Page 126 of Whispers and Wildfire

It was sweltering outside, the air hazy brown withwildfire smoke. It was too deep in the mountains to pose a danger to anyone, as far as I knew, but the air quality wasn’t great.

“I finally heard from theEnchanted Hollowpeople,” I said. “They’re still revising the script, but they don’t expect any more delays. Which probably means minor delays, just not major ones.”

“Does this mean you’re going to start walking around talking like Queen Ione?”

“Foolish mortal,” I said in my queen voice. “You think you can mock me? Watch your tongue before I banish you from my presence.”

He kissed my temple again. “That’s what I thought.”

Louise Haven walked in, dressed in a bright orange velour tracksuit with a large yellow handbag dangling from her arm. She was followed by her friend Doris and several other white-haired ladies, all engaged in hushed conversation. Before she got to the counter, Louise spotted us. Her face lit up with a smile as she veered to our table.

“Look at you two all cozied up like a proper couple.”

“Hi, Aunt Louise,” Luke said.

She pulled a small notebook and a pen out of her bag, then started thumbing through the pages. “I’m glad you’re here. This confirms what I already knew, but it’s nice to see for myself.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“That I need to take you off the bachelor hierarchy. Well, to be precise, I’m moving you into the taken-but-not-yet-married subcategory.”

“Bachelor hierarchy?” I asked. “Tell me more, Louise. I have a feeling this is gonna be good.”

“Oh, you know, it’s just a little thing we do,” she said with a wave of her hand. “There’s a ranking system for the most eligible Tilikum bachelors, and now and then we might make a friendly wager on who’ll be the next to graduate off the list. Nothing but an amusement, really.”

“You were betting on Luke to drop off the list next, weren’t you?”

“It’s all confidential, dear. I’m afraid I couldn’t say.”

My lips turned up in a smile. “That’s why you invited my family to sit with you at the bachelor auction. You paid for an entire table just to get me there, didn’t you?”

She pressed her lips together, as if trying not to smile. “The auction had nothing to do with it. That was all for the SPS.”

I laughed. “I don’t believe that for a second, you sneaky little minx.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “I don’t see you complaining about the results.”

“Fair enough. Did you win some good money? I hope so. Your little auction stunt certainly cost me a pretty penny. Or cost my mom a pretty penny, to be precise.”

“I had nothing to do with that part. I simply made sure the pieces were all in place. What happened with the bidding was out of my hands.”

I gasped. “You made sure Jenna was there, too, didn’t you? Did you pay for her ticket?”

Louise fidgeted, looking up and around—anywhere but at me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I shook my head. “You’re a little bit extra, Louise. I love that about you.”

“It all worked out in the end, didn’t it? And word on the street is, what Jenna thought was her second choice turned out to be anything but.” She leaned closer and lowered her voice, like she was letting us in on a big secret. “I heard she and that Hank fellow have been seen around town together on several occasions.”

“We saw them at the Zany Zebra,” I said.

“Well, that’s an interesting tidbit, isn’t it?” She glanced at her knot of friends making their way through the line to order. “If you’ll excuse me.”

“Can’t wait to share the gossip, can she?” I asked, watching her join the group.

“She wouldn’t be Louise Haven if she could.”

I shook my head again. “I should have known she was up to something. I thought it was odd that she invited my family to sit at her table.”

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