‘I’ll pass on the basketball. But can you do me a favour?’ She raised one of the coupes, filling it with the bespelled mixture. ‘Can you give this recipe a try for me, let me know what you think?’
She passed him a glass, then took one for herself.
‘To fancy cocktails,’ said Bobby, sipping from the cocktail. ‘And fancy neighbours.’
‘Indeed,’ said Bonnie, pretending to sip from hers.
Bobby coughed, then rubbed at his throat. ‘Wow, that’s strong. Notes of burning. And crab apples. Does it contain crab apples?’
Bonnie chuckled. ‘It does not. You remain undefeated at getting every cocktail ingredient wrong.’
‘Well, there are worse flaws to have,’ said Bobby with a grin. He sipped away, turning to take in the work she’d put into the apartment, and stifling cocktail-induced coughs as he did so. ‘This is coming along. I see you’ve moved the furniture incrementally since you made me haul it up the stairs.’
Bonnie batted her eyelashes in faux apology. It wasn’t her fault that quality furniture was heavy.
‘Wow, this is even stronger than the last one you made metry. Hits right behind the eyes.’ Bobby rubbed the bridge of his nose, frowning.
Bonnie hoped this meant that the spell was working and not that she’d blinded the poor guy, becausethatwas something her magic definitely couldn’t undo.
‘Are you having another dizzy spell?’ Bonnie was a bit worried she was doing permanent damage to Bobby’s brain. Was he allergic to her magic? Was that even a thing?
Bobby shook his head. ‘I just need to work on my tolerance. Anyway, I’d better be off. Early start at the bakery tomorrow, and then the basketball game.’
The basketball game. Bonnie felt a mild pang for missing it. She probably should have said yes, considering all the help that Bobby had given her, with not a single complaint. Not just at the bar, but also in the wake of Mom’s death. But if she did go to the game, there might be expectations. And while Bonnie was open to some fun, like with Theo perhaps, she couldn’t possibly entertain anything that might bereal. Not with the bar to wrangle and her looming debts. Ugh,andshe was meant to meet Effie and Mom’s friend Sabine at the Toto Hotel the following morning.
‘Go, Munchkins,’ she said half-heartedly, waggling her fingers in support of the college team.
With his usual shy wave, Bobby hurried out of the room.
Bonnie watched him leave with interest, and not only because she’d noticed how well his jeans fit. But rather, Bobby had done something he never ordinarily did. On the way out of the room he’d walked right beneath the ladder.
Oof, thought Bonnie.Bad luck, here we come.
Well, at least the spell seemed to be working.
Bonnie’s phone pinged. It was Effie, who she’d renamed ‘The Wicked Witch’ in her phone.
Don’t forget that we’re meeting Sabine tomorrow. 10 a.m.
Of course Effie didn’t trust her to show up. No matter what Bonnie did, Effie was always hovering about, lookingfor an opportunity to step in and prove that she was the responsible, functional one of the two. She wasinsufferable.
Bonnie sent a passive-aggressive thumbs-up emoji in response and got back to work.
Chapter 11
THESE MAGIC MOMENTS
Effie
If a hotel could be a gargoyle, the Toto Hotel was it. For a hundred years, it had sat upon the hills surrounding Yellowbrick Grove, all gables and turrets and ornamental fretwork that made it a favourite of photographers and art students – along with the hot springs that dotted its grounds, sending up steam and inviting the townsfolk and tourists to dip in year-round. Effie and Bonnie had spent an inordinate amount of time up here as kids, wandering the gardens while Mom worked, plied with tiny finger sandwiches from the kitchen and enormous cups of lemonade. Effie would read by the springs or in the soaring light-filled atrium, while Bonnie lolled about the lawns in her bathing suit, keeping an eye out for cute boys or gangs of teenage girls she could appoint herself leader of.
Mom had worked at the hotel for the girls’ entire lives, but the hotel had looked after her as well. It had kept her on staff even when she was long beyond being able to work her job at reception, and she’d had access to the mineral pools whenever she wanted to soothe her aches and pains.
Effie felt a pang as she rolled up its meandering, shrub-lined driveway in the Jeep – Mom’s Jeep. Now all the memories she had of the place were just that. Memories. And like the cushions on all the lawn chairs she was cruising past, they would fade over time, becoming threadbare, then unrecognizable.There would be no new memories of Mom. No new stories they could share together.
I love you, Mom, she whispered sadly to the air as she pulled into a space. How much of the air she was breathing now was the same Mom had breathed for years? She’d spent decades here, after all, infusing every inch of the hotel with her sunny personality and the smiles she always had for everyone. Plying the gardeners and maintenance staff with the home-made brownies she seemed to have an endless supply of.
There was a reason Effie hadn’t been back here since Mom’s death, even though Sabine, who also worked at the hotel, had been so good about staying in touch and lending whatever support she could. It was all too hard. But a few weeks ago, Sabine had called, asking her to come by the Toto. And no one turned down Sabine, who had a welcoming, gregarious energy that dwarfed even Bonnie’s charm. She veritably sparkled with joy and warmth.
