Page 36 of Sweets and Sycamores

ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?

Asilver car was parked outside when Allie came out of the bakery, after she had changed into a different sweater and grabbed her jacket.

And her dragon. Ekko had filled her studio room with happy puffs of steam when she told him they were visiting Brandon’s farm, where he could fly freely.

Allie hadn’t asked Brandon if her baby dragon was welcome on this visit, but the first thing the ever-grinning man did was scratch Ekko under his chin and say, “Hey, buddy.” The creature stretched and purred from Allie’s shoulder, more house cat than dragon.

“Ready?” Brandon said and held open the passenger door.

Allie took advantage of the last rays of daylight to soak in the scenery.

Once they crossed over the bridge to the residential and farming area of the town, they were lost between auburn hills and snaking bronze paths.

It was breathtaking, and peaceful, and somehow comforting to live in a place with changing seasons.

Pearls Fields was forever bound to summer by the old magic in the land, and while Allie had enjoyed the endless sunny days when she was little, now she found herself running from the scorching sun more often than not.

“How do you like it here so far?” Brandon asked her as he pulled the car into the driveway of the house with the green roof.

“It’s beautiful.”

Ekko started to chitter and nudge her jaw urgently. They got out of the car, and Allie asked, “Is it okay if I let Ekko fly around here?” Brandon nodded, and Ekko took flight, making a mess of Allie’s curls.

“What kind is he?” Brandon asked.

“Tree dragon. Don’t worry, he can’t spit fire. Unless you have an orchard growing any types of fruits, everything else is safe.”

“I have multiple orchards.” Allie froze, but Brandon continued with a laugh, “He’s welcome to anything he can find. Yes, I’m sure,” he said once he noticed the look of dread on Allie’s face.

They walked from his house on a path to the right, away from the land where the wedding had taken place.

The sky became thick with darkness by the time Brandon showed her around the vegetable crops.

The place was enormous. It would take Allie forever not to get lost here, but she got drunk on the freedom, the refreshing air, even the cold.

Her body had grown used to lower temperatures, and Allie found she enjoyed the chill that made her snuggle under a blanket with a hot drink.

“I should’ve known we won’t see much with the sun setting so early,” Brandon said as they made their way back to the house. He stopped and pointed to some lit barns on the other side of the hill, telling her that was the cattle’s residence.

“How many do you have?”

He rattled off a string of animals and their quantities, much higher than Allie expected. Riverbend Farm was truly a big deal.

“Wait.” Brandon felt his jeans’ pockets, then his jacket. “I forgot the flashlight.”

“Do we need one?” Allie looked around, and some low lights were on already around the field, through the vegetable rows. Brandon put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to a darkness so thick, Allie felt like she could grab it and spin it into a yarn.

Yarn.

Well, it was about time Brandon learned a bit about her, too. Allie held her palm up and focused on the warmth in her chest. She unspooled a thread of power and let it flow through her until it took form over her fingers.

“Wow.” Brandon looked from her to the fire and back, his mouth open. “You’re an elemental Witch.” Allie nodded, a proud smile escaping her lips, only because she was managing to control her power so well right now. “Does Dom know?” The wariness in his voice shoved that smile away, deep inside her.

“He knows.”

“Good,” Brandon said, visibly relaxing.

Allie told him her story, keeping everything related to her boss to herself.

They had been friends for so long—“basically our whole lives,” Brandon told her—so it was Dominic’s choice to tell him about the seal or about the other issues he had helped her with.

If he wanted to. Allie stuck to her own life, her mom, and her coven, steering clear of Green Creek, and confessed that she had manifested late and came here to learn per her coven’s request.

“That’s shitty,” Brandon scoffed. “They should have helped you, not sent you away.” Allie didn’t argue, but asked him for a favor.

“The people in Sycamore Falls don’t know about my power, and I think it’s best to keep it that way.”

“Yeah, you bet. The last thing people here need to know is that the town’s Witch can burn it to the ground.” He’d clearly meant it as a joke, but it struck too close to the truth for comfort.

Back at the house, they sat outside and drank hot chocolate. Brandon insisted they go in, but she was enjoying the quiet and the misty air too much. The moon was out, looking over them from the top of the hills, and Allie felt best under the moonlight. Safest. Strongest.

“Do you know who the Witch was who broke the spell on the sycamores?” Allie asked, and when she saw Brandon’s confused look, she added, “Mia told me about it.” Something passed over his features at the sound of Mia’s name, and Allie was itching to ask him about her, but decided against it. For now.

“Jared’s ex.” He looked at Allie with raised brows until she placed the name to the person.

The man with the gross and disturbing aura and intentions that kept popping into her life.

Allie shivered at the thought. “Exactly. They had been together for a few years when she found out that Jared was cheating on her.” Oh, no. “Witches are kind of…”

“Vengeful? Grudge-holders?”

“Right.” Brandon chuckled. “They had been living together in a southern town far away, but when they split up, Jared came back. He’s the mayor’s only child, who hopes to leave the business to Jared.

” Allie grimaced as if the drink had turned sour.

“The Witch came here soon after he’d returned and…

you know the rest. No one wants him here, and he doesn’t even want to be here, but all he can do is follow in his father’s steps. ”

Allie tried to muster a drop of pity for him, yet nothing came but a full-body shiver. The cold was getting to her.

“I’ll get a blanket,” Brandon said, and handed her his cup.

Dominic pulled up his car by the gate and walked the length of the farm’s driveway to cool…

whatever it was that came over him when he returned to the bakery and found it locked.

Earlier, he’d overheard Brandon asking Allie to come visit the farm, but Dominic wrote it off as one of the annoying skits his friend attempted to get him to admit his feelings.

Yet when he found no trace of Allie or Ekko, a weird feeling snuck into him and gripped his chest with vulture-like claws.

Allie must have left with Brandon, and Dominic hated it with everything he was. Even if Brandon had been his friend ever since he could remember, it didn’t sit well with Dom for Allie to be alone with any man but him.

His boots crunched on the dry path, and with every step through the dark driveway, Dominic realized the feeling that had made him jump into his car and race here was jealousy. He was jealous of Brandon.

“Idiot,” he muttered under his breath. The logical part of his brain told him Brandon would never make a move on Allie after all the time he spent getting Dom to admit his crush on her.

Unfortunately, the part that told him the exact opposite was louder.

Dominic rushed his steps into a jog and only slowed down when the house lights came into view.

A lean figure sat on the porch swing, drowning in an ocean of red hair, holding two cups in her hands. Dominic walked to her like a moth drawn to light, and he could swear the air was warmer as he got closer to her.

“Dom,” Allie said when she noticed him climbing the porch stairs.

His name like that on her lips made his heart somersault inside his chest. Dominic didn’t remember why he had angrily rushed out of the bakery earlier, leaving her behind. How could he be angry with her?

Allie had said they were only friends, but if she didn’t want anything else, wasn’t friends better than nothing?

“What are you doing here?” A smile spread on her face, one of those large and genuine ones. Was she happy to see him?

“I came to pick you up.” During the drive, Dom had considered inventing a reason to come to Riverbend, then coincidentally leave with Allie. Then he had thought better about it and decided on the truth: he just wanted to take her home. No lies, no games.

The door slammed open and missed hitting Dominic in the face by a hair’s breadth.

“I found the—oh. Hey, D,” Brandon greeted him with a shit-eating grin. He knew he had gotten under Dom’s skin. By coming here, Dominic had just proved his friend right. Admitted he had gotten under his skin.

“Brandon,” Dom said with a slight tip of his chin. He scowled at his friend, whose smile only grew. Then he noticed the blanket under his arm, and Allie holding two cups...

It wasn’t hard to put two and two together, and hell would freeze over before Dominic let Brandon get all cozy next to Allie. Without another thought, Dom grabbed the cups from Allie’s hands and handed them to Brandon as he snatched the blanket, fluffed it up, and draped it over Allie’s shoulders.

“Let me know when you’re ready to go.” He sat next to her and held his arm around her longer than needed. Allie leaned closer to him, a sparkle in her chocolate eyes that had Dominic thinking it was more than just the lamplight reflection.

“Ekko’s not back yet. He’s roaming around the farm, probably in the orchards.” She chuckled softly and shook her head. Dominic wanted to swallow that breathy sound.

“I can bring him back.”