Page 117 of Book Boyfriends
“Me either.” I rub my temples. “Is there anything else that could undo it?”
“If the wish hadn’t yet been completed, you might be able to take it back. Some believe that if you speak the wish into the well or fountain and swallow the echo, you take it back. But your wish is granted.”
“What do you mean it’s completed?” I huff, confusion contorting my face.
“Oh my god, does that mean Davis is her happy ending?” Hope squeals, wiggling as much as her very pregnant body will allow.
I shoot her aReally?expression.
“But you didn’t wish for your happy ending to happen. You wished to know what it was and for help to get it.” Glinda cautions.
Eyes closed, I slump against the sofa’s back. My mind wanders back to when I was perched at the edge of the SPN fountain. Knowledge and help is what I asked for. In all the chaos, I almost forgot.
“You’re right,” I murmur, my eyes fluttering open.
“Do you know what your happy ending is, then?” Hope asks, her brown eyes meeting mine. “Wait, I thought you said you weren’t going to focus on endings anymore.”
“I’m not.” Laughter lifts my mouth into what I imagine may appear like an unhinged smile. “That’s it.”
“What’s it?”
I motion between Hope and me. “No ending.”
“No ending? That makes no sense. Are you, like, immortal now?”
“No.” I sit up, gripping her hands. “My obsession with happy endings impacted my ability to just live. It affected my love life, my writing, and I’m sure a million other things. My worry aboutthings not turning out stunted me. Don’t you see? This whole thing has been about that. About me just living in the here and now rather than tied up with what may or may not happen.”
“Focusing so much on the end, blinds us from the gift that is the in-between. That’s when the good stuff happens. It’s like in a book, the middle is when it gets interesting,” Glinda says, her expression warm.
As ending-obsessed as I am, I love the middle of any story. It’s when we get to really know the characters and try to guess what’s about to happen. Once the end comes, no matter how satisfying it is, there’s some grief because the story is done. The middle, though, is where the good stuff is. We don’t know what’s going to happen, but we’re along for the ride. We’re open to what may or may not happen.
Like plot twists where a bad date turns out to be the man who makes your heart race. If I had held onto the expectations about the ending with Davis I foresaw on our first date, I would have missed out on someone I am falling so hard for. No doubt, there are a million other things I missed out on because of my fixation with how they weresupposedto turn out.
Glinda’s explanation isn’t telling me anything new, rather, it validates what I’ve learned through this experience. It also reiterates the role Owen, Lars, and even James play in guiding me to this newfound outlook. Each man has helped me to understand this lesson in their own way.
“What happens to them? My wish is complete. Are they just stuck here?” I ask, guilt spools tight in my stomach.
“Wishes don’t always work the way we think they’re going to work. The Fates have their own workings. Your wish may not just be for you, but then again it may. I’m not sure what happens to your three young men and—I’m sorry—I don’t know how to get them back.”
“What about the time-traveling lady your grandma helped?” Hope asks.
“She was unable to help Clidna get back.” She frowns. “Whatever brought her to our time wanted her here.”
“What happened to her?” I ask, my throat thick with regret.
“She passed a few years ago, but had a good life. She was a midwife for her village and became a nurse here. My grandfather had uh…connections… to get her some documents to start her life here. She helped a lot of people, though. Her great-granddaughter, Iris, is the young lady who greeted you and is pre-med. I like to think that’s why she was brought here, but who knows.”
“There’s no way to help them get back?” I deflate.
It’s less a question and more confirmation of what she’d already told us. These three men are here because of me, with no way to get them back. James’s apology whispers inside me about not wanting his happiness if it cost someone else’s theirs. Even if I didn’t intend to do so, haven’t I done just that?
Yup.
“I’ll consult some of my books and if I find an answer, I’ll reach out,” she offers. The downward curve of her mouth communicates her disbelief that any answers exist.
“Thank you.” With a soft smile, I rise.
“Georgia, you didn’t come here for it, but I saw more in your cup. About love. Career. Family. Would you like to know? No extra charge.” She holds up the cup.
