Page 129 of Love Spells: And Other Non-Refundable Magic

I chuckle.

The Third Fairy

You paid five hundred bucks for it

Primavera1959

I knew you’d find a way to make this my fault.

I expect another joke, but the next message is different.

Primavera1959

I think I’ve spent a lot of time believing that if I wait long enough, eventually the right choice will become obvious.

But the strange thing about it too is that I keep trying and failing and at what point is that considered just craziness?

So I just get very good at waiting

Do you think not choosing is a choice?

My answer comes easily. I’ve spent years thinking of myself as decisive. I know what I will and won’t tolerate. I know how much of myself I’m willing to give away. I rebuilt my life deliberately after Alison, one boundary at a time.

But boundaries tell me where to stop. They don’t tell me where I want to go.

TheThird Fairy

Of course it is.

CHAPTER 34

MERRYWEATHER

“Unbelievable,” I say once I hang my coat and leave my shoes by the door. Rose is stretched across my couch with Aurora asleep on her chest, both of them looking so comfortable in my house that for a moment I resent every decision I’ve made that required me to leave it.

“Don’t move,” Rose says when I reach the living room.

“I wasn’t planning to tackle you.”

Aurora’s eyes open at the sound of my voice, but the rest of her doesn’t move. She looks at me from her position beneath Rose’s chin with the sleepy indifference of a cat who has transferred her primary allegiance to my guest during my workday.

“She chose me.”

“Please. She doesn’t choose anyone. She chooses heat sources.”

I drop my bag beside the stairs, then stand there for a second longer than necessary, trying to decide whether I have enough energy to change before finding food.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Merry.” My sister shifts on the couch, and Aurora swishes her tail in response. “How was work?”

“Interesting.”

Her hand, which has been moving slowly over the cat’s back, stops. “Good interesting or someone-needs-to-be-fired interesting?”

“I don’t know yet.”

That gets her attention enough that she drops her phone between the cushions and her body, and slowly lifts her torso to see me more clearly.

I walk into the kitchen instead of answering, mostly because I’ve been answering questions all day and would like thirty seconds in which nobody expects me to have another one ready. There is half a bottle of wine in the refrigerator from sometime last week. I consider it, decide I’m too hungry, and pour myself water instead.