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“If you change your mind,” he says, “that’s how to reach me.”
“Thanks,” I say, pocketing the business card. “That’s not gonna happen, but thanks.”
As I walk around his car toward mine, I find myself slowing down.
I realize I’m waiting for him to call me back, to try to convince me. But he’s not Anthony with his begging and pleading. And apparently he’s also not his character from Crown of Spires. He’s not going to use mind control or tie me up or play edgy games with my consent. He’s just going to accept my no.
Huh.
That’s not disappointment I feel, is it? Because that would be…
So, so ridiculous.
7
Ivy
A few days later, Nia and her girlfriend, Akemi, come over for dinner.
I answer the door to find my sister in a pair of jeans and a crocheted top, brown hair twisted into a messy bun, and Akemi wearing a cobalt-blue sheath dress, her near-black straight hair long and loose over her bare shoulders.
Nia and Akemi have been dating for seven months. They met at a jewelry-making workshop where they discovered that they both love sea glass. Now they have a joint Etsy shop called She Sells Sea Glass, a puppy they dog-share, and plans to move in together when Akemi’s lease is up.
I love Akemi. She’s the ballast to my sister’s cotton-candy joy. Quiet, sturdy, no-nonsense.
I hug them both tight and usher them in.
“There’s a lasagna and some garlic bread in the oven, and I’m making a salad,” I say. They follow me into the kitchen, where Nia and Akemi wash their hands and I offer them aprons. Akemi chooses a patchwork quilted one my mom made, and Nia hands me my favorite: Size Matters. Ask Pluto. She dons her own favorite, which features a range of hot pink mountains across the chest, emblazoned with It’s always Wilder in the woods. It was a free gift as part of a wilderness foraging-and-cooking workshop that I took a couple of summers ago.
The three of us buckle down to chopping veggies for the salad.
“Okay if Nia and I talk shop for a minute?” I ask Akemi.
She waves a hand. “Go for it.”
“I talked to the school district today,” I tell my sister. “About using the high school this summer.”
She frowns, reading the outcome on my face. “They said no, huh?”
“Yeah. Five Rivers Community College rented the space.”
“Oh, right,” she says. “The fire.”
The college’s auditorium building burned down recently—another setback in our attempt to find a new home.
“And FRCC won’t sublease any time in the high school auditorium. Too many moving parts.”
“Shit,” Nia says.
“FRCC did say that once they’ve rebuilt, they’d be happy to rent their auditorium to us, but that’s four to six months out.”
Nia winces.
“I’m about ready to—” I laugh. “Okay, get a load of this. I didn’t tell you this before because it’s so ludicrous, but Hott Springs Eternal didn’t exactly flat out say no.”
“They didn’t?” Nia’s expression turns hopeful.
“Hanna did, but then Shane approached me and?—”
