“So, do you want to come? I know it’s short notice, but I thought it might be fun.”

I thought about sitting here in the greenhouse for the rest of the day, all on my own unless I sought out Goon or Bramley for company.

“I’d love to get out,” I said. “If it’s not too much of a bother.”

He just rolled his eyes at me.

“Okay, okay,” I said. “I get the message. Yes, I’d love to come. When do we need to leave?”

He glanced at his watch. “Now?”

“Do I need to bring anything?”

“Well, depending on how we feel, we might want to stay overnight in the hotel. They’ll comp us a room.”

“Let me grab a few things.”

I started to wheel away—I can get around now on my own two legs, but it’s way slower and my balance still isn’t great.

“It’ll go quicker if you do the packing,” I added.

He followed me into my room and got my bag from the closet while I wheeled over to the dresser and studied the clothes in the drawers.

“Have you talked to Christy about this fairy business?” I asked as I tossed a few things onto the bed.

He shook his head. “I meant to when I was over at his place last night, but then we got off on this whole other tangent of me making a CD to get the money to put down some roots. You know, actually get my own place, that kind of thing.”

I paused on my way to the bathroom to look back at him. I could have told him he was welcome to keep living in my old apartment for as long as he wanted, but the idea of him actually making a commitment to record a CD—and all that would entail—took me too much by surprise.

“So, how do you feel about that?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I’m not saying no.” He laughed and added before I could comment, “And yeah, I know. That is new. But I have to do something with my life. I look at Christy and Saskia and . . . I’m not exactly jealous. But I know I’d like that kind of stability in my life. I think I need it.”

“Wow.”

“I know. Took awhile, but maybe I’m finally growing up.”

We’d both had troubled childhoods—it was part of what drew us together all those years ago when we first met, working part-time at the post office. We didn’t have real families of our own, so we had to make a new one for ourselves. He’d reconciled with Christy since then, and I was now working on doing the same with my sister Raylene.