Page 35 of Plus-Size Sold Mate
Either way, regardless of what all of this costs, I chose it.
I pulled her into this, and I won’t let her stand alone, even if she looks at me like I’m the enemy, and even if she hates me.
I have to try anyway.
Chapter 11 - Sera
The doorbell rings just after noon.
Sitting in the kitchen alone, I’ve been rereading the same passages in my book when the chime startles me, and I freeze.
Immediately, my mind goes back to Luke, wondering if it’s him. But realizing that doesn’t make sense, I shake it off with a huffed breath. Of course, the bond would pull me right back to him again.
He’s been gone since late morning, apparently to meet with his dad or something. The tether between us shifts with a faint current of irritation and barely-contained restraint, but it’s distant enough that I know he isn’t near. That must mean the meeting is going as well as expected.
When a knock reaches me next, I force myself to stand and move to the door, where Eve is waiting with a bright smile.
“Delivery!” she says once the door is open, and she beams with her wind-tousled hair. In her arms, she’s holding a basket wrapped in brown paper. Immediately, she smells like the ocean.
My brows pinch together lightly with suspicion tangled in my words. “For me?”
“Mhm. It’s from Luke.”
My confusion only deepens. “Why?”
Eve chuckles to herself and steps inside, closing the door behind her with her foot. She carries the apparent gift into the kitchen while I follow. “Not sure, he just asked me to bring it over while he’s busy with pack stuff.”
Surprise hangs on tight while I step closer, looking it over and seeing the small bow tying it all together. The basket is fairly big, and I find myself feeling all too curious.
“Go on,” Eve urges gently, as if she’s waiting in suspense just like I am. “Open it.”
Hesitating a beat longer, not knowing what any of this is about, or if I should be bracing myself for some kind of trick, I pull on the bow until it comes undone, and the paper pulls apart.
Immediately, the scent hits me. First lavender, then dried sage, and something sharper like mugwort. Once the contents are sitting there on display, my pulse picks up a beat.
Inside the dark woven basket are bundles of herbs tied with twine, small glass vials containing various oils and powdered minerals, and even a new mortar and pestle made from a smooth grey stone. Tucked beneath it all looks like a leather-bound journal, surely full of blank pages.
I don’t know how long I stare at the package, but I try so hard to wrap my head around it. I glance at Eve. “He…got this for me?”
She peers inside the basket as her smile lingers, and she nods. “He did.”
“How?”
“He has connections,” she says with a casual shrug. “Magic may be outlawed, but herbs and salts aren’t.”
Trailing my fingers over one of the herb bundles, I already know they aren’t scraps or hastily thrown together. Everything’s high quality, freshly dried, and carefully chosen.
It’s…thoughtful.
“Why?” I ask quietly again.
“I guess he wants you to feel at home. Like you have things that are yours,” she answers simply, carefully taking one of the bottles to examine. “You shouldn’t have to give up parts of yourself to be here.”
It’s enough to make my chest ache in an unfamiliar way.
Nobody has ever done something like this for me before. Gifts were rare to begin with, but one so thought out is on a completely different level.
I let go of a shaky breath. “I didn’t expect this.”
