Chapter 29

Goodbye, Pumpkin

I don’t run from my ex, so I’m already impressed with my restraint.

To my knowledge, he never responded to my Instagram message, but here he is: Micah, a small, white twink with wavy dark hair and a child’s simplistic sense of style. I loved him something awful, but then he realized he was in love with his best friend, Elliot—now his boyfriend, standing protectively by his side.

Elliot is kind, patient, and impossibly cute, like a woodland critter. He’s the ultimate bunny, and I’m the ultimate beast. Micah really had no choice. Elliot is white, pretty, and chubby, with sandy-blond hair and a sparkling smile. He’s also grown a faint blond beard, which I’m usually not fond of, but—groan—works on him. Micah and Elliot clasp hands, each of them carrying their own rose (which they likely bought for each other—double groan).

The boys stare, vaguely terrified, as if I’m going to start screaming and chuck them bodily off the premises.

Except…I already chucked them a year ago.

They wanted to stay friends, but I was hurt, so I abandoned them.

I did it with them, I did it with Ben, and I’ll do it again with God knows who else if I can’t break this curse today. Today is the day I settle my debts.

“You came!” I whisper, waving excitedly. Micah and Elliot return my wave with a relief that hurts my heart. Micah probably thought I’d never be nice to him again.

Behind me, Aunt Ro beckons the festival crowd deeper down the lawn toward the first stop on the tour: the living sculpture garden. I don’t want to lose valuable time with these two, and what I need to say to Micah deserves privacy, so I run defense among the other friendly, familiar faces in the crowd. “One sec!” I mouth to Micah, and he nods enthusiastically.

Quickly, I dash through the crowd to hug Eshana and tell her, “These models are perfect. You saved my ass again, queen!”

“You can start paying me back right now,” she says, clutching a bouquet of sapphire-blue roses. Her eyes dart around the premises. “Anyone single and straight here?”

I wince. “Unlikely. Ooh, one of our irrigation mechanics is bi.”

“Okay!” Eshana brightens, her head swiveling left and right on the hunt.

“He’s forty-two,” I chuckle.

Her smile falls. “It’s good to see you again, worm.” On another laugh, she grabs my hand and looks deeply at me. “Your ex is here. You know that?”

On a deep breath, I announce, “I invited him.”

Eshana is speechless. Slowly, a proud smile rises on her face. “You know,” she says, slightly choked up, “for a while there, I was really worried about you.”

“I know. I’m sorry I made you worry.”

She throws one more Beloved Friend Hug around my chest and whispers, “Whatever you’re doing, keep it up.”

After I leave Eshana, I hurry over to two of my siblings, Traci and A. C. My brother rustles my hair, which I’m trying to be cool about—especially since Micah is here and I need to look perfect! I double back to grab Mr. Cartwright and his boyfriend before they reach the sculpture garden.

“Mr. Cartwright! Ben told me you were back!” I throw a hug around the man, who chuckles with delighted surprise.

“Grant, it has been a divine festival,” he says, gesturing at the grounds. “Look at what you’ve done with the place.”

I wave him off. “Ah, that’s all Ben. I’m sorry about the weather, though.”

“Don’t be! The rain is for the flowers.”

Mr. Cartwright is smiling harder than I’d seen him earlier in the summer. He’s practically levitating off his toes. And I can guess why: he’s dying to introduce me to his brand-new man!

I throw out my hand to the newcomer. “I’m Grant. Very cool to meet you.”

Mr. Cartwright’s boyfriend—Mr. Looks Comfortable in a Cable-Knit Sweater in August—shakes my hand with a moisture-soft grip. “Stephen Wilder,” he says, American, unlike Mr. Cartwright’s clipped British. “Got a gorgeous place here.”

“Oh, it’s, uh…it’s home.” With a swift glance at Vero Roseto’s grand walls, I see it through Stephen’s fresh eyes. It’s a palace. I wish I didn’t have to leave soon.

Returning to Mr. Cartwright, I say, “Don’t want to keep you from the big show, but I’d really like to catch up as soon as you’re done.”

“I’d like that.” He pets Stephen’s shoulder, looking lost for words—a first. “We were going to the winery after this. Join us?”

My pre–rose garden plans now set, I wish Mr. Cartwright and Stephen a happy show and jog backward across the lawn toward the deck of Vero Roseto. The mass of townspeople suddenly breaks into three groups. One group heads straight for the rose garden to make a wish, Aunt Ro leads another toward the Blue Apple Orchard, and the rest slowly merge single-file into the living sculpture garden. A. C., Traci, Stephen, and Mr. Cartwright go with them.

Milling around just outside the sculpture tent, Micah glances anxiously back at me. My “one second” ask was quite a few seconds ago, and now I’ve backtracked to the patio. But I’m not being a coward—I have a plan. Waving at him, I gesture broadly to the phone in my hand. As fast as I can, I jump to my DMs with Micah and send:

I have something for you! Gotta get it upstairs. Meet me here on the deck in a minute? Bring Elliot too.

Okay! his reply comes instantly.

Without thinking or planning, I dash inside the parlor, run up the East Wing stairs to my room, and find my vegan leather jacket, the one I sewed from scratch that’s embroidered across the back with a pumpkin and vines. Vines so similar to the ones Mama Bianchi carved onto Vero Roseto. The jacket that got me into design school. The jacket I wore the day I met Micah. When I look at this jacket, I see him, not me. I used to hate that fact, but now I know why.

When I reemerge onto the deck, Micah and Elliot are waiting by the pool. I hold the jacket in a tight ball under my arm. Gotta keep it a surprise for just another minute.

“Come here, hug me!” I tell them both, and smiles break out over their faces as they envelop me in love. Micah’s scent is exactly the same. I don’t know if it’s a deodorant, cologne, or just him, but it’s The Micah Smell. It’s extremely pleasant and very rich, and teleports me to Simpler Times.

All I can do is bite my lip to hold back a monsoon of emotions. With a flourish, I unfurl the pumpkin jacket. Instantly, Micah covers his face to hide his tears. Even Elliot brushes back a tear. “Oh my God…” Micah reaches for the sleeves, moved beyond words at the memento. It’s priceless to him. Suddenly, he looks up, almost scared. “You’re giving this to me?”

Sniffling back my own emotions, I nod. “It belongs with you.”

Slowly, as if he might ruin it, Micah hugs the jacket close. When my hand leaves the material, I can almost feel my connection to the past break.

It’s a gift, a sacrifice, and medicine to heal an old wound. By letting this jacket go, I’m free to accept the next gift the universe plans to send.

A gift that I hope is Ben’s trust.

I hug Micah and Elliot one last time and tell them we should catch up as soon as I’m in the city again. With any luck, it’ll be a double date. As they hurry up the lawn to see my living sculpture garden, the dark green clouds hanging over us finally make good on their threats, and the storm begins.