of her coffee.
“Someone is happy this morning,” Petty said as she compared two shades of pink ribbon against each other.
“Oh, yes! Do tell,” Jonquil prompted.
“I just remembered how much I love my job. This is my favorite part. The dress!”
Rosebud smiled at her. “It’s my favorite part, too.”
“No, no, love. Maybe baby blue?” Bluebonnet said to Petty, and handed her another ribbon. “My favorite part is the cake.”
“Cake is good, too.” Petty nodded and put the ribbon samples down next to one another. “But surely you have some feedback about the favor samples?”
“It was a great way to meet everyone in town, that was for sure.” Zuri took another bite of her cupcake.
“We’re dying to know, what happened when you tried the wish coin?” Jonquil asked.
She looked around the table and saw only excited faces. Even Rosebud. It was as if they all expected the coin to work somehow. Zuri supposed it couldn’t hurt to indulge them.
“I made my wish at the fountain on the way to the B and B,” she began.
And everyone leaned in closer around the table.
It was silly. So silly. As if wish coins could actually make wishes come true. But she found their excitement to be infectious, and she grinned.
“Well, I made my wish and right after I did, two things happened.”
“Two? Oh my!” Bluebonnet fanned herself as if Zuri had said something scandalous.
She found herself giggling, but then composed herself. “I got a text from my ex. He wants to talk. I don’t know if I should respond or not. My sister would tell me to light my phone on fire and get a new one, with a new number.”
Petty nodded. “I second this. Unless he was your wish?”
“I don’t know what my wish was.”
“What?” Jonquil asked. “How do you not know what you wished for?”
“Can I say? Or will it affect the potency of my wish?” Zuri asked.
“No, you can tell us.” Bluebonnet nodded.
“I asked for my heart’s desire.”
Petty huffed.
Jonquil sighed.
Bluebonnet shook her head slowly.
Rosebud, however, nodded. “I see how that would be complicated. Sometimes, we don’t always know our heart’s desire. Or we do, but we’re afraid to admit it.”
“I second your sister. I think you should light your phone on fire. We could give it a Viking funeral tonight, if you like,” Petty said.
“Hold on just a sec. I think maybe she should answer him,” Jonquil said.
“Whyever would she do that? After what he did? He is not Happily Ever After material. You do know that, don’t you, dear?” Bluebonnet asked.
“I . . . I suppose I do.” She pressed her lips together.
“But?” Rosebud prompted gently.
“But . . . when I was a kid, I had these fashion plates. You’d take the plates and put them under the paper and then use a crayon to transfer the figure from the plates. You could mix and match to make all kinds of different outfits. Alec was like that. The plates were my dreams and he fit with all of them.”
“I see,” Rosebud said.
Zuri got the feeling that maybe she really did.
“What else happened?” Jonquil asked. “Did you see the frog?”
“I definitely saw the frog. He was ridiculous. I didn’t know frogs could get that big outside of the Jurassic period,” Zuri said.
The table laughed.
“And I met Phillip Charming,” she said in a rush.
“Did you, now?” Jonquil asked. “How did that go?”
“Well, he’s definitely not my heart’s desire. And neither is Alec. The last thing I’d wish for is a man.”
“Too true,” Bluebonnet encouraged. “But do tell us about Phillip. Was he . . . princely?”
“Quite. He walked me to the B and B and got me set up in the most beautiful room I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t know if I could even call it a room. It was more like a penthouse suite. I think he called them the Queen’s Chambers, or something.”
“Oh, really?” Petty grinned. “I see.”
“Then what happened?” Rosebud asked.
“We just talked. Had hot chocolate. No, correction. Mayan drinking chocolate. He was nice.”
“And funny?” Petty prompted. “I always thought he was funny.”
“Yes, he was funny. If I was looking to date someone, I would be interested.” When grins erupted all around the table, she reiterated, “But I’m not.”
“No one says you have to date, dear. You could just . . .” Petty looked at her pointedly. “You know.”
Bluebonnet agreed with a hearty nod of her head.
“You’re worse than my sister. I don’t want that, either. My heart is tender and looking for something that doesn’t hurt.