Page 50 of Whispers and Wildfire

Nico marched up to us with a stern expression. He was smaller than both of them, but apparently, he was the guard. I handed them over, and he took his sisters’ wrists, one in each hand. “Let’s go.”

“Princess magic!” Zola exclaimed and pulled her arm away.

Lucia did the same, only with a twirl.

“Curse you, princesses!” I shook my fist. “You won’t escape so easily next time.”

In a fit of giggles, they scurried away.

“That was cute.”

I turned to find Marlene standing next to me and smiled. “Hi, Mrs. Haven.”

“None of that. It’s Marlene. It’s good to see you.” She held her arms out.

I stepped into her hug. “It’s good to see you, too.”

“How have you been? Getting all settled, I hope.”

“I’m working on it. It’s a process.”

She gave me a warm smile. “I’m sure it is. I hear you’re working at Luke’s shop. How’s that going?”

“The fact that you have to ask seems like a good sign. Maybe that means Luke hasn’t been complaining about me.”

“Not at all.”

“That’s a tiny miracle. But it’s going fine. And it’s temporary. He just needed someone to fill in for a while, and I needed a job to tide me over until my next voice acting gig starts.”

“Voice acting? Is that what the voice was about just now?”

“She’s a character I play in a cartoon.”

“What’s it called?”

“Enchanted Hollow. I play the villain, Queen Ione.”

“I thought I recognized the voice. That’s my grandkids’ favorite show.”

“Is it? That’s great.”

“Oh my goodness, they love Queen Ione even though I think they’re a little scared of her.”

I laughed. “That’s kind of what the writers are going for. Scary, but not too scary.”

The banquet room door flew open. My mom sashayed in and held her arms open wide. The small crowd immediately silenced.

“Family and friends,” Mom said, her arms still out like she was going to hug the entire room at once. “Thank you for joining us for Home Slice’s annual pizza tasting.”

She paused and glanced around. I got the hint first and started clapping. She nodded a few times as the room gave her a polite round of applause.

Holding up her hands as if she needed to quiet us down, she continued. “Thank you. We appreciate you coming. You are in for a treat. Anton has been hard at work with a variety of brand-new recipes.” She clasped her hands to her chest. “I can’t wait for you to try them.”

Stepping aside, she swept an arm out to usher in my dad. Her raised eyebrows indicated we were supposed to clap again, so I started the applause. Dad just shook his head a little as he set the first piping-hot pizza on the table.

Behind him came Tristan and another employee whose name I didn’t remember, each with a pizza. They set them down next to the first. The three of them left, and Mom held up her hands, indicating we had to wait. A moment later, they came back with three more pizzas.

“All right, everyone.” Mom’s words carried above the rising conversations, and we all quieted again. “If you haven’t joined us before, this is how it works. We have plates and napkins here. The pizzas have been sliced into small portions, so please try one of each. When you’ve tried them all, let us know what you think. Be kind, but we do want your honest opinion.”

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