“I didn’t say Ididn’twant to kiss Ollie,” Miss Peabody said as she rose and shook Luna’s hand. “Thank you ever so, Miss Witch. You’ve given me much to think about.”
With that, she slipped out from behind the counter to join the gaggle of Silly Young Things with whom she’d come to the shop. They’d already had their readings and were now finishing up selections of blossoms to be pinned to their gowns on Tuesday evening. Luna took their orders and down payments, promising to have the corsages ready for pickup by 3 o’clock tomorrow. The governor’s upcoming ball was proving quite lucrative for business, actually. Not the same as a big wedding commission, but certainly a nice little bump. Luna should have just enough time to fulfill these commissions before closing up for the last time tomorrow evening.
Then she would never see these delightful young ladies ever again. Because she’d be in Bromley Bay. Working in a factory. If she was lucky enough to get a position.
Firmly shaking this thought away, Luna smiled and nodded and let the girls out to a tinkle of brass bells. She paused a moment in the doorway, watching them as they tripped along down the sidewalk and away. Addle Street was fairly quiet at this time in the late morning. The initial rush of traffic had died back, and there was no one else on the sidewalk save for the street fiddler. He scraped out a lively sea shanty on the corner, hat at his feet, though there was no one around to drop any coin into it. Luna often wondered how the man made a living—he seemed to subsist on music alone, and she wondered, not for the first time, if he had a drop or two of elfin blood in his veins.
She cast an uncertain gaze up and down the street, searching for some sign of a skull-headed walking stick or a low-pulled hat shielding a grotesquely half-melted face. Her nerves were all on alert, had been ever since the moment he tried to mark her. Several times in the night, she’d crawled out of bed to peer through her garret window into the street below, convinced the phantoms must have returned to haunt Mrs. Boggs’s Boardinghouse for Young Women of Good Character. Each time the street was empty. Still, she’d been terribly tempted to grab her already-packed bags and slip out into the night. But where would she go?
No, she needed to be smart. After all, the violet had given its life to get rid of that mark on her palm. She shouldn’t dishonor its sacrifice by doing something stupid.
Stepping back into the shop once more, Luna breathed out slowly and let the door swing shut. She turned to find all the flowers watching her. Like they knew. Like they had caught on to her plan to leave them.
“And why are you lot so somber today?” she asked, hastily painting a smile on her lips. “It’s such a lovely morning! Cheer up, sweethearts.”
Debbie, on her skull pot, flapped her wings and snapped her beak. Her mood seemed a good reflection of the rest of the shop inhabitants.
Luna sighed. Her gaze dragged almost inexorably to the doorway leading to the back passage. To the boiler room door. Her heart felt heavy. She hadn’t seen anything of Mr. Grimm all day. He’d already escaped out into Garden by the time she arrived. Which was probably a good thing. That time they’d spent together yesterday had not strengthened her resolve to leave. Right now, she needed all the resolve she could get.
But her heart hurt, nonetheless.
Just as she took a step to retreat across the shop floor, quick footsteps outside drew Luna’s attention, followed by the newsboy’s voice, upraised: “Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Heiress flees wedding to duke! Get your scoop here!”
Eyes brightening, Luna darted to grab a coin from the tip jar before hastening out onto the sidewalk and hailing the newsboy. He turned over a paper to her, touching his hat politely and winking, the brazen little thing. Luna smiled back and returned to the shop, stepping over to the counter. There she laid out the pages, passing over all the gossipy details about Miss Eugenia’s wedding. Instead, she turned to the reviews on page 7, running her finger down a line of columns. There was a review for Tokens of My Confection and then . . .and then. . .
A smile broke across Luna’s face. She looked up, meeting Debbie’s stern gaze. “I’ve got to tell him,” she said.
“Never mind,”Debbie opined.
“No, really! He needs to know.”
Despite the raven’s protests, Luna dashed down the passage and pounded on the boiler room door. Mr. Grimm had taken tolocking it behind him when he ventured out, just to be safe. As there was no other key, Luna could not go in after him, so she simply pounded and called out, “Mr. Grimm! Mr. Grimm, you’ve got to come see this!”
There was a rumbling sort of noise on the far side. Luna paused, took a step back. Bit her lip.
Suddenly, the door swung open, and Mr. Grimm was standing there in front of her. He was quite disheveled, like he’d been working hard. His shirt hung unbuttoned, and his hair flopped over his sweaty forehead, and Luna was obliged to repress the powerful impulse to throw herself into his arms and kiss him right then and there. Which was odd. Considering she wasn’t altogether convinced shelikedkissing. There was just . . . something about him in this disastrously messy state of being that looked so painfully kissable.
She bit down hard on the inside of her cheek, hoping against hope that he couldn’t see how many shades of pink she’d just flushed.
“Miss Talbot?” He pushed hair back from his forehead with a swipe of one hand. “Erm, is something wrong? Garden rather scooped me up and delivered me here. Then I heard your voice on the other side of the door, and—”
“It’s the review!” Luna blurted, finding her voice again in a gust of air. “In theBally Daily!It’s come in!”
His sad blue eyes brightened softly. “Yes? And?”
“Come and see!” Luna beckoned and led the way out of the dim passage, back to the shop counter. There she grabbed the paper and shoved it into his hands, stabbing the correct column with an eager finger. She watched his eyes scan the close-print words, a stern line set between his brows. She saw the moment when the line cleared suddenly, and his gaze leapt to meet hers. For a moment, he simply looked at her.
Then his mouth broke into a grin. “We did it, Miss Talbot.”
Before Luna quite knew what was happening, his arms wrapped around her, and he swung her off her feet. A complete rotation, all the way around.Twice.Her skirts wafting, her voice escaping in a little bleat of surprised laughter. Upon completing the second circle, however, he set her down again abruptly and swiftly snatched up the paper again, holding up the pages to block his face from her view. Which hopefully meant he did not see the absolute storm of blushes erupting across her cheeks. Luna gripped the edge of the counter to steady herself, and took a moment to catch her suddenly too-tight breath.
“Miss Eugenia must have written it,” she stammered and hoped he didn’t notice the hitch in her voice. “Before she left on her voyage. Wasn’t that sweet of her?Accommodatingandobliging,she says, Mr. Grimm! And did you see where she called uscreative visionaries?I wouldn’t have suspected Miss Eugenia boasted such a vocabulary!”
Mr. Grimm shook his head, staring hard at the page. “This is . . . this is an excellent review,” he said, then glanced up at her. Just a little halfway glance, not quite holding her gaze. “She even goes so far as to mention your teas. That will certainly bring some curious customers our way.”
A sickening plunge tugged at Luna’s gut. Because, of course, The Arcane Bouquet wouldn’t be able to offer teas much longer. But she wasn’t going to think about that. Not now. If she’d learned anything at all over these last few years, it was the need to take any little Happily For Now life had to offer and be grateful. Right now, just in this moment, shewashappy. And she wasn’t about to let it go.
“Do you know,” Mr. Grimm said, lowering the paper slightly, “I think this calls for a celebration.”
