Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Oh, that would be nice. Do you think your customers would be interested?”
“Are you kidding? Of course, they would. And I need more rose quartz candles, too.”
“I have it on my list to make some tomorrow.”
“Perfect, thanks. Listen, Breena—”
“I’m fine,” she interrupts, but when her green eyes meet mine, I can see that she’s not fine.
She just doesn’t want to talk about it.
“Have you spoken with Lorelei?”
“No.” She won’t look up at me, just concentrates on securing an amethyst to the moon as if it’s heart surgery. “She called, but I didn’t pick up.”
“No one meant to hurt you the other day.”
“I’m not hurt.” Her smile is fake, and it makes my heart ache like a sick tooth. “As I said, I’m fine.”
“Breena.”
“Okay, I’m embarrassed.” She shrugs and then sets the moon down when her fingers fumble. “Is that what you want to hear? That I felt humiliated and sad and just wanted the earth to open up and swallow me whole? Because I did.”
“I know.” I reach for her, but she moves out of my reach. “But I also know, without a doubt, that Lorelei didn’t mean to blurt it out like that. We were all emotional and exhausted and—”
“I get it,” she says, interrupting me again. “I do. Lorelei wouldn’t purposely hurt me. But she did say it in front of Giles, and it really hurt my feelings that she wasn’t more thoughtful. Because I would never have done something like that to her.”
“I know,” I repeat. “You have such a sweet heart, Breena.”
“Do you know what’s exhausting?” All traces of sweetness and forced happiness are gone from her face now. There’s no more pretending here, and I’m so relieved because Breena has a habit of covering up what she’s feeling to make others comfortable.
“Tell me.”
“Knowing that I’d walk through fire for people who wouldn’t walk across the street for me.”
“Breena—”
But she holds up her hand, and I stop speaking, ready to hear her out.
“I know that you both love me. I’m not wallowing so deeply that I don’t recognize that. And I also know that you’d both do anything for me. But in that moment, in just that instant, Lorelei was careless with me, and her love for me and my feelings was nowhere to be seen. And that, Lucy, is exhausting for me because I always have others in the forefront of my mind.”
I simply cross to her and wrap my arms around her because I don’t know what to say. She isn’t wrong. As much as Lorelei loves Breena, she was careless in that moment, and it was wrong.
“I’m sorry, Breen,” I say softly. “I know that Lorelei is miserable, too.”
“Did you speak with her?”
“No, I can just feel it. From both of you.”
She sniffles and then pulls back so she can reach for one of her pretty little vintage handkerchiefs. This one is sage green with little pink rosebuds on it.
It’s so Breena.
“Has anything else happened since the other day?” I ask her. “Supernaturally, that is.”
“No, and thank the goddess for it because I simply don’t have time to deal with an entity throwing a temper tantrum. My shop suddenly blew up with orders.”
“Well, that’s great! What can I do to help?”
“I’ll need more herbs and flowers.” She wipes at her nose once more. “I heard through the grapevine in one of my witchy groups on social media that the hashtag witch101 just took off on that clock app, so now there are all kinds of people wanting to dabble a bit in the Craft.”
“That’s both exciting and…scary.”
“Yeah. I took down any products from my site for hexing. We don’t need the newbies hexing everyone who’s ever crossed them.”
“Good idea.”
“I’m also restocking all the protection spell bottles and crystal sets because they’ll need that.”
“I love you.”
She looks at me in surprise, her eyes blinking. “I love you, too. What is it?”
“I just absolutely love that unlike some witches who think they need to keep all the secrets for themselves, you’re ready to jump in and help. That you’re worried about someone hurting themselves.”
“Well, people are way more powerful than they realize, and they need someone to help them. I might start an account on the clock app and make tutorial videos for easy spells and stuff. Maybe no one will watch it, and I’m sure some people will roll their eyes at me, but it could be good.”
“I love it.”
“Will you guest star sometimes?”
I grin, warming up to the idea. “Sure. We can film in the shop, and I’ll get some free advertising out of it.”
“Hey, great idea,” Breena says, beaming. “Do you have your online shop open yet?”
“I need to hire more help for that,” I admit. “Because I don’t want it to cut into my time in the garden.”
“Get on it,” she advises. “You’re missing out on a lot of money by not offering things online. Do you know how many people from all over the world would place orders just so they could say they bought it from a witch in Salem?”