But the skies chose that moment to break open. Hot summer rain pelted down, kicking up sand and drenching the trestle table and beach towels. Onlookers hid under beach umbrellas and beach towels, squealing as the rain battered at them, turning the sand wet and squelchy underfoot.
‘Quick! Let’s get all this under cover!’ Rosie shrieked, grabbing her pineapple upside-down cake to protect it. (Fair – it would’ve been the first thing I tried to save, too.)
Magic crackled as the witches and warlocks in the crowd tried to send up waterproof hexes to ward off the worst of the rain, but the spells ricocheted off each other, creating a weird patchwork of deluges and drizzle that were worse than the actual rain itself. The non-magical spectators resorted to umbrellas, which actually seemed like the smarter move.
‘Molly,’ shouted Finn, as I tried to jam Josephine’s diary and my notepad into my purse to keep them dry. ‘Come here.’
He grabbed my hand, his fingers twining around me. As he did, my ring crackled – and I saw that another of the stones had turned dark.
Chapter 22
LOOK ON THE SUNFLOWER SIDE
‘Molly.’
Finn popped up on the other side of the desk, blue eyes bright over the screen of my laptop. I’d spent most of yesterday evening and this morning typing away at my Sandy Balls article for Eddie, who had gently been nudging me about my intended delivery date. All right, so a large portion of said typing had actually been spent reviewing the match photos that Lara had sent me. Because who didn’t want to take a few hours out of their morning to consider how the Tucker boys looked when they were delicious sweaty, sandy messes?
Delicious sweaty, sandy messes fighting over you, Lara had texted me when I’d said as much. Complete with some thirsty emojis.
‘Hey.’ I closed my laptop so that Finn wouldn’t notice the zoomed-in image of him diving for the ball, while Noah stared at me as I took notes.
‘So, I’m thinking of heading to the Bloom Family Farm today. Would you like to be my date? You do owe me a proper date.’
I groaned. ‘I can’t. I have this article due, and Eddie has been pestering me about it.’
Finn popped a chocolate truffle on the table. Damnit, my one weakness. Well, one of my many weaknesses. ‘Molly, what is the circulation of this newspaper of yours?’
Unwrapping the truffle, I considered. ‘I dunno, the print edition is probably like ten—’
‘People?’ he finished, eyes crinkled in amusement. His dimple flickered.
I shook my head, but he wasn’t wrong. ‘I think we’re officially a charity at this point.’
‘Well, then, you can donate your services later.’
Or not, if I decided to take Lara up on her job offer. I still hadn’t figured that one out. There was too much decision-making required of me, and flipping a coin wasn’t helping. Neither was Josephine, who just kept saying things like,However you choose, just make sure you know what you’re getting into.
When I’d pressed her on that one, she’d changed the subject, asking about today’s fashions and movies. I’d pressed some magazine clippings into the diary for her.
Finn set down another truffle on the table. ‘Here. I’m going to make a line of these towards the door. You can follow me. Or not.’
He was so hard to say no to. And besides, putting down words on this draft was like pulling teeth. Maybe a break would do me good.
I threw up my hands as though he’d twisted my arm into making a decision. ‘All right. Give me a second to get changed.’
‘What, you don’t want to be seen in public wearing satin short shorts and a My Little Pony T-shirt?’
I pretended to be appalled. ‘First of all, how dare you besmirch the good name of Twilight Sparkle. Second of all, you are absolutely right, and I’ll meet you at the Jeep in five. Unless you want to take the golf cart, which I can now drive.’
Finn folded his arms as though floored by this. ‘But we never did our golf-cart driving lesson.’
‘Snooze and lose,’ I teased, flouncing off to my room to get changed.
As I did, the sky darkened slightly – a cloud was movingin. Strange, because Tiff had excitedly shared the day’s weather forecast with me over breakfast this morning, and we were meant to have clear skies and perfectly crisp temperatures.
I swallowed. I was no Tiff, but there was definitely some sort of connection between my interactions with the boys and the weird magical side effects we were experiencing – including the storms.
Josephine had a point.
