Flirting With Magick (24 page)

He gazed around my living room and spied the burnt out candle I’d placed decoratively on my corner shelf. "What's that?" he asked, taking a closer look at the candle holder.

"That's a pentagram," I explained. "It's a Wiccan symbol. You know
, Earth magic and stuff."

"Hmm." He pulled a face. “Looks Satanic."

"
No, that's different." I got up, rolling my eyes, and started clearing
the plates. “And nothing to do with Wicca.”

Josh did prove to be full of surprises that night; after I cleared up,
he wordlessly washed the dishes. In the past, this action would have been accompanied by a grandiose explanation of how wonderful he was to be doing said actions, but in this instance, he was smiling and
silent as he cleaned. I didn’t bother helping him with wiping up. Bitchy
I know, but this was a test, and he was passing with flying colours.

When the last of the dishes had been put away, I emptied the rest
of the wine into his glass as he produced a DVD from his old satchel
—
a romantic movie that I loved and he hated. He was really pulling out
the big guns.

After the movie ended, he planted a soft kiss on my cheek, devoi
d
of any expectations, and disappeared into the night, leaving me more t
han a little surprised and confused.

The next morning, I awoke with lightness not felt in ages. Work
was good; Sean had transferred to an interstate office. I wasn’t sure
where, nor did I really care. Bronwyn had left for a partner position in a
nother company—a move which may or may not have been due to the Sean scenario. It might have been on the cards for a while. Laura
had returned from her holiday and was currently helping Ray with the
running of Avalon, but knowing she wasn’t interested in a permanent
management position, Ray had advertised to fill Bronwyn’s role.

J
osh was becoming a friend, a part of him I had missed from when
we were together, and I was looking forward to developing that relationship
with him. Things were finally starting to look up!

“
STACEY’S HEARTBREAK
—
Popular soap star Stacey Barton is reportedly
single again after splitting with musician boyfriend Daniel Kelly. Barton's
management has announced that the split was amicable and most
likely due to conflicting work schedules. It is not yet confirmed, but
Stacey may be leaving her role as nurse Emma Bayley in "Secrets and
Lies" and is currently the rumoured favourite to star in a major Hollywood
film. Daniel Kelly is the lead singer for up-and-coming local band
Reckless
Choice
whose current single "More Than Me" is currently in the National
Top 20. Their self-titled debut album is due out next month.”

Kate stopped reading and threw the newspaper onto the table. “D
o you think it was Stacey or Daniel who did the dumping?”

“Hmm, Stacey I guess, if she’s going to Hollywood,” I answered, admittedly not very interested.

“Have you listened to their new song yet?” she asked excitedly. “Nate played it to me the other night. It’s beautiful. Much softer than their regular stuff, but more..." she clicked her fingers trying to find the right word, "
them
than what they had on the radio before.”

“No, not yet.“ I ignored her dig at me. I looked up, saw the
disappointment on her face, and realised that I had allowed my feelings
toward Scott to cloud my attitude regarding her relationship with Nathan
. I smiled at her as reassuringly as I could. “I’ll download it. I promise.”

“I was just going to say that after reading this and then having heard the lyrics, it’s pretty obvious that Daniel’s pretty cut up about
it all.“ Kate bit her lip, grinning, and jumped up off her chair. “You ca
n do better than downloading it.” she announced. “They’re playing at Springers in a few weeks. We’ll go. For old times' sake.”

“Uh...”

“
Listen, Abs,” Kate wasn’t going to let me hesitate this time. “I know
that you and Scott had a thing and it didn’t work out, but really he’s
a nice guy. He asked after you last time I saw him. Is it so bad that you
can’t still be friends? I’m sure it will be easier for you, now that you and Josh are practically back together. “

“We’re not back together.” I mumbled. “But okay, I’ll go.” The
butterflies in my stomach took flight at the thought. “It would be nice
to hang out with you all again.”

“
Great.” Kate clapped her hands together and was about to continu
e on her evil plan when my phone rang. Josh. I smiled, despite myself. Since we had our first evening together as friends, he now called me
regularly or sent me an email or text at least once a day, with a few
more friendly evenings in between.

“Are you doing anything tonight?” he asked.

“I’m at Kate’s at the moment. Why? Did you want to come over?”

“Oh, are you and Kate doing something later?”

“No, her boyfriend’s coming over.”

“Oh cool. Can you meet me at the bar at Benet’s tonight? Say seven?”

***

I stood at the bar, shivering in the flimsy but casual black dress Kate had begrudgingly helped me pick out from my wardrobe—not
because of me or the dress, but because of Josh. I had taken great pains
to make an effort without looking like I was making an effort. This was,
after all, a couple of friends just having a drink together. My gin and
tonic was going down extremely well, and I tried to ignore the butterflies
that seemed to be making themselves at home in my belly. In the th
ree
years that Josh and I had dated, it had been some time since he had made
me as nervous as I was right now. Where the hell was he?

"Excuse me, Miss Williams?" The girl behind the bar startled me out
of my nervous thoughts. "I have a message for you. Mr. Stuart would like you to meet with him in room ten zero seven."

What?
"Thank you." I swallowed the rest of my drink, took a deep
breath
, and headed to the tenth floor. In the lift, I fixed my lipstick and
smoothed down my hair, pausing for a moment to wonder why on Earth I was spending so much time trying to impress a man who had already been given a chance and blew it completely. First Josh, then Scott, and then Sean. Now back to Josh... Who, it now appeared, was wooing me into a hotel room.

Was I mad? Or a masochist? This was way too soon. If I had to be honest with myself, I guess I was enjoying the attention of a man
who was well aware that he had made a huge mistake and de
sperately
wanted to win me back. Especially after the disinterest I had rece
ived
from Scott, which left me feeling like a complete reject, and even worse
,
Sean basically using me, which could have sent me into unemployment
.

At least work had been easier in the last couple of weeks. I'd forge
d
some genuine and supportive friendships with Rachel and Pippa. Br
on's
replacement, Chris, was a welcome addition to the company, more
laidback than Ray and more approachable and less anxious than Bronw
yn.
At the close of each day, he would leave his office and spend time
getting to know each of the staff, telling us about his wife and three
young children at home. He would always tell us to enjoy our evening
, making sure our work was well and truly left behind as we deserted the office each night.

By the time I got to the door of the hotel room, I was almost read
y
to turn back. Maybe it was just a movie somewhere neutral, I sup
posed.
He was probably sitting in his trackies with a pizza. If that was the
case, why was I wearing a dress and a mildly sexy one at that?
Crap!
I took a deep breath and knocked.

He answered the door right away, and it would have been alm
ost unnatural to not kiss him when he greeted me. Not on the lips; just a
friendly peck on his cheek, which he returned, although his return kis
s
was lengthy and rather close to my mouth. I was momentarily relie
ved
to see that he had dressed up as well. The room was dark and lit only
by candlelight.

Josh placed a glass of wine in my hand. "Riesling, your favourite
."

HE LED ME TO
a beautifully laid table and pulled out a chair for me
to sit. I lifted the cloche—spaghetti marinara. We sat in silence as he poured the wine for himself, my silence more of the shocked sort, his of the composed.

“You don’t look happy,” he finally stated.

“I was just surprised, that’s all.” I looked around at the candles,
the meal, the wine... the bed.

“I know it’s a bit much, but I wanted to show you how committed
I
am this time.” He had noticed my glance at the bed. “I thought a hotel
room would be quieter, and you wouldn’t feel like I’m intruding at
your place. It would be a bit crowded at Troy’s; Melinda’s there all the
time lately. You don’t have to stay the night or anything.”

He looked hurt when my relief was obvious. “Sorry.” I twirled
spaghetti around my fork as a peace offering; I was staying for dinn
er. “I was just expecting a couple of drinks downstairs and that was it. This is just a bit of a surprise.”

“I know. Abby, I— “

“But thank you,” I interrupted. “This is lovely.”

This time I surreptitiously studied him while he ate, having avoided
it last time we were together. He almost seemed like a different man to
the one I had dated. He looked pretty much the same, although his
hair was longer and I could see flecks of silver in his otherwise reddish
brown close-cropped beard. He seemed nervous, yet somehow optim
istic
and in control, like someone frightened of spiders about to triumphantly
capture one under a glass.

“How is Troy, anyway?” I asked in between bites. I hadn’t seen him since our lunch out with Di and Jemma. I still hadn’t found out from Dianne what the animosity between he and Jemma was about. With everything that had been going on, it wasn’t high on my list of things to talk to her about, but I was still curious.

“He’s great.” Josh nodded after finishing his drink. “He asked if
we want to go out with him and Melinda...” he swallowed, a coy loo
k on his face. “That is, if you would like to go out with
me
.”

I unsuccessfully tried to suppress a smile. “Can we just try and get
through tonight without wanting to kill each other?”

He laughed and appeared to completely relax for the first time that
evening. “We did that a lot, didn’t we? Want to kill each other.” His eyes sparkled as he poured us both another glass of wine. “Although I must admit, your feelings weren’t completely without reason. I was a dickhead.”

“You had your moments,” I grinned, “but I’m sure I did, too.”

Josh leaned over the table and took my hand. “Not like me. You
always knew what you wanted. It took me moving to Sydney to I realis
e
what I’d let go.” He stood up, my hand still in his grasp. “Which brin
gs
me to why I’m doing all this.” I got to my feet, letting myself be gathered
into his arms. His eyes searched my face for a moment before his lips
softly pressed against mine, tentatively at first before pulling me tig
hter to him, his tongue flicking teasingly at my lips.

He pulled back and gazed into my eyes again before caressing
my face in both of his hands and kissing me again, deeper and more determined. “I’m sorry, for everything,” he whispered when our lips parted. “Please forgive me? Give me another chance to be more than just friends? I'm trying really hard here."

All I could manage was a nod; this night was already spiralling
way beyond my control. Held against him, I could feel his heart beating
furiously, and his fast, nervous breath matched my own.

Finally, my voice made a reappearance. “Let’s just talk tonight, okay
? Get to know each other again. Like a first date.” I grabbed the wine bottle and my glass and sat down on the couch.

He picked up his own glass and slumped down next to me.

“So what happened, Josh? No bullshit, okay?”

Josh shifted in his seat and I watched him think carefully before he spoke. “I don’t know. I think it was just stupid commitment crap. We’d been together for a while, and I think the thought of just being
with one person forever scared me.” He turned towards me and flicked
a loose tendril of hair from my face with his finger.

“So what made you change your mind?” I tried to keep my voice steady at his touch.

“I just realised how much I want to be with you.” His hand mov
ed down to stroke my cheek.

“Have you been with anyone else?”

“In Sydney? No.”

“It doesn’t matter if you were.”

“
Okay.” He dropped his hand and stared down at the floor. “Beca
use I don’t want there to be any dishonesty between us, I’ll admit I had a
couple of one night stands, but there wasn’t anyone I was involved with
.”
There was a hint of spite in his voice. He was obviously disappointed
that I had been in a relationship with Sean and didn’t spend the time wallowing in self-pity, missing him. “Was the guy from work really the only one?”