Indira walking out of the slider door broke the spell, causing them to drop hands. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I have another appointment in a half hour. We can always arrange time to see more another time if you—”

“We’ll offer on this one,” Leo tossed over his shoulder. “You can start the paperwork.”

“That’s terrific,” Indira said, pulling out her phone. “Did the little gnomes convince you?”

Leo gave Tessa a puzzled glance.

“Gnomes are guardians,” Indira said. “They bring good luck.”

Well, that was good, Tessa thought, because they were certainly going to need all the luck they could get.

…

On a Saturday morning a few weeks later, Tessa was shoving all her possessions into a gaggle of boxes, most of which she’d pilfered from the bakery, when Lilac and Juliet showed up.

She had to tell the two women she was closest to on this continent what was going on—she owed it to them. But how much to get into? Tessa didn’t have a deceitful nature. This was only the beginning of the deceit that was sure to ensue from her sham marriage. And she didn’t quite know what to do about that.

“What’s going on here?” Juliet asked. She looked at the chaos that used to be Tessa’s cozy apartment above the garage of the Queen Anne–style house of her landlord, Mrs. O’Hannigan. Lilac was right behind Juliet, blinking in disbelief.

Tessa had just shoved yet another stuffed box toward the door for Leo to pick up. He’d offered to start taking some loads over to the new house today with Jack’s truck. She straightened up and greeted her sister and her friend. “I’m moving,” she said with a fake smile and a shrug.

“We can see that,” Lilac said. “But why?” Lilac was looking at the purple couch she’d helped Tessa pick out, the pink beads that hung between the bathroom and the main room, and the bright afghan full of colorful squares she’d crocheted, all to lend a very boho, retro, and colorful vibe.

They’d had good times here. Tessa loved this little place. Now it was all upended, like her life.

Her stomach roiled as she grabbed them by the arms and made them sit down on her purple couch. “Okay, I’m going to tell you something a little unbelievable.” She took a breath to try and calm down, recognizing that she needed to spill and get this over with before she had a heart attack. “This might be a little shocking, but I need you to trust me on this. And you have to promise me you won’t tell a soul.”