“Adult feelings,” Marla says at once.
Sofia flops back and groans. “No, not adult feelings.”
Marla smiles indulgently. “If you were any other child.”
“I’m an adult grown.”
“You’ll always be that pesky child who stumbled into my shop and refused to leave.”
Sofia snorts. “Life has been dull without you, Marla.”
“Of course, it has.”
Devon clears his throat.
“Do you need a lozenge?”
He laughs. “No, thank you.”
“Are you sure? I’d hate for you to get sick.”
“I’m good.”
Marla is wonderful. I am absolutely obsessed with her snarky wit.
“What do you mean by adult feelings?” I ask.
“Adult feelings is a game Sofia and I would play when she decided to be a host to the ghosts of her teenage angst. I would say ‘adult feelings’, and we would calmly talk about her issue until she was less emotional.”
“Huh, that’s actually really interesting,” Elijah notes.
“Thank you. I am so deeply glad to have your approval.”
Elijah flushes and sits back. “I’m sorry.”
She frowns. “Oh, you are a sensitive one, aren’t you?”
“He is,” Sofia agrees, “but I like that about him.”
“Fine. Fine. I won’t tease him.”
I watch the way she smiles and interacts with Marla and how the old beta comes out of her shell, transforming into someone completely different. This is Sofia’s magic power. She never judged people; she was always open and prepared to see the best of everyone.
“So, I will expect you after Valentine’s Day.”
“Why after then?”
Marla heaves an exasperated sigh. “Because Lorelei won’t allow her daughter to take over the bookshop unless she is one hundred percent certain this Pack Making nonsense has failed.”
“It’s not going to fail,” I say confidently.
Sofia sits up straight, her expression, for one horrible moment, absolutely stricken. We’re going to have to have this adult feelings conversation soon. Because every time the future comes up, the look on her face makes my stomach bottom out. We can all feel it.
She’s holding something back.
Devon snaps a photo of Marla and Sofia laughing. “You don’t mind if we use this photo as proof that we did the task?”
Marla snorts. “Go ahead, and also go away. Sofia and I are going totalk shop for a minute.”
