Page 197 of A Dead Girl's Guide to Living
My brows knit. “How does what feel?”
Her grin widened. “To be alive.”
For the first time in my life, I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t spiral or think about expiration dates or statistics. I just let my grin mirror hers, brushed my hair behind my ears, and felt my heart hammer in my chest—a tempo akin to Liv’s strut in high heels, full to bursting.
“It feels fucking incredible.”
EPILOGUE
Dove
Tip #34: The world isn’t asking you to be eternal, it’s just asking you to be present.
The camera on Ellis’s phone glared at me as her brows knit in determined focus, like this was some sort of life-or-death mission rather than just filming a short clip for the shop’s TikTok account.
“Okay, Dove, smile—but like a shop-owner smile, not your usual I-just-made-a-snarky-joke smile.”
I rolled my eyes at her and shuffled the stack of cards on the counter. “That’s literally my only smile.”
“I can assure you it’s not,” Ellis said with a snort, the familiar wrinkle forming on her nose.
“All right,” I said with a sigh, fixing my face. “Go.”
I tapped the deck in front of me, lifting it high so the camera caught the gleam of the elegant gold-foiled edges. “At last, guys, after months of promising my deck, I can finally say it’s here. Months of sketching, inking, misprints—we’re here, and wemade it. You can now purchase in-store atMargaret’s Mystiqueor online, here, here, and here.” I moved my hand exactly where Ellis had told me to; she’d said she would bounce the words in when she edited.
Ida, perched on a stool just out of frame near the register, clapped her hands. “You’re a natural, Dovey.”
“Don’t give her a big head,” Ellis groaned, though the grin on her face betrayed her words.
I winked at Ellis’s phone. “And if you order right now, you’ll also receive—absolutely nothing. Because this isn’t late-night TV, people. This is an independent tarot shop in Chicago. Support small businesses.”
Ellis snorted and lowered her phone, giggling. “I honestly don’t know if that’ll make people buy it faster or slower.”
Ida took a sip of her tea and set it back down. “Well, you’d get me over the line, but I’m a sucker for infomercials.”
Ellis stopped recording and gave me a shy smile before looking back down at her phone, already queuing up the edit. I sorted the deck into little piles to bide some time, a soft yawn slipping out.
“So, when is Europe happening?” Ida asked as she adjusted her spectacles. “Did they lock in the date yet?”
Ellis looked up, her smile warm and radiant as she turned to Ida. “Next month,” she said. “We leave on the eighth. They’re fully sponsoring my trip, and Dove is coming along for fun.”
“Are you still good with the store?” I asked, concern etched across my face.
“Always, kiddo,” Ida said with a smile. “You’re young. Go live your life and leave the witchcraft to the crones, okay? Amazing. So the travel company pays for it?”
“Yep,” Ellis said with a smile. “I’m basically there to create content for them. It’s obviously work, but also fun.”
“It’s too perfect,” Ida said with a smile. “I can just picture you two running around Europe. Margaret would absolutely lose her mind at the thought of you in Europe, Dovey.”
“Thank God there are no ashes left,” Ellis said, wide-eyed. “Dove would smuggle them in her shoes and scatter her in Paris.”
Ida made a thoughtful face. “Well, that’s an idea.”
A laugh left my lips at the terror on Ellis’s face and the utter seriousness on Ida’s. I could only imagine Ida’s last wishes if she’d seen what I was capable of doing for her.
Ellis’s phone pinged, and she glanced at it, her brows furrowing before she looked to me. “Are you still coming for dinner tonight with my parents?”
“Yeah,” I said with a soft smile, noting the anxiety in her eyes. “I’m still in.”
