by E. M. Lilly
Before they separated for the day, they set a time to meet the next morning, and Emily couldn’t help feeling that her wish was going to work out every bit as well as she had hoped it would.
Chapter 14
Emily had brought Winston down to the motel parking lot with the intention of taking him for a walk, but before she could get very far her mother pulled into the lot driving the same fifteen year-old broken down Chevy that she had left with that morning. Emily stopped in her tracks, surprised to see her mother in that car. She had a good reason to be surprised since the wish that she had detailed to Jack had her mother picking up her new car that afternoon.
Alice Mignon lowered her window so she could wave excitedly to her daughter. The car came to an abrupt stop, and Alice Mignon popped out of it, her face flush with excitement as she wanted to hear every detail regarding how Emily got along with her author that day. Emily interrupted the barrage of questions. She was too distracted at that moment to have any sort of conversation, so she promised her mother they’d talk all about it over dinner, but that right then she really needed to take Winston for a walk.
“Oh,” Alice Mignon said, taken aback by her daughter’s abruptness. She glanced at Winston, who sat on the ground panting and certainly not looking like he was in desperate need for a walk. “Well, how about I join you then?”
“Mom, how about instead you go back to the room and freshen up? That way, when I bring Winston back we can head out and find a restaurant for dinner?”
“Oh, okay,” Alice Mignon said. She gave her daughter a worried look, as if something were wrong. She paused for a moment, then asked if anything was wrong.
“No, nothing, Mom, I promise. I’m starving that’s all. I just want to take Winston for a quick walk and then have the two of us get some food, that’s all.”
Alice Mignon continued to looked worriedly at Emily as if she knew her daughter wasn’t telling her the whole truth, but she didn’t push it and instead headed to the staircase that led to the motel suite. Emily watched with an impatient, forced smile until her mother was halfway up the staircase, then she turned and led Winston out of the parking lot, moving at a determined pace that forced the dog to break into a jog to keep up. She kept up this pace until she came to a large oak tree along an isolated stretch of road. As soon as she stepped behind the tree she summoned Jack. A car passed a moment later. While it was doubtful that the driver would’ve seen much more than the puff of smoke that signaled Jack’s arrival, in the mood Emily was in she wouldn’t have cared if the driver had actually seen Jack pop out of thin air.
As Jack materialized he looked differently than he had in the past. Every other time Emily had seen him he had been dressed conservatively in one of his Brooks Brothers suits. Now he was dressed less formally as he wore a light blue sports jacket, a richly textured matching silk tie, a gray pair of pants, and a pair of suede Italian loafers. He still looked as dapper as ever, though. The genie opened his eyes wide with a mocked surprise as he noticed his surroundings and realized he’d been summoned out in the open while there was still daylight. He watched the car drive off before nodding to Emily.
“Good evening, Miss Mignon,” he said with a wry smile. “I hope you have had a pleasant day.”
“Good evening, Jack,” Emily said with a forced politeness as she fought hard to keep her annoyance in check over the fact that her mother didn’t have the new car yet that she had wished for. “I had a very pleasant one. Thank you.”
Winston let out a bark at Jack’s presence and was wagging his tail so hard that he nearly fell over. Jack raised an eyebrow at Emily to see whether she’d mind if he paid attention to the dog. Emily told him to go ahead.
Jack appeared to drop to one knee so he could roughhouse with Winston. He didn’t exactly do that and instead hovered half an inch off the ground so he could avoid picking up any grass stains on his pants.
“Since you summoned me to this wide open public space, I’m assuming that your mother is still visiting with you at that motel.” Jack’s mouth puckered up when he said the word motel, the same as if he had swallowed a mouthful of vinegar. “I’m further assuming this is an urgent matter, although I am at a loss to guess what the reason could be.”
“I made a wish for something that was supposed to happen today.”
“Yes, of course. For your mother to win a new car.”
“Except that it didn’t happen.”
“I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage, Miss Mignon.”
“My mother didn’t win anything. She’s still driving the same beat-up wreck that she’s had for fifteen years.”
Jack quit roughhousing with Winston. He straightened up, his lips pulling down into a slight frown. “I assure you that your wish was carried out precisely as you asked for it,” he said. With a snap of his fingers a newspaper appeared in front of him, and after taking hold of the paper, he began searching through it, an intensity burning in his eyes as he scanned each page. After flipping through half of the pages he smiled triumphantly and showed the paper to Emily. On the page was a photo of Alice Mignon being awarded the keys to the very same car Emily had specified in her wish. Underneath the photo was a small article which talked about how Emily’s mother had won the car by correctly guessing the number of jelly beans in a bowl.
“If you had wished for a king’s ransom it would’ve been far easier to pull off than the wish you made,” Jack said. “Your wish may have been ridiculously modest, bordering on insignificant, but it required a lot of moving parts and I am quite proud that I pulled it off. Your mother won the car that you wanted her to. I have no idea why she doesn’t have it now, but it certainly isn’t because of any shenanigans on my part.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed as she more carefully read the article a second time. “That’s tomorrow’s newspaper,” she said.
“Of course.”
“So why doesn’t she have the car she won?”
The genie shrugged noncommittally. “I can’t tell you. At least not without you making a wish for me to do that, but that would be a waste of a wish on your part since it would be easy enough for you to simply ask her. Which is probably what I would do if you were to expend a wish for me to tell you what happened.” A hint of mischief glimmered in Jack’s eyes. “But enough of such triviality. I believe you finally met that author today that you were so anxious to meet. I was right about him, wasn’t I?”
“Not one bit.”
Jack raised an eyebrow at that. “I find that hard to believe,” he said. “He didn’t buy you those roses himself, did he?”
“I didn’t bother asking him something as crass as that.”
“Hmm.” The genie’s gaze turned more steely as he studied Emily and tried to decide whether she was lying or not. “I’m sure you at least found him an insufferable prig,” he said at last.
“Not at all. I found him charming. More than simply charming, I found him fun and exciting to be with.”
“Hmm.” Jack slowly stroked his chin as he continued to study Emily, a perplexed look dulling his eyes. “You’ve left me with quite a conundrum,” he said.
“How’s that?”
He sighed heavily before smiling weakly at Emily. “Please don’t take offense at this,” he said. “But one advantage of having existed the number of centuries that I have is that I have grown to be an astute judge of character. I have witnessed too much of mankind not to have. So this is my conundrum. On the one hand I have grown to think of you as an intelligent and insightful young woman, on the other, I believe I am right in my assessment of that author, Ethan Flake—”
“Blake. His name is Ethan Blake.”
“Excuse me, Ethan Blake. So clearly my assessments of you and this author are at odds and can’t both be true, even though I am convinced that they are. Hence my conundrum.”
“How could I possibly take offense at that?” Emily asked stiffly. “There is another possibility. That you’re not as smart as you think you are.”
> “True,” the genie agreed with another heavy sigh. “And yet even another possibility. That both my assessments are indeed correct, but that you possess this one blind spot regarding this man. Miss Mignon, I know I’m not wrong about him. Be careful with him. Is there anything else I can do for you this fine evening?”
“Not a thing,” Emily said, her voice almost cold enough to cause frostbite. If Jack noticed her anger at him, he didn’t let on. Instead he nodded politely, and disappeared in a small explosion of smoke. The newspaper disappeared with him.
Chapter 15
Emily was fuming as she headed back to the motel; partly over Jack’s veiled insult of her, and mostly over the genie’s incredible arrogance in believing that he had Ethan all sized up and knew everything about him without ever meeting him. It was only when Winston let out a desperate yelp that she realized that she had been making the poor dog run to keep up with her. She stopped then to apologize profusely to Winston and knelt down so that she could hug him and kiss the top of his head. From the way he licked her face, the apology was accepted. During the rest of the walk back to the motel, Emily made sure to maintain a more leisurely pace so she wouldn’t be dragging Winston. Still, an anger toward Jack continued to simmer within her, as well as a growing annoyance toward her mother for not having the car that she was supposed to have won.
Emily made up her mind that she wasn’t going to say anything to her mother about the car. She decided to play it cool and wait until the next morning when she could show her mother the article in the newspaper and then find out what had happened. That was what she was going to do, but she couldn’t help herself. As they drove to a restaurant for dinner, Emily found herself asking her mother why she didn’t have the car that she had won.
“You know about that?” Alice Mignon asked, surprised.
“Come on, Mom, you won a new car by guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar. Don’t you think that would be in the news?”
“I’m surprised, that’s all.” Alice Mignon quickly looked both flustered and embarrassed. “I remember seeing newspaper photographers, which was mortifying enough. You know how I don’t like to make a spectacle of myself. I don’t remembering seeing any TV cameramen. But it all happened so fast and was so unexpected that I guess I didn’t notice everything that was happening. Emily, dear, you saw me on TV?”
“Please, Mom. How else would I know that you won a new car?”
Emily didn’t like lying, especially to her mother, but she didn’t consider this outright lying, more fudging the truth. Her mother laughed then, her eyes wet with tears as she smiled at Emily.
“Oh, dear,” Alice Mignon said. “That’s why you acted that way when I drove up in my old Chevy.”
“You’d have to admit it would be a surprise to anyone. What happened to that new car?”
A guilty smile wormed its way onto Alice Mignon’s lips. “Now, Emily, please don’t think I’m trying to put any pressure on you. That’s not why I’m saying this. But you’re asking me so I’m telling you. I know you just met this Ethan, and I know nothing might come of it, but when I saw the two of you together I couldn’t help thinking that maybe he’s the one for you. And while it made me happy thinking that, it also saddened me to know that I don’t have the money to throw you the wedding that you deserve—”
“Mom! I’m not expecting you to pay for a wedding!”
“I know that, dear.” Alice Mignon patted her daughter’s arm, her eyes again brimming with tears. “But when the time comes, I want to. And when I won that car, I saw it as Providence providing a way. So instead of keeping a car that I don’t need, I was able to get a cash payout instead. And I really don’t need a new car. My Chevy might have a few years on it, but it runs just fine. And the money I got today will be put in the bank and used for your wedding, whenever it is, and whether it’s with Ethan or someone else.”
Emily couldn’t help laughing as she thought about how her wish had backfired so spectacularly. Whether it was fate or a confluence of events she didn’t know for sure. It was such a simple wish, and it still didn’t work out as she had hoped.
“What’s the matter, Emily?” Alice Mignon asked, a trace of alarm in her voice, possibly thinking that things hadn’t worked out that day between her daughter and Ethan.
“Only a private joke. Nothing to worry about.”
Emily had planned to keep things close to her vest when it came to telling her mother anything about Ethan. Not because she wanted to keep any secrets from her mother, but things were so early between her and Ethan, and she didn’t want to get her mother’s hopes up. After two glasses of wine while they waited for their dinner to be brought over she let it slip how attractive she found Ethan. She couldn’t help herself with how eagerly her mother was looking at her.
“Now mom, please don’t start thinking about engagements or weddings or anything like that. First off, we haven’t even had a date yet. I’m only telling you that I like him, but please, don’t make more of this than there is.”
“I bet he’d like to take you out on a date!”
Emily hesitated briefly. That was all Alice Mignon needed to know that Ethan had tried asking her out. “He wanted to take you out tonight, didn’t he? And you couldn’t go because we had plans.”
“Mom, he was only being polite. And besides, if he really wants to take me out he’ll have other opportunities.”
The waiter came with their food then, and Emily waited until their plates were placed in front of them and the waiter walked away before she continued. “And even if we do go on a date and it’s a wonderful date, it still wouldn’t matter. Not with me living in New York and Ethan living here in Minnesota.”
Alice Mignon’s eyelids lowered slightly, a knowing look forming over her mouth. “He would love to move to New York,” she said, nodding. “He told me so earlier this morning.”
For the next ten seconds Alice Mignon’s brow furrowed worriedly and her eyes had a distant, faraway look to them as if she were concentrating deeply on a matter. Then just as quickly she appeared relaxed and in good spirits again, and for the rest of the dinner they talked about other topics. Alice Mignon told Emily about the places she visited in Minneapolis, and wanted to know more about Emily’s life in New York. Emily ended up ordering another bottle of wine, and they both got somewhat sloshed. But it was a fun dinner, relaxing, and Emily felt closer to her mom than she had felt in years. They lingered over coffee, but even after three cups each, neither felt sober enough to drive, so they took a cab back to the motel.
##
The next morning Emily woke up feeling groggy and with this thumping in her head and an awful taste in her mouth as if she’d been chewing on a wool sock all night. For a brief moment she wasn’t quite sure where she was. Then she remembered the two bottles of wine that she drank with her mother.
She groaned softly and miserably. At first it hurt to even think about opening her eyes. When she did open them a crack she saw Winston lying on the bed next to her, his face less than a foot from hers, his eyes wide open as he stared intently at her. From her other side someone shook her shoulder, telling her softly that she needed to wake up. Emily had the sense that this had been going on for a while. Her head felt too fuzzy to make out the voice. Winston yawned, giving her a full blast of dog breath. She groaned again and carefully maneuvered onto her other side, moving as slowly as she could to keep that pulsating beat in her temples from getting any worse. She didn’t think she could take it if that happened. As she squinted badly against the early morning light she saw that it was her mother sitting on the edge of the bed next to her. That she was the one who had shaken her awake.
“Finally! Here’s some fresh brewed coffee. You still take your coffee black, right dear?”
Emily nodded ever so slowly and carefully, and gratefully accepted the cup that her mother was offering. After several long sips she could open her eyes more against the light, and the feeling that her head was being squeezed by a vise lessen
ed.
“I guess we drank a little too much wine last night, dear,” Alice Mignon said. She had already dressed and was smiling weakly at her daughter, her skin pale and blotchy. Emily started to nod, but her head hurt too much, and she squeezed her eyes shut and had another long sip of the coffee. It tasted so good right then. Her mother must’ve gone to a nearby shop to pick it up. In a voice that was little more than a croak, she thanked her mother for going out for the coffee. “I never drink like I did last night,” she murmured out in a hoarse whisper. She handed the cup back to her mother so she could hold her head in her hands. “A full bottle of wine. What was I thinking?”
“It was a special evening,” Alice Mignon said. “We don’t get to spend too many nights talking the way we did. But you need to get up now. It’s nine o’clock and you told me last night Ethan is meeting you here at ten. I’ve already taken Winston for his morning walk, but you need to shower and make yourself presentable. And I need to drive you back to that restaurant so you can retrieve your rental car.”
Emily nodded slowly and carefully enough to keep her head from feeling like it would split apart. Gingerly, she lifted herself from the bed. Her mother had put down the coffee and held out a quart-sized bottle of water to her.
“You need to drink this, Emily. The coffee was to help you wake up and feel better for a few minutes, but you need to drink this water so you don’t get dehydrated.”
Emily took the bottle, hugged her mother, and thanked her for coming to her rescue that morning. After that, she gathered up the clothes she’d be wearing later and stumbled off to the bathroom.
She felt better after showering and brushing her teeth, and after blow-drying her hair, she stood squinting at herself in the bathroom mirror. Like her mother her skin was pale and there was also some puffiness around her eyes. She was tempted to use the makeup that she had brought with her on the trip, but in the end she decided not to—if there was a real connection with Ethan, as she believed there was, then a little bit of puffiness and paleness shouldn’t matter to him.