Page 56 of Fairy Godmothers Aren't Cheap

“Good. Now let’s get home, convince the girls to help, call James over and start this work party.”

“Tam-Tam, you’re my favourite.”

She grinned as she parked Benjamin, her convertible, outside the apartment. “I know. I’m the best, aren’t I?”

“You truly are.”

Less than an hour later, the five of us gals were camped out in the living room, Tamara and I having miraculously convinced everyone to help. We’d given each roommate a different pitch, playing to their interests. There’d been this amazing positive vibe like we’d all thought this might actually be possible. Like we could sit down and change our community.

Tamara had been the easiest to get on board, mostly because I was in danger, and she hated that as much as the idea of kids playing in a dangerous lot. Josie climbed on board because the project was connected to her beloved magical world, and we promised she could make all of the spreadsheets she wanted. Yeah, spreadsheets were her love language.

Gabby was a timely gold strike as she’d just learned the heart-crushing news that Lamonte was going out with a woman for the third time, and that they were rapidly approaching couple status. In other words, she needed a major distraction.

Samantha had been the hardest to convince. We needed her money skills and contacts. But what was in it for her? She strived to be as different from her stepmom Clarisa as possible, and this project had do-gooder written all over it. In the end, I’d crossed my fingers like I had with the other gals, refusing to make a wish, and instead asking the universe to please, please help me.

Samantha had said no.

But the four of us, full of energy and an upbeat connected silliness that I’d never experienced before, had all begged and pleaded with Samantha, then threatened to cash in our RRSPs if she didn’t help us.

She’d laughed and relented, making us promise to never tell Clarisa.

Then she’d grabbed her MacBook and sat down at the couch, taking charge like I’d hoped she would. “First, we need to find out who owns the land. Then make an offer and buy it.” She turned to me. “Did you do that yet?”

It had been twenty-four hours since she’d given me that tip, and I hadn’t.

I shook my head. “Moot point. I don’t have any money.” I purposefully took in my roommates and their expressions in case this was when one of them decided to reveal that they’d secretly won the lottery and were sitting on millions.

Nobody spoke up. I gave Samantha a hopeful look. I had a feeling she had lots of money tucked away, and possibly even that rumoured trust fund.

“You don’t want to own the park,” Samantha stated. “That’s a huge liability. You want to create it, and donate it to the city. So really, you just need a loan.” She eyed me, and I could tell she was calculating my available credit as well as my assets. And I was coming up short. “So,” she said on an intake of breath, “we’ll look into some community greening grants to acquire the land. Clarisa and her various clubs do it all the time. We’ll also talk to the city and see how they can help us, since I assume you’ll want to donate the park to them once it’s built. Then they can handle the liability and maintenance costs. Not to mention the property taxes.”

I nodded slowly after looking to Tamara and Josie, who shrugged and nodded. Samantha’s idea sounded smart. Get the karmic ball rolling, then hand it all over so I didn’t have the ongoing risks or headaches.

“I found out who owns the lot,” Josie said, hunched over her phone. “They owe back taxes, which means it’s going up in a tax sale next week.” She looked up, eyes wide, like she didn’t quite believe the fortuitous news.

Was this an actual, honest-to-goodness timely coincidence? Or had I somehow wished for this? Because the odds were incredibly low that the land would become available right when we needed it.

“And same with the lot behind it. The one with the gross old warehouse!” she exclaimed moments later.

“I’m going to sketch the future park so we can visualize what we’ll need,” Tamara said, her eyes brighter than I’d seen them in some time. She disappeared into her room and returned with a sketch pad I knew was filled with horse drawings.

“Let’s start researching grants,” Josie suggested. I nodded, my mind still trying to track through the past several days, and whether I’d somehow wished for the two lots to come up for sale. But wishes couldn’t change the past, right? The lot owners would have had to skip out on their taxes for years, meaning this was simply meant to be.

Serendipitous.

I started to feel like maybe this was going to happen. And maybe, just maybe, I hadn’t even needed to make a wish.

CHAPTER14

~ Estelle ~

Ifelt bad for not thinking about getting the gnomes to recalibrate their sundials for Char. After she left, I’d opened the giant rule book—Big Bertha—and found a way I could help without Char needing to make a wish. I just hoped Gram-Gram couldn’t tell that I was circumventing the wishing system and sending positive energy to Char. But why would I get in trouble? There was no rule against it.

None at all. Not even if the recipient was human.

So now Char, who’d barely made a wish all day—thanks to all of her almost-instant take-backs—had a new wave to ride, thanks to me, and I hoped it helped her out.

Really, though, she needed to break her wishing ban and make a few. It would surely speed things up. She couldn’t make direct wishes against her account’s balance, but she could make a few grey-area ones around getting her karmic snowball moving. And maybe a couple around love, too, since those would be much more expedient than what I could do with my energy influencing. I really wanted to grant her a wish that would put her firmly in James’s arms.

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