Page 19 of Violet Moon
“This.This is what I need,” Parisa replied, placing her hand on top of Sera’s and slowly rubbing her thumb along the back of her hand.“I need a cup of tea.I need a warm fire.And I need you,azizam.That’s enough for me.”
Sera’s heart fluttered at her honesty.She flipped her palm up and curled her fingers around Parisa’s hand, smiling.No matter what else was happening, if she could deliver Parisa some flowers in the afternoon and end their nights together in the living room, then everything was okay.“This is all I ever need, too.”
seven
“Hugh,Ihavehada breakthrough!”Sera announced.Pushing her second empty coffee cup to the side, she presented her stack of proof from the bookstore.“I’m going to be less of a mess and way more amazing.”
Earlier that day, she’d stopped by the fairy-owned bookstore downtown and gotten a baking book marketed towards beginners to help her take action, actually do something about how she felt about the whole Gamma situation and about not being a good enough Beta.She’d also walked out with a new novel with a spicy cover to share with Edgar.She couldn’t leave without a treat.
“My dear, you’re already magnificent.”
“But I can be better.”She splayed her fingers across her new baking book, cover shining with promise.
“And that all starts with baking somehow?”
“We do run a bakery, Hugh.”
He took a sip of his espresso.“This doesn’t have anything to do with your new Gamma, does it?”
“Of course it does!I’m insecure and petty even when I adore the other person.Wil’s incredible and I am going to reach peak Seraphine and be amazing, too.”
“I think you’re selling yourself short.”
“How?I forget things all the time.Important things!I ruin everything I attempt to bake.”
“That’s all part of your charm.”
Sera gave him a deadpan stare.“Is it charming to be incompetent?”
“You’re charming when you’re you.And you’re not incompetent.Faults make us who we are.”
“And what if I want this Seraphine to be a better Seraphine?”
“I would say she’s already the best one.”
“I’ve been enjoying my lengthened life for decades now.A little change is to be expected.”
“Yes, but I would hope it would be theatrical and fun, maybe a bit salacious, not —” He gestured towards Sera’s book.“So wholesome.”
“I’m plenty dramatic,” she defended, laughing.
Hugh leaned back in his chair, his arm draped over the back of it.“You could stand to loosen up a little.”
“Says the man in a suit.”
“Says the woman who’s been in her exact same routines for at least two decades now.”
Sera opened her mouth to retort but found she had nothing.Hugh was right.When life stretched out in front of her without an ever-present threat of ending too soon, she tended to let the years pass by without thinking too much of them.
“Do you remember when we used to go out?Not just for coffee?”he asked.
Sera groaned.“Dancing?In front of people?Yeah, that’s too tiring now.”
“You’re much too young to be so old.”
“I like our coffee dates and our trips to the theater.”
“As do I.Just merely making a point that maybe, if you had to change something about your perfect little self, it’d be something daring.”
