“Have you seen the lilies? I figure you’d like those best, as your namesake and all.”
“No, not yet.”
Gracie points us in the direction of the lilies and waves goodbye, not overstaying her welcome. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind having a little quiet time to catch up with her. Maybe I’ll head to book club, after all.
On second thought, that means running into Agatha’s other friends. Like Suzette and Rosalie, the town gossips.
Never mind.
On the way over to the booth of lilies, Isabelle tugs on Adam’s arm. “Look, there’s the roses! Let’s go see them.”
“But we’re going to see the lilies with Lily,” he replies, his voice a little gruff.
“Adam. Come on. She’s fine. If anything, we’re making more of a scene with such a crowd. Let’s go see if they have any new rosebushes we can get for the castle garden.” She blinks up at him, so cheerful and full of sunshine, and I see the moment his expression melts.
“All right, fine.” He looks down at me sternly. “We’ll be right back.”
“Take your time,” I say. As they walk away, I breathe a little easier. Isabelle is right; with this many people following mearound, everyone is bound to pay attention. Maybe it would be better if I just wandered through here alone.
I wish I could ask that of my family, but they’d completely panic. Especially my brothers. So I just follow along behind my father, Henry, and Luna, but I start putting a little more distance between us and sticking closer to Agatha, Gwen, and Ryder.
Ryder sidles up next to me. “You doing okay?”
I shrug a shoulder. “I feel like we’re making a scene. It would be better if we split up, you know? Maybe people wouldn’t pay as much attention to me without my siblings.”
He chuckles. “Trust me, you’ll still draw attention.”
I look at him sharply, and he puts up his hands. “I didn’t mean anything bad. Just that…well, you draw attention, Lily. Everyone’s going to look at you.”
I run a shaky hand through my long hair. “Yeah, maybe I should have chopped this off first.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. Even without your hair, you’re…” His voice fades away, his thought unfinished, and I try to fill in the blanks. I’m what? Awkward? Silly? Too naive for my own good?
For some reason, the way he was talking almost made it seem like he meant I was beautiful. But there’s no way he looks at me like that.
“Oh, tulips!” Agatha cries out. “Can we stop here for just a moment before the lilies?”
“Sure,” I say. I’m not thrilled to stop in one place, but maybe taking a break from walking will help calm my nerves.
Luna gasps beside me. “Henry! Look at the underwater display! It’s just like our game.”
Henry nods. “Beautiful.”
“Let’s go look. Come on. Lily needs some room to breathe.” Luna gives me a wink, and I love her a little more.
Henry looks at me and then back to Luna. “All right. Just for a minute.” Luna pulls him away, and I’m left with Agatha, my father, Ryder, and Gwen. We stop at the tulips, and Agatha pauses at each color, giving little “oohs” and “ahhs” at each. Then we head over to the peonies, a path that twists around from where we left my brothers.
“Oh, my!” A loud voice cries out. “Well, look who we have here!”
Oh, no.
It’s Suzette.
She emerges from the middle of the tulips, wrapping Agatha in a bosomy hug. Her eyes search through our group and stop when they reach me. I swear, her eyebrows rise all the way up her forehead. “Lily Stone! My goodness! It’s been ages since we’ve seen you!” She turns over her shoulder and shouts, “Rosalie! Come look who’s here!”
As if this couldn’t get any worse, dear old Rosalie comes creaking along with her walker.
I know where this is heading. My heart is pounding out of my chest, and my hands shake at my sides. I clasp them together behind my back to give them something to do, and I do my best to give Suzette a smile.
