‘Just sparkling water for me,’ said Alana.
Bonnie nodded, although her hands shook with confusion as she poured the drinks. Everything was changing around her. Her friendship group was all askew, and now she couldn’t even rely on Bobby. Not that she particularly wanted to ask anything of him, knowing that for some reason he’d started something with Kirsty.Kirsty!
But who else was she meant to talk to? In the past, there’d been Mom. Although honestly, she still often spoke to Mom.Sometimes when the wind was right, she could convince herself that Mom was talking back.
Back before the Chalmers sisters had drifted off into their separate realms, there’d been Effie as well. But Effie had grown so cold over the years, and especially since Mom’s death. Everything Bonnie did seemed to irritate Effie, and digging into why that might be terrified Bonnie.
The Effie of today certainly wasn’t going to offer the kind of advice that Bonnie wanted to hear. She could just imagine her sister’s dismissal of her friends: she would point out how they were focused on status and appearance over everything. How they were only interested in Bonnie because she helped elevate them. And, said a little voice, how Bonnie had lorded that fact over them ever since she’d suddenly risen to the top of the popularity ladder at the age of fourteen.
Bonnie sighed. Maybe Effie was right. She’d never needed to consider her sister’s opinion on the matter of her friends before, which she’d always put down to jealousy. But maybe Effie had just been looking out for her.
Sliding the pitcher over to her friends, who headed out to the patio area to no doubt gossip about her, Bonnie hurried over with a top-off for Willamina from the bank. Once a week, Willamina would come in, drawing out tarot cards from a beautifully gilded deck she’d picked up while travelling in France, and grumbling at the results.
But this evening Willamina was quietly sipping her drink while flipping through a library book. A romcom with a brightly illustrated cover. She fiddled with a yellow crystal that hung from her neck on a thin silvery chain. Bonnie immediately recognized Uncle Oswald’s handiwork.
‘No cards tonight?’ asked Bonnie, setting down a Memory Lane cocktail on one of Oswald’s branded agate coasters.
‘Cards?’ Willamina blinked. ‘Oh, right. No, I was thinking it was time for something different. A good,uplifting book. I think I’d prefer to have a bit of a laugh, you know?’
‘Oh, I get it,’ said Bonnie, clearing Willamina’s empty glass. ‘Well, I’m glad to hear you’re making positive changes for yourself. I love your necklace, too.’
‘Thanks!’ Willamina’s eyes sparkled happily. ‘I got it from Behind the Curtain. And a huge amethyst for my shrine by the front door. Oswald said it offers cleaning energy, and I think he’s right. It’s the deepest purple you’ve ever seen. I can’t stop looking at it.’
‘I love that for you,’ said Bonnie, trying not to think about the purple staining she’d seen on Oswald’s fingertips. He wouldn’tdyehis crystals, would he? Surely not, given he was charging such a premium for them.
‘And I got a discount thanks to your coasters here.’ Willamina tapped the agate coaster. ‘I might have to bring this one over later. I have my eye on a gorgeous singing bowl.’
Bonnie expressed her delight at length. Every sale at Uncle Oswald’s meant money in her pocket, after all. She headed back to the bar where a wide-eyed girl with beachy waves in her hair was waiting. The things you could do with your hair when you didn’t have Effie cursing it.
‘Hey there. Are you Bonnie?’ The girl toyed with a crystal charm around her neck. ‘I’m Iris. I’m wondering if I can book your room upstairs for a birthday party next week?’
Brightening, Bonnie slid over the branded sheet she’d prepared with the rates and details for private events. She lived for private parties. They let her put on her party-planner hat, which was her favourite of all the hats. And they were lucrative. Between the room rental fee and her drinks minimum,plusthe kickbacks from Uncle Oswald, this might just be her most profitable month yet. So what if her friends had reneged on Pink Wednesday and Bobbyhad defected to Kirsty’s side? Bonnie was kicking butt at this entrepreneurial thing.
Now all she had to do was keep charming her way to a front-page feature on theYellowbrick Grove Gazette. Without setting off the sprinklers again.
Chapter 17
BIBBIDI-BOBBIDI...ME AND YOU?
Effie
Effie stretched out her back, wishing her magic worked on stiff muscles. The Friends of the Library group were part-way through an hour-long meeting about the many pressing issues facing the library. For example, the fact that the cowboy romance section was apparently lacking, a Bowow-specific complaint. And how Emerald’s library was doing a much better job with its social media, a Bruce complaint, levelled at Effie, whose disinclination to dance on the internet was apparently a major limiting factor. And who was in charge of the signage for the upcoming weeding day, which would involve removing old and unloved titles from the collection to free up space for the new ones. And which book they should choose to display as part of the ‘StoryWalk’ initiative they’d just received funding for.
‘What’s a StoryWalk?’ asked Theo, intrigued. ‘Please tell me it involves books with legs.’
‘Basically, you display an illustrated book page by page along a designated walking track,’ explained Effie, pulling up an example on her phone. ‘That way walkers can read while strolling.’
Theo considered. ‘Do we have a location yet? Because that would influence the book, right?’
‘Not yet,’ said Effie. ‘But probably one of the parks.’
‘Maybe we could do a turtle book,’ suggested Bowow,toying absently with the collar of her polka-dot blouse. ‘In honour of...what’s-his-name.’
‘Sheldon,’ offered Bruce, making a rock ’n’ roll gesture.
‘Shelby,’ corrected Theo. ‘We go way back,’ he added, when Effie shot him a surprise look.
And not just because Theo knew who Shelby was. Her concern was more to do with Bowow getting the turtle’s name wrong. Bowow might be a tad scattered by nature, but she never forgot an animal’s name. She wasn’t the only one behaving strangely tonight. Tammi, famous for her library cookie-eating habits and therefore in charge of the Friends cookie catering, had shown up empty-handed, apparently having forgotten that she was responsible for the meeting snacks. Effie had called Bobby to place an emergency order.
