Page 17 of The Autumn Leaf Bookshop (Everly Hollow #1)

Where the lanterns float

Sylas

“ L ose the suspenders…” Nim says down the bond.

“No,” I say out loud.

I look down at my brown dress shoes, deep brown slacks, white shirt, a few buttons undone at the top, and sleeves stopping mid-forearm. To top it off, suspenders in a deep, burnt orange. I wanted something I feel good in. Being around Raene…also makes me feel good.

I reach for the band around my wrist, ready to tie my hair up, but think better of it and let it fall loose instead.

“ Your nervousness is showing ,” Nim growls.

“Hush, you’re not helping the situation. She’s going to be here any minute.”

The bell jingles and she walks in, wearing white sneakers, black leggings, and an oversized gray tee with three little flowers and their names scrawled beneath them.

The shirt slides off one shoulder like it’s trying to tease me on purpose.

Her hair is in a half-up, half-down style.

I love that she’s curvy and tall, but she still has to look up to me .

I don’t know where the fuck that came from.

“ I come bearing treats!” she sings-songs, making her way towards me.

“Tell her she’s the treat,” he chuffs. “I know you’re thinking about it.”

“ Sounds great!” I say, already smiling.

Sending a mental shut the fuck up to Nim. I motion to the quiet table near the window, just a few feet from the register. She sets the drink carrier and bag down on the table, placing her purse beside it.

“Pumpkin tears for you.” She hands me the coffee cup. She takes the stopper out of her drink, gives it a good inhale, and hugs it to her chest. “Cinnamon roll.”

Taking a seat and making herself comfortable, she puts the stopper in her mouth and sucks the coffee remnants off the stick.

Fuck.

I take the stopper from my cup and toss it in the drink carrier. I take a slow sip, trying to shift my focus anywhere else, anywhere but her mouth.

She takes a small pie out of the bag and hands it to me. “You have to try this.”

I hear Nim chirp, and I know he’s hoping there is something in this bag for him. Every fall season, his diet consists of small rodents and sweets. A lot of tea. He’s not too fond of coffee.

“What flavor did she make this time?” I ask, looking it over in my hand, eyeing the sugar crystal coating. I take a small bite, savoring the flavor .

“Sweet potato,” we both say at the same time, her mouth curves up into a small smile.

She peels the muffin from the bag next, her fingers delicate as she rotates it slowly, peeling off the paper wrapping the stem. She slowly lifts the edges of the muffin top, bit by bit. “Do you always eat your muffins like that?” I ask, taking another bite of the pie.

“Muffin tops are the best part. You save the best for last.” She pops a piece of the base into her mouth like this is her favorite ritual.

“So what’s the plan today?” She crosses her legs, continuing to eat her muffin.

I stay standing and polish off my pie.

“My part-time help, Cian, is coming in about twenty minutes. When he gets here, we’re going to take a drive.”

“A drive?” She asks, chewing on her muffin.

“Yes, I thought of a great spot for the lantern festival. It’s not a long drive, a good walk from the town square, but after that, I want to take you to Brookeridge. It’s about a forty-five minute drive, and they have some carnival equipment we can talk to them about.”

“Okay. What about the next time we meet up? When, where, and what’s on the list? That way, we can have at least this week planned.”

Pulling out a chair, I take a seat. “If we have time tonight, I can take you to the farm. We have storage in one of the barns on Elora’s property, that’s where we store the majority of the decor for all the festivals and some supplies.”

She nods her head. “Okay, let’s go.”

“There are homes in these hills?” she asks, peering out the window of my 4Runner. Her voice is caught between disbelief and curiosity.

The hills stretch out in gentle, rolling swells, blanketed in lush, thick green grass that gently ripples under the breeze. As we get closer, the details start to appear.

Rounded wooden doors tucked into the hill bases, some in deep shades of walnut, others painted in bright, joyful colors.

Tiny chimneys protrude up through the grassy earth like tree trunks, smoke, lazily drifting skyward.

Small round windows peek from the slopes, edged with climbing ivy or outlined by flowering vines, some with decorative shutters.

There are even wooden steps to easily move about from one home to the next on the rolling hills.

When we passed the treehouse village, I thought I would have to pick her jaw off the ground. She loved the houses and how big they looked, built around the trees and branches, rope ladders leading to the bridges, and even an elevator pulley system.

“Yes. Flora has her home and apothecary there. Jas lives in the treehouse village. That’s where Aaryn grew up, so she stayed.”

“Did you know him?” she asks. I catch her looking at me from the corner of my eye.

“Yeah, I did. We were all good friends. He and Dominik were like brothers. They were childhood best friends. ”

She nods and lets it settle for a second before her tone shifts to a lighter, teasing note. “So…” She turns a little in her seat to glance into the back. “Why isn’t he flying to meet us there? Does he just enjoy a car ride now and then?”

I glance in the rear view mirror. Nim sits in the middle of the seat with his wings tucked in tight, looking straight ahead like a regular passenger. He looks at Raene, crawls in a circle, and kneads the seat before resting on his belly in a dragon sploot.

“Pretty much,” I say, easing around a bend in the road, approaching our destination.

She watches him a second longer, her eyes narrowing in on him. “Does he need a…like a car seat or something?”

I bite down the laugh that tries to escape. My mouth curves into a smile before I can help it, and I glance at the mirror again, just to see Nim’s stoic face.

Nim sighs in my head. “She can’t be serious.”

After opening the rear window for Nim, Raene and I step out onto the dirt. We are parked off to the side, under a willow tree. She begins to twirl slowly in a circle, taking it all in.

We’re deep in the Emerald Wood. A large clearing is ahead, and just beyond it is our beautiful, blue lake, Sapphire Lake, fed by a roaring waterfall cascading down stone cliffs.

This location will be perfect for the lanterns to take off on day one for the opening ceremony. I enjoy coming here to think at times .

Nim launches from the backseat in a silent burst of movement, wings stretching wide as he lifts into the trees above.

He vanishes into the canopy while the sun’s rays filter through the leaves.

The colors are soft and shimmer in golden light, spraying across the forest floor, not yet touched by Ruskaya’s blessing.

I follow Raene with my eyes. She walks toward the clearing like she’s being pulled by something magnetic. Her steps are slow, fingers brushing the low branches of trees like a gentle touch asking permission to enter.

She loves it here. I can hear it in her heartbeat, the calmness, the steadiness of taking it all in. I’m glad the fall festival planning is going well. If she agrees on this location, and I really feel she will, it’ll be an item we can check off the list.

A cool breeze comes through, and it feels just right, like a sign from the Goddess of Autumn’s imminent arrival.

Raene doesn’t like fall. It was her most recent confession. I guess I just wonder why she doesn’t. It’s not that I need to know. We just met. We don’t know each other on that personal level. I don’t know her past or her deepest secrets. I just know she was raised by her grandmother.

I know she writes those breezy, sunny, and sexy love stories. Maybe that’s where she feels safest, so she stays in that realm. It’s her happy bubble of warm beaches, cold drinks, guaranteed happy endings in the sand and under the sun.

But I can't help wondering what made her turn her back on the fall. Something about the way she says it, that she doesn't do fall, like autumn once let her down, and she never wants to go back .

It’s not my business. She doesn’t know me, nor does she trust me. Still, I’d like to change that. I could be her friend. I want to be her friend. Even if that means just for a month?

She then stops, standing at the edge where the trees part into the open sky. Her gaze lifts to the blue skies above. “It’s magical,” she says softly, breath catching. “I love the feeling here. It just makes me feel…calm. What is this place?”

I swallow. She’s not wrong. There’s something about this place that settles everything in your chest and smooths it out. Like the air knows what stirs inside you and wants you to sit down, ease it off of you.

“Sateathea, the Goddess of Rain, it is said that her tears for her and her sisters creating Everly Hollow, were tears of happiness. Rain spilled and filled the lakes and waterfalls, a celebration of new beginnings.

She glances back at me, smiling, and calls me by the nickname she uses. Taking a deep breath, her eyes turn to the sky. “This is where the lanterns float. It’s perfect, Ash. I think everybody’s going to love it.”

I look up toward the sky, already imagining it.

“Yeah, tables will go up in the town square that morning. We can get supplies set up—glue, ribbon, and paint. We’ll look for lanterns in bulk, pre-made, because that will save us a lot of time.

I can enchant them once they’re ready. Make sure they float and that the flame lasts at least thirty minutes or so before fading. ”

Her smile widens. “Do you think Nim would light them? Be the official lantern lighter?”

I glance up to where Nim circles above the falls. His scales make him a kaleidoscope of fall colors shimmering in the sunlight.

“What do you think of that job title, oh great mini-dragon?” I ask him mentally.

He dives down low in answer, wings folding at the last moment before he lands on the sun-warmed grass with a dramatic flop .

Then, like a corgi with its legs spread wide and paws bent awkwardly, he rolls onto his back and rubs against the moss, twisting in different directions.

His wings flare out like he’s making grass angels, his tongue sticking out for a moment.

I grin. “That’s a yes.”

Raene laughs, the sound soft and surprised. I can’t stop watching her. The way her eyes get gold flecks when the sun hits them. The ease in her shoulders. Like this place has finally given her space to breathe, and for once, she isn’t thinking of fall.