Page 36 of Fairy Godmothers Aren't Cheap

And also…probably not real.

“There are consequences if you know too much about our world,” Estelle said apologetically to Tamara while eyeing Josie curiously, as if she was trying to place her.

Was Josie a client? Was that how she seemed to know stuff about this magical world?

Wait. No. We were here to disprove all of this, not to reinforce my tentative longing to believe. She read tons of romantasy. And, clearly, so did Estelle. End of story.

“Do I owe you money, too?” Tamara asked as we got settled into the little office outside the pink bullpen. We were sitting on one side of the big mahogany table near the high-up bullpen window, with Estelle across from us.

This time, going through the secret door, I’d felt a shift in temperature, the bullpen warmer than reception. And I swore some of the workers in pink had been hovering above the ground while they’d walked from their cubicles to a strange machine burping rainbow paper.

“The first three wishes are always free,” Estelle said. “It has a certain fairytale feel to it.”

“It does,” Josie agreed.

“So I haven’t had any wishes granted?” Tamara sounded a bit disappointed, and I wondered if she’d forgotten our primary goal for this visit.

Estelle closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. “Let’s see. There were just the three. So far. A wish for a pony. A horse. And a second chance.” She opened her eyes, and Tamara turned even more pale. “Is that right?”

She slowly nodded.

“Okay, but…” I watched Tamara with a spark of worry. The horse-related wishes checked out. But a second chance? I hoped that wasn’t about Kade.

“We’re here about Char’s bill,” Josie said. “She’s the only one of us three that owes you money, correct?”

I nodded, appreciating Josie’s directness.

“Correct.” Estelle smiled. She was looking at me with a warm fondness that made me want to like her despite our…issues. “And it’s due when our quarter ends on August fifteenth.”

“Q3 goes to the end of September,” Josie stated. “Not August.”

“Not in our world.”

“Oh?” Josie considered that and I could see her mentally tucking away that little nugget, adding it to one of her mental spreadsheets of facts about the magical world.

“I’d have thought you’d use the solstices or something,” I cracked.

“Eighty-seven days to pay,” Josie murmured, “once we subtract the five days we’ve already lost this quarter. Not much time.”

“But I told you I don’t have money.”

“Yes. I was speaking with the head fairy, as well as doing some investigating.” Estelle patted the spot at the table beside her, and that thick leather-bound book from Friday was there at her side again, under her hand. I swore it hadn’t been earlier. I’d been trying to keep track of details this time and clearly failing.

“And?” I asked, leaning forward.

“How many fairy godmothers are there?” Josie asked, and I shot her a look. Did she not recall that we were here to get me out of this mess?

“Not as many as there used to be,” Estelle said. She leaned against the table, hands delicately clasped in front of her. “Deforestation and issues with the ozone haven’t exactly been easy on us. Even the tooth fairies need human parents to help out more and more. Then there’s Santa with his cholesterol.”

“Santa?” Tamara whispered, the concern in her voice making me give her a second look.Please don’t tell me that this grown adult sitting beside me still believed in flying reindeer and a fat man stuffing himself down chimneys each year.

“Thank goodness for Mastercard,” I joked. Nobody laughed. “Well, it’s a good thing you and the money I owe aren’t real.” I tried to say it with enough conviction that Estelle might disappear. Sort of like those family movies where if the kids believed in Santa, they saved Christmas. Well, I was hoping for the reverse.

“I’m real.”

“No.”

“Make another wish, and I’ll prove I’m your fairy godmother.”

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