Page 25 of Save a Wish

Sadie plunged her hand back into the tote bag. She extracted another slip of paper and slid it along the desk to me.

Kalm Kingdom was written on the paper.

“Kalm because my services aim to bring about calm and peace in my clients,” Sadie explained, “and Kingdom because this area is called the Northeast Kingdom.”

“It’s perfect.” And so are you, Sadie Rodgers. I managed to keep that last part to myself. “I’m envisioning some logo ideas, unless you already have one in mind.”

“I don’t so I’m open to suggestions.”

Nodding, I reached for my laptop and slid it in front of me. “Let’s brainstorm. A logo can get at the heart of what a business is about and then everything else falls into place.” I grinned. “Plus designing logos is fun.”

“Okay.” Sadie wiggled in her seat a bit, and I liked that she seemed excited to work together.

I grabbed my phone. “Let’s also get a nice photo of you for the website.”

“A photo?” If possible, Sadie’s pale skin grew paler.

“Yes. People like to see who they’re buying services from. It makes it all more personal,” I said. “Consumers buy from people they know, like, and trust. A photo helps create those feelings.”

“No photos.” Sadie stood. “Maybe this business isn’t a good idea after all.”

“What?” I leaned back in my seat. “It’s a great idea. One I think you’ll be successful at growing into something that serves people. What’s the problem with taking a photo?” I waved a hand over her. “It’s not like you’re not photogenic.”

Her lips tilted up slightly at my compliment, but then they settled back into a firm line as she shook her head.

“I’d rather skip the photo part, Beckett,” she said. “I don’t like being photographed.”

I had a feeling it was more than that, but pressing her seemed like a good way to get her to say she didn’t want my help.

And I wanted to help her.

Because if she succeeded in building this business, she’d most likely stay in Greenridge, and that was something else I wanted.

Chapter Nine

Sadie

“Okay.” Beckett put his phone down and his hands up. “No photo. Maybe we could make a little avatar of you instead.”

“An avatar?” I asked. “What’s that?” I simply couldn’t put my photo on the computer and risk my family or Cian finding it.

Finding me.

So far, I’d managed to disappear successfully from Verdalach and I didn’t want to compromise that in any way. I was too close to having the life I’d always wanted. To having freedom. My family had apparently decided not to make a big spectacle of trying to find me because I hadn’t seen anything the few times I’d gone on the internet or on the magazine covers Patty had on display in her store or on TV. Verdalach was very private and announcing a missing princess would put the country in the public eye. That privacy was finally something beneficial about Verdalachian ways.

“An avatar is a cute cartoon version of yourself.” Beckett got up and walked over to a complicated-looking computer station on the other side of his office. After a few taps on the keyboard, he turned toward me while gesturing to the computer’s large screen. “See? This is an avatar for me.”

I peered at the rendition of Beckett that still looked exactly like Beckett.

At my hesitation, he walked back to the other desk and his laptop. “We could make something less life-like, if that’s better.” He fiddled around on that computer for a few moments while I debated about collecting all my slips of paper and getting out of here.

But when Beckett angled the laptop so I could see the screen, a much more illustrated version of himself stared back at me.

“This one is more cartooned,” he said. “Give me a few moments and I can build one for you so you can see it.”

He turned back to the computer and busied himself while I paced behind him. Beckett certainly had the skills I needed to get this business launched, but I couldn’t tell him why I didn’t want my photo on the internet. Would he even believe me if I did tell him?

I’m a runaway princess from a faraway land. It sounded ridiculous because it was ridiculous.