I Wish (7 page)

Usually I was the one to say “I’m sorry” first, but I hadn’t for this argument. Asking for forgiveness could be exhausting, and I didn’t have any energy to spare.

But plenty of time had passed now. She knew it. I knew it. Why didn’t she kick off the apologies? Hadn’t I done my share by coming over here?

She stared at her book. I picked up another carrot. The cafeteria slowly emptied, and still we said nothing, like we barely knew each other.

Was she as sad about it as I was?

Sara flipped the page, unconcerned about me. Should I take the hint to leave or make her speak to me?

Enough already. If she could act like we’d never been friends, then I could act like it had only been days—instead of months—since we’d talked.

I would start with the reason for our fight and get him out of the way. “How’s Gryphon?”

Her gaze met mine. “We broke up.”

Wow. There must be something wrong with the school’s grapevine. That should’ve been all over the place. I pinched my leg to keep from smiling. “When?”

“In April. And June.” She snapped her paperback shut. “And a week ago.”

Volatile as ever. Boyfriends like Gryphon were an addiction for her. She’d always loved being half of a beautiful couple, and he was definitely pretty. If only he’d deserved her in some other way. From the very beginning of their relationship, he’d acted like he was doing her a favor, which was stupid. He might have been a champion swimmer, but Sara was the cool one. Cute, smart, funny, and bubbling over with charm. Gryphon was popular mostly because of
her
, but his ego was too big to realize it. “What happened?”

“I got tired of…” She pressed her lips together and looked away.

Something wasn’t right about this whole thing. I wanted to ask her for more details, but I couldn’t. Whatever the secret was, she would only tell it to a best friend, which I wasn’t anymore. But I wouldn’t hide that I thought their breakup was a relief. “Gryphon was always—”

“Stop. Don’t say another word. I don’t need your opinions about Gryphon or any other guy I date.” She popped to her feet, clutching her backpack to her chest. “You’ve been invisible for a long time, Lacey. Why did you bother to come over here?”

She’d acknowledged the weirdness between us. Good. That was a start. “Because I want to know why you disappeared.”

“
I
disappeared? It was the other way around.”

“You know where I live.”

“I haven’t moved either.” Her hands shook. “You changed your phone number without telling me.”

“I don’t have it anymore.” My heart pounded so hard I could feel the pulse in my ears.

“Why not?”

I didn’t want to admit it. I’d worked hard to keep the truth about my family confined to the inside of our house. Yet Sara had been my best friend for years—the person that I’d once told
everything
to. I could trust her, couldn’t I? “We can’t afford mobile phones.”

“Oh.” A flicker of something—pity, maybe?—flashed in her eyes. “Why haven’t you said something?”

There were so many reasons. She’d been wrapped up in a guy I couldn’t stand. The money thing embarrassed me. And if Sara had ever discovered how bad off we were, she would’ve insisted on helping out, and I would’ve refused. “I’ve been trying to handle it myself.”

“It’s nice to know how little you thought of our friendship.” There was an edge to her voice. “You haven’t wanted to be around me in months. What’s the point in talking to me now?”

“Excuse me?” I met her glare with one of my own.

“Life’s been hard.” “Life is hard for everybody.” She snorted. “I’m sorry about Josh, but he’s been gone almost a year. You can’t hide behind his death forever.”

My head whipped back like she’d slapped me. Wow. Had she really just said that? “You don’t know what it’s like at my house.”

“Yeah, and you don’t know what it’s like at mine.” She stalked away.

I watched her weave her way through the cafeteria, wondering what she meant. Everything about her family was perfect. Sara and her brother Sean were the perfect twins. They had perfect parents who had never been married to anyone except each other. They had a perfectly big house on a perfectly small yard in Magnolia Estates. There were four brand-new cars in their four-car garage. And they owned three perfect cats with better lives than most people. Okay, so maybe her father—the big, important businessman—had more frequent flyer miles than the average airline pilot. But still.

I’d have to corner Sean. He’d tell me what was going on.

I arrived home from school a little later than normal and found my mother standing in the center of the kitchen, her face pale, her trembling hand clutching the collar of her blouse against her throat.

“We have an intruder, Lacey.”

“We do? Where?” The adrenaline was pumping. I dropped my backpack on the floor and looked around for a baseball bat. I had to settle for a broom.

“In the backyard.”

“The backyard?” I inched closer to the window and peeked out.

Grant was pushing the lawnmower. Crap. I should’ve warned her already. Not that I would ever tell Grant he’d been right. “Mom. Intruders come
inside
your house. They don’t mow lawns.”

“Why would a stranger mow our lawn?”

“Grant isn’t a stranger.” What had I been thinking? I knew he couldn’t do any landscaping without being seen. Sometimes, though, it was just easier to avoid conflict until it was forced on me.

“You
know
him?” Her voice rasped.

“Yeah. I asked him to cut the grass.”

“Without telling me?”

“I forgot,” I said, distracted by how amazing our backyard looked. There was fresh pine straw spread around the flower beds. Weeds gone. Bushes trimmed. Even the flowers seemed perky.

Wait a minute.
Fresh
pine straw? We didn’t have that in the budget. I took off outside, yelling and waving the broom until I had Grant’s attention.

He shut off the mower. “Yes?”

“Where did you get the pine straw?”

“Good afternoon to you as well. Miserably hot day, wouldn’t you agree?”

I paused in the middle of my tirade. “Oh. Right.” It was miserable out here in the full sun, although his chest looked dry. “You’re not sweating.”

“Supernatural Beings do not sweat. We do, however, experience high temperatures.”

“Sorry.” I lowered the broom and leaned on it for support. The heat shimmered above the ground in a dusty haze. Deep breaths were impossible, and Grant had been out in this all day. What was wrong with me? “Nice job on the yard.”

He inclined his head. “As you were saying?”

Tirade back on. “Today’s wish wasn’t supposed to cost anything.”

“I haven’t spent a dime. I didn’t have one to spend.”

“Oh.” Tirade off again, for good this time. “Where did the pine straw come from?”

A smug smile appeared. “Mrs. Williford has dozens of pine trees.”

“Mrs. Williford? What did you have to sacrifice?” Our nosy across-the-street neighbor had never given away anything for free. Not even a hello. I didn’t want to be in her debt.

“I bartered.” He rolled his head around, then flexed his arms, his face contorting in discomfort. “Half of anything I raked up in her yard I could keep.”

He didn’t have on a shirt, and his upper body was, well, perfect. No wonder Mrs. Williford was nice to him. The sight of all that bronze skin stretched over sculpted muscle must have bewitched her. “You worked on her yard before doing ours?”

“Indeed.”

Should I apologize? Hug him? Offer to give a foot massage? Henry’s shout saved me from making a decision.

“Hey, Lacey!”

I looked over my shoulder. My family was tramping across the yard. When they got a few feet away, my mother halted. Henry kept going until Mom grabbed his arm and yanked him back to her side.

“Are you going to introduce us?” she asked.

There was no logical way to explain a Benevolent Supernatural Being, so I would skip the details and hope for the best. “Mom, Henry, this is Grant. He’s going to help around the house for a few days.”

Mom crossed her arms, bristling with suspicion. But not my brother. Released from his mother’s stranglehold, Henry darted to Grant. “What kinds of things can you do?”

“Ask.”

“Do you play soccer?”

My BSB crouched to Henry’s level, his expression calmly curious. “I do.”

“Would you practice with me?”

I tried to catch Grant’s eye, shaking my head violently. Bad idea. Bad.

“Certainly,” he said. “Early in the evening, perhaps? About seven?”

“Great.” Henry started to walk away. Then he glanced back, worry reflected on his face. “Are you any good?”

“I am. Quite good.”

My brother smiled. “Awesome. See you later.”

We watched Henry swagger toward the front yard. My brother was happy. I was horrified. The last thing I needed was for my family to bond with a genie.

Mom waited until her little boy was out of earshot before launching her interrogation. “Who are you?”

“I’m Grant,” he said, rising slowly, “and I’m here to help.”

“I picked up that much from Lacey.” She frowned. “Grant what?”

“Just Grant.”

She glared. “Why are you here?”

“My profession requires me to serve humans in need.”

Humans
? He used the word
humans
? I had to take over. “He’s a handyman, Mom.”

Her glare shifted to me. “How much are we paying him?”

“Nothing.” For some reason, her question irritated me. As if she ever thought about where the money came from. “He’s doing it for free.”

“Nothing is ever free.”

For months, my mother hadn’t questioned anything. The decisions I made were fine as long as I left her out of them. Now, all of a sudden, when I didn’t want her involvement, she had pulled herself together enough to act like a normal parent. “Please, Mom. I have this under control.”

She gave me an insincere smile. “Where did the two of you meet?”

“At the flea market. About a week ago.”

“I cannot agree,” he said. “We met in the studio.”

I swung around to face him. “Are you correcting me?”
In front of her?

“Indeed.”

Mom snorted. “Who do you work for?”

“Me,” I said in a rush.

“I have a boss,” he said.

It was all I could do to keep from gagging him. “Could you shut up and let me handle this?”

He clamped his lips.

“Thank you.” I turned to Mom. “What else do you want to know?”

“How old is he?”

Of course she would ask something I didn’t know the answer to. Vagueness would have to work. “He’s legal.”

“Eighteen,” he said.

Grant was only a few months older than me? I frowned at him. “That’s all?”

“How old did you think he was?” my mother asked.

“Older than eighteen.”

She chewed on a thumbnail. “Why aren’t you in high school, Grant?”

“I’ve already graduated.”

“Are you planning to go to college?”

“There would be no point.”

Wow, we were straying off course. I had to stop the questions before
Mr. Honesty
ruined everything. “Mom, could you quit the inquisition? Grant’s here to help, and he’s free. Can’t we leave it at that?”

“Are we some kind of charity project to him?”

“Hardly, especially since our family doesn’t accept charity.” This conversation was making me itchy. It had to end. “He works for a group like the Peace Corps. We’re doing him a favor. He doesn’t stand to gain anything.”

Grant suppressed a sigh. “You’re mistaken, Chief. I hope to receive a promotion after your case.”

I rounded on him. “A promotion?”

“You didn’t know about that, did you?” Mom sniffed in vindication.

“I did
not
.”

He took a step closer to her and smiled. “Are you displeased with the quality of my work, Mrs. Jones?”

She blinked several times. Then slowly, deliberately, my mother surveyed the yard, giving each flower bed and bush her full attention. Her gaze rested longest on the wrought-iron bench under a cluster of trees, a favorite spot of hers and Josh’s. There was nothing fuzzy about her scrutiny. She was really here. Really thinking about this issue. “No, you’ve done a wonderful job.”

“Thank you.” He held out his hand. “Trust me, there is no charge.”

She clasped his hand. “Okay, then, but you must let me do something in return…”

As her tension melted away, mine rose. I looked from her to him and back again. She was acting normal. It was oddly upsetting. Why couldn’t she act normal when it was just me?

“…would you like to eat with us tonight?”

I gasped a loud “
No
.”

“Indeed, I would,” he said over me.

My mother frowned at me. “Lacey, where are your manners?” She nodded toward Grant. “We’ll see you around six,” she said and then hurried toward the house. The screen door slammed behind her with a
thwack
.

I was frozen with shock. How had things gone so out of control?

Grant bent over the mower. It roared to life.

“I’m not done with you,” I yelled.

He straightened. “Yes, Chief?”

“Did I hear you right? Are you getting a promotion because of me?”