“Oh, well, you and the cat should be very happy together,” Nora said dryly.

“See?” Izzy said, throwing out a hand in her sister’s direction. “Even the hater of spring agrees.”

“No. No,” Nora said. “Leave me out of this. I’m just here as a spectator.”

I studied my aunt, but her expression remained hidden behind her sunglasses. She was being uncharacteristically quiet for this conversation.

Clearly Izzy thought so too because she said, “You’re not getting off that easily. Tell the truth, is Brynn being stubborn or not?”

Nora regarded me a moment. “Yes, definitely stubborn. But I’ve always thought stubbornness was more of a virtue than a vice. It shows conviction. Well done, Brynn.”

I frowned. “Thank you. I think.” I was having trouble following all the twists and turns this evening was taking. I was never going to look at sunsets the same way. “But I have to disagree. I’m not being stubborn. It’s just fact. I’ve had a great love. I’m grateful for that. And right now, I couldn’t be happier. I’m completely fulfilled. This is the life I am meant to be living. Even if some areas are going a bit slowly right now.”

All of that was true.

I loved running Ivywood Hollow with my aunts. I loved living in the loft above the carriage house. I loved that I was now reconnecting with old friends I had lost touch with over the past few years. And I loved the fact that I had a calling in life that allowed me to help people—the work Nora had referred to earlier. Although it had been a while since I’d truly been able to help anyone. That was the one area of my life that was moving slowly. I guess you could call me a grief counselor of sorts, and living in a small town like Evenfall, there were sometimes dry spells of, well, death.

“Ah. I see what’s wrong with you now,” Nora said knowingly. “It’s not love that you’re missing. You want someone to die.”

I gasped. “What? I would never! How could you even suggest—”

I saw the corner of my aunt’s mouth twitch.

My shoulders dropped from my ears. “You’re horrible, you know that?”

“I know,” she said happily, reclining further into her seat.

I frowned again.

“All teasing aside,” Izzy said, “your well-being is of the utmost importance to us, darling. We just want to know you’re happy.”

“I am happy. Very, very happy. Couldn’t be happier, in fact.”

Faustus jumped down from my lap, hitting the porch floor with a loud thump. I guess he didn’t like my particular brand of happy.

“You know, I think this conversation has run its course. Why are we wasting time bickering when we are surrounded by all this beauty? I bet everyone in Evenfall is enjoying this sunset.”

Suddenly a disembodied voice called out, “Well, I’m not!”

I jumped in my seat. Chills raced up my arms as I spotted a gust of wind swooping over the tall iron gate of the backyard. I realize one can’t usually see a breeze, but this was no normal wind. No, this short stream of air was colored with silvery sparkles that danced and gleamed as it cut a path through the sky, bending and twisting like a ribbon caught in a storm. The current rushed up to us; then, in a flash, the twirling sparkles coalesced into the shape of a man, standing right in front of me, his legs going straight through the coffee table.