Page 49 of Must Love Lavender and Little Lies
What I really couldn’t stand was the idea of him being with someone other thanme.
“Glimmer,” Tansy whispered with a knowing smirk.
“What did you say?”
“Oh. The stars are glimmering tonight. See,” she said, gesturing. “It’s a special night,” she said with a grin. “Here come our men now.”
I looked back to see Granik coming with a silly grin, two pink-and-yellow lemonades in hand.
“Junie,” he said, handing one to me. “See who I found?”
I smiled at Kellen. “You dance well, Guardian,” I told the dryad.
“To my own surprise,” he replied, handing Tansy a drink.
“Let’s toast,” Tansy said. “To glimmering stars. May they guide us all.”
“To glimmering stars,” Kellen agreed, Granik and I tapping our cups against theirs.
“Cheers!” we all called, then drank.
“I’m starving,” Granik said, finishing his lemonade in one drink. “I saw they had turkey legs. Want to come?” he asked Kellen and Tansy.
“Oh, that was the last of it for us for tonight,” Tansy said with a laugh. “We’re escaping back to the quiet now. But I’ll see you tomorrow,” Tansy told me, setting a gentle hand on my arm. “Good night to you both.”
“Good night,” I replied, then turned to Granik. “Lead on.”
“Let’s go,” he said, his energy perkier than usual.
“Granik, are you all right?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah. I’m swell,” he replied with a pained laugh, then pulled me along behind him, leading me to a booth where they were selling roasted turkey legs and baked cheese rounds. Granik ordered two legs for himself and a fried cheese round for me, knowing they were my favorite. He ate quickly, not talking as he scarfed down his food, then looked at me.
“You’ve only taken one bite.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone eat so fast before.”
“Hungry,” he said, then looked around. “Want a fire punch?”
“I still have my lemonade. Why don’t I wait there for you?” I asked, pointing to the standing barrel table.
He nodded, then departed.
I went to the table, sipping my drink and trying to eat as I watched Granik stop to talk with old Master Elison. The man gestured to me and then clapped Granik on the back. Granik smiled widely at me and gave the man an awkward hug. Granik returned a moment later with two flaming punches, one of which he downed immediately.
“Junie, want to go play the games? Or we can dance again. If you want to get something else to eat, since you really didn’t even eat anything, we can go find something. The Soup Witch is here. You always like their lemon orzo and?—”
“Granik,” I said, taking his drink and setting it aside.
“Did you want to try?—”
“Granik, you are not all right.”
“What?” he asked, his voice coming out all high-pitched and strange. “I’m fine.”
“You are the opposite of fine. We should go.”
“I need to find my family.”
