Page 24 of Born for Starlight

"You're doing that thing again," she said. "Where you say almost nothing and somehow it's still charming."

"It's a gift."

"It's infuriating is what it is." She checked her watch, wincing at whatever time it told her, and started sliding out of the booth before I was ready for the conversation to end. "I have to go. Marty's going to have an aneurysm if I miss this call."

"Alright."

She stood, gathering her sunglasses off the table, and hesitated there a second longer than the moment required.

"I need to think about all this," she said. "The trip. What you said."

"Take all the time you need."

"If I do go." She said it slow, like she was trying the sentence out before committing to the rest of it. "If I do, and I need someone who actually knows what they're walking into. Would that be you?"

I held her eyes and didn't make it easy, because making it easy wasn't the point.

"If you need someone," I said, "I’d like it to be me."

She nodded once, like she was filing it away, then headed for the door. I watched her, feeling for the first time, that maybe, just maybe, I could accomplish what I needed to accomplish and save the girl.

Chapter Nine

Zoe's living room looked like a bridal boutique had exploded in it, and I was having the time of my life. Zoe so deserved this.

Garment bags hung off the curtain rod. Shoe boxes were stacked on nearly every flat space, and Trenda had brought a veil steamer. An actual veil steamer, plugged in next to the lamp like it was a totally normal appliance to travel with. Of course she had. Trenda had probably owned it since before her oldest sister, Evie, had gotten married.

I shook my head.

"Aunt Angel, look." James stood in the middle of the room in his tiny suit jacket, arms straight out at his sides. "I have pockets. Real ones. Not pretend ones."

Aunt Angel. The promotion from Miss Angel had happened somewhere in the last two weeks, and it got me every single time.

"That is the height of fashion, my man."

"I know." He patted them both. "One is for the ring. The other one is for a dinosaur. A small one."

"Which dinosaur made the cut?"

He looked like he’d agonized over this decision. "Ankylosaurus. He's the most responsible."

"Fantastic choice," Bella said from the floor, where she was working through the shoe boxes with the focus of a jeweler grading diamonds. At twelve, she had appointed herself to the wedding committee the moment she'd walked in the door, and nobody had been brave enough to object. "The T-Rex would lose the ring. His arms are useless."

James nodded solemnly. Clearly, they'd already discussed it.

I bit down on my lip so I wouldn't laugh. Beside me on the couch, Kit didn't even try. She snorted into her sweet tea while her daughter, nine months of drooly perfection, sat on her lap and gnawed on a teething ring like a tiny wolverine. On Kit's other side, Chloe had Olivia tucked into the crook of her arm, four months old and milk-drunk, ready for a nap.

Bonnie came in from the kitchen with a tray of double-chocolate frosted brownies. Perfect for making a mess. "Zoe, get out here. We were promised a dress."

"I'm coming, I'm coming. These buttons were designed by a sadist." Zoe's voice floated down the hallway. "Trenda, I need your fingers."

"On my way." Trenda set down the steamer attachment she'd been fussing with and headed back, calling over her shoulder, "Nobody touch the veil."

"Nobody wants to touch the veil," Bella called after.

"I know you, child,” Trenda called back to her daughter.

Bella grinned and went back to the shoes.