Don't Give Me Butterflies

by Tara Sheets

  Chapter Ten

  It was seven o’clock by the time Kat pulled her car into the driveway of Emma’s house for movie night on Friday. She’d dressed in her usual black clothes, carefully applied her makeup, and wove her hair into two thick braids down her back. Everything about the scenario should’ve felt normal, but as Kat neared the house, she had the oddest jittery feeling in her limbs. Like she was hovering at the top of a roller coaster, about to plunge into strange and unknown territory.

  She pulled into the driveway and parked, staring at the yellow Queen Anne house with the turret and cheerful white porch. It was a beautiful house. The kind of house that made a person ache for a place just like it to call home. A lump formed in her throat, and she blinked at the sudden rush of emotions. What the heck? It wasn’t like her to get so nostalgic about a place. Especially a place she’d never been. It must be all the stress over finding new living arrangements and trying to make a new life for herself.

  Hank, who’d been sitting on her lap, hopped to the ground as soon as she opened the driver’s-side door. He immediately began nosing around the rosebushes near the fence. Kat slowly stepped out of the car.

  For several moments she just stared wistfully at the house. Warm light glowed through all the windows, and Kat knew with sudden certainty that happiness lived there. She was glad for Juliette and her cousin Emma. Both women had found the perfect balance in their lives. Juliette with her flower shop, and Emma with her bakery. How wonderful it must be to know exactly where you belonged.

  “What must that be like?” Kat mused under her breath. It wasn’t until a sudden breeze swirled into the yard, pushing at her back, that she shut the car door, gave a shaky laugh, and marched across the lawn to the front porch steps.

  “Hank, let’s go,” she called.

  Hank ran out from under the rosebush, and she picked him up, then climbed the porch steps.

  At the door, she tucked a loose curl behind her ear and prepared to knock.

  The doorknob turned, and the door swung open.

  Kat grinned, expecting to see Juliette on the threshold. Instead she saw . . . no one.

  She shifted on her feet, waiting for someone to appear. Who had opened the door? Voices in conversation came from down the hall. Kat could hear Juliette laughing at something her fiancé, Logan, said. Still, no one came to greet her.

  Kat took a tentative step over the threshold. “Um, hello?”

  The foyer was small, with a table and vase of flowers against the wall, and a row of hooks for coats and car keys. There was a colorful round area rug on the gleaming hardwood floor, and the walls were painted a soft yellow—the exact color of sunshine. Everything about it was warm and inviting, just like the Holloway women.

  Hank tried to wriggle out of her grasp, but Kat held on. It would be impolite to let him run around the house before she’d made her presence known.

  A huge dog with fleece the color of brown sugar came scrambling into the foyer. He looked like a Muppet from Sesame Street, with floppy ears and paws the size of dinner plates.

  Hank wriggled harder in her arms.

  Kat crouched down to greet Emma’s dog. She’d only met him a few times, but he was a gentle giant and Kat was already half in love with him. “Hi, Buddy,” she said. “I’ve brought Hank to visit.”

  Setting Hank on the floor, she stepped farther into the foyer while the dogs greeted each other with bounces and loud snuffling.

  The door swung firmly shut. Kat startled, glancing behind her. It must’ve been the wind. Remnants of the cool night air still lingered in the entry room.

  The voices down the hall suddenly stopped talking.

  “Hello?” Kat slowly walked toward the direction of the voices. She stopped at the entrance to a cozy living room with well-worn furniture and a shabby chic vibe.

  Juliette and her fiancé, Logan, were sprawled beside each other on an overstuffed couch with a quilt and a bowl of popcorn between them. Logan’s tawny hair was mussed, and he had his arm slung around Juliette’s shoulders.

  Emma was sitting cross-legged on the floor with her blond hair piled in a messy bun. Her husband, Hunter, sat behind her in an armchair, his hands resting on her shoulders as though he were in the process of giving her a neck massage.

  All four people were looking at Kat in shocked surprise.

  She shifted nervously on her feet. “Um, I’m sorry the door slammed.” She gestured behind her. “I think the wind blew it shut. Someone opened it, but I didn’t see anybody, so . . .”

  Still, nobody spoke.

  Juliette looked incredulous.

  Emma’s mouth was open.

  The men glanced at each other.

  Kat jerked a thumb behind her nervously. “Sh-should I go back outside and knock again?” Something was up, but she had no idea what. For several moments, she could hear the clock on the mantel ticking loudly in the silence.

  Then everyone began talking at once.

  “—How did you get inside?” Emma asked, coming to her feet.

  “—Did the door open on its own?” Juliette leapt from the couch, tossing aside the patchwork quilt.

  Logan’s arm shot out to steady the bowl of popcorn.

  “This is interesting,” Hunter said to Kat.

  “Somehow, I’m not surprised,” Logan said with a laugh, setting the popcorn bowl on the coffee table.

  Juliette reached Kat first. She gripped her by the shoulders with excitement. “How did you get inside?”

  Emma came up behind Juliette. “Did the door open for you? Like, did the handle turn?”

  Both women were staring at her like she was about to reveal the secret to the lost city of gold.

  Kat began to frown. “Yes. But I figured—”

  Juliette let out a whoop of delight and Emma clasped her hands together.

  “Let’s check, just to make sure.” Juliette grabbed Kat’s hand and pulled her toward the front door. “The house never makes mistakes.”

  Before Kat knew what was happening, Emma and Juliette pulled her back out the front door and down the steps. What was going on?

  “Stay right here,” Juliette commanded.

  Then they disappeared back inside and shut the door. Kat could hear them sliding a deadbolt home.

  She stared down at Hank and Buddy, who had followed them outside. “What the heck is going on?”

  Both dogs grinned up at her, tails wagging furiously.

  A few seconds later, one of the living room windows slid open and Emma and Juliette stuck their heads out.

  “Okay,” Emma called. “You can come in again.”

  “Just walk up to the door,” Juliette said.

  Kat hesitated. “Why am I doing this again?”

  “Just try knocking, like before,” Juliette called.

  Kat started up the front porch steps. Again.

  This time, she heard the deadbolt slide. Then the doorknob turned, and the front door swung wide.

  She slowly stepped over the threshold. “Okay, I’m in.”

  Both Juliette and Emma came barreling down the hall toward her. They enveloped her in a jumble of hugs and giggles and the scent of popcorn and vanilla shampoo.

  Kat started to laugh, then fought against the lump that formed in her throat. Not for the first time, she had the distinct feeling of connection with these two women. “Can someone please tell me what the heck is going on?” Kat asked.

  Emma pulled away and said, “This is the Holloway house. The Holloway house. It’s been in our family for generations, and it knows things.”

  Juliette grinned. “It recognizes family, or people who belong. And if you belong, it lets you in.”

  Kat blinked. “What?”

  “The house is . . .” Emma looked as if she were searching for the right words.

  “It’s opinionated,” Juliette said simply. “It always has been. So it’s kind of magic, I guess you could say. It has a mind of its own.”

  Hunter walked into the foyer. “It o
pened for me, too, when I fell in love with Emma.”

  “And Logan,” Juliette added. “After we got engaged, I brought him over and the door swung wide. The house just knows things.”

  Logan came up behind Juliette and put his arms around her. He nodded at Kat. “It’s true.”

  The dogs were running circles around the foyer, as if they could sense the excitement.

  Kat searched the faces of her friends. They all seemed sincere. A normal person would assume they were playing a joke on her, but she wasn’t a normal person. She communicated with animals and knew what they were feeling. She’d never been normal.

  “Okay.” Kat drew the word out slowly, trying to grasp what they were telling her. “So this house is magic. And it has decided to let me in, which means . . . it likes me?” She felt silly saying it, but both Emma and Juliette nodded.

  “It doesn’t just like you,” Hunter said, crossing his arms. “It’s saying you belong here. With us. You’re part of the family, somehow.”

  Kat felt suddenly lightheaded. An overwhelming mixture of disbelief and sadness and bittersweet hope flooded through her. What were the odds? “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

  “Come into the living room and let’s talk.” Juliette wrapped an arm around Kat’s shoulders.

  They led her into the cozy room and helped her settle into the corner of the couch. Juliette set a bowl of popcorn in her lap, and Emma made her a cup of hot chocolate. Kat felt as if she were in a strange, alternate universe. Like she’d driven up to the house and somehow fallen down a rabbit hole into a world where she had family connections and people who were genuinely interested in her. She gripped her cup of cocoa as Juliette and Emma explained the Holloway history.

  “We’ve always been different,” Juliette said. “You know those rumors about us having special abilities? Well, it’s all true. The Holloway women each have a special gift. I’ve been connected to Mother Nature since the day I was born.”

  “And I have kitchen magic, like our grandmother did,” Emma said gently. “She taught me everything I know about baking and sweet charms. And my mother has wanderlust, which is why we never see her. She travels the world, moving from place to place, helping people in need. All of us women are born with something we can’t deny. It’s like a calling.”

  Kat took a sip of hot cocoa, comforted by the sweet, rich taste of chocolate and melted marshmallows. She knew what they were going to ask next.

  “Do you . . . Can you do anything special like us?” Juliette asked.

  Kat gathered her courage. “I can communicate with animals,” she said quietly. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve had the ability to understand them. Relating to them . . . helping them . . . It’s just what I do.”

  “I knew it!” Juliette said.

  Both women were grinning like kids on Christmas morning.

  The men exchanged glances, and Hunter cleared his throat. “You guys probably have a lot to talk about.”

  Logan pulled car keys from his pocket. “We’re going to the store. You want ice cream?”

  Juliette batted her eyelashes at him. “Um, have we met?”

  “Right.” Logan chuckled and dropped a kiss on top of her head. “I’ll buy extra.”

  Kat watched them leave, still stunned by what was happening. Before coming to the island, she’d never in a million years expected to find people who were like her. Her whole life seemed to be a series of moments where she was always searching, and now, finally, she’d found people telling her she belonged. It was almost too good to be true.

  “My grandmother’s sister had animal magic,” Emma said. “But we don’t know much about her because she left home when she was young, and my grandmother never saw her again.”

  “Let’s figure this out,” Juliette said. “What about your family? What’s your mom like?”

  Kat braced herself for the empty ache that always accompanied that question. For some reason, it wasn’t so bad this time. Maybe it was because she didn’t feel entirely alone. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “She died when I was born and I grew up in foster care.”

  “I’m sorry,” Emma said softly. “That can’t have been easy.”

  Kat shrugged. “I was fine.” It was a lie, but she’d been saying it for so long that it just slipped off the tongue. Growing up the way she did had not been fine at all. It had been hard, and lonely, and sometimes heartbreaking. Why did people always say they were fine when they really weren’t? Maybe it was because it was just easier than telling the truth.

  “Then that settles it,” Juliette said firmly. “The Holloway house already claimed you as family. So you belong with us.”

  Emma placed her hand on Kat’s. “Our family might seem a little crazy, but we’re loyal.”

  “There’s got to be a way to figure out where you came from,” Juliette added. “We have about a million dusty trunks up in the attic we can go through, to start. Maybe there’ll be a clue.”

  There was a sudden ache in Kat’s throat she couldn’t speak around. These women were so ready to accept her into their lives, and they barely knew her. A long time ago, Kat had decided that animals were her only family, since she didn’t have the luxury of having anyone else. But now, sitting between these two amazing women, Kat felt as though the world as she knew it had begun to shift, and she had no idea how to navigate around it.

  Chapter Eleven

  Bright morning light spilled through Jordan’s bedroom window as he sat at his desk, sifting through e-mails from Prescott Enterprises.

  His partner, Chad Newland, had been keeping him updated on the latest developments. Prescott Enterprises had been doing exceptionally well since Jordan had landed the LM Development account three years ago. It had been his big coup. He’d gone through months of tough negotiations, while having to stave off the competition from other, far larger firms like Archer Anders.

  Jordan’s negotiating had gone on for so long, the owner of LM Development—old Leo Morgan, himself—had finally come into the city to meet Jordan in person. Leo Morgan was an ambitious man who came from humble beginnings, too, and that was how he and Jordan bonded. When they finally sealed the deal, he’d remarked that Jordan reminded him of himself forty years earlier.

  With small-time Prescott Enterprises suddenly in charge of two hundred million dollars in retirement funds, municipal bonds, and other assets, Jordan had gone from subletting a place in Bedford Park to a comfortable apartment in SoHo virtually overnight. It was everything he’d worked so hard for. Even after Leo Morgan passed away the following year, his nephew Morgan Jr. had stayed with Prescott Enterprises out of loyalty. Now, other companies were coming to Jordan for asset management, too. Things were looking up.

  Jordan leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms overhead, yawning. A warm breeze swirled in through the window, bringing with it the scent of rich earth and lavender. He’d almost forgotten it, after being gone for so many years. His life in Manhattan was nothing like this, which is exactly what he’d wanted. But as much as he fought to get away from the Pacific Northwest, a part of him missed the simplicity of the island life. Every day in the city seemed jam-packed with activity; something was always happening. On Pine Cove Island, entire days could go by with nothing happening at all.

  When he’d first arrived back on the island, it was hard to adjust. There were no blaring car horns or garbled snippets of conversations or police sirens in the distance. He’d grown used to those things. In New York, everything was constantly moving and changing, from the rivers of people on the city streets to the billboards and the scents of car exhaust and perfume and restaurants. Now that he’d been on the island for a few weeks, he realized just how peaceful it was to be close to nature again. Difficult as it was to believe, he’d missed it.

  Birds chirped in the tree outside his bedroom window, and aside from that, the only other sound was the leaves rustling in the wind. No . . . there was another sound. Jordan cocked his head and sat u
p. A softly singing voice. It was sweet and clear, and he knew it was Kat. Unable to help himself, he rose from his chair and walked to the window, peering through the screen.

  Kat was sitting cross-legged in the animal pen, hugging one of the chickens. She stopped singing and bent her head to whisper something to it. Her fiery hair was in a messy bun on top of her head, exposing her slender neck, and her faded tank top revealed pale arms smudged with dirt. When she started singing again, her voice hit him like a metal spike through the heart. It wasn’t a fancy, powerful singing voice. It was sweet and soft and melodious. The kind of voice that got under your skin and made you want things.

  Jordan clenched his hands and turned away from the window. She was too alluring for her own good. At the campfire the other night, he’d wanted to haul her into his lap and devour her. He’d wanted to hear her breath catch in surprise and watch her brilliant eyes go all smoky with desire. He couldn’t stop thinking about it, which was becoming a problem. She was a problem. Kat Davenport was a distraction he didn’t need, and he’d do well to remember it. He was here to do work, tie up loose ends, and go back to his real life. End of story.

  Sitting back at his desk, he started scrolling through e-mails with an odd sense of detachment. Work seemed so far away. He hadn’t realized coming back to the farm would be so easy; like stepping into an old pair of shoes. Too bad those shoes were so damned full of holes.

  Jordan scrubbed his face with both hands and sighed heavily. He’d told Chad he was taking a sabbatical and that he’d return in a couple of months. But there would be no rest here. This was a final cleanup of the mess his parents left behind. Sure, he could have paid someone to come out here and take care of it all. Make the problems go away. But Jordan didn’t need a psychiatrist to spell out that he needed closure. This was to be his last visit to Pine Cove Island. He was going to put all these memories behind him, once and for all.