Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (14 page)

I raised my hand to wave and he was gone; off down the beach, a trail of shimmers in his wake.

I collapsed on to the sand. Too shocked to cry, my mind raced as I thought about what I’d done.

I had cast the spell on Jamie! Flipping Jamie! After all the hoo ha ten years ago, I’d gone and done exactly the same thing. What on earth was I going to do?

Chapter 25

At a complete loss about what to do next, I slung all my equipment into my bag and trudged back along the beach to the café.

I was horrified by what had happened but I was trying to keep my thoughts rational. Yes I’d seen the shimmers hovering above Jamie’s head, but let’s be honest, I wasn’t the best witch. And for a spell to be super effective, it really had to be cast by three witches – that was why I was here after all. There was a very good chance nothing had happened at all.

As I approached the café, I spotted Brent in his running gear up ahead. I went to wave, then stopped as I realised – with horror – that he was deep in conversation with Jamie. Too late, they’d seen me.

‘Hi there,’ Brent called. I smiled weakly.

‘Hi,’ I said. ‘Hello, Jamie.’

Jamie gave me a half-smile that I couldn’t read. Was he still annoyed with me for leaving, irritated at how strangely I’d acted earlier, or madly in love with me?

My stomach lurched as I looked at him suspiciously. There was no sign of sparkles or shimmers on the top of his hair as far as I could tell. I rose up on to my tiptoes to see better, but of course Jamie noticed.

‘More yoga?’

I grimaced.

‘Just stretching,’ I said cheerily.

‘Did you come to see me?’

Jamie looked a bit puzzled.

‘Noooo,’ he said cautiously. ‘I’m on my lunch break and I bumped into Brent…’

‘Great!’ My fake smile got a bit wider. ‘That’s so great!’

Yes! He was definitely looking at me oddly. He clearly wasn’t enchanted. My magic hadn’t worked.

‘It is nice to see you though.’

Oh. Nice? To see me? When I’d ruthlessly and unceremoniously dumped him and broken his heart? Something was definitely not right.

I stared straight into Jamie’s clear blue eyes and he stared back. Then I did the only thing I could think of doing, under the circumstances.

I ran away.

Of course, I went to Chloé’s. Where she took one look at my face, plonked the children in front of
Balamory
and put the kettle on. And only when we were finally sitting at her kitchen table, chocolate HobNobs open in front of us and cups of tea at our hands, did she ask what was happening.

I buried my face in my hands.

‘I’ve done something really stupid,’ I wailed. ‘I’ve enchanted Jamie!’

Chloé grinned.

‘Seriously?’ She helped herself to a biscuit. ‘Fabulous!’

‘It is not fabulous,’ I said crossly.

Chloé stuck her tongue out at me.

‘I don’t know what you’re so worried about,’ she said. ‘I think you enchanted him long ago.’

I blushed.

‘I didn’t mean like that.’

I explained to Chloé what had happened at the beach. The spell I’d cast on Dom and which had landed on Jamie.

‘So, I think the spell worked,’ I said, sipping my tea. ‘He said he was pleased to see me.’

Chloé chuckled.

‘Get a grip, Esme,’ she said. Quite sternly I thought. ‘You haven’t bewitched Jamie. He was pleased to see you because he likes you. A lot. It’s obvious.’

I screwed up my nose. Chloé was talking nonsense. Jamie hated me. And I didn’t blame him.

‘And, I can’t believe I have to point this out, but you like him too. There’s definitely unfinished business there.’

I rolled my eyes.

‘Bollocks,’ I said. ‘I am not in love with Jamie.’

‘Ha!’ shouted Chloé, triumphantly. ‘I never said love. You said love! That proves it!’

I waved her away with a half-eaten HobNob.

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I was beginning to feel a bit uneasy at how the conversation was going. ‘Anyway, I’m already in love. Dom is the only one for me…’

‘Yeah, yeah, whatever,’ Chloé said in glee. ‘But if you’re worried, why don’t you go and see your mum? She’ll sort out whatever magical mess you’ve made.’

‘I don’t want to.’ I said.

‘Go on,’ she said. ‘You never know, it might smooth things over a bit.’

She was right, I had to admit. Mum would know what to do. But whether or not I could bring myself to ask for her help was another matter – especially when I’d done exactly what she’d done. I did think, though, it might help me to be in the café and soak up a bit of magic. So I said goodbye and walked back towards town – I’d been back and forwards so many times today I felt dizzy.

Chapter 26

I pushed open the café door feeling sorry for myself. It was quiet with just a handful of customers. Harry was nowhere to be seen, Eva was putting her coat on and Mum was sitting on a stool by the counter, chatting to two women who I didn’t recognise. I waved to her, dumped my bag on a sofa and helped myself to a cappuccino. Then I slumped down on a cushion to think.

‘What’s the matter?’ Mum sat down next to me.

I shook my head.

‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘Nothing you can help with, anyway.’

Mum gave me a small, sad smile.

‘Why don’t you try me, Esme?’ she said, quite sharply. ‘You never know, I might surprise you.’

I looked at her. I had nothing to lose, I supposed, and she knew a lot more about witchcraft than I did.

‘I’ve made a massive mistake,’ I said. ‘I’ve been seeing someone – a man – at home.’

Mum looked pleased.

‘Don’t look like that,’ I said. ‘He’s married.’ I closed my eyes so I couldn’t see her reaction. ‘I thought I could cast a love spell on him – a commitment spell – and make him choose me instead of his wife.’

Mum opened her mouth to speak but I didn’t let her.

‘But when I did it, Mum, Jamie was there. And I cast it on him instead.’

I buried my face in my hands.

‘I’ve done exactly what you did,’ I said in despair. I may even have wailed. I certainly felt like wailing.

Mum didn’t say anything. She leaned over me and picked up my bag, then she took out my spell book.

‘Show me what you did,’ she said. She got up and went to serve a customer, while I turned the pages miserably.

‘Is this it?’ she said, coming back and taking the book from me. I nodded.

With a stern face, Mum scanned the page. Then she smiled.

‘You daftie,’ she said. I was insulted.

‘What?’ I said, sulkily. ‘What did I do?’

‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘You did nothing.’

She pointed to the scribbles at the bottom of the page.

‘Did you read this?’

I shook my head.

‘Well, you should have,’ she said. ‘It’s important.’ She pointed to one line, which was written in capitals.

You can’t bind someone to you against their will
, I read.

‘What does that mean?’ I asked.

‘It means, Esme,’ Mum said, taking my hand, ‘that you can’t cast a love spell on someone who’s not in love with you.’

‘Never?’

‘Never.’

‘But you cast one on Jamie,’ I said, bewildered.

Mum smiled at me.

‘I didn’t,’ she said. ‘I cast a spell on you, to boost your confidence. You were so unsure of yourself and I thought it might help.’

‘Really?’ I said, feeling guilt and shame and relief all at once.

‘Really,’ Mum said.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ But as I spoke I remembered casting the spell that stopped me hearing Mum’s voice – maybe she had told me, I wouldn’t know.

‘Oh Mum,’ I said. ‘God.’

Mum put her arm around me.

‘So you didn’t enchant Jamie and make him fall in love with me?’ I said. ‘He just
actually fell in love with me.’ Mum nodded. ‘And I haven’t enchanted him now? And I can’t make Dom choose me, unless he wants to choose me?’

Mum squeezed me tight.

‘No,’ she said. ‘You can’t make someone fall in love with you. You just can’t.’

I squeezed Mum back. It was the first time I’d hugged her for a really long time and it felt good.

‘I’m so sorry, Mum,’ I said.

She bit her lip, just like I did.

‘You were right though,’ she said. ‘I may not have cast a love spell, but I still interfered. I should have just left you alone.’

‘Yes, you should have,’ I said. But suddenly it didn’t hurt so much any more.

Chapter 27

I was still thinking about going home. Suky only had a few more radiotherapy sessions left, Harry was on hand to act as a Third for Mum and Eva, and it seemed Mum and I had finally started to put our differences aside. But I was reluctant to leave immediately, just because of what was happening at the café. It was still very quiet – quieter than I’d ever seen it. Hikers and the odd hardy tourist still came in, but the regulars had turned into irregulars.

It was my turn to go with Suky to hospital and I was looking forward to having a good chat with Brent. He’d become something of a McLeod family favourite. He was driving Suky every day, and after she asked for help with her wifi, he often popped in later in the day to share a glass of wine with Mum. I’d seen him and Harry together the other day, heads bent over her laptop, discussing something in great detail.

Harry’s business In Harmony started online. She set it up as a safe place for witches to share ideas and tips, and it quickly grew into a forum where people could find help for their problems, or be put in touch with a practitioner (as witches are called in Harry’s world). Then she started holding talks and all-day sessions, some giving training for witches, others offering self-help techniques (that’s solo spellmaking to you and me) for ordinary people. Now she was thinking about opening a spa and holistic therapy centre in Edinburgh and I guessed that was what she was discussing with brainy Brent. They were similar, he and Harry – both beautiful high achievers –and I thought they’d be perfect for each other if only Harry played for his team, as it were. Actually Brent reminded me a bit of Harry’s partner Natalie, who had been conspicuous by her absence since Harry arrived. It wasn’t just that Nat hadn’t come too, even though they’d been inseparable for years. It was more that I hadn’t seen Harry call her, or heard her talk about her. It looked to me that all was not rosy in Harry and Nat’s garden, but I didn’t want to ask her about it.

Anyway, I was looking forward to having a good chat with Brent on the way to Inverness. I hoped he’d have more info about Millicent and the Housewives’ Guild – I really wanted to know if things had got worse since my, erm, escapade with Millicent – and I wasn’t disappointed.

We didn’t talk about it until we were on the way home and Suky had nodded off in the back.

‘So, how are things at the café?’ he said.

‘Not great,’ I said. ‘Hardly anyone from the town is coming in now.’

Brent made a face that made him look a bit like Scooter from the Muppets.

‘Oh hell,’ he said. ‘That was what I was afraid of.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I think it’s getting worse,’ he said. ‘I called round to Millicent’s the other day to have a look through her accounts.’

‘You’re becoming indispensable to everyone in town,’ I said. The thought irked me, though I couldn’t really say why.

‘Anyway, she was asking me about you guys and how much I was seeing you. I said I drove to Suky’s appointments and she was kind of funny about it.’

‘Funny how?’ I said, feeling my stomach drop into my Uggs.

‘Just asking me if I knew what kind of people you were and saying I should think about my involvement with you.’

‘God,’ I said. ‘That’s not great.’

‘And I’ve heard other people say similar stuff,’ Brent said. He changed gear and accelerated away from a junction.

‘At first it was sort of jokey, you know. They were saying Suky was magic,’ he chuckled. ‘But now – it’s crazy but I’ve heard people say you’re witches.’

I looked out of the window so he wouldn’t see my face.

‘That is crazy,’ I said. ‘Thank goodness no one will listen to them.’

‘I wouldn’t be so sure,’ Brent said. He paused while he went round a roundabout, then carried on. ‘Mud sticks, Ez. Just be careful, OK?’

Chapter 28

I’d planned to do some work that afternoon. I’d not so much as checked in with Maggie for days and I hadn’t a clue what was happening with any of my cases, but I just couldn’t settle. My mind was racing with worries about what the people in the town were saying about us, not to mention thoughts of Dom who’d not been texting or phoning as much as I’d have liked him to. Plus I kept seeing Jamie around. He was polite but distant and made it quite clear he didn’t want to be my friend. So much for Chloé’s unfinished business. Now I knew Mum hadn’t cast a love spell, I felt like I should apologise to him but I had no idea how to bring it up without telling him the whole truth. And the way Claddach was treating us at the moment, I thought telling more people about the McLeod family’s special skills was most definitely not the right thing to do.

So eventually, I switched off my laptop and headed out for a walk, hoping it would clear my head a bit. It was wild outside – lashing rain and wind that made putting up an umbrella nearly impossible.

I stomped down the hill towards town with the wind whipping my hair across my face and making me wince. Irritated, I yanked my tangled locks back and twisted them into a knot, securing it with a biro I found at the bottom of my bag and carried on.

Narrowing my eyes against the blustery wind, I marched through town not really sure where I was heading. As I passed the Post Office, I glanced at my reflection in the window and stopped, appalled at what I saw.

I was hunched down in my enormous padded jacket and my hair was a tangled lump perched on the back of my head, with a broken Bic emerging from the top. My jeans were dirty and – I leaned forward to look more closely – I’d apparently only put mascara on one eye that morning.

I grimaced at myself in the window, then moved away quickly as old Mrs Adams, inside in the queue to collect her pension, grimaced back in confusion. Something had to be done about my appearance and quickly – I’d not been home long but already the stylish career woman I’d once been had disappeared. Checking my watch – I had time before I had to take over at the café – I ducked into the newsagent’s. It was time for an emergency dose of
Vogue
.