Page 26 of Witch You Weren't Here

‘I’m pretty sure I do, actually,’ she said, tightly and when the person in front of them moved forward this time, she let Harry step forward by himself. He glanced back at her over his shoulder, but she turned her face away.

They moved up to the check-in desk in silence and even though he waited for her after he’d put his bag up, when she was done, she walked straight past him, throwing a brief ‘thanks for last night’ at him before she hightailed it to the women’s bathroom.

When enough time had passed that he should have given up and/or she’d given someone else the impression she had food poisoning, she sought out the pokiest-looking corner in the departure lounge and replied to her brother’s message, asking what was happening with her delay. Their mum had obviously contacted him last night and mentioned it.

Kay: Sorry for not answering last night, but I’m about to board a flight now.

She knew Joe had a habit of getting up early – as a primary school teacher, his day in the classroom usually started at eight o’clock at least – but she wasn’t expecting him to call straight back as soon as he read the message, after being up late last night.

‘Hey. Is everything running on time again your end, then? Because the weather is terrible here.’ He muffled a yawn, and she heard the sound of a kettle on in the background.

‘As far as I can tell. It’s stormy, but there are no delays,’ she tried to reassure him. ‘My flight is landing in Paris, and I’ll catch the Eurostar from there. Plenty of time before the wedding rehearsal.’

‘Great. Have you let Mum know?’

‘Yeah. I did last night.’

‘Right. Well. I guess it’s seeing the weather here that has her freaking out then. She’s been over to Aunty L’s, and she’s really worried about you getting stranded.’

Translation: Mum had been on the phone to him last night and given him an earful and he now wanted to make sure that Kay was keeping on top of managing their mother’s anxiety. It was like an unwritten rule between them once they had made up after the divorce. It wasn’t that Joe wouldn’t be there for their mum if he needed to be, but he’d left for university and spent more time with their dad than Kay did, so she’d happened to be the one there. She was the default moral support, and how could she mind? She’d made her bed and she would lie in it.

‘Look, don’t you worry about it, OK? I’ll keep her updated and let her know if anything changes. You just concentrate on the wedding, and I’ll see you later.’

‘Yeah, all right. Did you have to sleep at the airport last night?’

‘Oh, no. I found somewhere. No issues.’ Thankfully they weren’t doing a video call because the memory of sharing a bed with Harry was making her face heat up like she’d fallen asleep on a sun lounger located on the equator.

‘You sure? You sound weird.’

She forced a laugh. ‘Just didn’t get a lot of sleep.’

‘I know that feeling.’

She almost asked if he was nervous but restrained herself. She didn’t want to imply he was getting cold feet about marrying Sandy. He might think that she’d been using her gift to check out the bond between him and his fiancée and get paranoid that he actually had a reason to be nervous. There was no reason to think that her brother and Sandy weren’t completely in love with each other. They acted that way.

And even if sometimes people did act like they felt one way when truly they didn’t – it wasn’t her business. It was an invasion of their privacy. In fact, even with people’s consent, she wouldn’t do it. Tina had badgered her for weeks the summer after she got her gift, desperate to know if the constant sniping between her and Joe was actually sexual frustration and … it turned out it wasn’t. Joe really just didn’t like Tina much. Needless to say, Tina was not best pleased hearing that, even when Kay had tried to sugar-coat it. She’d accused Kay of not wanting her friend and brother to get together because she’d fallen out with him and was bitter from what had happened with Harry. And that was the end of that friendship.

No, best to keep out of it entirely.

‘Just a couple more days and then you’ll be on your honeymoon, recovering from all the wedding hoopla. Plenty of lazy mornings in bed.’

Joe snorted. ‘I don’t intend to sleep during those lazy mornings in bed, though.’

‘Ugh, Joe. Keep those kinds of comments to yourself please.’

He laughed and though she was smiling as they said goodbye, there was a strange feeling in her diaphragm, like her magic was trying to push up against her breastbone. Probably just heartburn from too much coffee.

She opened her tote bag to slip her phone back inside and found herself staring at her lumpy corn husk doll. With its scorch mark right across the chest.

Chapter Seven

6.20 a.m.: saturday 30 october

German airspace

744 miles and 32(+1) hours and 40 minutes until the wedding

Kay was debating doing a cleansing ritual when they landed. She assumed if she’d been cursed, Madam Hedvika would have picked up on it, but all this bad luck was beginning to feel very hex-like.

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