about the necklace in our family. If I didn’t find my soul mate in the next two weeks, I was terrified of what she would do to me.

With one last menacing glare, April turned and pounded up the stairs.

We waited in silence for the inevitable slam of her door. When it finally came, a collective sigh sounded.

We might not be any closer to finding my perfect match, but it was now my number one priority. I could survive without the drama though.

Chapter 11

Sherrie had been eyeing me all morning but gave me the space I needed. Maybe Dad had warned her before I got here this morning. I wasn’t going to bring up it now. I knew I should tell her something to ease her concern, but what was there to say?

“My ancient ancestors overestimated their posterity. They tried to make the charm idiot-proof, but here I am – the idiot who messed it up.”

With each passing moment, my anxiety increased. Every second that went by without me figuring out which guy had turned the charm was a second closer to breaking the spell and ruining April’s life – her words, definitely not mine.