Page 12 of The Trouble With Love

Megan put her head down and mumbled and her cheeks darkened.

‘The nail from a demon? Frog’s head? A rich man’s hidden treasure? Oh come on, Meg, these are nasty. She can’t be serious, she’s having you on.’ I scanned the list again. ‘Where’s she getting this “spell” from? The Boys’ Own Book of Black Magic? The Beginners’ Grimoire?’

‘She said it’s in a library book.’

‘Seriously? Only if she’s a ticket holder to the Library of the Damned, and she’d better not spill anything on the pages because she really wouldn’t want to upset the librarian . . .’

‘It’s all stuff we need for the spell.’ Megan sounded defiant, although she’d still got her hair over her face. ‘Vivienne says the things have to be hard to come by or everyone would be doing it.’ Now her head came up and her brown eyes flashed me a look. ‘Don’t you want us to have our wishes come true? I mean, you haven’t even really got a wish, have you? “Some excitement”, that was the best you could come up with, and do you know something, Holl? To me, your life already looks pretty exciting. You’ve got your own house, fantastic job with all that travelling, a family that loves you, and you’ve even got fucking Aiden, no strings attached. What have I got — a detonated fridge in a rented flat, no boyfriend, and a twenty per cent discount on curtains!’

Wow. I’d never heard her so militant. It was like being bitten by Bagpuss. Maybe there was something about Vivienne’s group that was doing her good. ‘Yeah. Sorry. Of course I’ll come along. How many of these things do I have to get?’

‘As many as you can. We all need to bring lots of stuff and duplicates are good, apparently. Anyhow. D’you fancy going out tomorrow night? If we’re doing the spell on Wednesday, tomorrow might be my last night as a single girl! We could pop into York, there’s a band playing at Fibbers . . .’

‘Can’t, sorry.’ And because I still felt a bit indignant that my best friend thought my life, which she knew contained more shit than a laxative testing unit, was already so great, I added, ‘I’m going over to Kai’s for dinner.’

‘Who? Male or female?’

‘He’s a journalist, lives in Barndale Woods in the most fantastic cottage.’

‘Sexy?’

When I thought about Kai, all that came to mind were those golden eyes. ‘He’s not bad.’ And then, taking pity on her, ‘For an about-to-be grandfather.’

Megan grinned. ‘You had me really jealous there for a second, bitch.’

And then the full-body image thundered in, and I could see those dark stubbled cheekbones, long thighs in washed-white jeans, and the way his shoulders filled out that black leather.

‘Holl? You’ve gone pink.’

I shook my head and the image was gone. ‘I think, actually, it might be quite fun to have the spell to think about,’ I said. ‘Phew. Yes.’

* * *

The ground was a bit drier today, so I’d inched the car down the track to the Old Lodge this time. I didn’t want a repeat of the falling-in-the-mud thing and I most definitely didn’t want a rerun of the meeting with the ginger guy. I glanced around, eyes keen for the dull gleam of the rising moonlight on a gun barrel, but the woods were quiet tonight, apart from the rustle of small, terrified wildlife and the imperious hoot of an owl. My headlights raked the darkness until they found the answering lights of the Lodge and I parked as closely as I could to the front door.

‘Oh good, you came.’ Cerys opened the door to me. ‘And you brought wine! Fantastic.’ She lowered her voice. ‘He won’t let me drink even a drop. Says it’s bad for the babes, even though I’ve told him, at eight months all they’re going to get is a bit relaxed. Especially as I think I’m really doing well if I drink half a glass. God, I really can’t wait to have them out of there, so there’s room for other things, like food and breathing. And I can relax in a chair without feeling like I’m sitting on my own lap.’

She shuffled back and let me into the hall. ‘We’ve got the dining room straight, thankfully; I hated eating in the kitchen. Well, I say we, Kai is about as much use to me right now as a condom would be. Spends half his days on the phone, the other half on his laptop, and absolutely no percentage sorting out this place.’

I followed her into previously unseen regions, still talking. ‘Anyway, only another week or so and I can go back to Peterborough. Mum and Dad will have got my flat sorted by then — my ex doesn’t want to leave, but he doesn’t want to pay either, so Dad’s getting some of his friends to go round and then Mum’s going to give the place a once-over. Apparently,’ she raised her voice slightly when we heard footsteps on the stairs, ‘I’m in no fit state to be cleaning and moving furniture and suchlike.’

‘Come on now, you’re as fit as a butcher’s dog,’ said Kai, arriving behind us in the enormous kitchen. ‘Your mother was always a soft touch.’

I turned around and nearly didn’t recognise him. His hair was neatly tied back and he’d had a shave, which made his cheekbones stand out more. He’d got out of the washed-out denims in favour of black trousers and a black shirt, which made him look taller, and oddly, more imposing.

‘Yeah, she married you.’ Cerys carried on leading the way, until we stopped in a room where the walls were red as blood. ‘Make yourself comfortable, Holly, I’ll just stand here and envy you. Kai, you can fetch the food through.’ She waved me over to a leather couch in one corner. It, too, was oxblood red. The vast mahogany dining table was about the only thing that didn’t look like it had been poured directly from an artery; even the carpet was red.

‘It’s very red,’ I said, perching atop the leather.

‘Oh, it was like this when we moved in. I will take bets the warlock that built the place never had a girlfriend, just an unhealthy obsession with Lord of the Rings. I mean, the little study is practically a scale model of a hobbit hole. The sofa is Kai’s; I didn’t want to put it in here, because it’s virtually invisible, but it’s the only place it fits. Still, he’ll probably paint the whole place magnolia eventually.’ She leaned against the sofa back and rolled her hips. ‘I adore him, really I do. I mean he helped Mum out with money and everything, he’s never not visited even when he’s been on sort of undercover work, he even gets on with Dad. He just doesn’t have much of a clue where fashion, style and normal human operating systems are concerned. Sorry, now I’m embarrassing you. Shall I open the wine?’

‘Please.’ I thought she was being a bit hard on Kai. He didn’t strike me as being all that unsociable. Just a bit withdrawn, maybe. A little bit . . . sad.

Kai carried through a huge dish of chilli which we ate with baked potatoes. At least, Kai and I ate; Cerys nibbled a few mouthfuls then had to stand up and walk around the room to get that to go down. After that, whilst we ate plum crumble, she stood at the window and looked out into the darkness.

‘No, it’s no good. I’m going to have to go and lie down.’ She looked towards the floor. ‘My legs have started to swell. At least, I assume they have, I haven’t seen them since June. God, where does all the skin come from?’

Kai jumped up, but she glared at him. ‘Kai. We have a guest. Now, I realise that you are somewhere to the sociability left of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time”, but, please, for me, try and make polite conversation. We didn’t invite Holly over so she could sit on her own in here while you hover around on the landing in case my waters go while I’m getting into bed. Now, play nicely you two.’

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