“Trust me, she isn’t sad.” It’s Hannah, coming in from her meeting. “I’m sure she’d be glad to see this place disappear.”

Owen looks at me and shrugs. I shrug back. He’s never met Mom, so how would he know, anyway?

“But guess what, guys!” Hannah continues. “That woman I was talking with out there? She does ad sales for SV Magazine—you know, that one for millionaire lady types? She used to do in-house marketing for Instagram, and she’s marrying an early YouTube employee. If we get her wedding, do you know what that means?” She holds out one palm and brushes the other one over it, pretending she’s making it rain money. “Those jade plants are working their magic already!”

I’m tempted to point out that technically we can’t say they’re working until we have a signed contract, but I don’t want to be a buzzkill. How can we nail that contract, though? I rub some dirt between my fingers as I think, and slowly, the germ of an idea forms in my head.

“Hey, Hannah? What if you offer her a discount on her wedding flowers in exchange for a discount on ad space in the magazine? That way, you give her an incentive to go with us, and we could get our name in front of a lot of rich eyeballs.”

Owen jumps in. “You should offer something in the ad, though, like a sale. Give people a reason to come in after they see it.”

“A fiftieth anniversary sale!” says Hannah. “Fifty years since we bought Heart’s Desire back from the McAllisters. It’s perfect!”

“I thought you said that Grandpa bought it back from the McAllisters in the seventies,” I point out. “Wouldn’t that make it forty-something?”

Hannah brushes that off. “Forty-somethingeth, fiftieth, whatever. The point is, if it works—and I’m sure it will—we are on our way back to financial solvency. You two are brilliant!”

“Three cheers for financial solvency!” Owen shouts. “Hip, hip—”

Oh my god.

“Hooray!” Hannah shouts.

“Hip, hip—” Oh, well. Why not?

“Hooray!” I join Hannah this time.

“Hip, hip—”

“Hooray!”

We cheer and wave our arms around and high-five each other, and it’s all ridiculous and silly, but I don’t care. It’s fun. We do another cheer for Heart’s Desire and another for SV Magazine, and Owen tries for yet another one for jade plants, which is where I draw the line because it’s just too absurd.

“But you’ll kill their magic,” he says. “Come on, let’s hear it. A little love for the jade plants! Hip, hip—”

“No.”

“What—seriously? Just straight-up no?”

“I’m not cheering for magical plants, Owen.”

“But they need you!”

“They’ll survive.”

Owen shakes his head mournfully. “That’s cold, CJ. You’ve got a cold, cold heart.”

“Get used to it.”