Page 101 of Fairy Godmothers Aren't Cheap

“Did she walk stray dogs who need homes?” James continued. “Adopt a gopher? Know everyone at the museum by name, and correct the director from time to time? Or point out fakes that nobody else had caught, because she’d found a passion and was learning and absorbing all she could about it?”

He made me sound amazing, and I wondered if I truly was the woman he saw. Because that woman was actually kind of cool.

“You are not your mom.”

“I know,” I whispered, believing it fully for the first time, and realizing that her path was not my own, and why should it be?

“And we’re not your parents. We’re ourselves and only ourselves,” he continued. “It’s all we can ever truly be.”

“Promise?”

His thumb stroked the line of my jaw. “Your life will never be at risk of being like anyone else’s. Because there will only ever be one Char McDonnell. You’re one of a kind.”

I swiped at my damp eyes. “You’re making me cry.”

“Good. Now kiss me.”

I did. And it was heavenly, even though in the back of my mind I still worried that Estelle was behind all of these wonderful feelings, and that the rug would be pulled out from under me when I least expected it.

* * *

I hadto be out of the apartment in a week, and I had nowhere to go. With no other ideas, I finally went over to the Backstrohms while James was at a night class, and confessed to Sally. She had to know of a place through her Salvation Army connections, right?

I’d been soaring, my life never better until Estelle had come along.

Now it had crashed and burned.

Although…had I been soaring because of my wishes and my meddling fairy godmothers? Was none of my past life truly mine? Was it only crappy now because I’d given up on wishing for better things?

I wasn’t sure I liked that thought.

Sally was in the kitchen, looking at recipes, her reading glasses on the end of her nose as she inspected me after I’d blurted out my problems. I came here because Sally treated me like I was one of her own. I felt cared for, and as though I belonged. Even though I was probably just another stray she was taking in out of the goodness of her heart.

But being in her kitchen tonight made me feel a sense of loss. I should be sitting in a kitchen with my own mother, confessing my problems to her, not a woman I’d only met a month ago. Although my mom had never doted on me, with Brynnie now in the picture, I could see that she had it in her. And I felt robbed.

Sitting in Sally’s kitchen, feeling helpless, it was like being a teenager all over again, my world crumbling around me and being powerless to change it. I’d swore I’d never be in this position again.

And yet, here I was.

“It sounds like you’re about to turn a corner in your life,” Sally said sagely, her calm delivery startling me.

“What?”

“The universe is purging what you no longer need in order to make room for something new.” She scrunched her nose adorably, eyes sparkling. “Something good.”

It didn’t solve my issues, but I kind of liked the idea that the universe was setting me up for something new. As long as it wasn’t being eaten by Igor. That wasn’t the kind of new experience I was seeking at the moment.

“Just a way of thought,” Sally said absently, closing her cookbook. “You don’t have to believe in it.”

“No, it’s interesting. Comforting and a bit exciting.”

Her smile was warm. She removed her reading glasses, studying me. “Do you like it here?”

“At your house? Yeah, it’s lovely.” Had she not noticed how difficult it was to get rid of me?

“Good. How do you feel about house-sitting?”

“Here?” I looked around for clues. “Are you going somewhere?” I needed a place that would last longer than an Alaskan cruise.

---