Page 84 of Bewitched & Bewildered
“Something had to happen.”
I shake my head, pressing my lips together. “It’s nothing.”
“Nuh-uh. I don’t like that answer.” She moves onto her knees to look up at me. “You can’t keep suffering in silence. You’re going to explode like an old potion bottle.”
Gods. She’s right. Even now, I can feel it. There’s a pressure in me longing for escape. I shake from head to toe.
“It’s everything,” I say. “Everythingis wrong.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is. The shop is a failure. My life is a failure.”
“It takes years for a business to come together. You know that.”
On a realistic level, Idoknow. Convincing myself it’s true is more challenging than simply knowing.
“That’s not the problem.” Fresh tears stream down my face. “I’m not happy here, May. I don’t love running this shop. It feels like any other job—like I’m waiting tables again. I thought I was going to love this.”
“Oh, honey…”
“I should love being my own boss. That’s the problem. I’m not the boss. I’m still being bossed around by… by…”
“By her.”
She’s the only one who understands.
I nod feebly. “I don’t know what to do.”
“That’s okay.”
“It isn’t. It’snotokay anymore.”
“The first step is done. You already know something needs to change. Now, we can decide what and how.”
“But this is Mom’s shop. I can’t start making big changes.”
“No. It’s yours now.” Maple peers into my eyes with sincerity. “Mom gave it to you when she could have sold itor given it to someone else. She could have done anything.”
“There was no time for her to figure it out. She died.”
“That’s not true. You know Mom wanted you to run it.”
“But what if I don’t want to?” I shake my head.
“We’ll figure it out together.” She stands up, and my hands slip out of hers. “Is this all that’s upsetting you? You can tell me anything.”
“No. Nothing happened, but my entire life has descended into the deepest pit of hell. I don’t know how else to explain it.”
“We’ll take care of it all, and we’ll do it together.”
I look down at my boots. “I had sex with Ozan.”
The confession may seem like it’s coming out of nowhere, but it’s another thing adding to the strangeness of my life. I don’twantto like him, but I do. Maple will find out eventually, considering how the town likes to gossip.
She already suspects something after the harvest festival.
“Why are you crying over that, sweetie?” Her eyes narrow. “Did he hurt you?”
