Because theyweregoing to find a way out of the book.
Because she was falling in love with Will.
Twenty-Four
Will left her alone to start planning out Hikari and nailing down all the details, the to-do lists, and the technicalities. She sat cross-legged on the living room couch, a notebook in her lap, pencil working furiously to keep up with her thoughts. Every time she thought she’d wrapped up one aspect, she thought of a whole other facet that had to be explored. There were a hundred designs to think of. Logo, banner, website, business cards, brochures. Instagram and Pinterest would probably be her best friends when it came to displaying her work. She’d need to look into insurance, taxes, getting an EIN. Maybe she could work up to starting a YouTube channel with quick gardening tips and life hacks. A real YouTube channel with real advice, not the joke advice young Emmy and Sarah had once discussed. The memory of it made her smile.
Before she knew it, hours had passed. The sun had finished its descent beyond the horizon, and she had several sheets of paper covered with notes that she promised herself she’d type into a nice, organized document sooner or later.She also had a few reject logo designs crumpled up beside her. Gathering the trash, she wandered into the kitchen to pitch them into the recycling bin. Will was at the stove. Whatever he was making smelled of garlic and onion, so she knew she’d love it. As she tossed the crumpled papers into the blue recycle bin, she noticed that it was nearly full of empty bottles. She stared down at them, then turned to look at the top of the refrigerator. Nothing up there.
“I dumped them out,” Will said.
She jumped and looked at him guiltily. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to notice… or… I mean…”
“It’s okay that you noticed. I kind of wanted you to. I’m making a promise to you, Emmy. No more alcohol in this house. When we get to the real world, maybe we’ll have a discussion about changing that rule. For now, though, I’m sober. A hundred percent.”
“How does that make you feel?” she asked carefully.
“Good,” he said. “I can tell it’s the right decision for me, and I feel bad that it took so long for me to come around to it. How does it makeyoufeel?”
She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, squeezed tight. “Happy and relieved.”
His arms came around her and he returned the embrace. She felt warm and safe. The relief was still flowing through her, especially now that she could be certain his actions toward and with her had not been merely less-than-sober impulses.
After they parted, Will plated the chicken piccata he’d whipped up and took it to the table. Emmy took her time with the first few bites, savoring this man’s otherworldly cooking skills, made that much better with the inclusion ofthe fresh herbs she’d planted—and labeled—for him. Will asked her to tell him about May’s romance with Victor and the upcoming (or possibly recently completed) wedding ceremony. It was easy for Emmy to talk about, even though it caused her a few pangs in her heart. She believed firmly that she would find her way back to May soon. It was a sense of confidence that originated in her gut. Her sister would just have to have a second wedding when Emmy and Will got out of the book.
“Your sister is an optimist, huh?” Will said after he’d heard all about May’s job, her friends, and the wedding she’d planned.
“Yes. Eternal optimist. Birds sing when she smiles and flowers bloom brighter when she walks by.”
“That sounds like it could be… tiring, but I can tell from the way you talk about her that it’s not.”
“No, it’s not. Sarah said something very similar to me after the bachelorette party.” Emmy paused, remembering the party that seemed to be a lifetime ago already. She tamped down the worry, the sheer need she felt for her friends and family. “I can’t say how she gets away with it. Maybe because it’s so genuine. She doesn’t put on airs or act cutesy for attention. It’s just who she is. I used to think differently, but that was on me.”
“What do you mean?”
Emmy thought about the wedding gift she’d set aside for May. It was something she’d been so nervous about giving to her sister, and now she wasn’t sure she’d ever get the chance.No, she thought, and dug deep for that well of confidence inside her.I’ll give it to her whenever I get back. Better late than never.
“May was always surrounded by friends,” she told Will. “She was the type of person who was happier when she was around other people, but sometimes I felt like they were taking advantage of her, you know? So-and-so would call and bawl her eyes out because her boyfriend broke up with her…again. Then someone else would text her fifteen times in a row about… family drama or whatever. No matter what, she always listened, always made the time. If she hadn’t made it as a makeup artist, she would have been a great therapist. But who could say if any of these friends would do the same for her, right?” Emmy looked at Will with a kind of desperate need for understanding. “People take advantage. Especially teenagers. They’re all sociopaths.”
“Sure. You have to be careful you don’t give too much without getting anything in return.”
Relief washed over her. “Exactly! Then, for her sixteenth birthday, my grandparents got her a gift basket with sixteen things in it. Some silly, some sweet. Makeup, of course. You know how sometimes people mention to one friend, one time, that they like elephants, and then for the rest of their lives, they get nothing but elephant gifts from everyone they know?”
Will laughed. “I know exactly what you mean. My mom has an entire collection of frog stuff that she feels too guilty to throw out.”
“Right, you get it. So anyway… May’s not like that. She loves makeup. She could have a thousand eyeliner pencils, and she’d still be delighted if you gifted her another one.”
Will nodded in understanding. “Makes her easy to shop for.”
“This is true. Since there was makeup in the basket, I thought she’d be all over it.” Emmy took a moment to gather her thoughts. It still hurt to think about this. “She loved the makeup, don’t get me wrong, but the first thing she went for was a Daruma. Do you know those?” She held her hands up as if cupping them around a baseball-sized object. “It’s a little red guy you make wishes on. Well, they’re not always little. But this one was.”
Will shook his head. “I don’t know if I’ve heard of that, but I am definitely interested in hearing more about the ‘little red guy you make wishes on.’”
Emmy pulled out her phone and looked up a picture. She showed it to him. It was a hollow statuette of a head, mostly red, but with gold adornments painted on it as well. It stared out of the screen through two circular white eyes.
“Oh, I know those!” Will said, pointing at the picture. “I’ve seen those in a couple video games. I didn’t know they were for wishes.”
“Yeah, I don’t know the origins behind it. Wikipedia could tell you. I just know the eyes are blank, and when you make your wish, you fill in the left eye with black ink. Then, when your wish comes true, you fill in the right eye.”
