Chapter 30
Lucy
Horoscope Pisces
Pisces, our dreamer. Celebrate the romantic, passionate parts of you, but don’t forget to pair your dreams with action.
Olive, Summer, and Ivy burst into the shop with armfuls of bags.
“The craft night crew has arrived!” Summer shouted. “I’m ready to perfect my stabbing skills.”
“Please stick to stabbing the fabric only,” I said as I placed a small pack of needles by each place setting.
“Stanley is coming, so no promises.” She smiled sweetly as she placed a gorgeous tiered cake on the snack table while Olive and Ivy unloaded seemingly endless food containers. I’d hired Summer to cater the event and should have expected that she’d go overboard.
“This is way too much food,” I protested.
“No such thing,” Olive responded. “Easton is coming and he said he’s starving.”
Summer snorted. “I should have baked a second cake.”
“Wow, Lucy, you did an amazing job cleaning the shop,” Ivy said, looking around with wide eyes. “I’ve never seen it like this.”
My cheeks heated, not because of her shock—everyone knew organization was not my thing—but at the reminder of how it had gotten like this.
Whenever I tried cleaning on my own, I inevitably got distracted and suddenly four hours had passed and I was on the floor surrounded by sheets of paper and pressed flowers.
But with King’s help, I’d gotten it done in a fraction of the time.
And when I came downstairs this morning, I thought I could still catch a trace of his scent.
“I liked the mess.” Summer squeezed me into a tight hug. “But I guess this is better for events.”
“I suppose I’ll have to keep it clean if I do more of these.”
“People are going to be banging down the door to schedule with you.” She rested her head on my shoulder and I stroked her hair.
“You okay?”
She hummed. “Just tired. I keep waking up in the middle of the night with ideas for the bakery menu and recipes I need to tweak.”
I returned her tight hug. “You have to take care of yourself.” Not that I had room to talk. I kept a notebook by my bed with all the sketch ideas that came to me in the middle of the night. “I appreciate you coming tonight, even though you’re so busy. It means a lot.”
“Anything for you, babe.”
I chewed my lip. “I just hope people have fun.”
This event had emerged out of the burnout I was feeling lately with tailoring.
There was absolutely an art to tailoring, but it had never been my passion.
The tiny voice in the back of my mind, the one my exes had almost completely stamped out, whispered that it was time for me to finally produce my clothing line, the one I’d been dreaming up since I was sixteen.
But I was terrified of failing because it would confirm that I wasn’t actually capable of doing something serious.
I didn’t have a college degree, had never done a fashion internship, and had no formal training.
Maybe that was the next step I needed to take.
I could apply for internships or classes or something.
Except that would mean leaving Starlight Grove.
Olive joined us, squeezing me into a tight hug on my other side. “It’s going to be amazing. I’m super excited to learn. Come over here, Ivy. It’s group hug time.”
Ivy laughed as she put down the chips she was pouring into a bowl. I closed my eyes as my three friends squished me hard among them. How could I even think of leaving this?
When we finally broke apart, Summer flopped down in a chair. “Who’s coming tonight?”
I pulled up the attendee list on my phone. “We’ve got Marisol, Carmen, Stanley, Harry, Olive’s guys, Ivy’s guys, Naomi, Ella, and Lina. Oh, and Wilder, King, and Leo.” I mumbled that last part so it took my friends a second to process what I’d said, but once they did, it was mayhem.
“What?” Summer shrieked, jumping up from her chair while Ivy and Olive gasped dramatically.
“I’m glad we’re going to be super chill about this,” I deadpanned.
“Forget being chill! Tell us everything.” Olive’s eyes gleamed with excitement in such contrast with the reserved, standoffish omega who had moved to town a few months ago.
“I thought they might like to come, so I invited them.” My tone was light and breezy as I unnecessarily straightened a stack of paper.
It was no big deal that the guys were coming.
I definitely hadn’t imagined them getting along so well that by the end of the night, they declared their undying love to me, decided we should all be a pack, and carried me to my nest to ravage me.
Nope. Definitely wasn’t thinking anything like that.
“I didn’t know you were talking to King again. How did I miss that?” Olive asked.
My cheeks heated. “He actually stopped by yesterday.” My eyes flicked to the large floral arrangement in the center of the food table. “And brought me flowers.”
Another loud round of squeals and jumping followed, and this time, I couldn’t stop myself from joining in.
“What did he say when he brought the flowers?” Summer asked.
“He said he couldn’t stay away.” And that we’d figure the rest out, whatever that meant.
Ivy squeezed my hand. “I’m so happy for you. Are they officially courting you?”
The anxiety monster who lived in my chest reared its head. “Not officially.”
Summer waved her hand dismissively. “That’s just a formality. Mark my words, you’ll be courting by the end of the night.”
It was ten past seven and my attendees were gathered around the table, drinks and snacks in hand.
Everyone except the absent Leo, King, and Wilder.
I snuck away to the back of the store to check my phone, clinging to the hope that the guys had all texted me and the notifications had somehow been swallowed.
But there was nothing.
My palms grew clammy at the realization that Leo and I were the only ones who had actually exchanged numbers—we’d done it right after he moved in next door.
How was it possible that I had spent the night with Wilder and slept with King and didn’t have their numbers?
I chewed my lip. I could text one of the firefighters to ask for Wilder’s cell, but was that too stalkerish?
Stalkerish and clingy. But what if something had happened to them?
I sent Leo a text checking in.
An arm around my shoulder made me jump. “Don’t worry. I’m sure they’re just running late,” Ivy said.
I smiled. “Yeah, probably.”
She gave me a little squeeze. “Come on. You can catch them up when they get here.”