Page 59 of Kiss and Spell
She gave her sister a small nod of confidence. Gwen left Ursula alone with Lincoln.
He stuffed his hands into his pockets. “So, you’re here alone.”
“I’m not eating lunch with an invisible man,” Ursula joked.
He glanced around the bistro as if becoming aware of the awkwardness of this encounter. “Maybe this is too weird.”
“Linc, we passed weird several months ago,” Ursula said. “We’re internet legends.”
He bobbed his head. “You’re not wrong about that. Zoe told Mom you’re coming to the party.”
Ursula tilted her head back, surprised. “I haven’t seen Mayor Walker in months. How is she doing?”
The sheer panic Ursula felt whenever she thought about talking to Mayor Des’ree Walker didn’t appear. Instead, she was fine. Was this personal growth? She liked it.
Ursula considered Lincoln.
Worry crossed his face. “She’s doing all right, but all the work at city hall is stressing her out. I told her she needs to hire more people to help, but she doesn’t listen. Mom says she can only rely on herself.”
“It’s the burden of the superwoman,” Ursula said sympathetically. “Tell her you can’t keep a star from shining, but stars can burn out. She needs to delegate responsibility to the deputy mayor and take time to rest. The Grove will be fine if she takes a vacation.”
Lincoln grimaced. “But will she be fine without the Grove?”
Ursula recalled what Lincoln just said a few minutes ago. “Wait. If Zoe spoke to your mom about me, does that mean she knows about us?”
A pained groan escaped his mouth. Lincoln scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah. She searched your name and… knows everything about us. I mean, Zoe even read the comments on the Press article. People were not kind.”
Ursula winced. “How did that talk go?”
She knew how nervous she was sharing the truth with Xavier, and they weren’t dating. Goddess, she couldn’t even imagine what Zoe thought about the situation.
“We’re working it out,” Xavier said simply.
On that note, Ursula decided to change the subject. “Is Marcus coming? I mean, it’s his birthday too.”
Marcus was Lincoln’s twin and Ursula’s former best friend. She’d last seen him at the wedding standing in his tux with a faraway look in his eyes.
“No, he’s overseas handling business.” Lincoln’s eyes dropped down to his sneakers. “We haven’t spoken since the whole thing went down. After what happened, people didn’t want to do business with us. They said I wasn’t trustworthy. Marcus wasn’t too happy about me… you know, for doing what I did.”
This conversation was getting weirder by the second. If he wasn’t going to say it, she was going to do it for him. For better or for worse, this story was theirs and was going to be a chapter in their lives.
“I know what you did. You jilted me,” she said. There was no heat or anger in her voice. Nothing remained but the truth.
He glanced around nervously as if the punishment faery would jump out and dole out a judgment. “Don’t be like that, Ursula.”
“Be like what?” Ursula shrugged. She was over being embarrassed about that day. “You left and I’ve had to deal with the fallout. I dealt with all the pity, the stares, and the comments for months. The least you can do is acknowledge it so that we can move on and try to act normal around each other. I’m not walking on eggshells to spare your feelings.”
He blinked hard and something defensive flared in his face. His questions came out rapid-fire and hot like floating fireballs from a wizard’s staff. “Are you mad? Do you want me to cancel the party? Will that make you feel better?”
“Will it help you?” she shot back.
His face fell for a moment. “I don’t want you to be mad.”
Ursula looked at him through her lashes. “I’m not mad, but I’m not going to pretend that everything’s cool. You were wrong for walking out on me.”
“I left you a text,” he joked weakly.
“I deserved a conversation. Point blank. Period.”