Aunt Jewel was only a year older than Aunt May and Aunt Martha, but she took her role as the eldest sister very seriously. She regarded me now through pink-rimmed glasses fastened on a sparkly chain around her neck. All three of The Aunts were decked out in pretty pastel sweaters, the pale green of Aunt Jewel’s almost matching her eyes.

My purse was sitting beside my chair, and I slipped my phone into it.

“Oh, leave her be, Jewel,” Aunt May said, not glancing up from her own cards. “The children today need their technology.”

“That’s true,” Aunt Martha said, nodding. She’d been to the beauty shop that morning, obviously, since her steel-gray curls were tight against her head. “I read it in the New York Times. People Harper’s age are actually in love with those fancy-schmancy phones of theirs. Activates the same chemicals in the brain.” Sighing, she discarded a card. “I went to look at one of those phones at the Best Buy, but I couldn’t make heads or tails of it.”

“You can’t make heads or tails out of your cordless phone, Martha,” Aunt May said, picking up the card Aunt Martha had put down. All three had skin that still glowed despite their age, and green eyes like mine.

Before they could get into too much of a fuss, Aunt Jewel gave a little smile and said, “Well, I don’t think it’s her phone Harper is in love with, so much as the boy at the other end of it.”

Aunt Martha gave a happy grin at that, tugging at the lace collar on her lavender sweater. “That Ryan sure is pretty.”

Both Aunt Jewel and Aunt May gave identical sniffs of disgust. “They’re broken up, silly,” Aunt May informed Aunt Martha. “Have been for ages.”

“Four months,” I clarified, getting out of my chair to grab the pitcher of sweet tea on the kitchen counter. As I refilled The Aunts’ glasses, I added, “Remember, Aunt Martha, I’m dating David Stark now.”

Frowning, Aunt Martha set her cards down and picked up the pack of Virginia Slims by her elbow. “Oh. That’s right. Saylor’s boy.”

I stiffened a little, hoping they wouldn’t notice. Just like with Bee’s disappearance, there was a spell keeping the people of Pine Grove from knowing what had really happened to Saylor Stark. Bee’s spell had clearly held—maybe too well—but Ryan should probably shore up the one that made everyone think Saylor was just on an extended vacation.

Making a mental note to talk to him about it later, I set the pitcher back on the counter and took a seat at the table. I still wasn’t allowed to play gin rummy with The Aunts—only once I was officially an adult, i.e., married, would I get invited to that table—but I liked to watch.