Page 83 of Violet Moon
“Sure it’s not anything else?”Emmaline bumped their shoulders together.When Sera said nothing, she relented.“Alright, if there’s something you don’t want to talk about, you can just say so.”
“I did talk about some things today, thank you very much,” Sera said.“With Parisa.And it was terrible.But okay, I guess.”
Emmaline smiled.“You seemed a little less tightly wound.I figured that was for more scandalous reasons.”
“Emmaline!”Sera scolded with a laugh.
“Didn’t know it was because you spilled out some of those ooey-gooey, messy parts of yourself to somebody.Always important.”
“Is it, though?Can’t I just keep closing things up in the little safe I built in my brain?”
“Did that work?”
“For a long time it did.”
“And then?”
“Then it only worked sometimes and other times it slipped out and poisoned everything.”
Emmaline’s features softened.“Things can’t stay buried forever.Heaven knows I’ve tried.”
A tiny smile crept onto Sera’s face.“Good to know I’m not alone.”
“We’re all trying to bury something, but sometimes you’ve got to unearth it so you can keep on living.”
“Why can’t things just stay buried?”
“Because that’s not how our brains work.I don’t know who’s in control up there, but it ain’t me.”Emmaline laughed.
Sera did, too, and she felt the tension drain from her shoulders.
“Whether or not you can bake, you’re still a great Beta.”
Sera stopped working the dough between her hands.There were still some things she couldn’t say out loud, couldn’t own enough to tackle them head on, but she was getting closer.She could get there.
Instead of making a joke, Sera said, “Thank you.Sometimes I need to hear that.I don’t like to need it, but I need it.”
“Sometimes we all need some validation.”
“You, too?”
“Always!”
“Well, then you’re an excellent baker.You make those cases in the front bloom with the most beautiful tarts.”
Emmaline smiled.“Now that we’re all feeling good about ourselves, these eclairs aren’t going to make themselves and I know that this particular recipe is one of Alpha Parisa’s favorites.”
“Is that supposed to make me want to bake them more?”
“Of course it is!So grab that bowl of chocolate and help me out.”
The pack closed the bakery and gathered around the old oak dining table again to celebrate.They laughed, drank, and ate too much food and too many desserts.Wilma had led the cooking team to victory, preparing enough dishes to be worthy of being called a feast.Billie and Lock brought tartlets from the bakery.Sera and Emmaline’s eclairs were vastly different shapes depending on who made them, but they all tasted great.
“You outdid yourself.”Parisa smiled, putting the end of another eclair in her mouth.
Sera beamed with pride and reached over to use her thumb to wipe Parisa’s cheek.“You’ve got a little something.”
At the last second Parisa turned and gently pulled Sera’s thumb into her mouth.Sera leapt back, eyes darting around the table to see if anyone saw.
