Chapter 26
Alana woke early the next morning.
She’d watched all five of the remaining innings, had clutched the charmstone all the way through, had even balanced it in one hand while she brushed her teeth. Maybe Zav’s comment about not upsetting Matt had made her superstitious, but not only did he smack the home run she’d seen when the TV first came on, he reached base at every at-bat. The Giants won eight to three.
Her phone rang and she jumped.
“Did you watch the game last night?”
Evidently Zav didn’t need cable or cell reception to tune in to her.
“I saw some of it,” she admitted.
“Good going,” Zav said with a chuckle. “I won fifty bucks.”
What he assumed she’d done, he didn’t say, and she wasn’t about to 'fess up to the charmstone. Or to the fact that she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off Matt.
“You owe me half,” she said, smirking into the phone.
“Keep it up; they need the boost. Did you decide a day for the windmill shindig?”
“Wednesday.”
“I’ll pull out my party duds.”
“Whoa, did you feel that? The planet stopped spinning just then,” she teased.
He laughed. “It does that sometimes. Wait till I polish up my boots.” He paused. “Will she be there?”
“Iris?”
He whistled softly. “It’s actually Theresa. Theresa Clare. Our parents were big on saints’ names. Will she be there?”
“I think I’ll send her to Paris tomorrow as my part of my advance team.”
“You do that and I’ll jam up your newfangled turbine. I happen to have drawings of all its most vulnerable parts.”
She hoped he was kidding.
“We need to make up for lost time.”
Love, in all its guises, was potent and beautiful. She was glad brother and sister could reconcile. She hoped she wouldn’t have to wait as long for an unexpected love to embrace her.