Page 36 of Sunshine

Chloe nodded at me. “You’re going to jump into the ice bath?”

“Julian said he would do it with me.”

“I did.” Julian grinned, his dimples flashing.

“Awesome.” Chloe held up a blue towel with the fire department’s insignia. “I’ll save you one.”

“It’s okay.” I tried not to fidget. Even though everyone was working, it still felt like they were all looking at me. “I can always steal one from Julian later. Let the customers have them.”

Julian and I said bye, and I headed back to the Cosmic Bonds booth.

Stella and her alpha, Evan, were talking about the crystal arrangement, and Luna fiddled with the essential oils. Raina looked at me, and I braced myself.

I didn’t want to talk about it. I was too full of feelings, overstimulated before the day even began.

“I’m sorry.” Raina let out a puff of air. “I didn’t mean to put you between us and your friend.”

“Even if she’s treating you like crap,” Ember muttered.

Raina shot her sister a look before continuing. “If you really want to, we’ll put the cupcakes out. I just thought we all agreed today would be about Cosmic Bonds, not any of the other vendors we work with.”

Raina could make statements like that, and it didn’t fill me with guilt. For all of my cousin’s overbearing need to have everything perfect, she was direct. There wasn’t a passive aggressive bone in her body.

We’d had a meeting and decided we weren’t going to advertise for anyone else today. Not even Talk of the Town, which would have been my pick.

“You’re right, we did.” I rolled my shoulders. “I didn’t expect her to suggest the cupcakes. I’m sorry, I was on the spot, and I couldn’t figure out a way to make everyone happy.”

Raina cocked her head, concern filling her face. She was only two years older than me, but sometimes it felt like those two years made all the difference. “Sunny, you can’t make everyone happy all the time. It’s impossible to try.”

I knew this. And yet, it didn’t stop me from feeling like crap when someone was mad at me.

“She put you on the spot and made it about your friendship, when she should have respected your boundaries.” Raina picked up her planner, the sparkly pink unicorn cover completely at odds with her tough, no-nonsense alpha persona.

Raina gestured with the book. “I shouldn’t have been in Talia’s face, I know she hates it. But it makes me angry how she’s been treating you.”

“It’s okay.” I grabbed my cup of coffee. Jerrick, Stella’s beta, had gone to Grinder’s and brought us all our favorite drinks. “You’re basically my big sister. It’s been really complicated with her lately and I don’t know how to make it less weird.”

“Maybe it would be less weird if she stopped pretending it’s okay she’s still talking to Becca,” Ember piped up. “Just saying.”

I shot my cousin a look.

Ember held up her hands. “I’ll let it drop.” She looked at West. “We ready to go?”

The taller omega nodded. He had silky black hair he kept in a braid that Ember was forever playing with. If anyone else tried to touch his hair they got a death glare, but for Ember he would crawl over broken glass.

Which was how it should be. Ember deserved happiness.

I sighed. We all did.

I finished helping to set up the booth and the rest of the day flew by. People stopped by, making sarcastic jokes about the healing powers of crystals, but still took brochures. A few of them bought crystals and essential oils, and most of them signed up for the free fifteen-minute consultation we were offering to those who donated to the First Responders’ Charity.

Logan stopped by with Luca in tow and dropped off several trays of food. Logan gave me a stink eye, told me to eat, and then left. Luca crowded my personal space again, asking for a personal tour of the grounds soon.

His smolder made my breath come in shorter, and I almost asked him right there what he’d meant by not needing the matchmaking services if his pack wasn’t closed. But we had an audience, so I settled for smiling.

We descended on the food like piranhas who smelled fresh blood. The brisket was charred perfectly, the baked beans magical as ever, and the grilled corn salsa pulled it all together. I went back for seconds of the peach cobbler and then regretted eating so much in the middle of the day.

At the end of the festival, Zephyr waved me off. “Go do your ice bath thing, we’ll break the booth down.”

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