I’m working myself into an internal frenzy when I realize we haven’t let go of each other’s hands, and I look up and see Owen smiling at me—holy shit, is that a let’s-be-more-than-friends kind of smile?—and then I panic and drop his hand like it’s poison, which is reassuring, actually, because it’s now obvious that I am not interested in him, so I can calm down, for God’s sake.

Owen reaches into my backpack, pulls out a couple of pine cones, and regards them thoughtfully, gently tapping them together. I worry that he’s going to say something more about us being partners, but thankfully, he changes the subject. “I wonder if maybe Hannah would make more money if she was more flexible on the flower-magic thing. She’d save money on supplies and she wouldn’t have to pay her assistants to drive all over the peninsula for a couple of pine cones.”

He doesn’t mention the fact that both of us are working for free, which is nice of him. What would he say if he knew we were way past worrying about saving a few bucks on flowers here, or a few hours of work there?

“Maybe if the ad thing works out and she gets more clients, we could mention that to her,” he says. “What do you think?”

I should tell him. “Yeah, about that . . .”

“Hey, so my mom says we should have caviar pie for the anniversary sale,” he says. “That was a thing in the seventies, apparently. Isn’t that weird?”

“My mom said she might sell Heart’s Desire to McAllister Venture Capital,” I blurt. And I tell him the whole story.

“Damn,” he says. “What are we gonna do about it?” We. He’s put himself on our team without even thinking about it. I could hug him for that.

“I don’t know. I was all fired up about it right after she told us, but . . . it just feels so big. I mean, they’re the freaking McAllisters. Where do we even start?”

“There has to be something. You could tell someone. Or get the community involved. Or do a fund-raiser or something.”

“What community? This is just between us and them. Anyway, my mom doesn’t want us to tell anyone.”

“Why not?”

“I dunno. Probably because it could mess up the deal . . .” Oh.

One of the many superstar things that Mom does is mentor other women. I’ve heard her on the phone, strategizing with them about how to negotiate a deal, how to hire and fire people, how to make themselves heard at meetings full of men: Know more than everyone else. Be careful about what you share and who you share it with. Own your power, and don’t apologize for demanding respect. Control the narrative.

I think I know how we can control the narrative.