“Strangely enough, I did marketing for a while.” Dalia leaned back. “An office isn’t for me, and they realized it slightly before I did.”
Valerie sniffled. “Maybe I should become a remote assistant.”
“You could, but you seem to be having a good time organizing this event. Do you want to give that up?”
Valerie drank down the rest of the beer. “I’m scared,” she admitted.
“Now we’re getting somewhere. What do we say to fear?”
“You win?”
“No, I told you. If we can’t fight it, we do it scared.”
Valerie nodded thoughtfully. “Or we could run away. Because it’s scary.”
“No.”
“Maybe?”
“No.”
“But—”
“I said no.”
That’s how Nico found them, laughing so hard Valerie’s stomach hurt, but feeling better about Ad Astra than she had for a long time.
* * *
“Want to sit on the dock for a bit before bed?” asked Nico when they arrived back at the Badgerton Arms. It was late enough that the rest of the house had gone to sleep, but the night was warm, even by the water.
“I’d love to.” Her mind was buzzing from planning the event, ticking through what had been done and what was left. They crossed the path and Nico stopped, then pointed.
Valerie gasped with delight. “Fireflies!” She’d never seen them in real life. There had to be dozens of them flashing over the manicured lawn. “I didn’t know they were so bright.”
The tiny flashlights strobed their way through the darkness. They felt like a gift from nature, an apology for the swarms of mosquitoes she sent to suck Valerie’s blood and the evil one that kept buzzing aroundher bunkie at night. She supposed it was a fair trade-off.
The fireflies faded as she and Nico approached the water, and Valerie did her usual water snake check, although Nico had assured her they only came up to bask in the sun. She didn’t care. Maybe the snakes wanted a change of pace.
“I talked to Stefanie today,” said Nico.
“How did it go?”
He gave her a summary and seemed pleased about it. She put her hand on his.
“It sounds like it went well for a call that was years in the making,” she said.
“It’s a start.” He kissed her palm. “How did the rest of the planning go?”
“Good. I hope we have it set up the way Helena would want to be remembered.”
“How’s that?”
“Fun,” said Valerie. “As a woman who enjoyed life. Generous and a bit quirky.”
Nico stretched out his legs. “It must be difficult to decide someone’s legacy for them.”
She looked over in surprise. “I don’t do that. All I do is take what I see.”
