Page 75 of The Bookbinder's Guide to Love

“When I was little, my mum used to say ‘tell your troubles to the moon and they’ll be gone,’” Poppy said.

“I like that.” Sera wished she had someone to tell her things like that. But it was only her drunk mind going down winding paths to things she’d already sorted in her head a long time ago. Besides, she really didn’t have troubles. She had doubts and worries. Wes had given her that book, which she loved, but that inscription. Had he meant it to be romantic?

“We should do that,” Liberty said. “Let’s stand up and chant, and then each of us can whisper or shout our fear to the moon.”

“You know this is why the entire town believes we’re witches, right?” Sera asked as they all stood up. Even though she was protesting this, she loved it. She felt the most like the leading lady of her life when she was here with her friends, dropping her guard and being herself.

“Yup.”

They joined hands and started singing together. Liberty, who was the most witchy of them, had said the song choice mattered because it set the intention. So when they all busted out with different ones it made Sera laugh.

Then her friends started laughing too.

“We all need something different,” Poppy said.

“But we all have each other,” Liberty said.

“‘We Are Family’?” Sera suggested.

As the words left her mouth, she realized for the first time she wasn’t having any of the ungrounded doubts that sometimes swamped her when she thought of these two women as her soul sisters.

“Perfect,” Liberty and Poppy said at the same time.

They danced and sang around the circle and then slowed down to tip their heads back and look up at the moon.

“Can Wes love me?” Sera asked. “Do I want him to?”

“Should I agree to pretend to still be married?” Poppy asked.

“Should I find my dad?” Liberty asked.

They all sat in their questions, and the silence at the top of Hanging Hill felt comforting to Sera. The answer wasn’t coming into her wine-fogged brain, but for the first time she knew what it was that had been holding her back from Wes.

Did she want him to love her?

Could she love him?

She had never let herself really love anyone before Liberty and Poppy. And even then, there were times when she wasn’t comfortable admitting to herself how much she needed the two of them in her life.

Finally, Liberty broke the trance they’d all fallen into. Sera didn’t feel any closer to an answer than she had before.

“I didn’t do our moon water or charge our crystals tonight,” Liberty said.

“It’s okay. We need this more,” Sera said. “Whatever you two decide, I’m going to support it one hundred percent. I didn’t even realize Alastair wanted to stay married.”

“We’re divorced. He hasn’t told his family and they invited us to a family event,” she said. “Part of me wants to tell him to fuck off, but we did have some good years and I do like his parents. But then, he’s still...him. So it’s complicated.”

“Men are like that,” Liberty said. “That’s why I keep things light.”

Sera had done that until Wes. And honestly, if she could get out of her own way and admit her feelings, she would be happier with him.

Wow.

Where had that come from?

That might be the beginning of her answer, and earlier she’d pretty much decided to ask him about the book. She’d do it tomorrow. It was time to take this leap and see if she’d finally found someone to share her life with.

She’d always wanted someone in her life, but she’d never wanted anyone to know she did. Stupid, of course, but it had made her feel stronger to try to shoulder her burdens alone. Not anymore.

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