Page 22 of Best Hex Ever
“Indeed.”
“How have we never met before?” she asked.
“I was away. Different museums, different countries…” Hetrailed off. He didn’t want to be the kind of guy who went off on a thirty-minute narcissism session talking all about his travels as if he’d been on some kind of extended gap year.
“And you were meant to come tonight, weren’t you? But you were running errands.” Dina nodded at Juniper, snoozing away, who had now been joined by Heebie. Heebie normally hated dogs, but she seemed to have curled up quite amicably beside the corgi and was now licking between Juniper’s ears.
“I just…didn’t feel like going out tonight,” Scott admitted.
“After I ran away from you at the train station,” Dina whispered back.
“That might have had something to do with it.”
“Let me explain,I—”
“You don’t owe me any kind of explanation, Dina. Really you don’t. I didn’t—Idon’t expect anything of you.” Scott put his empty cup down on the tray. “I think I’d better go.”
“Scott, please…”
He scooped up Juniper, who snuffled in her sleep like the big furry baby she was, and headed toward the door.
“Please thank your mum for the tea and biscuits; they were lovely. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable—that wasn’t my intention.”
They were going to have to spend all weekend together, at the very least, so he thought it best to leave things amicable. And from the way she’d run away from him earlier, it was clear she wasn’t interested in him, right? Had things changed since then? Right now, surrounded by a house that felt so much like Dina, it squeezed at his chest a little. He needed to get out.
“Scott, just wait a second, please.” Dina jumped out in front of him as he approached the door. Her hair was a mess, mascara smudged, and she’d never looked so beautiful. “I ran away from you because I was, well, I’m not looking for anything right now. And I haven’t been serious with anybody in…a while.”
“You did mention that when I was carrying you earlier.”
Dina’s face blanched. “Oh god, I hope I didn’t say anything else too embarrassing.”
“Only that I smell like pine. And that I’m warm and big.” He smirked as Dina groaned.
“Please try and forget anything I said. Blame it on the wine.”
As if he could ever forget a second ofit.
“Dina, it’s okay,” he said. “We can just be friends—friends for the rest of the wedding weekend.”
She smiled and his heart tripped.
“Friends would be good. Goodnight, Scott.” She went up onto her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek. Her lips were soft and warm and he wanted nothing more than to turn his face and meet her lips with his.
“Goodnight, Dina,” Scott said, and he shut the door gently behind him. This was going to be a long weekend.
Chapter 10
Getting Dina and her mother into a car was a trying experience for all involved. Nour had lost her sisters in a car accident when she was younger, and so had spent the past forty-five minutes adding protection spell after protection spell to every inch of the car. Dina, a little more pragmatic than her mother, had been busy undoing her mother’s henna magic all morning.
She had woken the house up with screams at 6a.m. when she’d discovered that her mother’s spell had changed her hair to a mermaid-blue color overnight. After the initial shock, the whole bright blue hair look had kind of grown on her, but she wasn’t convinced it would be the best look for the wedding, so she had begun the painstaking process of charming it back to its original aubergine brown with flecks of purple.
Finally, they were in the car, and heading off to Honeywell House, where they’d be spending the weekend. Immy and Eric were having a relatively small celebration, with around thirty guests.
Honeywell House was a National Trust property deep in the gentrified Hertfordshire countryside. Eric’s parents had actually got married there, and although Immy was vehemently opposedto following tradition, once she’d seen the place she had fallen in love. The phrases “definitely haunted” and “cabin in the woods” had been thrown about.
As they drove down twisting country roads, Dina found herself growing apprehensive. The way things had been left with Scott last night—the spark of longing she had felt pulse through her as she’d kissed his cheek…She had butterflies in her belly. And what kind of grown woman experienced butterflies, for crying out loud.
They passed through an archway of low-hanging tree branches, the sunlight piercing through and scattering on the road ahead. The leaves were already turning a blood orange shade, and next month they wouldn’t be there at all.
