Lissa rubbed her face.Why didn’t I react like that?she berated herself.Of course Daria wouldn’t even blink at the idea of magic being real.Hell, Lissa herself probably would have considered it a few years ago—before this whole thing with the studio stole her spirit, her whimsy, and her ability to see life as more than numbers on a spreadsheet.
It was time for Lissa to get her wild back.
“So what do you think?”Lissa asked Daria.
“I think it makes a lot of sense,” her best friend replied, still chewing on the massive bite.“I knew something about these scones was too good to be true.I just thought it was because the recipe used more butter and sugar than a human should ever put in their body.”
“Not the damn pastry,” Lissa grumbled, snatching the uneaten bit from Daria’s hand and tossing it back on the plate.“My date idea.What do you think?Is it enough that Ria might forgive me?”
Daria eyed the rest of the scone for long enough that Lissa grabbed it and shoved it into her own mouth.Staring at the empty plate, Daria let out a sad little whimper.
Lissa waved a hand in front of Daria’s face.“If you focus for, like, five minutes, I’ll go buy you a whole box full.”
“Deal!”Daria replied, brightening.“Now what were we talking about?”
“My date idea,” Lissa huffed out, feeling like she was trying to converse with a brick wall.No, a brick wall would have a better attention span.
“Right, right,” Daria said, leaning back in her chair so she could twist her head and sniff one of the verbena blooms near their table.
Lissa eyed the two legs the chair was balancing precariously on, waiting to see if Daria would come back to earth or fall into the flower planter.
After a second, Daria brought the chair back down and leaned forward on her elbows.“I like it.It’s memorable, but not so crazy she’ll feel uncomfortable.Should put her in a pretty good place for receiving the truth.”
“You know this means I’ll need your help again,” Lissa pointed out.
“Yeah, yeah, what’s new?It’s all good.I’ll give Rex a call later.”Daria’s eyes went glassy for a moment, then a grin spread across her face.“Actually this works for me.I haven’t seen him in a while, but I heard he’s been working out lately.Maybe he’s gotten even hotter.”
“Ya know,” Lissa commented, holding back a laugh, “you might just be the deepest shallow person I’ve ever met.”
Daria flicked her wrist and dipped her head in a little mock bow.“Why, thank you.”
Lissa wasn’t entirely sure it was a compliment, but she also doubted Daria minded.She always told Lissa life was too short to date people she didn’t feel a spark with.The only problem was, Daria seemed to think that spark was hidden inside a man’s pants, and she needed to sleep with them to find it.Lissa was all for claiming one’s sexual power, but she also couldn’t wait for the day Daria found herself all twisted up in knots over a guy.As much as Lissa loved her bestie, she wanted Daria to know what actual feelings could do to a person.Both the good and the bad.
Something Lissa was about to find out firsthand.
“So,” Daria said, tapping a manicured nail on the table, “now that your love life is sorted out, or at least stuffed in a file cabinet for you to deal with later, have you figured out what you’re going to do about the studio?Penny asked me the other day if she should be worried about finding another job.I didn’t want to lie to her, so I distracted her with bee talk.”Daria shuddered, her body visibly shaking.“I endured a fifteen-minute lecture on propolis for you.I didn’t even know what the hell propolis was, and now I can list ten products you’d find it in.I might actually care about bees now, so please tell me you’ve come up with some brilliant idea.”
“I would love to tell you that,” Lissa replied slowly, wishing she had her own list of bee facts to distract Daria with.
Narrowing her eyes, Daria paused her finger mid-tap.“So do,” she urged, “tell me you are going to save us from the wrath of Marge.”
Lissa dropped her head.“I don’t know what to say, Dar.We have less than two weeks, and whatever Ria’s firm was planning is off the table.I’m at a total loss here, and I feel like I failed you all.Not to mention, I’m about to be very unemployed with a mortgage I won’t be able to pay.”
Daria reached over the table and lifted Lissa’s head.“Hey, don’t tell me you’re giving up.Have you considered talking to Ria about your predicament?”
“Why?”Lissa huffed out, pushing back from the table and pacing around the edge of the patio.“She told me their idea was seasonal.”
“You are not this dense, Lissa,” Daria replied, propping her feet up on Lissa’s vacated chair.“She is still a marketing professional.Do you honestly believe there’s only one way to generate business?”
Lissa blinked at her friend.“You want me to confess all my lies and then ask her for advice?I’ll be lucky if she ever speaks to me again, let alone helps me save the studio.”
Daria shrugged.“You never know.In for a penny, in for a pound.”
“You know, I never understood that saying,” Lissa replied, running her hand over the leaves of a purple flower, a comfrey Ria had said.She liked its droopy petals.They looked the way she felt.
“I never understood it either,” Daria admitted, “but I think it applies here.Regardless, it’s worth a shot.I mean, if she forgives you for everything else, chances are she’ll want to help.”
Lissa turned her back on Daria and stared out at all the happy families playing on the beach off in the distance, enjoying their vacation.Totally carefree.
