Free Three Wishes by Juli Alexander Page A

said with an adorably sheepish wince. “But I promised.”
    He was such a virile force; I had stopped thinking about him as a teenager. He obviously cared about Katie a lot. “I’m sure it will great.”
    He gave me a half smile, and we walked into the Dobbs University Center. The place held hundreds of tables next to the cafeteria, but it was almost deserted. A few stray students were studying, ear buds in place.
    “Leo,” someone yelled from across the building.
    I turned to see a tall woman with dark hair. From forty feet away, I could tell she had an exquisitely beautiful face.
    She smiled and waved, and then turned to leave through another door.
    “Who was that?” I asked.
    “Katie’s neighbor Serena. She usually stays for the meetings.”
    I glanced over at the door. “Not this time, I guess.”
    Leo motioned to a hallway on the right and I followed him to the doorway of a small auditorium. A scruffy-looking guy with a beard was standing in the front of the room talking.
    “We’re just in time,” Leo said, and slipped into the room to some seats in the back. I followed, and he waited for me to take my seat first. I thumped down in the wooden seat, and Leo sat beside me. Right beside me. The seats were way closer than the seats in the car. The guy stopped speaking to say, “Leo, Dude. Welcome.”
    “You know these Habitat guys?” I whispered after Leo greeted him.
    “I work on a lot of houses. Sometimes I run into the guys from Emory.”
    He volunteered his time to build homes for the poor? Leo wasn’t what I expected at all.
    A forty-something woman who was just standing up to approach the podium turned and waved at us.
    Cleary this was Katie, and she wasn’t what I’d expected. Male genies dated supermodels and breast-enhancement marvels. I’d seen the pictures in the tabloids and heard my mother sighing over the bad behavior of male genies. The rock star trashing his hotel room was almost always a genie. The athletes who reveal that they’ve slept with thousands of women. Usually genies. After thirty years, genies could retire. They turned over their powers after making a wish. They could either give themselves some amazing talent or give it to their spouse or children. Some even chose to be teenagers again and start their stellar careers in high school.
    I knew Katie was a professor, but I was expecting her to be one of those unusually hot women. You know, like anybody on television. They all look like supermodels whether they’re playing a lawyer, doctor, or computer genius. Katie wasn’t unattractive. She was just normal. Like my mom. No one was going to cast her to play herself in a TV movie.
    She’d started talking, but I hadn’t been listening. I realized that Leo had to be right. His father had changed.
    When I finally managed to wrap my brain around Katie’s lecture, I realized that she wasn’t talking about nutrition at all. She was describing various methods of going green in home building and remodeling without going broke. I opened my notebook and jotted down a few notes in case my parents decided to take on any more projects. Last I’d heard, Mom had laid down the law and they were “done, done, done” with projects. I’d been relieved since they usually made us help and seeing dad walking around in cargo shorts with a hammer through one of the loops just reminded me of my nerd origins.
    Ian always said Dad looked like a tool. I don’t think Dad has figured out what he means.
    I scribbled down some of Katie’s tips, and then glanced up to find Leo watching me with a grin. He put his hand against mine, sending heat rushing through me, and wiggled the pen out of my hand. He wrote, “We are not going to be tested on this material.”
    I just shook my head as I grabbed the pen. “It’s interesting,” I wrote.
    He moved to steal the pen again and I held it away from him.
    “Fine,” he whispered. “I’ll stop. You’re going to get me in trouble with Katie.”
    I thought