Impossible: Scarborough Fair Trilogy: Book 1

by Nancy Werlin

“Love hurts,” said Sarah simply. “That’s okay. It’s supposed to.” “I don’t believe it,” Lucy said. “Look at Soledad and Leo.” “People who’ve been married umpteen years like your foster parents are different,” said Sarah impatiently. “When you first fall in love, it’s supposed to be awful. Awful, uncertain, scary, wonderful, confusing, all at once. That’s how you know it’s real. You have to care deeply. Passionately. That hurts.”

I'm glad Lucy thinks this is bullshit

Miranda the ghost, who was actually very much alive. Alive, but haunted, and haunting, and beyond anyone’s reach. Beyond anyone’s ability to help. Even Soledad, who loved her like a sister.

This was odd, because three minutes ago, she hadn’t wanted to bother interviewing him and was only doing it because her boss had insisted. The interviewee, who was named Padraig Seeley, had applied specifically to work in Soledad Markowitz’s midwifery group.

There is no doubt in my mind that this man is fae, with a surname name like Seeley

The manager somehow tore her gaze away from him so that she could glance down at his resume. Even though she’d looked it over before he came in, she now found it hard to remember what it said exactly. That was the effect of his blue, blue eyes. Matched with his black hair, and those wide shoulders and long legs—and that smile! Oh! And the accent!—well. She was only human.

Glamour

“Pierre?” she asked the poodle, who was lying almost completely under her bed, with only his nose and eyes peeking out from under the dust ruffle. “What do you think?” But Pierre only whimpered pathetically. He edged back farther under the bed.

Is the dog afraid of Padraig?

“The high heels. Definitely.” In a kindly aside to Zach, he said, “You’re right, but for the wrong reason. It’s not a question of being subtle. It’s a question of elongating Lucinda’s line.” He made a gesture at Lucy’s legs. “Irony is all very well, Lucinda, but considerations of beauty must always come first.”

This is really creepy for an adult to say about Lucy, fae or not

Then he was sorry. Why was he cutting at this perfectly nice guy? Not to mention at his car, which Gray obviously thought was so great, but which really was pretty much a girly car.

Girl car lmao

“Luce? I’ll take you to prom. You’ve got another dress you can make work, right? I have a suit. We’ll ask Mrs. Angelakis for one of her tulips. And we’ll just go.”

Without a ticket?

She wondered if Gray truly didn’t drink, or if he had been stopped on this occasion by Soledad’s comments. Well, she would find out soon enough. He was going to be her boyfriend. She had decided.

Maybe she didn’t need to be so afraid anymore of what people would think if they knew about Miranda. Maybe she could talk about it with people, as she just had, however briefly, with Gray.

She noted the stains on the white tablecloths, the overturned glasses, the abandoned cloth napkins on tables and the floor, the spots on some of the metal stackable chairs where the paint had worn off. Abandoned, the room looked like what it really was: not a true ballroom, but a big, tired old function room that had seen many hard years of weddings, proms, graduations, and bar mitzvahs.

“He didn’t get away with it. He’s dead.”

She discovered that her favorite books from childhood were best at keeping the bad feelings under control, so she read them deep into the still hours. She reread Protector of the Small.

Heck yes Tammy!

She didn’t really have a minute. But the at-work well-being of her direct reports, like Padraig Seeley, was her job too. Plus, Padraig was always such a pleasure to talk to. Funny how she only ever remembered that in his presence.

“That morning-after pill you took,” Soledad had said. “I guess it didn’t work. I suppose that can happen. Maybe it had expired. When Padraig picked up the prescription for me, I did think the color wasn’t quite right—but anyway, that’s neither here nor there.”

Padraig deliberately sabotaged the pills 😡