Page 47 of Best Hex Ever
“Hmm. My lips are sealed.”
Eric brushed his hair back out of his face and grinned over at Scott.
“I get married tomorrow.”
“I know.”
“Isn’t that insane?” Eric’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “Do you remember when we were at that bar in Iceland and we made that pact to only ever get married at the same time?”
“Yeah,” Scott laughed, “I remember.”
“Well, I think I might need to back out of that deal, unless you have something to tell me?”
“No weddings on the horizon for me.” Scott smiled, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
Eric leaned closer. “Is it going to be hard for you tomorrow?”
“Because of Alice? Maybe. But I’ll be too happy seeing you tie the knot to care.”
Eric nodded. He took another swig of his beer.
“She never deserved you, you know. I always thought that.”
“Hindsight is twenty-twenty.”
“What about Dina then?”
Scott arched an eyebrow. “What about her?”
“I don’t know, just thought there might be something going on between you two.”
He wasn’t wrong, but whatever was going on between Scott and Dina right now felt toobigto try to describe. His heart thrummed even thinking about her.
“I plead the fifth,” Scott said.
Eric chuckled. “I see how it is.”
They sat for a while in peaceful silence. The fire burned low and the room slowly emptied out as the remaining wedding party trickled off to bed.
“I’ve missed this,” Eric began. “Maybe it’s the full moon. But…I don’t know, man, I just…it’s not easy for me to…I missed you. I missed having a best friend.”
Maybe itwasthe moon, because he’d never had so many heart-to-hearts in such a short space of time. Or maybe that was just what weddings did—they brought out feelings that had lain dormant for too long.
“I don’t know how much it’s worth, but I am sorry that I just upped and left. I should have told you, should have trusted that you’d be there for me.”
“I know you are. And you’re here now, that’s all that matters.”
They drank in silence for a little longer, until Scott realized that Eric had fallen asleep, and he woke him and told him to go to bed.
Scott sat there for a while longer, until the fire had burned down to glowing embers.
Chapter 18
It was a fairy moon. Pearlescent, glowing, and hanging low in the sky—it was the kind of moon that spelled mischief and delight. Dina stood at the edge of the north field, where the fire was already burning. It had all been arranged by Nour, a kind of witchy wedding gift. Dina inhaled the midnight air, sweet and smoky. Her mother was silhouetted by the fire, loosening her hair from the updo she’d styled it in for the evening. Dina would be like her mother tonight: untameable, wild.
Dina longed for this night every year.
Honeywell House was a shadow in the distance, the lit windows nothing more than fireflies floating in the night.
