"I told you Theo spoke to me in the bath last night, right?" I say, leaning in as well, my voice low, "and that he said we should beat Franklin at his own game. So, I've been thinking about how we might do that."

"Of course, that's a hard sort of thing to forget. What have you got in mind, Ms. Witch?" he asks, hooking his foot around mine under the table.

"When is your podcast coming out?" I ask,

"It's not planned until November," he tells me, "But I'll check with Santiago's team today and see what's what."

"I think we need a public relations campaign," I say, pretty sure he's not going to like this idea, but needs must.

Rune's expression skeptical, "Publicists who do that sort of thing well are expensive, Shells. I doubt your dad will help us much under the circumstances, and I'd rather not burn through what I've saved up for producing projects."

"No, he probably isn't, and I hear you, but why can't we use their tactics ourselves?" I ask. Trying not to feel daunted, I continue, "When my dad used to represent musicians who got into trouble in the gossip columns, he would work to create what they called an alternative narrative."

I pause because the waitress has brought our order. While Rune butters the gorgeous fluffy steaming stack of pancakes, I split our omelet and hashbrowns onto two plates. I'm so hungry I focus on eating to give Rune space to think about what I'm suggesting.

We eat in silence for a few minutes before he finally says, "Shells, we're going to get a lot of attention from the media as it is. It's not going to be fun, even with the legitimate ones," He warns, cutting into the stack of pancakes, "Wow, these are great."

He's right about the media attention, he's lived through it before, so why do I feel like this 'alternative narrative' creation is the right thing to do? My eye catches on Lord Ganesha's charm on his bracelet as he takes another bite and smiles happily at the pancake's deliciousness. The charm appears brighter than it should in this light. It reminds me I haven't told him about my visions of the Indian god. I think I'll hold off on that for now, though. I take a careful bite of the pancakes myself and hope Lord Ganesha doesn't have other ideas.

"They are," I agree, thinking about how to say what I want to say, and finally, "I think we should use our combined social media to tell a happy old friends, neighbors, and family story. Remember, Syd's in marketing, I'm sure she'll have some good strategic ideas."

"Hmmm..." he's running his teeth over his lower lip the way he does when he's deep in thought sometimes, "No happy romance?" he asks after a few moments, with a glance that's far more suited to the bedroom. Whew. I wish we didn't have errands to run and guests coming for dinner.

"Yes, of course, here and there judiciously," I say, coloring a little under his gaze, and focus on taking a bite of my buttery hashbrowns so I eat them instead of wearing them, "But just like your Instagram is focused more on the craft of your work, and not only photos of you, I think we should share the most about being storytellers."

As I say this, I realize I've totally forgotten about Howl's Moving Castle, and whether or not he's found out if the rights are available and at all affordable.

"Did you take a photo yet of the horse rescue coloring page you're working on? You didn't send it to me," Rune says, breaking into my thoughts, looking like he's got an idea or knew what I was going to ask and wants to change the subject.

"Yes," I tell him, picking up my phone and scrolling to find it, "but I don't have any background details on the horses yet, so I haven't shared it."

"Look at these two sweethearts," he smiles happily after I hand him the phone, "This is perfect Shells," he zooms in and studies the drawing intently, "I think this is how we at least keep Franklin and Pamela from ruining your Horse Girls Heroes launch."

"It is?" I ask, not following but happy about his shift into excited energy.

"Yes!" he says eagerly, "Picture this: We make your crowdsourcing partly about helping to raise funds to find these horses homes, not just raising money to print the planner."

"Oh!" I exclaim, "That's a cool idea!" enjoying not only the idea but the "we-ness" of it. It feels fantastic. Promoting myself is still hard for me to wrap my head around, promoting the adoption of horses I can do.

"It might be smart to launch Horse Girls Heroes early if we can," he says enthusiastically as he hands me back my phone, "how's the campaign coming together?"

"Ah, well," I stall, hating to admit, "I'm not as far along as I'd like."

"Shells," Rune says, sounding disappointed, "what's going on? You had such good momentum."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Liz never got back to me," I finally tell him, "So I've been trying to figure it out myself and I got bogged down trying to understand all of the strategic details. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," Rune says sharply, "Liz promised me she'd give you any help you needed," he picks up his phone, and starts to text.

"Don't say anything to her," I say quickly, Lord Ganesh's charm is shining too brightly at me again from his wrist.

"Why not?" he asks tightly, "I've spent days jumping through hoops for her instead of being here honeymooning with you so our production partnership could wrap up in a way that works for both her and Julia," he says tightly.

"Just a gut feeling," I tell him cautiously, reaching for his hand.

Rune's lips flatten and move sideways, "You think Franklin got to her?

"I have no idea, probably not," I rush out, "Maybe Liz is as busy as she told me, but let's play it safe and hold our cards close to our chest for now," I have no idea if this is smart or not, but a beautiful lotus blossom blooms in my mind's eye, so it seems like a safe bet.

**

Since the hardware store Gunnar recommended isn't open yet, we drive to Poulsbo to the fancy grocery store. We've both turned the notifications off on our phones for now since it's still too early to be in touch with anyone but family. I texted my dad that I'll call him later. Dinner tonight will be interesting. Not only is Syd planning on being there with Nils, but Gunnar and Lorelei will also be back. From Jenna, apparently, there's only radio silence.

"Let's stock up on everything for the next week or so now," Rune tells me, obviously relieved that the expansive, beautifully stocked grocery store is mostly empty at this hour on a wet Thursday morning, "I'd like to buckle down and get the crowdsourcing campaign figured out. And leaving the house might become more and more challenging."

"You want to work through your birthday?" I tease, as we start down the first aisle.

"Not a chance," he tsks at me, "You're not getting out of making that cake."

Watching Rune shop is a fascinating experience. I'm always on a budget. He's throwing things in the quickly filling cart like a child in a toy store with an unlimited expense account. Lorelei must love shopping with him. Sweet things seem to call him by name. When I make a face at all of the cookies and frozen items, he wants to include he reminds me they have another fridge in the barn.

We decide on chicken tacos for tonight since they're Nils's favorite and get everything we need including enough for a vat of guacamole and some extremely fancy imported cheeses and toppings for pizza for tomorrow night since that's Lorelei's favorite. I find everything for Rune's birthday cake, including candles. We decide to buy things to make our own ice cream again, and Rune has a quick consultation with Syd on the phone about alcohol for his birthday while I get a second cart to hold all of these drinks.

Our final stop is the expansive candy section, where we pick up what we know are the kids' favorite kinds of chocolate and gummy bears. Rune adds an assortment of colorful saltwater taffy because it's beautifully displayed in old-fashioned bins, and why not?

**

"Here's the address for the hardware store. Can you navigate?" Rune asks me after we've loaded up the car and made sure we can't see any photographers in the parking lot, "Gunnar says it's a house and a barn in a sort of out-of-the-way place."

I find the address on Google Maps. It is indeed in an interesting location for retail store. Jensen's Antique & Specialty Hardware is tucked off of 104 and Port Gable Road on a farm lot. It's almost on the opposite side of the forest reserve from where we live.

"Since it's not raining as hard, we have some time to, and we want to keep an eye out for photographers, do you want to go the more scenic route?" I ask him, "Have you ever been up on Sawdust Hill Road?"

"Not since I was a kid," he tells me, "I think Aunt Sally had a private client up there."

I'm much better at navigating this hilly, wooded, water-surrounded landscape than when I first moved here. We zig-zag up the winding road, which takes us straight up to the top of the ridge. After going through a narrow bit and making a sharp left-hand turn we arrive at an area that flattens out for a while. We're now in the first section with impressive, white-fenced horse properties.

"Sweet!" Rune whistles at the lush, now empty pastures, with large fancy horse barns nearby, "Know anyone who lives up here? These people could easily give a rescue horse a forever home and support a Horse Girl Heroes."

"Alas, no," I laugh, "though Luna's in-laws might. I bet Amy Penington does, too."

"Yes. Exactly. Let's put a pitch letter for your pre-funding campaign to get out to our networks ASAP," he says, heading into a sharp right-hand turn that gives us a quick scenic view from the heights before opening up into another plateau of landed gentry-type properties.

"Okay," I agree, suddenly nervous.

I've read about how vital this pre-funding campaign idea is, that successful campaigns build momentum by receiving early funding from your friends, family, and colleagues before being officially launched. Apparently starting with money already raised is considered a very smart move. My challenge about this is that I hate asking for favors, probably as much as Rune hates the idea of being on social media. I guess it's time for both of us to face more of our fears than Franklin's crazy stories.

Focus on the horses getting new homes, I tell myself, and it'll be much easier.

Good girl, Theo says from very far away.

The hardware store is at the end of an unmarked road that, fortunately, has a bright barn red artfully hand-painted sandwich board sign with an arrow pointing us in the right direction. I like this place's aesthetic already.

We follow the narrow, forest-lined gravel road until it opens to a farm property of several dozen acres. A huge old-fashioned unpainted barn hosts another beautifully rendered hand-painted sign in old-fashioned fonts that claims we've successfully found Jensen's Antique & Specialty Hardware.

There's a decent-sized gravel parking lot for us to pull into with only two other cars. Rune and I laugh at each other as we both pull out our phones to snap pics of the barn as we walk towards it.

"Let's take a selfie," Rune says, and he positions it so that the two of us appear with the barn and sign behind us. He takes several shots from different angles, including one where he's kissing my cheek.

Lord Ganesha's gong reverberates through me as he puts my camera away and takes my hand. Once we step inside the open side of the big double barn doors, we've entered a wonderland of hardware and home goods from another era. The space is open and bright from skylights in the tall roof above and a series of large old-fashioned chandeliers.

Everywhere I look, intriguing pieces of old hardware and antiques are beautifully displayed. This is almost as marvelous as a bookstore. I could get lost here for hours.