Page 140 of When You Wish Upon a Wideout

Emily let out a heavy breath as she came out to the front steps. “What do we know about that kid?”

“He’s nice,” Sienna assured her friend. “Henry taught him last year.” Sienna watched them drive away.

“He’s older?”

Sienna nodded. “A junior. But I ran a background check with Henry’s colleagues, don’t worry. Polite kid. On the debate team. The kind of guy you’d want to take your daughter to prom.”

“Go, Grace.” Bringing her arm around Sienna’s shoulder, Emily sighed. “Did we just send her off toprom?”

“Her first.” Sienna smiled. “But not her last.”

“Wasn’t she just eating ketchup right from the bottle at Maloney’s?”

The bittersweet memory painted a smile and a frown on Sienna’s face. “Sure feels like it.” She turned back to her friend. “You should go home and hug your baby. Before you know it, she’ll be moving out.”

“This mom,” Emily began, pointing a finger at herself, “hugged her baby for sixteen hours straight.” Her finger pressed against her chest. “I can stay another hour before my boobs explode. And I’ve got plenty of milk stashed if you have a reason I need to pump and dump.”

“Beer or liquor?”

“Go easy on me,” Emily said.

Sienna went into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge, popping the top off and handing it to Emily. “Let me grab a sweater,” she told her. “I should’ve sent Grace with a shawl or something. The temperature dropped.”

With the bottle to her lips, Emily motioned at the window. “Must be the rain coming,” she said to Sienna before she went to her room. She pulled a sweatshirt out of the bottom dresser drawer and slipped it over her head. Her phone dinged again.

Dancing in the rain was on the wish list.

Sienna threw her phone on the bed and groaned so loudly that Emily came running.

“What happened?”

Hands on her hips, Sienna shook her head at the phone—at the diary, the book of stars Beau had given her, at the coin she had left on the nightstand and forgot to put away, at the photos of Grace on her dresser.

“Sienna?”

She turned to face her friend. “He did it again.”

Emily quirked an eyebrow in confusion. “Who did what again? Beau?” When Sienna didn’t respond, Emily sat on the bed. “What did Beau do? Didn’t he just take you—”

“Yes, he took me to California. On a private plane. He got a house on the beach. And a sailboat and a hot-air balloon—”

“Hold on, what exactly did he dowronghere?” Emily asked with a laugh as she crossed her legs. “I mean, look, it’s not that you don’t deserve those things—”

Sienna held her hand out. “He did all of those things because Graceaskedhim to.” The admission made Sienna’s stomach swirl and throat tighten, and Emily waited for her to continue with the beer bottle pressed to her lips.

“Shewhat?”

Her phone beeped again, and Sienna silenced it before plopping beside Emily on the bed. She stared up at the dull, blank ceiling. “Grace used her wish for the Golden Penny Foundation to go to the game.”

“I thought it was weird. I didn’t want to say anything,” Emily told her. “But you know Grace, she’s quirky. And she wanted to be on TV.”

“It was so she could give Beau a letter.”

“Okay, and the letter said what? Come back and woo my mom a little because she’s had aroughass go over the last few years? And while you’re at it, go all out and take her to the beach for a weekend?”

Sienna stared at her friend.

“Oh... no, no, it didn’t.” Emily waited before her eyes widened. “You’re lying.”

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