"I can help. I help Fairy Goodness in the kitchen. She says I'm a good helper. Mom's making more design pictures for Lady Brambles and the wine men." She frowned. "Grandpa Grapegoes to talk to the men in the fields and the cellar. Maybe I can help you. Are you and Sunshine King doing business things tomorrow?"
"Yeah. But I don't think what we're doing would be much fun for you."
She sighed and was quiet for a few steps. Then she brightened and held her arms up to him. Once she was sitting on his hip she said, "Maybe I can decorate the grapes with my glitter. If they're shiny, they'll be happy. And if they're happy, they'll make better wine."
He let out a short laugh. "You think so?"
"Everything's better when it's shiny." She said it the way she said most things—as though it were simple, and he was a little slow for needing it explained. "That's just true."
"Huh." He pretended to consider it seriously. "So, a shiny grape is a happy grape?"
"Yes."
"And a happy grape makes better wine?"
"Yes."
"And how much glitter are we talking? For a whole vineyard?"
She spread her arms as wide as they'd go, nearly tipping herself off his hip. "All of it. All the glitter in the world."
"All the glitter in the world." He nodded slowly, like they were closing a business deal. "That's a lot of grapes to shine up one at a time, Z. You'd be out here till you're my age."
She considered that carefully. "You could help."
"Oh, I'm helping now, am I?"
"You have big hands. You'd be fast." She patted his cheek, settling the matter. "We'll start tomorrow. I'll do the low ones, and you do the tall ones."
He laughed properly at that—and then had to break the news. "I've got to be honest with you, buddy. I don't think we can glitter the grapes."
Her face fell so fast he almost took it back. "Why not?"
"Because I think the men who are going to sell the wine are kind of like Mrs. Faye."
She scowled. "You mean Fairy Goodness?"
"Yeah. Sorry. I do."
"How are they like her?"
"You know how she doesn't like glitter in her kitchen?"
Zia's shoulders drooped. "Yeah, I know. But I haven't taken any in there since she said. I promise."
"I know that. I'm just saying you need to keep your glitter away from the vines too." He knew Alara's gold leaf had been a hit with Aaron, but he couldn't see him—and certainly not Caleb—signing off on glittery wine.
She was quiet for a moment, absorbing the loss of her vineyard-shining empire. Then, with her usual resilience, she suggested, "What about just one grape? A secret one. To see if it works?"
He pretended to think hard about it. "...One grape?"
"One grape."
"Where nobody can see?"
"Where nobody can see," she agreed solemnly, and he knew he'd just committed to glittering a grape.
After they'd watered the flower beds at the front of the house, Zia came to take his hand. "When can we go and see Homer?"
