Page 59 of Fairy Godmothers Aren't Cheap

“Not Caleb,” we all echoed back.

He raised his hands, palms up, as if to ask why not.

“She’s scared he’ll say yes if she asks him out,” I said.

“What? That’s not a thing.” James looked at my roomies, as though seeking confirmation. Oh, he was adorable.

“It’s a thing,” Gabby said.

“He won’t live up to the hype,” I said. “The hype in her head.”

“Girls are weird.”

“And guys are impossible,” I replied. They were like trying to piece together a broken urn that had been sitting in some farmer’s field for over a thousand years and you no longer had all the pieces.

“But this new guy,” Josie said, leaning forward, voice lowered, “has made it four weeks, and they’ve had about a dozen dates already.”

“That’s super huge for her,” Gabby added. “She’s practically married!”

“I can hear you!” Samantha called from her room.

“Quit gossiping and help me with this application,” Tamara complained, and we all crowded around her, debating the wording of every sentence like we were writing the next great Canadian novel, and not applying for a grant we likely wouldn’t even get.

We fired it off to the grant agency and sat back in a quiet lull. Now what? We’d pretty much exhausted all the grants we could find that fit our needs. If there were no grants, it meant no land and no park, and no karmic snowball.

I was antsy, practically able to hear the clock ticking down on me. I wanted to keep taking action to shore up my slim odds. There wasn’t time to sit around and wait for the grant agency to meet and debate, and then cut me a cheque at their leisure. Assuming they even gave us the grant.

But what else was there that I could do? Find a private donor? If so, then would they get all of the good karma instead of me?

“Excuse me a sec.” I went to the washroom, wondering if this was the moment to break my earlier promise to Tamara and make a wish. Because the more I thought about it, the more a small wish that could tip the odds in the park’s favour would be worth it. Spend money to make money.

In the bathroom, I closed my eyes and wished for the grant agency to see our application and approve the request. Immediately. Or at least in the next two days. But preferably sooner.

I returned to the living room and Tamara eyed me like she knew what I’d just done. I looked away, and James stood.

“I’ve got my glove in the car. Wanna play catch before we lose the light?”

“Sure.” I turned to my remaining roommates. “Are we finished for tonight?”

“Unless you know of more grants we can apply for,” Gabby said, closing her laptop and sinking back in the chair with a groan. “My stomach hurts.”

“That’s because you ate your weight in cookies,” Tamara scolded, passing the empty cookie container to James. “Thank your mom for us.” She hoisted Gabby to her feet. “Come on, a walk around the block will help.”

A few minutes later, James and I were on the street, ready to play catch, Gabby and Tamara starting off in the opposite direction. This time, before we warmed up, I made sure James and I were extra far from any possible breakable objects.

“I like that you’re doing something big for your community with the park,” James said.

“Trying to,” I corrected as we slowly windmilled our arms, warming up our shoulders.

“It’ll work out.”

“Hopefully.”

We began stretching our arms across our chests. One, then the other, facing each other. He was handsome in any light. But the fading spring sun was especially fond of him, heightening the angles of his cheeks and jaw as well as that sweet look of admiration sparkling in his gaze.

A woman could really take a gaze like that the wrong way.

“I feel like a slacker,” he said, his tone light.

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