‘Fair,’ said Finn. ‘How’s the Camellia?’
‘Acceptable for my purposes. Large bed, full liquor cabinet. How’s sharing a wall with Molly?’
‘Lara …’ I warned.
‘We’re managing,’ said Finn, eyes twinkling. ‘So, have you toured the lawn? What Summerween festivities await us this year?’
Lara pulled open one of the coolers and distributed ciders. She plopped down on the picnic blanket. ‘The usual: face painting, fried desserts, drunk college kids, boomers judging each other’s fruit sculptures.’
‘And the whisperwinds,’ I added, taking a seat next to her – and within reach of the cheese platter. ‘I’m going to get positively drunk on whisperwinds.’
‘Fair,’ said Lara, who loved a good whisperwind. Just because she didn’t have magic of her own didn’t mean that she couldn’t observe it.
Having finished her floral border, Rosie dropped down beside us, waggling her toes in her sandals and waving at various townsfolk she recognized.
‘Oh, but we got a good spot this year, didn’t we? Bribing Teri at the Chamber of Commerce was a good ploy.’
‘I’ll have to get you on my next brand activation,’ said Lara. ‘We can skip past all the red tape.’
‘You’re on.’ Rosie, not one for sitting still, was now deep in the various coolers, pulling out salads and snacks for all. ‘But I only accept payment in rose cuttings. Specifically, varieties that I don’t have in my garden.’
‘You drive a hard bargain,’ said Lara. ‘I’ll see what I candig up. Literally. From my parents’ garden. Hey, where’s Noah? Isn’t he meant to be coming, too? And sans girlfriend, I hear?’
I wasn’t about to get into that with Finn sitting right there.
‘He’s here somewhere,’ I said, trying to spot Noah in the crowd. Perhaps he was helping out with the string lights again. Or other tall-people things, like fetching a cat from a tree.
Finn helped himself to a wedge of cheese so large it was practically a wheel. ‘I’m sure he’s off raining on a parade somewhere.’
Lara intercepted the cheese. ‘Nuh-uh, we’re not jinxing the Summerween Festival by mentioning rain. My hair and water don’t mix. Although …’ Ever the mischief-maker, she shot me a sly look. ‘I hear someone among us has always dreamed of a passionate kiss in a deluge.’
Trust Lara! I’d shared that information with her assuming that it would be subject to the girl code and kept confidential.
I spluttered, then tried to save face with a swig of my cider. The bubbles set me off on a coughing fit.Oh good. Very smooth, Mol.
‘Our Molly, kissing in the rain?’ Finn grinned, amused. ‘We’ll have to find you an eligible suitor. Assuming you don’t see anything you like right here, that is.’
If only my magic were strong enough to dig a hole in the ground to swallow me up.
‘I said that years ago,’ I muttered, not making eye contact as I dipped into Mom’s excellent assortment of cheeses. ‘After watchingBreakfast at Tiffany’s.’
Thankfully, the squealing sounds of an electric guitar kicked up from the main stage: the fun was about to begin. Finn nodded along approvingly – he was slated to play after the sun went down, but was a free agent until then.
The opening act was a teenage sister duo: one on the drums, the other on guitar, both dressed in head-to-toe sequins. Rosieand Mom clinked their ciders together as the teens launched into Stevie Nicks’s ‘Edge of Seventeen’ to a chorus of whoops. It wasn’t long before the kids in the crowd had formed a miniature mosh pit in front of the stage.
Lara pulled me to my feet. ‘Let’s check out the vendors before it’s too dark and we’re too drunk.’
‘I’ll warm your section of the blanket for you,’ said Finn, reclining like some sort of Roman emperor. ‘And save you at least half of the pie. I know you can’t function without it.’
He wasn’t wrong: at any time, my body composition was approximately one-half pie.
‘We’ll get you a balloon animal as payment,’ I promised.
‘Make sure you’re back in time for the fireworks,’ said Mom, who was nibbling a cheese-topped cracker, her phone face-down on the blanket. Was she … relaxing?
‘Always,’ said Lara sweetly. She dragged me off across the lawn, navigating around the endless patchwork of picnic blankets and lawn chairs. Locals and visitors alike were happily sprawled out, munching on snacks and tapping toes along to the two sisters singing their hearts out up on stage. Paper streamers wafted from the backs of chairs, and garlands of dried citrus slices and sunflowers hung between the trees around the lawn, creating a vibrant wildflower fence.
Soraya from The Scoop was strolling about, trying to keep her cat-ear headband on her head as she bent to hand out raffle tickets. Keiko, who ran the kids’ summer art camp, was doing the same thing a few feet away, dressed in a vivid yellow gown and wearing a giant papier-mâché bee over her dark hair.
