“Stop it, both of you,” Luna snaps at us. “Andyou!”
I turn again; she’s glaring viciously at Morgan, who’s pretending to be working on his laptop. (He isn’t—he’s trawling Etsy for vintage fits. He likes to dress like it’s the 1980s and today is wearing eyesore acid-washed jeans and a fluorescent purple shirt.)
“Me?” He points at himself. “What’d I do?”
“You’re a terrible influence.”
The shop is Aisling’s second home—she even took her first steps here—and she spends a lot of time with us, probably overhearing too many adult conversations, to be honest. She vents about her many preteen nemeses when she comes in after school, and Morgan, who was a miscreant as a youth, is far too inspirational.
Morgan offers up his palms. “I’ve never in my life suggested that she try to purge the demons from her teacher.” He jerks his chin at me. “The hex was her idea.”
“Hey! I said that in confidence. As a joke.”
“I think we’re getting off track,” Aisling cuts in hastily. “Remember how Aunt Romina and Trevor are pretending to date? Whew! That’s wild.”
“Take this and run to the market.” Luna holds up a grocery list along with two twenties, waving them. “No stops. And no messing around in the store, because if you do, Ron will tell me.” Ron’s the manager. Luna makes it her business to know absolutely everybody in Moonville on a first-name basis. “When you’re finished, you’re going to go read two chapters inThe Modern Witchcraft Guide to Magickal Herbsand write a five-hundred-word essay on the importance of using herbs responsibly, on top of your regular reading-up on tarot and homework. After that, you’re on dinner duty.”
“Pizza?” Aisling says hopefully.
Luna crosses her arms. “Eggplant rollatini.”
Ash falls to her knees. Shakes her fists at the ceiling. “Stelllaaaaa!”
Luna snaps her fingers. “Get busy. Tonight, expect a long, super draining heart-to-heart about why it is not acceptable to poison your teachers, which is not something I ever thought I’d have to say out loud. I hope you know that you will not enjoy a single minute of your suspension this week.”
Ash grabs the grocery list and scampers off, with the promise to be miserable while she’s gone. As soon as the door’s closed, Luna sighs. “Mrs. Davis really could use some of our special teas, though. That lady’s got the worst energy.” She pounces on Trevor and me. “What next? I assume we’re going to go back and pitch to him tomorrow?” The subject change gives me whiplash.
“We haven’t thought of a new plan yet,” I admit. “After we heard about the wedding, we drove here to freak out. And it was clear that Mr. Yoon didn’t invite us there to discuss the loan, he and Kristin just wanted to surprise Trevor with the big news. So... still not sure what we’ll do on that front. But if he’s going to be in town all week, we’ll have more opportunities to talk to him about it. Maybe we can invite him to the shop? Show him what a great job Trevor’s doing.”
“Yes.” Luna’s already taking notes. “Good. This can be good. Next time,I’llbe there to help, so it’ll go correctly.”
“Excuse you!” I cry. “You said you had faith in us!”
“And where did that get me? You two drove back here without mentioning the loan to him! We’re going to have to sell the lot for way less than we paid for it and the space next door will be turned into a Yankee Candle store. That’d be just my luck. Losing money on top of losing money.”
“Oh, it’s not going to be a Yankee Candle store,” I tell her.“You always jump to the worst conclusions. If we have to sell, maybe it’ll become a Sonic or something.”
She grips her pencil, face white. “It’ll be another witchcraft boutique, I bet. This town is mentioned in too many witchcraft blogs; it’s only a matter of time before some of these tourists decide they want to stay and make some tourism money of their own.”
Since it’s her turn to freak out, I shove my worries aside and pat her head. “It’ll all turn out okay.”
“My dad’s getting remarried,” Trevor says, mostly to himself. He shakes me like I’m a rag doll. “To someone I don’t even know! She could be the mafia.”
I cackle. “Kristin? Yeah, sure. She could be the tooth fairy, too.”
His eyes narrow. “It’s been ages since you knew her. You don’t know what she might be into these days.”
“You should have seen him when Teyonna walked over,” I tell the other two, smirking. “He was like a cartoon wolf, jaw on the floor.”
“I was not! I did not!” He springs up onto an armchair, fingers wrecking his coiffure. “Was I that obvious?”
“Sorry, but yes, you were. What about me? How’d I come across? Smooth, I hope.”
“You were a disaster. But I knew you weren’t over him, so maybe I was only seeing what I already knew.”
“You didn’t know that! That’s not true.”
“Everybody knows,” Luna says soothingly, massaging my shoulders. I try to swat her away but give up because it feels nice. “Even when you were with Spencer, I could tell your heart was still Alex’s.”
