When she opened her mouth to say something, not sure what words would come out of her mouth, he stopped her again, but this time he stopped her with his lips.
Warm lips covered her surprised ones, and it was like being suddenly covered in sunshine. She had been cold, and now the apricity of the sun was blessing her as his lips moved against hers in the oldest confession.
The way that he pulled her into him, his large hand sliding into her unbound hair at the nape, causing shivers to erupt along her skin, felt like she belonged there, in his arms. It wasn't an overly passionate kiss. It wasn't a kiss of expertise; it was one of slow curiosity, thorough, and unhurried. She could taste his emotions.
Or, she could taste what the magic had told him his emotions were. They were sweetness covering something she couldn't quite name. There was hidden meaning here that she knew she could never unravel the mystery of.
Jeremy and Bess was never going to be a story she got to enjoy.
So she kissed him back, enjoying this last moment of sweetness, and then, when she pulled back, hands on his chest, feeling his heart beating hard and knowing it mimicked her own, she mourned in three beats those secrets she'd never have.
"I don't care if this haunts me. I enjoyed being seen by you," she whispered, the words sliding past her filter of pride. Because now that they had kissed, the hex would be broken.
She had laughed when Crystal told her what she had to do, and she said it was like a reverse happy ending. Fairytales got so many things wrong.
"Goodbye Jeremy," she finally said, finally stepping away, finally on the other side of this dream.
Because with each backward step away from him, Jeremy's face took on a look of confusion, blinking, shaking his head twice, and then looking at her with different eyes.
She pulled in a deep breath and turned, walking away from him, unable to stand and watch what would unfold next. She walked away, holding back tears and disappointment.
Why did she feel like someone had just handed her back her tender heart, with a 'no thank you' sign straight-pinned to it?
She cried at the loss of something that never would be. She cursed Astra with her dark magic, giving Bess a false gift that left her bereft and empty.
A broken heart must be the most unkind hex she could think of.
It took the fifteen-minute walk back to The Lost Souls House for her to push those tears down deep. Tom Hanks sat on the porch with Casper and followed her into the house, where she smelled the kitchen hard at work, but when she stepped inside she found it empty.
"Hello?" She wandered through the kitchen, found no one in the back and with a raccoon under her left arm, Tom Hands curled under the right she found a card propped against a milk glass vase filled with pink sweet peas.
Bess,
We've gathered at The Blueberry House for a blueberry picking redo. Meet us there. Bring Casper. He feels left out. Outfit on your bed.
-U&E
"Hey sugar," Eloise called as Bess and Casper stepped into the busy kitchen. She hadn't seen it finished, but the light lavendercabinets with brass bird knobs made what had been a too-white, drab space warm and enchanting. Glossy white round tiles made up the backsplash and with the overhead skylight that would bring in sunlight, she could imagine sitting here with a cup of coffee in one of the new farmhouse stools.
Everyone was here. Taking food from the oven, putting food into the oven, pouring drinks, and collecting plates and silverware.
"Grab the door, would you?" Eloise nodded to the back door as she carried a maroon casserole dish.
People were carrying the woven baskets that had sat in neat stacks unused for the festival. Everyone was in blue and white, summer dresses were helped out by thick cardigans and leggings with boots, blue plaid scarves and a few hats. The trees dotted around the pond had gotten the nod from autumn, dressed in their red and gold accessories.
Their other hands carried overfilled baskets as people carried flutes of the blueberry punch and blueberry honey wine, and others carried mugs of steaming cider.
Blueberries fell from baskets as leaves fell from trees, the marriage of summer and autumn a perfect ceremony as woodsmoke danced into the summer-purple sky, fireflies twinkling merrily in the season's farewell.
The inn's perfectly blue and white exterior made the sky that the sun had left behind in purple and gold strokes look like a picture from a storybook and Bess took a moment to simply take it in. She was young enough to not know how to stop and enjoy moments like these, but the women around her had taught her the beauty in sitting still and allowing them to unfold around her without trying to change or capture it. Casper made a high whining sound and she kissed his head before leading him to where the bonfire was brightly flickering. He lay next to an empty chair before Sulphur joined him, curling into his body.
As Bess held the door open, she asked what the occasion was.
Carol, Tilly, and Crystal followed Eloise with different dishes to the screened porch, where two long tables had been set up and now were being covered with food.
Jessica and Kelsea brought out pitchers of drinks and glasses while Jen and Ursula arranged the bonfire pit with more chairs.
"Two things," Jen answered as she grabbed another chair. "The blueberry festival, which Tilly had put a lot of work into, since most of the town snubbed this long-standing tradition, we are doing a do-over."
