Love Fortunes and Other Disasters by Kimberly Karalius Page B

ideas,” Hijiri said, drawing Fallon back. “I should make progress on the charm. I will .”
    â€œThank you for sharing that with me.” Fallon rested her hand on Hijiri’s arm for a moment.
    The girl smiled and looked down again at her feet. “Thank you for not making fun of it.”
    â€œI can’t possibly do that,” Fallon said thickly. “A charm like that would be too precious to laugh at.”
    *   *   *
    In the afternoon, Fallon walked briskly over bridges and busy streets to the main Barnes Canal Cruises ticket booth. Tourists tended to take photographs of the peeling mermaid statue mounted on the roof of the booth. The mermaid’s beautiful face was at odds with the two hearts she squeezed in her fists; Fallon didn’t like the statue, but Nico insisted it was a relic. His parents would never take the old thing down.
    Even in cold weather, the canal glistened and sunlight bounced off the hulls of the tied-up boats. Fallon spotted Nico reclining on one of the benches facing the canal, his nose buried in a newspaper. A cup of coffee cooled on the seat beside him.
    â€œDid you secure us a boat, Captain?” she teased, dropping her bag onto the bench.
    â€œDad threatened to double my hours at the booth if I snuck off with one. We’ll have to share space with the tourists.”
    â€œThat’s too bad.”
    Anais skipped her way over to the bench with a crinkly package of sweet rolls. “I got us a treat!”
    Nico eyed the package with suspicion. The last time Anais got seasick, he was the one who had to mop up her mess on deck.
    â€œWhat?” she said. “I’m hungry.”
    Nico folded his newspaper. “If you take even one bite, we are not getting on a boat.”
    â€œCome on, don’t be stingy.”
    â€œIt’s self-preservation.”
    After some bickering, Anais reluctantly agreed to save the sweet rolls for later. Fallon handed Anais the stack of magazines she hadn’t used.
    When she tried giving Anais money for the eight she kept, Anais just told her to treat her with dessert the next time they went out. “Knowing you, Dupree, I’d be eating something flaked with edible gold.”
    â€œI don’t know about that,” Fallon said, laughing. Then she noticed that Anais’s hands had turned white under the strain of holding the magazines. “Are you okay?”
    Anais shoved the magazines into her backpack along with the sweet rolls and groaned. “I feel like I’m carrying a family of storks on my back.”
    Fallon laughed and steadied her friend when she tilted. “If Bear was here, he’d carry it for you.”
    â€œI know.” Anais pouted. “That’s why I asked him to pick me up after the tour’s over.”
    â€œI see. You can’t possibly return home unescorted,” Nico said.
    â€œBear doesn’t know where I live,” she said, huffing. “We’re going to wander the shops and have dinner. Then I’ll find some way to say good-bye before we get to the drugstore. Bear gets positively light-headed after kissing. I like to use that to my advantage.”
    Nico clapped his hands over his ears. “Too much information! Let’s go.”
    Fallon happily followed behind as they headed to the tour boat. The boat had an open-air deck and seating below for those who couldn’t handle too much sun. The trio headed to the back of the boat for some privacy, squeezing past tourists already leaping from seat to seat, taking pictures. In the back, the engine drowned out everything, including the rave-reviewed commentaries from the captain.
    The boat pulled away from the dock. They moved at a slow pace down the canal; Fallon admired the backyards of old brick buildings and waved with the tourists whenever they spotted someone. The boat shifted when the tourists rushed to gawk at the entrance to the Tunnel of Love. The tunnel had