Page 46 of Must Love Lavender and Little Lies
“You could disappear. Leave a note. Say you want to elope,” Emmalyn suggested.
Juniper shook her head. “They would be too hurt. What about some rule? Is there some Moonshine Hollow technicality about a marriage license or something?”
Emmalyn crossed her arms and bobbed her chin toward her father and my parents.
“Yes, good fellow, indeed. We’ll have a case of champagne sent out for the wedding toast. Oh, what a fine party it will be,” Elder Thornberry was saying.
“Ugh,” I groaned. No luck there.
“There has to be something,” Emmalyn said.
“Maybe weshouldjust tell them,” Juniper said. “Unless…”
At that, Emmalyn paused and turned and looked at Juniper. “Unless?”
“Um… Well… Unless we have another idea, I mean,” Juniper said.
Emmalyn’s expression shifted, and she arched an eyebrow at Juniper. After a long moment, she turned and looked at me. “What doyouthink, Granik?”
“I…I’m not sure. It’s just so sudden and…and I…” I replied, feeling an odd sensation tugging at my heart.
Emmalyn looked from Juniper to me, then began smiling. “You two… Okay, here’s what you do. Don’t say noyet. Let me talk to Portia and the others. Maybe there is a way. For the moment, just go along with it, have a nice night. After all, I think this is your engagement party. Are you going to the festival grounds after this?”
I nodded.
“I’ll go talk to the others. Let’s see if we can think of something. I’ll find you at the festival. Just…don’t tell them anything, okay? Just go along with it, and have fun.”
Juniper nodded. “Okay.”
Emmalyn looked up at me. “Got it, big guy?”
I nodded.
“All right. I’ll find you,” Emmalyn said, then faded from sight.
“It’s going to be all right,” I said, taking Juniper’s hand.
“You sure? Because if we don’t come up with something, you could end up actually married to me.” I looked down at her, meeting her gaze. I held her eyes for longer than I should have.
Maybe that was what I wanted.
Maybe… Was there any chance that maybe she wanted it to?
She merely smiled in reply.
“What did the wedding dress look like?” I asked her softly.
Juniper gave me a wry grin. “I’m not telling you that.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s bad luck,” she said, not seeming to realize what she had implied. “Shall we see if we can move them on to the festival grounds?”
I laughed. “Good luck to us.”
“We’ve got this,” she replied, squeezing my hand. “We can manage anything if we work together.”
CHAPTER 17
