Live, Laugh, Lurk: A Boundlands Novella (The Boundlands Series) by Elsie Winters

Author:Elsie Winters [Winters, Elsie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-08-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Lilith

The thick, handmade paper of the wedding invitation was rough against my fingers as I followed the looping scrawl of gold foiled letters with my eyes for the hundredth time. When I’d received the missive from an old college friend shortly after moving here, I’d been so focused on being miserable and getting the shop up and running that I hadn’t had room to be excited about the prospect of returning home to New Caelora for only a few short days. Obviously, I loved my home and wanted to be back there, but the exhaustion of the recent move and upending my life had burned out any desire to travel anytime soon, especially for something as short as a weekend. So I’d begrudgingly sent my RSVP, arranged for a friend to attend as my plus-one, stuck the note on my fridge, and put it out of my mind while I dealt with rearranging my life and revitalizing the new business.

Eventually, after having rested and settled in, I’d found myself feeling more positive about the trip, even as short as it was. The pretty, hand-pressed paper full of flower petals and little bits of colored paper would catch my eye from where it had hung on my freezer for the last few months, slowly becoming something fun and familiar to look forward to amongst the annoyances of learning a new and unfamiliar place. It was only recently, within the last few weeks even, that I began to look at the invitation with a hint of dread again, although for an entirely different reason. Sure, getting to see my friends and grab a bite at my favorite cafe and sleep in my own bed and drop in on my parents would be lovely, no doubt. And yet…

I couldn’t help the way my mind constantly drifted back to my thoughtful, funny, shy, excitable, handsome, adorable upstairs neighbor. This would be the first weekend in months that we weren’t going to be attending yoga together on Saturday morning or having tea on Friday night. He’d reacted to the news that I would be away for a few days by loading me down with a bag of his precious apples and some fuzz berry pastries for the trip home. “You might get hungry,” he’d insisted as he folded them into my hands before I left for the train, as if I couldn’t purchase food myself on that very same train. “But you can’t buy these on your train,“ he said with a grumpy buzz when I voiced the amused thought, his antennae twitching as he fussed over me. “What if you waste away to nothing while you’re gone? That’s not going to happen on my watch,” he said with a put-upon air.

I’d rolled my eyes with a smile, explaining that my plump derriere wouldn’t allow me to waste away in a matter of a few days, even in the extremely unlikely situation of being unable to find food.

“Well, I wouldn’t allow it,” he’d said

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