“Girls,” I said. “I have to tell you something serious.”
“Is it that you’re in love with Winnie?” Hallie asked. “Because we already know that.”
I stared at them in disbelief. “You do?”
“Yes, we made it happen,” said Luna triumphantly. “With our noses.”
“What?”
“Winnie taught us how to cast magic spells,” Hallie explained.
“It worked for the cat.” Luna shrugged. “So we figured it might work on you guys. Although we weren’t supposed to say anything about it. Even Winnie doesn’t know.” She turned to Hallie. “Do you think we messed it up? What if it only worked on Daddy and not Winnie?”
Hallie shook her head. “We did it the same way for both. She has to love him.”
I was still staring at them in disbelief when my phone lit up with a text from Chip. “So you’re okay with it?”
“Duh,” Hallie said. “We love Winnie. And she makes you less grumpy.” Then she turned to Luna. “But I think we might need to cast another spell to get her to move back here.”
“I might be able to help with that.” I glanced at the address on my screen, typed it into my GPS, and hit the gas. “I’m at least going to try.”
The MacAllisters lived on a narrow side street lined with two-story brick homes and shallow front lawns. When I pulled up in their driveway, the house was dark. I took out my phone, praying she was still awake—I didn’t want to ring the doorbell, but I would.
“There aren’t any lights on, Daddy.” Luna sounded worried. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m texting her to see if she’ll come out.”
Winnie, I need to talk to you. Please.
Nothing.
I have things I need to say to you, and I don’t want to do it over text.
Silence.
I’m parked outside your parents’ house, and if you don’t answer, I’m going to knock on the door and wake everyone up.
Do NOT do that.
Adrenaline surged—she was awake!
Then come out and talk to me.
I don’t want to see you, Dex.
That only makes it worse.
Give me a chance, Winnie. One chance.
Hear me out.
If I give you a chance,
you could hurt me again.
Then open your window, because I have something to say to you and I can’t hold it in any longer.
Fueled by love and the fear of losing her, I jumped out from behind the wheel and ran onto the MacAllisters’ front lawn. Behind me, I heard the girls getting out of the car too. I glanced over my shoulder and saw them huddled against the passenger door, watching with rapt attention.
“Stay there,” I told them. Clinging to each other, they nodded.
“This is so exciting,” Luna said.
“I know,” Hallie agreed. “It’s even better than Mom’s wedding.”
Standing in the cone of light thrown by a streetlamp, I looked up at the dark second-story windows in front of me. None of them had opened, but I decided to go for it.
Forming a megaphone with my hands, I yelled at the top of my lungs. “I love you, Winnie MacAllister! I love you, and I’m sorry I didn’t say it before! I was stupid and scared. But nothing is right without you, and if I don’t try to get you back, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.” Remembering Hallie’s advice for the ogre, I dropped to my knees on the grass. “Please give me another chance!”
Breathing hard, I waited for a light to come on, a door to open, a sign that she still loved me . . . but the house remained dark and silent.
Crickets chirped.
I glanced over at the girls, who seemed just as distraught as I was. They looked at each other, and then back at me.
That’s when I heard a feminine voice come out of the darkness behind me. “Hey Winnie? Yeah, it’s Audrey. There’s some guy across the street yelling at the Wilsons’ house, but I think he’s talking to you.”
Oh, fuck.
Horrified, I spun around on my knees. A teenage couple stood under a front porch light at a home across the street. The girl was talking into her phone.
“Dude,” the guy called out. “I think you’re at the wrong house.”
Fuck. Me.
Behind the couple, the front door opened and a barrel-chested man came storming out the front door wearing jeans, a USMC sweatshirt, and a scowl. “What’s going on out here? Who’s shouting?”
“That guy over there is telling Winnie that he’s sorry and he loves her, but he’s at the wrong house,” said the girl. “I feel really bad for him.”