The Little Shop of Grand Curiosities by Iris Lake

Author:Iris Lake [Iris Lake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-05-31T07:00:00+00:00

When I got back inside, Nepheli was lying on her side with her hands between her knees. Serene, with her eyes shut.

I sat down next to her. “Nepheli?” I whispered. “Are you asleep?” She didn’t budge. As delicately as I could, I took a lock that had escaped her braid between my fingertips and brushed it aside. It was soft. As soft as her heart. “You want to know a secret?” I said quietly, the words choking me on their way out. “I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean any of it. I don’t think you’re silly. I think you’re lovely. I think you’re smart and funny and interesting, and terribly kind. You’re lovely. And I am so horribly, thoroughly unlovely that I don’t know what to do with myself around you. You’ve no idea how much I wish I was just a normal man who walked into a random Shop one day and met this brilliant woman. He thought she was clever and pretty, and way too good for him. But he was young and impulsive, and asked her out on a date anyway, thinking that nothing too bad could come out of it. And somehow, the stars aligned, and she said yes. And they went on that date, and they talked and laughed and kissed until their lips were numb, and thanked the fates for their good luck—oh, how lucky they were to have found each other. It’s outrageous, isn’t it? How can someone’s life change so irrevocably in the span of a single day? And you know that nothing will ever be the same for them from now on. Because now they’ve learned each other’s faces. Now they’ve held hands. Now they’ve whispered promises in the dark. Now they’ve dreamt next to each other, woke up next to each other.” I tried to swallow, but something tremendous was stuck in my throat, and the next words were hardly more than a whisper. “But I am not a normal man. I’m not someone who can experience all this loveliness again. What I’m trying to say, Nepheli… is that I’m sorry. For what I said. For making you feel like that. I’m sorry for the mess. I’m sorry for barging into your life only to disarray it so thoughtlessly. But I am mostly sorry that I can’t feel sorry. Truly, deeply sorry. Because you deserve that. Gods know you deserve it.”

I didn’t feel unburdened by my confession. In fact, by the time I lay down next to her and started drifting off to sleep, I felt hollower than ever.

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