Celtic Magic (2 page)

Abby nodded, “Yes, it is a very nice
apartment, better than I had hoped, and I was happy to know it was
already furnished.”

Jasmine smiled, “Yes, I paid them extra to
have them get it ready and have it furnished for you, it was
nothing.”

Abby was shocked to know that Jasmine had
been involved with the money part of this situation.

“Oh, well thank you. My father told me that
you were in the same building. Where is your apartment?” Abby asked
her.

She laughed before answering, “I’m not
surprised that Mark didn’t give you all of the details, he always
did forget the small stuff. You are in the left wing on the
eleventh floor, and I am over in the right wing up on the twentieth
floor. It is the penthouse and the apartment takes up the entire
floor on that wing.”

Abby’s eyes grew wide as she imagined how
big an apartment would be that was three times the size of her
large apartment.

“
Wow, the shop must be
doing really well then, to have such a nice place.”

Jasmine shrugged, “I have old family money,
so it’s not a big deal to me. Also, to get to my apartment, you
will need a special code for the elevator, and it is in your
handbook. You are welcome to come over any time you need to talk or
ask questions, anything you need.”

She looked up as the bell chimed again and
smiled. Abby turned around and saw a large group of people walk in
together, laughing and talking loudly.

Abby watched as Jasmine hurried over to the
counter and grabbed a black binder and walked back over to her,
“Here you go dear, be back here on Monday morning at ten. I don’t
open until eleven, but I will show you the ropes before we open,
okay?” she asked her.

Abby nodded and walked out the door, ready
to get all of her things into her apartment and then get something
to eat, she was starving.

Chapter 3

Monday morning came faster than Abby was
expecting it to and nearly slept in too late to make it to work on
time. When she woke up and looked over at the clock and saw that
the time was already nine thirty, she jumped out of bed and threw
on the first thing that was in her closet and ran out of the door,
barely making it there in time.

Jasmine was already inside when she got
there so she knocked on the door and waved when she looked over at
her. Abby watched as she slowly made her way over to the door and
noticed how she walked so smoothly it almost looked as though she
was gliding, as if her feet never touched the ground.

Once she unlocked the door, she walked in to
the office and started to learn the ropes of running the store. She
had already read through the entire employee handbook, and liked
how she had things in there that would help with day to day life in
the store, like what all the different crystals meant and how to
use the candles for magic, things like that.

She didn’t know how she would get to know
enough to eventually be able to open the store by herself, but that
was apparently what Jasmine wanted to happen. Either way, she was
excited to start her new life living downtown and working at a
place that was as cool as this one.

“
Abby, did you hear me?”
Jasmine said, interrupting her thoughts.

She must have been day dreaming and started
to blush when she realized she hadn’t heard a word of what Jasmine
was saying to her.

“No, I’m sorry, I must have been
daydreaming.” She told her.

Jasmine smiled and said, “That’s okay dear,
I just said that it was time to open the store, go ahead and unlock
the door and turn the sign around for me.”

Abby nodded and walked over to the door,
surprised to see a few people already standing outside, waiting for
them to open. She didn’t think new age stores were this popular in
Dallas, but apparently she was very wrong. The stream of people was
constant throughout the day, and made the time go by very fast; it
hadn’t seemed that long when Jasmine told her it was time for her
lunch break.

She walked out of the shop, loving the feel
of the crisp air on her face after being in the hot and crowded
store. Winter was her favorite time of year in Texas, as it never
really got too cold, and the summers were so hot, you had to wait
until night time to do anything. She walked down the street,
looking into store windows until she came upon a small sandwich
shop a few stores down.

Someone opened the door and walked out
sending a wave of air from inside the shop across Abby’s face. She
smelled the food from inside and her stomach gave a growl and she
realized that she hadn’t eaten anything all day. She walked in and
found a seat against the window so that she could watch as people
walked by and instantly a waiter came over to her asking what she
wanted to drink. She ordered water with lemon and looked down at
the menu that he had given her and was delighted to see that they
had chicken salad.

She put down the menu and began to scan the
shop and noticed a man looking at her from across the room. He was
very cute with light brown curly hair and full lips, and didn’t
look to be much older than twenty one. Abby blushed and looked back
down at her menu until the waiter came to take her order.

As she sat eating her sandwich, she could
feel him still looking at her so she hurried to finish her food and
after paying her bill, quickly walked out of the restaurant and
went back to the shop, ready to get back to work and forget about
the cute guy looking at her.

She wasn’t back at the register for even
five minutes when the cute guy with the brown hair came walking
into the store. It was too odd to be a coincidence so she figured
he must have seen her walk in, probably thinking she was shopping.
She watched him as he walked around for a few minutes, then finally
picking up a book on Irish mythology he came over to the
counter.

She didn’t say a word to him as she rung his
book up and took his money, but that didn’t stop him from letting
her know why he had followed her.

“I am so sorry if I freaked you out back
there, I just had never seen you before and was trying to get up
the nerve to come and talk to you when you left.” He said to
her.

She just stared at him waiting for him to
leave.

He looked around nervously, “Um, my name is
Tom, well Thomas, but everyone calls me Tom.” he said as he stuck
his hand out waiting for her to shake it.

After waiting for a few long seconds she
finally reached out and shook his hand, “I’m Abby.” She told him
quietly.

He smiled at her, looking relieved that she
was finally talking to him, “Short for Abigail?” he asked her.

She shook her head, “No, just Abby.” She
said shrugging her shoulders.

“
Oh”, he said, looking
embarrassed, “I don’t normally do this, but would it be possible to
meet you for dinner, or maybe lunch?”

Abby had never been asked out before and at
first didn’t know what to say, but she figured if she was going to
start a new life, a date would be a good place to start.

“Sure” she said, “I can meet you back at the
sandwich shop tomorrow at two, that’s what time I have my lunch
hour.”

He smiled and his face lit up, “Great, I’ll
meet you there then, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said, turning to
leave, but then as though changing his mind, turned back to Abby,
“Can I get your number?” he asked.

She nodded and rattled off her cell phone
number as he tapped it into his phone. Once done, he smiled at her
and rushed out of the store, as though she would change her mind if
he stayed any longer. She giggled as the door was closing.

“Who was that?” Jasmine asked, suddenly
right next to Abby. She nearly screamed at her sudden arrival, but
was just able to hold it back.

“
Oh, his name was Tom, he
asked me out to lunch tomorrow.”

Jasmine smiled, “First day on the job and
you already have a date, good job. He was really cute too by the
way.”

Abby blushed and turned as the bell rang,
signaling new customers. She was curious as to how her first date
would go.

Chapter 4

The next day she took extra care to make
sure she was up early so she could actually wear something cute,
and fix her hair. As she was grabbing her purse and keys to head
out the door, she felt an odd feeling in her stomach. It felt as
though her stomach was twisting and turning in ways she had never
felt before, and she wondered, is this what butterflies felt like?
She had never been on a date before, so she didn’t remember ever
being this nervous about anything.

She shrugged her shoulders figuring this was
something every girl felt when she had a date coming up and as she
went to open the door, it suddenly flew open as though someone had
pushed it open from the other side.

Her heart started pounding and she grabbed
at her chest, as though trying to keep her heart from jumping right
out of it and gasped so loudly that she wouldn’t be surprised if
her father had heard it from his house. She slowly leaned forward
trying to see around the corner, checking to see if someone had
opened the door from the hallway, but there wasn’t anybody lurking
in the hallway.

She looked down at her phone seeing that it
was still early, so she hurriedly locked her door behind her, ran
for the elevator, and hit the button for the lobby. Once she
reached the lobby, she practically ran over to the elevator on the
other side of the room for the right wing hitting the button and
cried out in glee when the doors opened right away.

She pushed the button for
the 20
^th
floor and tapped in the code Jasmine had given her for the
penthouse and sighed in relief when the doors closed and the
elevator started to go up.

She fidgeted as the elevator continued to
climb, feeling like she was in the slowest elevator invented. When
it finally stopped and the doors opened, Jasmine was standing there
looking down at her watch. She looked up and saw Abby standing
there, her face as white as though she had seen a ghost.

She stepped in the elevator and pushed the
button for the lobby and looked over at Abby, “What’s wrong, you
look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”

Abby took a breath and told her about how
the door had flown open as though by itself, not stopping until she
got to the end of the story.

Jasmine looked at her for a second before
she finally replied, “What were you thinking about when the door
flew open?”

Abby was surprised at this question and
tilted her head to the side as she answered, “I don’t know, I
remember thinking that I had butterflies because of my date, then I
looked at the door thinking I needed to hurry and get to work and
that was when it flew open. Why does that matter?”

Jasmine smiled at her, “Oh, I was just
wondering, I’m sure it was just a fluke, the wind or something.
These old buildings get crazy drafts in them sometimes.” Jasmine
reached over and patted Abby on the shoulder, “Don’t worry about it
sweetie, I’m sure it’s fine.”

Abby smiled at her; there was something
about her that made Abby feel safe and calm, and with her
reassurance she could go back to being excited about her date.

***

When her cell phone beeped telling her it
was two o’clock she waved to Jasmine, letting her know that she was
going to lunch and after checking her hair and makeup in a mirror,
walked out of the shop and down the street to the sandwich
place.

She looked into the window before she walked
in and saw Tom already sitting at a table by the window looking
through a menu. He looked so cute sitting there with his curly hair
wild and unruly. She was smiling as she walked into the restaurant
and walked up to his table; he looked up and saw her, jumping up to
pull out her chair for her to sit down.

After he sat back down in his own chair he
smiled at her, “I was almost convinced that you wouldn’t show up, I
was afraid I had scared you off yesterday.”

Abby giggled in a way she never had before,
“Well, I didn’t have anything better to do, so I figured what the
hey.” She told him, hoping he didn’t take it the wrong way.

He laughed a deep hearty laugh that made her
smile, “Well, I’m glad you decided to throw caution to the wind and
go out with me. There is just something about you, as soon as you
walked in that door, I couldn’t take my eyes off of you, and I just
knew I had to meet you.” He told her as he looked deep into her
eyes, making her stomach jump and flutter again.

After that their food came and they both
stopped talking and ate, though never once taking their eyes off of
each other. When they finished their food she tried to get to know
more about him, but just as he was starting to tell her the answers
to her questions, her cell phone beeped, signaling that it was time
to go back to work. Tom looked disappointed as she gathered up her
purse and started to head out the door, but then he grabbed her
hand to stop her, and as soon as her skin touched his, it felt as
though she had touched metal after dragging her feet on the carpet,
but instead of going right away, it never stopped.

Tom looked at her with his eyes wide before
finally pulling his hand away. “Wow that was weird. Has that ever
happened to you before?” he asked her.

She shook her head and looked down at her
hand, it looked the same as it did before, but there was something
inside of her that just felt different. She looked back up at Tom
and mumbled out, “I have to go” before turning to run out the
door.

Chapter 5

She walked back into Celtic Magic just as
Jasmine was ringing up a new customer. She hurried and put her
purse into her cubby hole in the back, then returned to the front
to get behind the register.