Page 13 of Wish For Me

That gets them to pay attention. “She’s out of control, Bodhi,” Will says.

“She texted me at two in the morning the other night to see if I thought the linen napkins looked more magenta or burgundy,” Fox says. “I don’t even know what those colors are.”

“Yeah, this problem is way bigger than magenta napkins,” I mutter, and River groans.

“This is all your fault,” Jasmine hisses at him.

“How is it my fault?”

“Because if you hadn’t knocked me up five years ago it never would have happened!”

He raises an eyebrow. “Nice, babe. Let’s just wish away our precious daughter to save our own ass.”

“It’s no one’s fault,” I say. “We just need to deal with it.”

“Deal with what?” Fox cuts in. “You still haven’t told us what this emergency meeting is about.”

“Get the dress,” I say to Alex, who nods somberly and stands up.

“Oh god,” Jasmine says, covering her face. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“So at the cookie party last night, we had, uh, an incident.”

“My daughter ruined the wedding!” River bursts out. “Everly is going to lose her shit when she finds out and then she’s going to murder me and I’ll totally deserve it because my kidruined her wedding.”

“She’s not going to find out,” I say firmly. I glare around at the cousins. “Because no one in this room is going to tell her, right?”

“Will you just show us?” Lyric asks.

Alex looks pained when she unzips the garment bag. “Hang on!” Santana cries. “Is that the wedding dress? Bodhi, you can’t see the wedding dress! It’s bad luck!”

“Girl, we are way beyond that,” Rose mutters.

With a deep breath, Alex fluffs out the white lace skirt. There’s a moment of quiet and then everyone gasps. There are a few loud curses. Santana promptly bursts into tears

“The poor dress!” June cries. “What happened?”

River opens his mouth then shuts it again, apparently unable to speak.

“Poppy went upstairs to play last night,” Rose says gently. “She said she wanted to make it look pretty. Because Everly loves pink and purple.”

“Well, that’s certainly pink and purple,” Will says. “Jesus.”

“What did she use?” Eva asks. “Is that marker? Will it wash out?”

I swallow, hard. “It’s nail polish.”

“Ooooh, shit,” Violet and CeCe say in unison.

“Is that hard to get out?” Will asks, looking like he’s scared to hear the answer.

“It’s basically paint,” Alex sighs. “I could try to get it off with nail polish remover but I don’t think I can do it without ruining the silk.” She sighs again, fingering the delicate lace work that Everly spent weeks hand-sewing onto her dress. “Or the lace.”

“We have to show her,” Rose says grimly.

“No!” River and I say in unison.

“We’re not showing her,” I say firmly. “This will crush her.”