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23

SOME THINGS
ARE BEST LEFT UNSAID

Cora walked
into the living room and smiled. She couldn’t help it. Seeing Jack
surrounded by the men in the coven helped lessen the ache in her
heart. She’d noticed how much they had come together since the
Edinburgh visit and she was so thankful to Ayden. She knew that
he’d made all the men meet up here and sit with Jack. At least his
mind would be occupied whilst she was out with Tommy.

Jack looked
over her, an expression crossing his face before Ayden asked him
something and his attention was taken away. Her stomach tightened,
making her feel sick.

“
Cora, you
have a visitor,” Tabitha called up the stairs.

Jack looked at
her once and then turned towards Eli. Eli gave her a small smile
which told her he could handle it. She nodded her head and made her
way down the stairs.

Tommy was
standing in the middle of the shop. As she approached she realised
that he was taller than she remembered when she’d seen him at the
meeting. His shaved head was covered by a bright red woolly hat,
the bitterly cold weather required one, and his dark brown eyes
smiled at her as she walked towards him.

“
Hello, Cora.”
His eyes trailed the full length of her body. “Is that what you're
wearing?”

She looked
down at herself. She was wearing black skinny jeans, a thick cream
jumper and her slate grey coat. “Why? What's wrong with
it?”

“
Nothing is
wrong with the clothes you’re wearing, in fact they highlight a
rather nice body, but I’m asking because I’m not sure you will be
warm enough.”

“
Why? We're
not going to the North pole are we?” she asked, ignoring his blunt
compliment about her body.

“
I would bring
a hat and gloves,” he chuckled.

“
Okay, just a
minute.”

She ran back
upstairs and into the kitchen. Jack and the rest of the men
suddenly stopped talking.

“
You all
right?” Ayden asked.

“
Yep,
apparently I need a hat and gloves for wherever we are going, but I
can never find them.”

“
Cora,” Jack
said.

She looked at
Jack and found he had the gloves and hat in his hand.

“
You always
lose them,” he said, a small quirk of his lips making her heart
jump.

She walked to
him and extended her hand, but he pulled the hat over her head and
kissed her lips, then brushed his lips gently against her nose. She
stood awkwardly for a moment waiting for something to happen. It
wasn't like he was going to tell her to have a nice
time.

She looked at
him one last time and left the room, heading down the stairs as she
pulled her gloves over her hands.

“
You ready?”
Tommy asked. He was now standing in the shop.

“
Yeah.”

Tabitha shot
her a look of warning and annoyance as Cora walked past her. She
was annoyed, and she understood the warning perfectly enough. Cora
sighed and followed Tommy.

The drive to
their venue, wherever it was, was rather quiet, but she was getting
used to the awkward silences on these so-called dates. She ended
the silence when his car came to a stop. The laughter burst out of
her before she could stop it. An ice rink? He’d brought her
skating. First, Ciaran had taken her bowling working on her
hand-eye co-ordination, and now Tommy decided to work on her
balance with the ice skating.

She stepped
out of the car and followed Tommy who had left her to open her own
door, a refreshing change, and was already walking to collect their
skates. She was given the correct size from a man behind a counter
and swapped her comfortable trainers for the awful, heavy boots.
Cora couldn’t remember ever going ice skating, and the gleaming
blade fixed on the bottom of the boot didn’t look safe. She wasn’t
sure she could do this. How did people stay up right on them? She
didn’t have a chance. “I don't think I can ice skate,” she
mumbled.

“
Sure you can.
If not then I will help you,” he winked.

She blushed
and then cursed the fact that she'd blushed. The sharp slap of the
wind, a reminder to keep herself in check, cut into her cheeks
making them sting. She puffed out a breath and started lacing up
the boots.

“
You ready?”
Tommy asked and held his hand out to her.

Cora looked at
the hand and refused it. She wasn't going to walk hand in hand with
another man whilst her boyfriend was at home thinking of her on
this date. She would rather fall on her backside.

Tommy stood
next to the entrance; his eyes were dancing with amusement whilst
he watched her stumble everywhere. She could barely walk on the
floor in these stupid boots so she was bound to struggle on the
ice. Could you break bones if you fell hard enough? She really
wasn't a fan of broken bones. They hurt.

Tommy slid
onto the ice first and then mastered his balance. Holding her
breath in her cheeks, she took one step on the ice, felt her
balance wobble and the skates slide from underneath her feet.
Tommy’s hands grabbed her, keeping her upright. He held onto her
whilst her legs were slipping uncontrollably, how were you meant to
do this? The ice was too slippery to stand up on. Tommy let her go
whilst she tried to figure out what to do. Her arms flapped, trying
to restore some sort of balance but she failed and landed on
Tommy.

“
Come on,” he
laughed. “It gets easier if you move.”

“
I don't think
that would be a good idea,” she moaned. “I’m going to knock people
down.”

“
Come
on.”

His hand held
her waist before she could stop him.

Tommy guided
her along the ice showing her how to move her feet so she was
gliding rather than trying to step like she was walking. Luckily
there weren't that many people on the ice, so her stupid moves
wouldn’t be seen by every man and his dog. “Great, I think you can
do it yourself.”

Tommy let her
go. She squealed but she managed to stay on her feet.

“
Good,” he
smiled.

He skated at
her side as they made their way around the rink.

“
Are you
hungry or anything?” Tommy asked.

“
No.” She
shook her head, concentrating on moving her feet. She’d found the
full lap of the rink terrifying. She couldn’t understand why people
did this for fun.

“
So, how have
your dates gone with the others?”

She stumbled,
shocked by his question. Tommy caught her before she made a mess of
her face. He let her go once she’d found her footing
again.

“
The dates
have been... dates.”

“
Right, yeah,
I can understand that, but have you got a favourite yet?” he
grinned at her.

“
Jack.”

She watched as
the grin disappeared from his face which made the warm feeling in
her stomach spread. She smiled and pushed harder on her feet making
herself go that little bit faster. Thinking of Jack made her dare
to do things that she wouldn’t usually do.

“
So, what is
it like working in the shop? I can imagine you can do all sorts of
potions and things?”

She shrugged
her shoulders. “It's like working in a shop. I can’t interfere with
the ingredients because the customers need to buy them.”

“
You must get
some great customers?”

She smiled
before she could stop herself. Mrs Rogers was her most regular
customer, she was also one Cora had grown to like.

“
That smile
means you have some great customers,” he laughed.

“
Yeah, we have
a few who make me smile. One particular woman comes to
mind.”

“
I used to
work in a shop. You do get to meet a variety of people, but they
mostly annoyed me though. Did you ever think you would be working
in a witch shop?”

“
I don’t know.
I’ve always found strange things fascinating. I guess it is strange
and ironic. I must have known I was different, I didn't know I was
a witch until recently.”

“
Yeah, I know
how that feels. I found out recently too.”

“
Really?” The
look of surprise made him laugh. She was shocked that they had
something in common. Again, she had found something in common with
each of the other dates.

“
I'm twenty
eight so I must admit it is rather late for me to be finding out,
but I found out last year. It took me a while to realise that I
could talk to people.”

She looked at
him, confusion forcing many lines into her forehead.

“
I speak to
the dead...”

She'd
forgotten what his element was, but now it came back to her. “I
remember you saying it at the meeting.”

“
I'd brushed
it off and not told anyone. I thought they would think I was insane
and lock me in a padded cell. Well, I ignored it until the day I
was given a message, one I couldn’t leave.”

“
What kind of
message?”

“
A message
that I had to find someone.”

Cora moved
towards the wall and held out her hands to grab it. Tommy joined
her.

“
A message?”
She couldn’t deny that her interest had shot up a level.

“
I was told in
this message that I had to find someone called Grace Butler and
tell her that a certain person didn't hold it against her. I found
Grace after two months of searching, in the little town of
Pontefract which is in Yorkshire. I can tell you that I’ve never
wanted to find someone so much in my life. I introduced myself to
her and told her the message.”

“
How did she
react?”

“
She cried.
I’d expected disbelief, anger. Usually when I tell people of my
gift, they laugh and tell me to leave. Grace believes in the
afterlife, and she’d been holding out for that certain someone to
tell her it wasn’t her fault. She knew the person would come back
if they could.”

Cora's heart
went out to the woman. She knew how it felt for regret to eat at
your heart. To hear that all was forgiven, it must have been
heartbreaking for her.

“
What had
Grace done?” she asked, finding herself engrossed in the
story.

“
Grace had
tried to save the man, but she couldn't. When it’s your time, there
isn’t anything you can do.

After the
event, she felt so guilty, she’d been the one to invite him to the
brass band concert, had forced him to go with her, so she believed
it was her fault. The man had come to me and asked me to tell her
he didn't blame her. He was thankful someone still cared enough to
spend time with him.”

“
That is so
nice.”

“
Yeah, I can
get nice ones like that. Sometimes I don't get nice people, I’ve
had some incidents where the angry people start to physically
assault me.” He shuddered. “I'm lucky I found the coven because
they help me a lot.”

“
My coven is
dear to me too, I would do anything for them.”

Tommy nodded
his head. There wasn’t much he could say to that, but her
underlying meaning had been there. She would do anything to keep
her coven together. Even fighting to the death. Again.

“
Do you ever
see celebrities?” she asked, trying to lighten the tone.

He laughed.
“Do you know how many times people ask me that?”

She smiled and
shook her head. “I can imagine you get it a lot, but they are
celebrities. It is fascinating what tales they could tell
you.”

“
Errrmmm...
let me see... I once had a lengthy conversation with Elvis
Presley,” he grinned.

She gasped.
“You did not?”

“
I did. He is
a really lovely man actually, very well spoken and polite. His deep
south accent is brilliant to listen to. Do you want to know another
thing?” he asked leaning closer to her.

She leant
towards him, eager to hear what he would say. He smelt different to
Jack, sweeter, hints of vanilla came from somewhere. She also tried
to ignore his lips that were close to her cheek.

“
He didn't die
on the toilet.”

She laughed
and smacked him playfully on the arm. “That’s always good to know,”
she giggled as they continued skating.

“
Your mum was
lovely,” Tommy said skating alongside her.

“
Yeah she was.
She...” Cora stopped and nearly fell over as she looked at him.
Tommy had never met her mother.

“
What?” she
asked, feeling her pulse quicken.

He pulled her
to one side away from other skaters. “Your mum, I've met her,” he
whispered.

“
No, you
haven't,” she snapped.

“
I have, Cora.
Please don't be mad.” His jaw popped with his own anger. Why was he
angry? She was the one he was lying to.

“
Don't lie
then!” she shouted as she felt her world spin.