Page 45 of Witch You Weren't Here

She might have been imagining it, but it seemed like his eyes warmed as they coasted briefly over her face. Or, it might have been a trick of his influencer eyes. ‘Sure. It’s your thing, Kay. You’re Lawful Good. It’s important to have people like you prompting regular healthy debates, making sure our powers don’t get used for nefarious purposes.’

She couldn’t tell whether he was teasing her or he meant it. Either way, the awkward burning sensation inside her eased. ‘Was that a Dungeons and Dragons reference?’

‘Yeah. You can blame Alex for getting me into all of that.’

‘So, how long have you all been friends?’

‘Well, I met Leon first, when we were both living in Edinburgh.’

‘Oh, when was that?’

‘I went to university there. We met in my second year.’

Kay’s mouth fell open again. He’d gone to Edinburgh University? She’d thought he was going to go to the University of Arts in London. That had always been the plan. When had he changed his mind? Obviously before he decided he wanted to become an illustrator, as he’d said on the train that he’d decided that while studying for his degree. She bit down on the desire to ask a million follow-up questions that would lead to a conversation she wasn’t ready to have yet. ‘Leon was studying there too?’

‘No. He’s a couple of years older than me.’

She crossed her arms on the table, with a smirk. ‘Is that why he’s a bit sensitive about being called an “old” friend?’

Harry laughed. ‘Probably. He was already through catering college and working at a restaurant I went to. I could tell there was magic in his food—’

‘And when he said he wanted to give his compliments to the chef,’ Leon appeared back at the table with their drinks, ‘I walked out and saw this face.’ He leaned over and tilted Harry’s chin up at him, smiling down with affection. ‘Who could resist? Had me cooking for him for three years.’

‘You make it sound like I used you purely for your cooking skills.’ Harry blushed and pulled his face away but gave Leon’s hand a quick squeeze as he did so.

‘Oh no, it was definitely a give-and-take relationship.’ Leon winked at him and then pulled his notepad from his back pocket and took their orders. ‘I’ll go get that food cooking for you.’

Kay bit the inside of her cheek as she took the empty glass and bottle of chocolate milk Leon had brought out for her. She’d not ordered it, but it actually looked like the perfect thing she needed right at that moment, to wash away the taste of jealousy in her mouth.

Don’t say it, don’t say it—

‘So, you and Leon were together?’ she asked in a ridiculously high pitch, regardless of her better judgement or whatever passed for her self-respect these days. She poured the glossy brown liquid into the glass, watching it coat the sides and settle thickly at the bottom.

‘Yes. Like he said, we were together three years. My first – only – long-term relationship, I suppose.’

Kay was nodding like a marionette. She was fine. Totally, totally not seething with envy that Leon could reach out and touch Harry’s chin that way, with total confidence. Had been able to do so for years and years. ‘Why – er – why didn’t you say we were coming to see your ex, rather than your friend?’ Why didn’t you warn me?

‘Because he is my friend. We’ve been friends for longer than we dated, so …’ he shrugged. ‘That’s who he is now in my life.’

Kay took a sip of the chocolate milk. Sweet and creamy. The hit of comfort she needed at that moment. ‘I guess that makes sense,’ she managed when she realised he was watching her. He nodded slowly and his eyes caught hers, filled with some emotion she wasn’t sure she understood. ‘And I only thought it would have been good to mention that we were coming to ask a favour of your ex because it’s a bit awkward,’ she added.

‘Why does his being my ex make it awkward?’ Harry was studying her with the intensity of cat who had noticed a rustle in the bushes and was not going to miss the opportunity of an unsuspecting bird. She could tell a small smile was threatening his mouth, not because of his lips but because of the laughter lines deepening at the corners of his eyes.

‘It’s not. I mean. Not for me.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘But surely for Alex. It might have been nice to know you were dragging me along to a three’s-a-crowd situation.’ She raised an eyebrow to show she was mostly joking. ‘I don’t think you can even class me as a third wheel – I’m more like a deflated tyre that’s been forgotten in the boot.’

‘This kind of talk better not be premonitory of the next leg of our journey.’

‘Goddess, you’re right. Quick, give me the salt.’

He pushed it across the table towards her and she sprinkled a little in her hand, whispered some cleansing words and dabbed her tongue to it before she remembered she wasn’t supposed to be doing any kind of magic whatsoever. Being in this restaurant, relaxing in a community of witches who didn’t have to hide what they were, had made her forget herself. Kay tensed up, half expecting something awful to happen because she’d broken Madam Hedvika’s instructions, but all she felt was the fizz of the spell erasing some of the negative energy she might’ve invoked.

Harry laughed and she cocked her head to one side. ‘What?’

‘I feel like maybe it’s too little, too late. We should have cracked out the cleansing rituals in Prague.’

She laughed too. ‘We would have died of kidney failure by now.’

He smiled back at her, his eyes scanning her face and landing on her mouth. Her heartbeat fluttered. She remembered that look. He’d looked at her like that when they were teenagers too. Like her laughter was fascinating. Or that’s what she’d hoped it meant back then. Now, it was probably more a case that she’d not allowed herself to laugh much in his presence over the last twenty-four hours.

---