Page 37 of Enchanted to Meet You

I didn’t look up. I didn’t say anything, either. What was there to say?

Then Dina’s bare feet, with her dark purple pedicure, appeared in my line of vision, and I felt her sit down on the futon beside me.

“Hey,” she said, patting my shoulder. “Come on. You know I’m right. Hewillmake a good dad. And you know what? I bet he’ll be happy, too. The only thing Billy’s ever wanted is to love someone. Like,reallylove someone.”

I looked up then, and gave an unsteady little laugh. “To a nearly suffocating degree.”

“Exactly. I think all those spells you did for him, wishing him success, worked.Thisis what success means to Billy.”

“Being a teen dad?”

“Yes. I’m serious. And you know what else? There’s a reason you got an invitation and I didn’t. Rosalie doesn’t expect you to come to her wedding—”

I sat up so fast, I gave myself a head rush. “I would never!”

“Of course not. But she wants to rub it in your face that she got Billy and you didn’t.”

“Why?She knows I broke up with him. Why would she think I care? It’s so weird.”

“Oh, come on, Jess. Youdocare a little. Why else did you do all those spells? You want Billy to be happy, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course I do. That’s why I was so glad when he finally went off to school. I thought he might have a chance at getting away from her at last—and from me, and from West Harbor. But now Rosalie’s figured out theone wayto drag him back, and keep him there with her forever.” I looked down at the invitation dangling from Dina’s hand, and something clicked. “Do you think Rosalie sent me that invitation herself?”

Dina followed my gaze. “As opposed to having her mother do it? Or one of her dad’s many personal assistants? I guess so. She probably took great satisfaction in it, too, licking the envelope herself and everything. Why?”

“Because there’s a spell in Goody Fletcher’s book that I can modify to send happiness to someone remotely.” I plucked the invitation from Dina’s hand. “All I need is something the person has touched.”

Dina made a face. “Why would you want to send happiness toRosalie? She’s done nothing but try to make your life miserable. And now Billy’s—if you consider having a baby with Rosalie Hopkins a misery, which I definitely do.”

“I don’t care about Rosalie’s happiness. I care about Billy’s. Rosalie’s marrying Billy. And if Rosalie is happy, Billy will be happy, too. Want to help me?”

“Sure.” Dina shrugged. “Why not?”

So that’s how we found ourselves, a little while later, sitting cross-legged on the floor with Rosalie and Billy’s wedding invitation between us. I’d circled it with gently flaming tea lights and sprigs of purifying thyme, and opened the windows of our cornerapartment to let in the cool evening breeze—and of course the traffic noise from the avenue, below.

“Oh, Gaia,” I said, “mother of us all, we ask you to protect this couple, and send them all the love, blessings, good health, and good fortune that you can.”

Dina, whose eyes had been closed, now opened them and looked at me critically. “Sorry to interrupt, but do you really think it’s appropriate to ask Gaia to send good fortune to the kids of two of the richest families in West Harbor?”

I considered this. “You’re right. Let me try that again.” We closed our eyes and concentrated.

“Oh, Gaia, mother of us all,” I said, “please protect this couple, and send them all the love, blessings, good health, and good fortune that you can sparefrom those who need it more.”

A gust of wind blew in so suddenly from the open windows, it caused our long white curtains (repurposed bedsheets) to swell and then loudly snap. Dina and I shrieked, not only because of the sound, but because the wind blew out the flames on all of the tea candles I’d arranged around the wedding invitation, and we were plunged into semidarkness. The only light to see by was the yellowish glow of the streetlamp outside. In it, I could see the blue smoke from the candlewicks drifting across the living room.

“Holy shit,” Dina said, her eyes wide. “Do you think that was a sign?”

“I don’t know.” I watched as the wind died, and the curtains fell back into their normal positions. The gold rose-petal confetti from the wedding invitation and the thyme had both been blown across the room and now lay tossed together in a pile. “I guess the real question is, if it was a sign... was it a good one, or a bad one?”

Jessica

To banish bad luck, place an egg, still in its shell, in thy bathing water under a waning moon. Dispose of the egg far from home, or better yet near the home of thine enemy.

Goody Fletcher,Book of Useful Household Tips

“A lot of people don’t realize we’re married,” Billy was saying, “’cause Rosalie kept her maiden name.”

Derrick’s gaze on Billy narrowed. “I see.”