“So in this scenario, Cass was the manifestation of some kind of ancient force, like the Morrigan?”

“Yes, but with tacky Christmas crap instead of ravens and death,” Noelle nodded.

“Into every generation, a Carrigan is born,” Hannah intoned. “I can live with that. I’ll be the Carrigan, you be the wife guy, Miriam will be the artistic genius, Cole will be the…what does Cole actually do? Hacking isn’t his official job, is it?”

Noelle shrugged. As far as she could tell, no one knew.

“We will be a happy family getting progressively weirder out here in the woods together,” Hannah finished with satisfaction. “I’ll learn to bake so that Mrs. Matthews can retire.”

“I would love to see you try to learn to bake. Or we could maybe just hire a chef.”

Hannah’s face fell, and Noelle sighed. She wished she could erase all of Hannah’s heartbreak, but she knew she wasn’t the person who could fix this mess.

“Sorry!” Hannah said. “I don’t mean for my face to do that. I’m working on it.”

“Are you okay, really?” Noelle asked. “Not about Levi, but about sharing control, and having Miriam here full-time selling art out of your carriage house? I know you’re thrilled about getting a chance to use all your galaxy brain brilliance on Carrigan’s All Year, but you did still get bulldozed into it, a little.”

“I’m thrilled about Miri being here, for the most part. I may have some residual anger about her leaving, but now that I know the whole story, that’s mostly gone. Plus, she showed up big, and her ideas are smart.” Hannah paused, thinking. “I have absolutely no qualms about Carrigan’s All Year; it’s the absolute right next step. I did kind of get steamrolled into it, but by Cass and circumstances, and I can’t really be mad at that.”

“You can be mad at Cass. I still am, sort of, even if it worked out in the end, and I’m surviving the experience. You’re allowed to be mad.”

“I can’t, NoNo.” Hannah shook her head. “If I let myself feel how mad I am, at everything, all the time, I will burn up from the inside out, and I don’t know who I’ll be on the other side.”

Noelle leaned next to her on the worktable, and Hannah rested her head on Noelle’s shoulder. They stayed there, holding each other up as they had been for so long.

“Okay, well, you would be my rage ball, and I would still love you, just so you know. I am Team Hannah until the day I die. I’m the captain,” Noelle told her.

“I know. Maybe someday I’ll let myself burn up and we’ll see who rises from the ashes. But not this week, because my schedule is extremely booked.”