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Cal rubs his stubbled chin. “Okay. I’ll compromise and bring Vegas to you.”
“Neither of you will be my best man because I’m eloping.”
Cal scoffs. “You and Rowan are so boring it’s no wonder you both get along so well. Only you would skip out on a massive party for eloping.”
Declan shows off the small smile he saves for us. “You sound jealous.”
“Mr. Kane. Mr. Johnson is waiting on line one. A fair warning—he’s in a foul mood.” Declan’s mic picks up on Iris’s voice.
“Old man Johnson still giving Iris a hard time?” Cal leans forward.
“Did he threaten you again?” He mutes his mic. Whatever Iris says makes the vein in Declan’s neck pulse.
Declan shakes his head and unmutes his mic after a minute.
Cal frowns. “One day, you’re going to regret making Iris work on weekends. The best years of her life are ticking by taking care of your old, grumpy ass.”
Declan’s jaw ticks. “Next week. Same time.” He ends the meeting call, leaving me with nothing to look at but a black screen.
Instead of going home and making dinner for myself, I pull up Zahra’s electronic employee file. Something in the way she spoke about my grandfather has bothered me ever since she left my office. I’d be stupid to trust whatever she said about Grandpa.
Nothing in my preliminary search reveals much besides the fact that she’s been a dedicated salon worker since her college internship days.
Frustrated with my lack of findings, I dive deeper into her file, reviewing everything from her first Dreamland interview to her college transcripts. I somehow find myself clicking on an old employee submission from over three years ago and scrolling to the bottom. There’s a virtual sticky note, signed and dated by my grandfather two months before his accident.
Schedule a meeting with Ms. Gulian to discuss rejection and improvements.
I review the paperwork again.Zahra submitted a proposal about Nebula Land?That’s odd, given the kind of proposal she turned in that ripped the ride apart.
I pull up the Nebula Land submission that was accepted by the Creators two years ago and compare Zahra’s to this version. Someone named Lance Baker submitted the idea with a few more bells and whistles compared to Zahra’s more basic proposal. How did they both come up with similar ideas? Were they creative partners who had a dispute?
My questions continue to grow without any real answers to appease my curiosity. I search Zahra’s file for more submissions but come up empty. She didn’t submit any after the one my grandfather reviewed until this year.
What made her stop in the first place? And who the hell is Lance Baker?
8
Zahra
“Let me get this straight. You’re going to be a Creator? How did you keep this from meall day?” Claire’s fork drops against her plate.
I’ve held back from spilling the news because I wanted to share it with my whole family during our weekly Saturday dinner. My parents are the whole reason we all work at Dreamland together, so I wanted to celebrate with them too.
Ani jumps out of her seat, making her brunette curls fly around her head. She throws her arms around me. “Yay! You did it!”
I hug my sister back, cherishing her warmth. It means the world to me to show her that nothing can get in her way, regardless of her Down syndrome diagnosis. And in other ways, she pushes me to be my best self every day with her infectious happiness.
“We need to celebrate!” My mom’s hazel eyes brighten as she runs into the kitchen.
The brown skin around Dad’s eyes wrinkles as he grins. “I’m so proud of you! I knew once the right person realized how talented you are, they wouldn’t be able to resist.”
My chest tightens. Dad has always supported me, ever since I was a little kid who said I wanted to be a Creator when I grew up. He never stopped dreaming enough for the two of us, even when I gave up on myself.
Mom steps out of the kitchen with a bottle of champagne and a few plastic champagne glasses.
“Do you have champagne bottles sitting around now?”
“Your mom was planning on opening it for our anniversary next week but today’s news calls for it.” Dad claps his hands together.
