Page 90 of Mountain Pine
Another kid comes up after that.
Then another.
I turn into a bubble fairy, producing magic wishing rocks out of thin air for all of them. It’s a flurry of giggles and excitement for a while, but when it’s over, I catch Conner watching from a food truck. Waving at him feels like the greatest, simplest joy ever. Isn’t that wild?
“Your cell is ringing,” Grace says.
I don’t have time to talk to whoever it is. More and more people are arriving, and I need to be focused. “It’s probably just Carly.” Finally. Seriously, she has the worst timing when returning calls. “I’ll call her back later.”
A woman wearing a cute, crocheted bandana comes up to me. “Hi. Do you have any rose of Jericho?”
“Not with me, but I carry them in my shop.” I hand her a card with my address.
“Cool. Thanks.” She walks away.
Damn. IknewI should have packed some of those. Why didn’t I just load my entire store and bring it?
“Your cell is ringing again,” Grace says.
“Ugh.” I wave it off. “It’s fine. Just ignore it.”
Conner comes back with ice cream. “How’s it going?”
“Really well, but it’s early. I feel like the best business happens first thing at these kinds of festivals. Bet it dies down an hour before the big parade.”
He licks his cone and now that I know what his tongue can do, I’m a little flustered and jealous of the ice cream. Conner eats it until the ice cream flushes with the cone and then hands it over to me.
This is one of our many unspoken things. We share cones and I always get the bottom half because I like the waffle to ice cream ratio. He hates cones. Period.
While I devour it, he glances at my bubble machine. “Where’s the bottle to refill this thing?”
“Under the table.”
He refills it for me while Grace and I put out more succulents. “These are selling well,” she says.
That’s because they’re so happy. Each succulent is in an adorable pot that’s either an animal or has a funny saying on it like, “water me and tell me I’m pretty.”
Absolute crowd pleasers.
Another person comes up and this one I recognize. Sort of. “Taylor?”
“Ryan?”
“Yeah. Wow. Long time no see.” He looks around my booth like he’s actually going to buysomething from me, the woo woo girl he dumped in high school. Not that I’m still salty about that, because I’m not. Honestly. “I didn’t realize you still lived here.”
I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean. “Yeah.”
“Can we help you find something?” Conner asks.
Because of course he’s going to assert dominance.
“Conner. Wow.” Ryan’s smile isn’t genuine. “Nah, I was just looking.”
Grace beams at him. “Can we interest you in some tea samples? Succulents? A stone or two?” She has no clue that there’s history between us.Bless. “Or a swift kick in the ass to go with your judgmental glare and receding hairline?”
Conner snorts. My eyes bulge.
Ryan’s smile remains tight as he shakes his head. “Nah. Like I said, I’m good.”
