To Wish or Not to Wish
Page 30
Teel shrugged, making the action a ballet of nonchalance. “I decided to grant you a wish.”
“I didn’t ask to be here.”
Another little pout. “I figured that you would ask, though. If you knew you could.” She stepped closer to the fence, bent her head toward me and whispered conspiratorially, “Besides, I had to let you see what you made possible.” She laughed, as if the glory of the garden were more than she could process, more than she could believe, herself. “And I’ll tell you something else,” she whispered. “Something I didn’t know until I got here. Until Jaze told me.”
“What?” I asked, lowering my voice to match hers.
“We can grant unlimited wishes from inside the Garden.”
“What?” I asked again. Her words didn’t make sense. I couldn’t process them, couldn’t understand what Teel was telling me. My mind felt fuzzy, snagged by her dancing tattoo, overwhelmed by the scents and sounds and sights of the Garden around her.
“We genies can grant unlimited wishes from the Garden. No contract. No obligation. Whatever we want to do, helping whoever we want to help.”
“But why would you do that?” I asked, utterly confused. “Isn’t that like going on vacation, and then phoning in to the office?”
“That’s just it. I don’t have an office. I don’t have an obligation, to anyone. But if I want to do anything, I can. Just for the sake of doing it.”
I nodded. It had to be like Timothy, choosing to cook dinner for me, when he didn’t have to. “So you wished me here?”
Teel smiled, and the curve of her lips lit up her entire face. She looked like a complacent harvest goddess, beaming with power. “I wished you here, so that I could see the expression on your face. I wished you here so that I could know what you’d say when I work my other wish.”
“Your other wish?” I felt like I was being stupid. It seemed like Teel was infinitely older than I was, endlessly wiser. I imagined that I’d felt this way when I was a child, when my parents spelled words over my head to keep me from understanding whatever secrets they shared with each other.
Teel closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her perfect nose, exhaling through her flawless lips. She raised her fingers to her shell of an ear, once again snaring my attention with the endless wrap of flame around flame. She intoned, “I wish that Derek Carlson was home, safe and unharmed, from his duty overseas.”
“Teel!” I shouted her name, awash in disbelief. I had never dared to make that wish. I wasn’t sure that it would be a good one, that Derek would be happy at home. Sure, he loved Amy and Justin, that was never in doubt. But he was also proud of his career as a soldier, proud of his service to the country.
Teel merely smiled at me as if she were certain that Derek wanted to come home. And because she was so certain, I was, too. It couldn’t be any other way. There couldn’t be any other truth. Teel raised her fingers to her ear and tugged twice at the lobe.
I braced myself for the shock of electricity, for the jangle that I expected to shake me from crown to toe. There was nothing, though. No sharp jolt. No lingering hum. “It didn’t work,” I said, and I was astonished to hear my voice shaking. I was on the verge of tears. How could I be so upset about losing something I hadn’t known I could have, just one minute before?
“Of course it worked.” Teel laughed. “You didn’t feel anything, because it wasn’t your wish. It was mine.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I wanted to,” she said simply. “Because I like Justin. I liked the time I spent with him. He’s trying so hard to be good, which is more than I can say for most of you humans.” She shrugged her impossibly delicate shoulders. “I made the wish because I wanted to,” she repeated firmly.
“Thank you,” I said. I could barely imagine how Derek’s return would change things. Amy would be happy again—her old self, her strong self. She wouldn’t judge her worth entirely by how she did in her classes. She might even drop some of her business school jargon. Justin would be happy, too. He’d follow through on the changes he’d begun under Teel’s tutelage. He’d continue growing up, a good, healthy boy. And Derek… Well, I had to trust Teel. Everything else had worked out perfectly.
An owl hooted from behind a nearby bush. Teel rolled her eyes and laughed. “That’s Jaze. She thinks she’s being subtle. She thinks that you won’t notice an owl during daytime. Jaze, dear!” she called. “I’ll only be a minute more.”
She. Jaze had been a “he” when I arrived. I’d never get used to genies’ glib exchange of gender.
I wouldn’t have an opportunity to try, anymore. I met Teel’s eyes. “You shouldn’t keep her waiting. Don’t waste your time in the Garden.”
Teel laughed, and the sound cascaded toward me like tiny silver bells caught in a breeze. “Thank you, Erin.”
“For what?”
“For making your fourth wish. For freeing me. For letting me come here. I know you were reluctant. I know you were afraid.”
All of that seemed so long ago. I shook my head. “No,” I said. “Thank you.”
The owl hooted again, a little more impatiently. Teel glanced at the honeysuckle-shrouded bush before she raised her fingers to her ear. “Ready?” she asked.
“Ready,” I confirmed.
She tugged twice. My eyes were swept closed. My chest was compressed with the enormous power of nothingness. I stumbled, missing the invisible floor, and then I opened my eyes to find myself back in the alley. The muggy heat of a summer night pressed down on me. I tapped my foot against the ground, reassuring myself that I was in New York, in the real world. The human world. My world.
My phone rang, deep in my tote bag. I recognized the ring tone—Amy. I didn’t need to answer, though. I already knew what she was going to say. I knew that she’d just received word—from someone, from the base commander, from Derek himself—that her husband was heading home to New Brunswick. There’d be time enough for us to rejoice together, tomorrow.
I squared my shoulders and turned the corner into the Garden Variety courtyard. The canvas chairs had disappeared, along with the lighting instruments and all the scurrying technicians. The restaurant’s four iron tables melted into the shadows. The light inside Garden Variety was dimmed, barely splashing onto the flagstones. I thought back to the first time I had visited. Then, as now, I felt as if I’d stepped into a fairy tale, a place as magical as Teel’s Garden.
“It’s warm for eating outside, isn’t it?”
I realized that I’d been expecting Timothy to speak from the shadows. He’d startled me the first time I’d ever found the restaurant, but now I knew what to expect. He was robed in deep shadow beside the green-painted door. He stepped forward, utterly familiar in his dark jeans, his dark work shirt, his casually tied apron. I smiled at his unruly hair, at the waves that still refused to submit to any comb. I fought the urge to rub my fingertips across the rough stubble of his beard.
His hand was curled around a stoneware mug, and I caught a whiff of Earl Grey—the same hint of bergamot that he’d left for me the morning of my debut. Was it only the day before? He shrugged. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
He’d said that to me before, the first night that I’d come to Garden Variety. “No,” I said. “You didn’t.” I felt like I was reading from a script. I strayed from the lines, though, when I closed the distance between us, when I clutched at his shirt, pulling him close, trying to melt his entire body into mine.
He buried his face in my hair, breathing deeply. “Hmm,” he purred. “Honeysuckle.”
I clutched him closer, relishing the feel of his palms against my back, the grip of his fingers on my hips. “It’s late,” he finally whispered, when we both came up for air. “You must be starving.”
I smiled in the darkness and nodded toward the door. “I hope you have something to eat in there.”
“As you wish,” he said. I laughed as he drew back enough to usher me inside. Timothy would never know why th
ose words were so funny. But that was all right. He didn’t need to know. Teel was gone from my life forever.
Timothy locked the door behind us. “I think I might be able to come up with something for you,” he said. As he took my hand and led me into the kitchen, I thought to myself, One.
From here on out, I was counting the good things that happened. And I was willing to bet there would be a lot more than three.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
No book appears out of a vacuum, and To Wish or Not to Wish is no exception. I am deeply indebted to New York actress Kate Konigisor for sharing information about her never-boring career, particularly for walking me through the audition process that poor Erin must endure. Also, I thank Linda Lindsey, for her insight and advice regarding United States military spouses. Any inaccuracies about the real worlds of theater and the military are solely my responsibility.
My first reader, Bruce Sundrud, provided invaluable notes on this volume of the As You Wish series, meshing his review schedule to my writing calendar. My critique partner, Nancy Yeager, brought sharp eyes to later stages of the manuscript, finding flaws that I didn’t even suspect were there.
As always, I am grateful for the shrewd guidance of my agent, Richard Curtis, who remains a source of strength and stability in the crazed writing world. The folks at Harlequin/MIRA have outdone themselves in the creation of this book—my editor, Mary-Theresa Hussey, stands at the helm, with the always-able support of her assistant, Elizabeth Mazer, and the literally dozens of people who keep things moving smoothly behind the scenes.
My family remains my bedrock during the frequent tempests of writing. Many thanks to all of the Klaskys, Fallons, Maddreys and Timminses, but a special, by-definition-inadequate thank-you to my husband, Mark, who always has to put up with everything, without even a single wish to help him out.
Most of all, though, I thank you, the reader of this book. I look forward to corresponding with you through my Web site at www.mindyklasky.com.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6888-7
TO WISH OR NOT TO WISH
Copyright © 2010 by Mindy L. Klasky
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS