Page 57 of Fairy Godmothers Aren't Cheap

If only men had fairy godmothers. I bet James would make a really good wish.

CHAPTER15

~ Char ~

“Another dud grant,” Samantha muttered a half an hour later.

“Add it to the spreadsheet I shared,” Josie replied, her fingers flying over her own keyboard.

“Already did.” Samantha looked at the park plans over Tamara’s shoulder, asking, “Did you add a checkerboard table like you see in the movies? So old men can come and play checkers or chess in the park?”

Tamara slid the drawing Samantha’s way. She tapped a spot. “Right there. In the shade of the tree by the playground and not too close to the basketball nets or dog zone.”

“Sweet.”

Without any luck, we’d been digging around the internet, reading up on grants, trying to find the right one. My doubts were growing along with the tiny hole in the sleeve of my v-necked red blouse. A few stitches between the sleeve and cuff had come out, and without thinking, I’d been worrying the hole bigger over the past thirty minutes.

A knock on our door had us all looking up from our tablets and laptops, on the lookout for our little friend Felipe. He was sitting on the arm of the couch, having climbed up a nearby stack of books. He popped up onto his haunches, studying us with his beady black eyes as our attention turned to him.

“It’s probably James,” I said, getting up way too fast to pass for cool or casual. “He said he’d come by and help after his shift at the museum.”

“Oooo,” Samantha sing-songed. “Ja-ames.”

“Sadly, I’m not his type,” I said to shut her up, even though I questioned the validity of my statement. I figured I was about half his type.

I hustled down the steps to let James in, chagrined to note that Randy had caught him and was grilling him about fishing, of all things.

“Not really much of a fisherman,” James stated, squeezing his large frame deliciously past mine.

“Thanks, Randy!” I chirped, quickly shutting the door before he could list his preferred lures. I knew from experience it was the five-of-diamonds lure, and how he’d gone to see the monument for it in Lacombe, as that was where it had been invented or whatever. The province’s smallest city was about two hours north of Calgary, and I feared that if I didn’t extract James he’d find himself on a fishing trip to the stocked dugout by the monument.

“Sorry,” I whispered to James. He gestured for me to lead the way, and as I climbed the steps, I became very aware that he had an excellent view of my swaying rear end.

“No problem,” he said. “Glad to know someone would notice if any of you went missing.”

I snorted. “Not exactly a comforting thought.”

“Hey, James!” Tamara called, scooping up Felipe as he zipped between legs, eager to greet our guest.

“How’s the project going?” James asked, taking in our digital battle station. It sorta looked similar to a teenager’s bedroom, thanks to our collection of dirty plates and empty chip bags littering the room. We’d done a lot of damage in the past half an hour, and now Gabby was furiously trying to make the place presentable.

He shifted his weight, his shoulder brushing mine.

“Finding grants so we can buy the land has been tricky,” I said.

He handed me a large plastic container. “Cookies from my mom.”

“Really?”

“She likes to bake. She sent that whole thing home with me the other night.”

He seriously had the best mom. I don’t think my mom ever baked cookies. In fact, the first time I’d ever made some was with Tamara and her mom.

“Sweet.” Gabby stole the container, opening it and diving in. “Ginger cookies! My fav.” She sat down, container cradled in her arms, glaring and shifting the stash out of reach whenever anyone tried to help themselves, her cleanup tasks forgotten. She really was taking the whole Lamonte-has-a-girlfriend-thing pretty hard.

“We discovered the lot is coming up in a tax sale next week, so we need to move fast,” Josie said, nose buried in her work. “Do you know of any grants that could help us out?”

“Yeah, maybe.” James unzipped his coat and took my abandoned spot on the couch. I stood awkwardly outside our ring of furniture, unsure where to sit. Everywhere was taken other than a tight spot beside James.

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