Alex is devastated to be called out like this. He scratches his jaw. “Mom.”
Luna is fairly vibrating at the news. “Thank you so much. Oh my goodness, thank you, I can’t—wow. This is amazing. Romina will do the best job in the history of jobs with your wedding, I swear. You will not regret this.”
I give her a look. “Why would you even say that? Why would she regret it?”
“She won’t!” Luna’s eyes are two spinning UFOs. “I have the utmost faith in you.”
I appraise her narrowly. “You’d better.”
Kristin only laughs. “I have no worries. I know Romina will do a marvelous job.”
Mr. Yoon and Trevor return, Trevor shaking his head in exasperation. Mr. Yoon, interestingly, is regarding the store with begrudging respect. “He’s a hard sell,” Trevor grumbles to us. “There should be a statute of limitations for how long he’s allowed to be upset about me spending my college money on businesses.”
“That isn’t it,” Mr. Yoon replies simply. “Actually, Trevor, I think you’ve done a terrific job here. I’m quite proud, even though you should have done your due diligence and gotten an inspection first.” He holds up a finger. “Alwaysget an inspection before you purchase property.”
Trevor begins to build his defense, but Luna grabs his arm and whispers in his ear. He shouts, “Holy shit! Thanks, K!” Then he squeezes his soon-to-be stepmother. “Never mind, Dad. We don’t need you to invest anymore. Unless you wanna give us money for the hell of it—we’ve got a tip jar by the cash register.”
As Mr. Yoon and Kristin wander back into Candleland, Luna grabs her phone, rushing off to call the plumber. I give Trevor a bear hug, squealing. “We’re going to be able to open the night market!”
“Look at me!” His grin is huge. “Making Moonville less boring.”
There’s a heaviness in my chest at the thought of not beingable to do many fortunes for the next couple of months. But this was the best decision. “Woo! Go you.”
Off to the side, Alex watches the two of us celebrate. I notice his profile turn away when Trevor kisses my cheek. At some point before everyone leaves, a sprig of yellow hyacinth is tucked into my hair, behind my ear, which I discover when I’m all alone again, leaning over my worktable. The soft, buttery blossoms fall upon a scattering of wild rose. Magic surges, encircling them in a vibrant glimmer that can only be felt, not seen.
I have to hunt for it in my notebook, because I’m so overcome with night market excitement that I can’t recall the meaning of yellow hyacinth off the top of my head. When I find it, my heart tumbles.
Jealousy.
Chapter Twenty
MOSS:
How sweet is the bond between mother and child.
One day before the wedding, the weather finally breaks, sunshine creeping between clouds that thin in the heat, dissolving.
“This weather better hold,” Kristin has repeated to everybody at least twice, with a grim edge that indicates she will hold us each personally responsible if it doesn’t. “Do you think the ground will be dry by tomorrow? Is there anything we can do to speed that up?”
“Yes, Mom,” Alex tells her evenly. “We’ll blowtorch it.”
“Do you really think—?” Kristin smacks his arm. “Don’t tease me! I’m gettingmarriedtomorrow! How wouldyoulike getting married in wet grass?”
Alex meets my eye for a split second, then continues his task of tying ribbons to wreaths. The two of them have returned to the shop to watch me sort out wedding flowers. I’m so busy already with May Day preparations that a Very Big, extra, short-notice task is frazzling, to say the least. I think that’s partially why Alex has volunteered to be my assistant. (The other part is that we’ve got a crew making quick work of the sewer line rightnow, and Alex enjoys offering them unsolicited advice on how to do their job.)
“Sorry, Mom.”
“You can make it up to me by hunting down some place cards for the reception. They were supposed to be here by now! Romina, I know you’ve got a lot going on already, but...”
Alex says to his mother, “Mom, I think she’s busy.”
I should leave it at that, because he’s correct, but some part of me will always want to impress Kristin, make her pleased with me. “What is it? Do you need something?”
“My maid of honor was supposed to fly in yesterday, but her daughter just had a baby. A C-section, she was stalled at two centimeters for forty-eight hours, poor thing. The baby was eleven pounds! I can’t imagine delivering an eleven-pound baby. Alex was seven pounds and came out in two pushes.”
I’m not sure where she’s going with this. “Oh...?”
“Patricia will be here tomorrow, but I’d like a stand-in for the rehearsal, so that I can seeexactlyhow it’ll go, where everybody stands, all that. Would you mind? I know you’re Trevor’s plus-one, you’re already helping me out so much with these flowers... I don’t want to put you through any trouble...”
