Page 54 of The Midnight Garden

There were no midnight blooms or Ferris wheels that spin against all odds in that life.

The awareness that it’s an either-or life lodges in the space beneath my ribs. The weight of it stays there, an uncomfortable invader, as my thoughts shift to Will.

He hasn’t said much about why he went to Maeve after Adventure Land, but I hope she was able to help him. He needs ... something.

Despite the confident air Will puts forward, he always seems a little lost.

My phone vibrates with a text from him—as if just thinking about him made him reach out.

I just finished another useless manager interview. This is beginning to feel hopeless. Made me think of you. HOPEless—get it?

I roll my eyes and respond.I’m supposed to believe you were a writer for a popular TV show with that kind of joke?

His response is instant.Well it did get canceled. Thanks for that reminder.

I thought the first two seasons were phenomenal. You’ve got one fan dying to know what you had planned for season three.

This time, his response takes four long minutes.You watched?

Binged. You’re really talented.

It was a team effort.Another text arrives with lightning speed.What are you up to now?

I hesitate. Will would have come with me today. Thanks to that cultivated LA charm, he probably would have asked about the locketwithout insulting anyone too. But Will has his own problems at the Inn. Which he’ll solve, eventually, before returning to LA.

The queasy feeling that unfolds in the pit of my stomach when I think about that is the reason I didn’t ask him to come. That and Kingsette’s rumor mill. The last thing I need is to show up downtown with Will and add fuel to whatever rumors ignited the night of Logan and Tanya’s wedding.

I type:I’m downtown. Meeting Tessa in a while to see a potential band for the party. I’m in trouble, though. Totally forgot to make an appointment with some fancy baker.

A low-grade anxiety vibrates beneath my skin as I think about the baker who is too booked to even take a meeting with me now. I should have made the appointment weeks ago.

My phone rings seconds after I press send.

“What baker?” Will asks.

“Hello to you too.”

“We can skip the pleasantries. We were in the middle of talking.” His impatience makes me smile.

“We were texting,” I correct.

“Semantics. What fancy baker?”

“Sunshine Bakers in Newport. He only accepts meetings with new clients one day of the month.” I admit to Will how I lied. “I’m screwed, right?”

A creaking sound comes through the phone, as if Will is sitting back in his office chair contemplating the question. “Not necessarily. Let me call you back in a few.”

He hangs up with a suddenness that makes me wonder whether LA did away with hellos and goodbyes.

A flurry of pink streamers and pink balloons at the restaurant on the corner catches my attention. A foam board, the wordsWelcome to Selena’s Baby Showerprinted in elegant script, stands guard at the door.

My heart drops into my toes and anchors me in place as Brandon’s cousin appears on the restaurant patio, in a body-hugging dress andhoop earrings that mimic the curve of her belly. Her gaze catches mine, and her eyes widen in a reflection of the look on my face.

“Hope, hi,” she says, seeming to recover faster than I do. She steps down to my level, and we’re eye to eye. A telltale flush of pink rises up her neck. At least we’re both uncomfortable.

“Hi, Selena. This is ... beautiful.” The crash of my heart against my rib cage makes it impossible to tell how I sound. If I had money, I’d put it onunhinged. “Congratulations,” I add.

“Thank you. I just—” She clears her throat, glances behind herself at the event I wasn’t invited to. “I—my mother wanted to keep this event small. Just family.”

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