All In (10 page)

With a look of horror on his handsome face, Tucker would have immediately rescinded his invitation to accompany him to the wedding and relegated Mariah to his Nutcase-Women-I-Wish-I’d-Never-Met file.

Beep beep!

At the sound of an electronic horn, Mariah turned to see Davina pulling up on a bright red Vespa scooter. Dressed in a black pantsuit, lavender silk blouse and some European-looking sunglasses, the fairy parked and joined Mariah in front of the store.

“It’s about time you showed up!” Mariah snapped, both relieved and angry. “You gave me the wrong pamphlet!”

Davina removed her helmet and fluffed her hair, curled and bouncy today. “What are you talking about? I did not.”

Mariah stalked into the store with Davina on her heels and dug the booklet on fairy mischief protocol out of her purse. “What do you call this?” she said, shaking it at the fairy.

Squinting at the title of the pamphlet, Davina paled. She cursed under her breath and rubbed her fingers together. Amid a glittery sparkle, a different pamphlet appeared in Mariah’s hand.

“Okay,” Davina said curtly. “No harm done. That’s the right one. Sorry.”

“Sorry? Sorry?” Mariah exclaimed. “Do you have any idea the hell I’ve been going through wondering what was in this damned thing?”

“Well, it hasn’t exactly been a picnic on my end either,” Davina retorted. “The higher-ups found out that I extended your wish an extra day and now I have a warning on my record. Not only that, but from now on they’re going to be watching us very carefully. Just the slightest deviation from the rules will result in immediate annulment of your wish.”

“Annulment? What the heck does that mean?”

“It means they press the equivalent of the rewind button and Tucker goes back to where he was before the wish went into effect.”

“What happens to me?” Mariah asked.

“Well,” Davina said, glancing down. “You get rewound too, but whereas Tucker’s memory is erased, you remember everything.”

Mariah clutched the pamphlet in her fist. The sudden anxiety that erupted in her stomach was worse than when she’d applied for her business loan, worse than the time she’d lost control of her car when a tire blew out. Unless she misunderstood, a lifetime of happiness was on the line. She had a chance at true love. But unlike with the loan or the blowout, she could still influence the outcome. She may have stood on the sidelines before, watching and wanting for six long years, but not this time. This time, she was going to act.

Nailing Davina with a no-nonsense glare, she said, “Tell me what I need to know right now. Spell it out in plain English.”

Davina smiled grimly. “Like I said before, your aura readings are promising for an HEA, about an eighty-five, but you have to tell him. You have to tell him about me, and the wish and everything.”

“
What
?” Mariah gaped at the fairy, her stomach bubbling anew. “I need a rum ball. What do you mean tell him everything?” Mariah took two truffles out of the refrigerated case and handed one to Davina before putting the other into her own mouth. The potent liquor flowed over her tongue, sweet liquid courage.

“You have to explain about the bracelets and the wish. Full disclosure. All or nothing.”

“By ‘all’ you mean the whatchamacallit. The HEA.”

Davina wrinkled her nose. “Well, not exactly. Damn, I hate this part, explaining the fine print.”

“If I’d had the right pamphlet in the first place, you wouldn’t have to.”

“Look,” Davina snapped, “I’m getting enough flak from the higher-ups as it is. I don’t need it from you too.”

“Okay, I’m sorry. I’m just trying to understand the situation. This is my life, my future we’re talking about.”

Davina sucked some residual chocolate off her fingers. “I know. Believe me, I know, but you have no idea what kind of pressure I’m under. My quarterly review is coming up, the monetary wish percentages are on the rise and I haven’t had a damn vacation in I don’t know how many years. I can’t afford to take time off! Do you
know
what the divorce rates are doing to the Love Index?”

Mariah stared at Davina and wordlessly handed her two more rum balls.

“Thank you,” Davina said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to unload on you.”

“It’s all right. Everyone needs to vent once in a while.”

Davina ate her chocolate. “Mmm. This helps a lot. Thanks. Now where were we?”

“All or nothing?”

“Oh that’s right. Like I was saying, there’s no guarantee here. An HEA is never a sure thing. See, the magic created the situation for you and Tucker to meet up again. That’s all. We don’t fiddle with feelings. Whatever’s developed between you two is authentic, but—and this is a big but—if you want True Love with capital letters, you have to come clean before the wish expires.”

“Or else…what?”

“Or else it’s annulment time. You remember. He doesn’t.”

“But I don’t even know how he feels about me.”

Davina slanted her a look.

“Okay,” Mariah said. “Let me clarify. I know he likes me. But love? Come on. It hasn’t even been two days.”

“But you love
him
.”

“That’s different. For me, it’s been six
years
and two days.”

“And how do you know it hasn’t been that long for him too?”

“I
don’t
know that. I don’t know anything. This is all one huge crapshoot.”

“Listen to me, Mariah. I speak from experience, from watching you humans over the past eighty or so years. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Yes, you run the risk of him thinking you’re crazy, but you have to trust your instincts and you have to trust him. Do you think he might believe you?”

“Yes, he might believe me,” she said with a slow nod, “but I might win the lottery too, and you know the odds of that.”

Davina slapped a fist into her hand. “Kiddo, love is worth the risk.”

Mariah wished she had one of those airplane barf bags tucked into her purse, because she felt like she was going to hurl any minute. Either that or jump to her feet and run screaming from the room.

The small, intimate wedding had been beautiful. If her emotions hadn’t been in such turmoil, she would have enjoyed it. Even though she barely knew them, when Tony and Rhonda had exchanged their vows, Mariah couldn’t stop a few tears from falling. And Tucker…dressed in a slate gray Armani suit and shiny black shoes, he looked more gorgeous than should be legal. When he winked at Mariah during the ceremony, longing squeezed her heart. It was impossible not to picture herself as the bride and Tucker as the anxious groom, but she couldn’t allow herself to spin dreams like that. She had a plan and a tight timetable.

Knowing that she and Tucker would have no privacy in which to discuss things at the wedding, she’d booked a ride on the gondola. The way she saw it, once she got started, he wouldn’t be able to run away calling for the men in white coats. Except the earliest tickets she could get were for eight-thirty, and that was cutting it very close. The wish expired at nine.

Unfortunately, no one else seemed to be in a hurry to get the reception over with. The cocktail hour flowed into two hours, and then, what with the introduction of the happy couple, the first dance and their thanking everyone for attending, it was seven forty-five before the salads were served.

Mariah sat next to Tucker, fidgety and trying to hide it. He was about halfway through his meal. She glanced at her watch for probably the hundredth time and her stomach cramped.

8:09.

Tucker laid a warm hand on her leg. “Hey, is everything okay?” he asked, looking a little concerned. “You haven’t eaten more than two bites.”

“I had too many appetizers.”

“You ate half of one. I was with you.”

“What are you, the food police?” she said too harshly.

He cocked his head at her, looking puzzled. “Are you trying to pick a fight? I’m just trying to figure out if anything’s wrong.”

Mariah sighed. “No, I’m sorry. It’s just that I…I have a surprise for you.”

“Does it involve chocolate mousse?” he asked, brightening.

Too nervous to laugh, she shook her head. “No. I, ah, bought two tickets for a gondola ride.”

He grinned. “Hey, I always wanted to ride in one of those things.”

“But the tickets are for eight-thirty. I couldn’t get tickets later than that.”

His eyes softening, he said, “I’d take alone time with you over dinner any time.”

Fifteen minutes later they were waiting at the pier for their boat. The group disembarking included a woman who was having difficulty stepping up onto the dock. Mariah wanted to leap onto the gondola and give the woman a good shove on the rear.

It was a quarter to nine before Tucker was handing her into the sleek black boat. Mariah caught the scent of the fresh rose in a bud vase as she settled against the plush purple upholstery and tried to relax. Tucker sat next to her, his thigh against hers.

Once they were underway, the gondolier began to sing an aria. The water was an unnatural shade of blue-green and the marble was too new to accurately depict the real Venice, but the tourists didn’t seem to care. The Grand Canal was crowded as usual. People on the walkways and bridges gawked at them as they floated along.

Tucker put his arm around her. Then, chuckling, he said, “Maybe I should have taken you to the spa for a massage instead. You’re incredibly tense.”

“That’s because I have something to tell you.”

Tucker grin faltered slightly. “That sounds ominous.”

Mariah wished she had a witty reply, but she barely had spit. She felt even worse when he pulled his arm back and turned to face her.

“You should probably just say it and get it over with. And give me your watch while you’re at it. You’ve been driving me crazy looking at it every two seconds.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, wringing her hands. “It’s just that I only have twelve more minutes.”

“Twelve more minutes for what? What are you talking about, Mariah?”

She looked at him and lost her nerve. “Oh God,” she said, covering her face with her hands. “You’re going to think I’m nuts. But I swear, I’m not crazy and I’m not making this up.”

“Mariah, honey, you’re scaring me,” he said. “Just say it. Whatever it is, just say it.”

She glanced at her watch.

8:49.

“Okay, it’s like this. When I was on vacation in Mexico last year with my friends, we all bought these bracelets. According to the woman selling them, if you made a wish when you tied them on, when the bracelet fell off, your wish would come true.” She paused. “And my wish involved you.”

“Me?”

She nodded. “This sounds really hokey, but I couldn’t forget that night in Palm Springs, so I wished that I could see you again so we could…you know.”

Tucker dragged a hand over his face and laughed. “Jesus. You had me worried there for a second. So all this anguish is because you wanted to have sex with me and your wish came true?”

“Yes, but that’s not all of it. You haven’t heard the crazy part yet.” Mariah took a deep breath. “The crazy part is that it came true because of Davina…who is a wish fairy…who magically arranged for us to meet again.”

Tucker gave her a sidelong glance. “Oookay.” Now he sounded skeptical. “A wish fairy. Are you talking like a Tinker Bell fairy?” His laugh sounded forced.

“Kind of. But Davina is life-sized and dresses like a normal person, not in a tutu.”

“I see.”

Tucker rested an ankle on his knee and seemed to take a moment to reflect on what she’d said. After a moment, he flicked a finger toward her watch. “So, you said before we only have twelve more minutes,” he said. “What’s all that about?”

“I have to tell you about the wish or it gets annulled.”

“Annulled? What the hell does that mean? Do I suddenly get poofed back to the Bahamas? Do I…hey, wait a second.” He leaned forward, frowning. His voice got deadly serious and his face hardened with anger. “Is Tony going to be hurt by this? Does his wedding get erased? Because if his life gets screwed up because of this…”

Horrified, she quickly shook her head. “No, no. Nothing like that. You would just forget everything that happened between us over the last forty-eight hours. That’s all. Tony and Rhonda are fine, I swear. I mean, I guess they’d forget me too, but otherwise…”

Tucker relaxed slightly. “Well, thank God for that.”

Exhaling roughly, he leaned back, his face unreadable. She’d seen that expression before when he was playing. It shielded his thoughts like a stone wall, and for all she knew, he was figuring out how to get rid of her. Just the idea of that possibility stabbed her in the heart, and to her utter horror, she burst into tears.

“Tucker, I’m sorry to dump all this on you like this,” she cried, “but everything I told you is true. I have proof, but I can’t show it to you. Davina says it’s against the rules and I can’t break any more rules. So if you want to walk away and never talk to me again, I’d understand. I’d totally understand.”

Fighting back her tears as best she could, Mariah wiped her eyes. She couldn’t look at him. She was too afraid she’d see that damned poker face of his again, or something worse, like pity or disappointment. She did risk a glance at the gondolier, but he was staring politely ahead at the canal, still singing his aria as if his passenger hadn’t just turned into a mad, sniveling basket case.