Page 131 of When You Wish Upon a Wideout
Beau then knew exactly where they were going. The lantern festival had been on the list, and when Beau saw it, it made him grimace. Because he had taken Sienna to a lantern festival before, and instead of bringing them together filled with hope and magic, it left them cracked open and far apart. It had been the last thing they had done together before he had left.
“Don’t worry about it,” he told her, watching Sienna lock the front door and head towards them. “Nothing you do will ever change how she feels about you. But I’ve got work to do.”
He took a deep breath when she got in, trying to ignore how Sienna still had her arms folded over her chest or the way her head leaned against the window facing away from him.
But no one works harder than me.
chaptertwenty-one
Sienna had spenttwo weeks tiptoeing around Grace—saying yes to whatever friend she wanted to go to the mall or diner with after school, plastering an overenthusiastic smile on her face that made her cheeks burn when she did spend time with her.Look? See your mother? I’m good. I’m great. No need to worry about me,she would imagine telling Grace.No need to scheme with the former love of my life—let him know how not great I’ve been, how much better I had been once upon a time with him. There’s no need for him to feel bad that he left this place—leftme—and never came back.
Sienna pouted over the thought, reminding herself that Beau did come back the day of her father’s funeral and what he saw—sweet, young Grace in Sienna’s arms—had driven him away again.I should’ve taken that as a sign,she tried to tell herself as she avoided the sporadic gazes Beau shot her way as he drove. She could hear Grace singing to herself in the backseat of his truck.It never was meant to work. But I didn’t need them to go out of their way to remind me of that.
After Sienna had found the letter, she had asked for time. But she wondered what difference that made. Involuntarily she found herself looking up at the door when it opened at Maloney’s, expecting him to drop in. She would hear a small noise in the backyard at night and wonder if it was him coming for her window. Despite the long hiatus Beau had taken from her life, in a few short months, he had planted himself right back not only in her home or work but in her body and soul. So even though she had asked for time, seeing Beau on her doorstep brought some sort of relief.
She shut the door to Beau’s truck and waited for Grace to do the same, grateful for the fresh air after the forty-five-minute drive. There was no space in the truck, no escape from Beau’s scent, from his presence beside her as he drove, drumming his thumb against the steering wheel, as if he was fighting against reaching out to hold her hand.
Taking Grace—alone—to the lantern festival had been Sienna’s idea, even if she hadn’t planned on sending any wishes to the sky, only her gratitude that, for now, her daughter was healthy and here. Selfishly, she wanted to erase the bad taste in her mouth that the last festival had left.
Keep looking at Grace,she lectured herself, watching her daughter walk in front of them, her head tipped up to the sky in awe.Remember this moment.Sienna didn’t know what tomorrow might bring. But over the past week, Sienna learned that the only thing guaranteed was Beau’s ability to break her heart.
Stepping in front of Beau when he retrieved his wallet, Sienna put cash down on the counter.I want nothing from him. Not even the admission fee.Wrapping an arm around Grace, she steered them toward the entrance, leaning against her daughter’s body but trying to spare her from absorbing too much of the emotion flowing from her—deep-seated, silent cries mourning an end to the dreamiest love story Sienna had ever known. But what stung the most wasn’t thinking about saying goodbye to sky-high dreams, private planes, beach backyards, or chasing the sun in spectacular ways. What hurt Sienna the most was that she would say goodbye to the moments between—the ones on the ground when Beau was just there.
“Over here.” Grace pointed at the line. “We just write on them? What exactly?”
“Anything,” Beau said. “A message. A wish.” His deep brown eyes met Sienna’s. “Whatever you want. Then send it up, up, and away.”
Sienna bounced as the line moved. Grace accepted a lantern and moved to a spot at a free table.
“Grace,” Sienna laughed and shook her head as she read her daughter’s message. “Nothing more meaningful than ‘please let Justin ask me to prom?’”
Grace didn’t look up from the lantern. “I amnotgoing to the dance alone,” she manifested before straightening and handing the marker to Beau. “You could wish for a winning season,” Grace joked with a shrug. “Can’t hurt.”
Beau drummed the marker against the table as he bent. “Probably not.”
Sienna turned her head away as Beau wrote his message onto the thin paper carefully, trying not to let her mind take her to the last time she had seen him write on a lantern—the end of their middle.
For Grace: health, happiness, and a date to the prom, followed by,For Sienna: love, laughter, and unlimited Dole Whips.
Beau’s magnetic stare bore into her so strongly with pleading that Sienna had to look at him. “What about for you?”
He looked back at the table before leaning forward and writing.
For Beau: Sienna’s forgiveness.
Sienna tried to ignore that one and looked at the marker in her hand.A week ago, I had everything I’d ever wanted,she silently relented.
It wasn’t just Grace’s health, absent of scares. It wasn’t only Beau making love to her thirty-thousand feet in the air. It was a feeling of balance, wholeness, and support—something she only had bits and pieces of since her mother had died.
Sienna’s hand spelled out her heart’s wish in one word—family—and she stood back, letting Grace take the lantern. The three of them walked into the crowd, waiting for the flame to be lit, so they could lift their hopes and dreams into the night sky and let them land among the stars.
* * *
Grace clicked her tongue. “So,” she said from the backseat. “How about the Mavericks?”
Beau slowed at a stop sign. “Basketball season is over.”
“Right.” Grace cleared her throat. “The Yankees, I mean.”
