Page 117 of Your Every Wish
It’s literally doublespeak.
I filch a mini muffin and pop it in my mouth. “What do you suggest we do, then?”
She stops scrambling the eggs and turns to the both of us. “You still have a third wish. Use it to undo the other two.”
“Just like that? That’s all we have to do?” I can play along for Emma’s sake.
“Wait a minute,” Emma says. “Why both wishes? Can’t I just use the third wish to undo the Dex wish? Does it mean Kennedy has to give up the money if there is any left over after the feds take whatever Willy owed?”
“Yep.” Misty adds a sprinkle of cheese to the eggs. “That’s exactly what it means. Altering your future has consequences. So either you’re altering your future or you’re not. There’s no halfway with this.”
“That doesn’t seem fair,” Emma says.
“Life isn’t fair, dear.”
“Just do it,” I say.
“No,” Emma says and turns to me. “Not when you have a stake in this, too.”
“It’s up to you two.” Misty hands me a tablecloth and Emma a stack of plates. “Would you girls mind setting the table?”
We move into the dining room where the two of us are alone. In a soft voice I tell Emma, “It’s fine. Let’s use our third wish to undo the first two. I don’t want the money anyway.” Not completely the truth but if it’ll make Emma feel better about the whole Dex thing, I’m for it. “We’re fine now. Maybe with Bent as a partner we’ll start turning a profit on this place. Besides, I can go back to work now, and you don’t want to live in San Francisco anyway.”
“But what about what Willy would’ve wanted for us? Our late father went to a lot of trouble to leave us that money.”
“Em, what he left us is bigger than money. I don’t want it anymore. And you don’t want Dex. Let’s just tell her to undo the first two wishes and see what happens.” I’m having a hard time believing that we’re even debating this. As if Misty can just poof it all away. But I’d give up the sun and the moon to make Emma happy. And I know she would do the same for me. “Look, all the money in the world can’t compensate me for you being with Dex.”
“Whoa, that’s harsh.”
“It came out worse than I meant it.”
“No, that’s how you meant it.” Emma laughs.
“So, we’re in agreement then, right?”
Emma nods and we rush into the kitchen and tell Misty to use our third wish to undo the first two.
“Okay, the first two wishes have been undone. You’re all good.” Misty hands Emma the mini muffins. “Put these on the table, please.”
“That’s it?” Emma says. “We don’t have to do any kind of ceremony or anything?”
“Nope. It’s all up here.” Misty taps her temple with her finger. “I’ve taken care of everything. And just in case you were wondering, this doesn’t change our original deal. You still can’t sell Cedar Pines. As far as I’m concerned you used all three wishes, even if you used the last one to undo the first two.”
“Got it,” I say and force myself not to snort at the absurdity of this exercise.
But two days later, poof, the money is gone. Mr. Townsend calls to tell us that the feds are seizing every last dime of the buried cash. It turns out that Willy’s debt to the IRS was more considerable than anyone knew. Even Cedar Pines was in jeopardy but with some fancy legal footwork Mr. Townsend was able to save the park, claiming that Willy’s LLC was a separate entity and as long as the corporation was up to date on its property taxes, there was nothing the feds could do.
“Thank you for saving the park,” Emma says, her voice cracking.
I’m filled with the same raw emotion. I don’t even care about the millions in the golf bag, the money that I technically gave up anyway. But the trailer park . . . well, it means more to me than I ever thought it could. Not just because of the residents, not just because it’s Emma’s home now, but because it is all we have left of our late father.
It’s what Emma and I have together. It’s us. And us is more than enough. It’s our every wish come true.
Epilogue
(One year and nine months later)
Emma
