The Girl and the Genie (11 page)

I knew Jack was wrong about him, she thought. Completely, absolutely wrong.

A smile broke over her face and she absently rubbed a hand across her eyes to wipe away some wetness that had formed. Knowing that Ethan had sent those roses made her feel wonderful, and at the same time was like an instant jolt of energy that left her as wired as if she had chugged several Red Bulls. At that moment she wanted to see him badly, and was overwhelmed with the thought of calling him and inviting him to dinner. Before she did this she took a deep breath and was able to talk herself into cooling it. She’d wait until tomorrow as planned.

She had too much excited energy to be by herself right then, and besides, she wanted to rub those roses in Jack’s face, so she whispered softly that she was summoning him. It surprised her how quickly a puff of blue smoke exploded in front of her and he was there with her, especially given that the lamp was back in New York. Faster than a blink of an eye. Winston let out a short yelp and wagged his tail slightly, but seemed either too tired or too content lying on the floor to do much else.

Jack nodded at Emily, remarking that he was glad to see that she had made it in one piece to her destination. “I have read countless articles and books on aeronautics, and the subject still mystifies me,” the genie admitted. “I, of course, have never been in an airplane myself, and might feel differently if I had traveled in one, but the thought of a vehicle that size and weight flying through the air seems outrageous to me. I am very pleased to see that your airplane deposited you safely to the ground.”

Jack’s gaze wandered around the room, and he let out a couple of dismissive sniffs to show his displeasure with what he saw. He strolled from the bedroom area to the sitting room before walking back to Emily. “A bit shabby, isn’t it?” he asked.

“It’s fine,” Emily said.

He made a face at that. “Hardly,” he said. “I can’t imagine you making a wish that would require you to spend any period of time in a place like this.” He rubbed the bed sheet between his thumb and index finger and his expression grew more sour. “Miss Mignon, I don’t make this suggestion lightly, but you should consider using a wish for more suitable accommodations. Preferably you’d do this by wishing for enough wealth so it wouldn’t be an issue for you to move elsewhere, although God knows what would be available in this area. It pains me to think of you spending any concentrated time here.”

“I’m sure I could find world-class accommodations in Minneapolis, if not here, if I chose to,” Emily said. “But I expect to be very happy here, and don’t need to make a wish of that kind. And I didn’t summon you to critique this suite or the linens they use.”

Jack arched an eyebrow. “No?”

“Certainly not.” Emily found herself blushing with embarrassment as she thought about why she did summon the genie, and decided it was a mistake. Jack smiled thinly at her discomfort, and asked if she meant him to guess at her reason.

“I wanted you to see those roses,” she blurted out, her face reddening more with her embarrassment.

“Very well, Miss Mignon,” Jack said, suppressing his smile with a forced expression of somberness. He moved over to the roses and went through the motions of carefully studying them. “They appear to be store bought,” he said. “And of mediocre quality, but they should be perfectly safe.” He sniffed one of them. “No hidden poison that I can detect. Yes, they should be quite safe. I wouldn’t worry about them. But if you feel they’re an eyesore and would like me to remove them from the premises, I’d be happy to do so.”

“That’s not why I wanted you to see them,” Emily said, feeling foolish.

“No?” Jack asked, exaggerating his confusion.

“I wanted you to see who those roses are from!”

“I’m guessing they’re from that author,” Jack said. “Ethan Flake I believe is his name?”

“Ethan Blake,” Emily corrected him. In her mind’s eye she could see her face now scarlet red—at least that was how hot her skin was feeling.
He’s just playing with me, she thought.
But still, she couldn’t help herself from telling him how those roses proved everything Jack had guessed about Ethan was wrong. “This was a sweet and thoughtful gesture on his part,” she said. “Certainly not what an unbearable narcissist would do, as you have accused him of being.”

“I wouldn’t assume that,” Jack said, shaking his head as he gave the matter some thought. “If I were to guess his reason for sending those low grade roses, it would be because he’s still living with his mother and she probably insisted that he do so. At least that would be my guess. But Miss Mignon, what does it matter? I simply gave you my reasoned and experienced interpretation of his personality that I had gleaned from his writing. I am at a loss as to why you’d take offense at that.”

Emily found herself getting more and more flustered as she tried to explain that she didn’t take any offense at what the genie had said. “It was simply a matter of me wanting you to see how wrong you were about Ethan,” she stumbled out.

“Interesting,” Jack mused.

“What?”

“Oh, it’s only that I’ve never had a master before who cared about what I thought, or felt the need to correct any possible misinterpretation of mine.” Jack stroked his chin as he shook his head in wonder. “I find it interesting, that’s all.”

Emily only got more flustered as she tried to explain how Jack had that all wrong. A brisk knock on her door stopped her. For a moment she felt weak-kneed and lightheaded with the thought that Ethan might’ve come to her room to surprise her and take her to dinner after all. Then she heard her mother’s voice calling out to her from behind the door and a rush of disappointment hit her. She caught a gleam in Jack’s eyes, as well as a seriousness in his expression, as if he now understood why she cared so much what he thought of Ethan. She didn’t have time to argue with him. Her head was swimming with the thought that her mother was outside her room waiting for her. She whispered urgently to Jack, telling him who it was that was calling for her and that he had to leave. He nodded, his expression turning somber, and with another burst of blue smoke he disappeared.

Winston seemed unfazed by Jack’s comings and goings. With a few heavy grunts, he pushed himself to his feet and followed Emily as she answered the door. Alice Mignon stood outside looking tired, but still beaming at her daughter, a joyful smile breaking over her face. As she stood there tears began to flood her eyes. And then the two of them were embracing, and any disappointment that Emily might’ve been feeling that it wasn’t Ethan calling on her proved fleeting.

Alice Mignon was young when she had Emily, only seventeen. The death of her husband when she was twenty-five—almost the same age as Emily was now—left her hair prematurely gray with hard lines etched in her forehead and a web of fine wrinkles around her eyes. For a long time she had left her hair gray, but since Emily had seen her last she had started dying it a chestnut brown. She was an inch taller than Emily, and had a similarly slender build, although with age she had gotten a bit thicker in the body, but was by no means heavy. Even with the extra weight on her hips and thighs, she was still thinner than most women her age, and if anything it just added to her curves. And even with the lines that sadness and grief had carved into her face, she was still very pretty, especially after she had finished embracing her daughter, and stood holding Emily’s hands, smiling happily and contentedly. Winston, wanting to get into the act, pushed himself between the two women and nudged Alice Mignon’s leg with his nose. Only then did she notice him.

“Emily, dear, I didn’t know you had a dog. What’s his name?”

“Winston. Mom, why didn’t you let me know you were coming here?”

Alice Mignon dropped to one knee so she could hug Winston and let him lick her face, which he did happily. “What a handsome fellow,” she said. She held Winston’s thick neck with both hands and held him back so she could get a good look at him. Her eyes misted up briefly as she turned a wistful smile toward her daughter. “Emily, your dad would’ve loved him. He always wanted a dog like this. He’s so ugly and funny looking that he’s beautiful!”

“Mom, you’re not so subtly avoiding my question.”

“Nonsense. I’m not avoiding anything. Of course I was going to drive up here with you being so close to home.”

“Do you still have that same broken down Chevy?”

“My car’s fine. There’s nothing for you to worry about.”

“Your car’s a wreck! When we talked we agreed I’d drive down to Des Moines next weekend to visit. I don’t like the idea of you being on the highway for that long with a car that could break down any second!”

Alice Mignon stood up and brushed dog fur off her slacks, frowning as she did so.

“You’re making a big deal out of nothing,” she said. “It was a short drive and I was perfectly fine using my car.” There was a stubborn piece of fur that Alice Mignon couldn’t brush off and had to pick off her slacks. After she did this she offered her daughter a fragile smile. “Besides, I know you’re going to be busy with your job and I didn’t want you to have to drive back and forth to Des Moines with everything else you have to do. And this will also give me a chance to see Minneapolis.”

Des Moines to Eden Prairie was a two hundred and fifty mile trip. Not exactly a short drive. And while her mother might’ve been anxious to see her, Emily had the idea that she was far more motivated to meet Ethan Blake than she was to see Minneapolis. There was some sort of intuition thing going on. Ever since Emily went off to college, they would always talk every few days over the phone, and once Alice found out about Emily publishing Ethan’s first book she’d try to sneak in questions about Ethan as if he were more than an author to her daughter. Not that Emily ever let on that she’d been hoping that she and Ethan would fall madly in love when they met, and she would sidestep her mother’s question, acting as if it were all strictly professional. But her mother had sensed something, and that was why she made the drive up instead of waiting for the following weekend for Emily to drive to Des Moines.

“I’ll be busy with work most of this week,” Emily said.

“I know you will, dear, and I won’t interfere. I promise. But you need to eat, right? We’ll get a chance to catch up. And don’t worry, I won’t be in your hair for too long. I was only able to take three days off from work and have to be back Thursday.” Alice Mignon hesitated awkwardly before adding, “I guess I need to get going to find a motel nearby, but I’ll be back later and I’ll take you out to dinner.”

Alice Mignon lingered for a moment while Emily also hesitated, then told her mother that she didn’t need to find a motel. “You’ll stay here with me. And I’ll take you out to dinner later. After all, I’m the one with the expense account.”

Emily was lying about an expense account. She had a per diem, and a low one at that, but there was no way she’d allow her mother to pay for dinner. She knew her mother barely made ends meet working as a waitress at a diner, and the fact that Alice was still driving the same fifteen year-old broken-down Chevy was clear evidence that her situation hadn’t improved.

Alice Mignon hesitated again, her smile growing more brittle. “Well, as long I won’t be a nuisance for you,” she said.

“You won’t be, Mom. It will be wonderful having you here.”

“In that case, I’d love to be able to spend the extra time with you. Let me go get my suitcase.”

“I’ll get it for you.”

“I’ve only got the one suitcase. I’ll go and get it.”

“I’ll walk with you then.”

Emily was mostly happy that her mother had surprised her like this. She hadn’t seen her since last Christmas, and she had been missing her. But she also couldn’t help feeling this sense of deflation as if her mother was going to be cramping her style with Ethan, especially with how eager her mother was in seeing her married. She felt guilty about how she was feeling and she wasn’t going to let her mother see any of her deflation. Besides, if she and Ethan were meant to fall in love, they’d do so whether or not her mother was there with her.

The motel Emily was staying in had two levels with each room set up as a suite, and each one having its own separate entrance to the outside. Emily’s suite was on the second level, and as she and her mother walked along the cement walkway to the staircase, Winston waddled along behind them. When she saw her mother’s car, her eyes misted with tears over the thought that her mother drove all the way from Des Moines in it. The car had more dents and rust than the last time she saw it, and now chicken wire was holding up the front bumper.

“I remember you getting that car when I was nine years old,” Emily said.

Alice Mignon laughed. “I sure did. I used to drive you to school in that very car. And it’s still running fine. Not too many miles either given how old it is. Still less than a hundred thousand.”

If the odometer read that, it was only because the car had already cycled past the hundred thousand mile indicator, possibly even cycling several times past it. Emily decided then that she was going to use a wish to get her mother a new car. She’d have to think of a foolproof way of making the wish, but her mother was going to be driving back to Des Moines in something new and safe.

The lock for the trunk was either rusted out or just plain broken and couldn’t be opened, so Alice Mignon had stored away a ratty cloth suitcase in the backseat. Emily knew better than to try to carry the suitcase for her mother—she’d only refuse the help, claiming that she had only packed a few items and that it was light enough for her to handle. As they walked back to her room, Alice Mignon asked Emily about New York and her job and about her dog, but not one thing about whether she had a boyfriend or about Ethan, which all but told Emily that her mother’s intuition had indeed zeroed in on Ethan being a future son-in-law. Once they got the suitcase back to her room, and her mother had a chance to freshen up after her four-hour drive, they went down to the motel’s office and with the help of the front desk clerk, they found a nearby restaurant that allowed dogs to be kept by the table.