Emmeline waved a hand. “Don’t worry about me.”
“Why are we worrying about Emmeline?” a familiar voice asked.
Emmeline turned to see Lavinia Williams join them. She was wearing a forest green dress that hugged her curves, along with platform heels that added a few inches to her short height. A delicate gold necklace hung from her neck; in the center was a small letter T.
The inspiration for the letter stood beside her: her boyfriend, Theo Noon. Tall and lanky, in slim black trousers and a sage green button-down shirt. They were holding mugs of hot chocolate in opposite hands while their other hands were clasped together, fingers entwined.
The pair were childhood best friends but had only started dating last year. Lavinia used to work at the Baby Dragon, and Theo worked there as Saphira’s business manager, as well as the manager of the Baby Dragon Bakery, the bakery section of the cafe.
“We’re not,” Emmeline replied, shifting the focus away from how single she was. “We’re more focused on how cute these two are.”
“They’re still in their honeymoon phase,” Lavinia said.
“They’ve pretty much been in their honeymoon phase since they met,” Emmeline replied, earning laughter from the rest of them. Aiden and Saphira didn’t even attempt to disagree; they only looked at one another with stars in their eyes, lips turned up into smiles.
“Wecould be in our honeymoon phase, too, you know,” Theo said, pinching Lavinia’s side. She squealed.
“Stop trying to propose to me!” Lavinia hit his chest. “Not until I graduate in May!”
What a problem to have, Emmeline thought wryly, a painful twang reverberating in her chest. Lavinia and Saphira were both younger than her, and it was Ginny’s twenty-second birthday, which made Emmeline feel positivelyancientat twenty-nine, not at all helped by the fact that she was turning thirty in January with no possibility of a grand romance in sight.
She had only had one serious relationship post-university. Since then, she’d had her flirtations and her fun, but there didn’t seem to be anybody who could pierce her very soul.
Shaking her head, Emmeline pushed the thought away before it sent her into a spiral. She focused on the conversation at hand.
“How’s the ring hunt going?” Saphira asked Lavinia, who made a pensive sound.
“It’s going,” she said. “They’re all just so pretty! I can’t narrow down the shape.”
Aiden and Theo exchanged a fondly amused glance over the girls’ heads. Then the song changed; the chords made Saphira’s eyes light up. Emmeline grinned. It was one they both adored.
“Sorry, Aiden,” Emmeline said, taking Saphira’s hand, “but your girl is mine for this one.”
She stole Saphira away, and Saphira grabbed Lavinia as she went, the girls walking over to the crowd of dancing partygoers. Two baby dragons were already bouncing on the dancefloor, jumping up to try and catch the colorful strobe lights.
Across the dancefloor, the birthday girl caught sight of them. Her mouth fell open, and she ran over. “Wait for me!” Ginny cried.
The girls opened their little circle, pulling Ginny in as they danced together, laughing and having fun.
Until Emmeline caught the sight of flames in the corner of her eye.
“Uh oh,” Lavinia said, slowing.
Emmeline narrowed her eyes. “Don’t worry,” she told the girls, catching Ginny’s gaze. “I’ve got it.”
With a squeeze of Ginny’s hand, Emmeline was off, grabbing two members of the staff as she went. At the scene of the crime was Motu, her brother’s baby dragon, who had lit a tablecloth on fire and was now watching the flames with shocked purple eyes.
“Motu!” Emmeline scolded, and the baby dragon immediately looked chagrined, hiding his face behind his wings. She tsked at him. As the staff members put out the fire, Emmeline knew it wasn’t the baby who was at fault, but his rider.
She scanned the crowd for Haris.
When she spotted him, he was laughing with their cousin Oliver and Emmeline’s other brother, Naveed. Both her brothers looked like her, though their skin was a lighter shade of brown.
Oliver caught Emmeline’s gaze first, and he immediately stopped talking, elbowing Haris apprehensively. Emmeline crossed her arms against her chest as her younger brother followed Oliver’s gaze, then swallowed. He slowly walked toward her.
“Uh... Everything okay, Emmy?” Haris asked, giving her a small smile. His dimples made an appearance. He was trying to be cute. She glared.
“You tell me,” she said, voice sharp. Motu walked over to Haris, then, the chubby little dragon’s head hanging low. Haris was twenty-four and in medical school; he was not doing the best job training his baby dragon, and Emmeline ended up babysitting half the time anyway.
