Page 28 of A Midnight Kiss on Ever After Street
‘I guess it gave me my appreciation for old buildings and the history of places; maybe I’d never have got into my line of work without living in literal history. Bright side and all that.’
My fingertips can’t stop themselves from running over the inside of his forearm.
‘She died when I was sixteen. I still live in the same cottage now. How about you?’
‘I was lucky compared to you. I didn’t have to go far. My aunt lived about thirty miles away from where we lived. It was outside the catchment area for my school, so I had to switch schools. Aunt Ebony went for the sympathy card so every teacher in every lesson introduced me as, “This is Sadie, she’s just lost both her parents in a tragic car accident, so be nice to her, won’t you?”’
He screws his face up. ‘I can imagine how well that went down.’
‘They used to shout “Miss Hannigan!” at me, or sing “It’s the Hard Knock Life” or “Tomorrow” from the musicalAnniewhenever they saw me.’
‘Ouch. Kids can be so cruel.’ He winces in sympathy and draws his elbow in until the back of my hand rests against his ribs. ‘Sorry, that isn’t something I’d usually share with someone I barely know, but you caught me off guard. I didn’t expect to have something like that in common.’
‘Maybe we were meant to meet.’
‘Maybe we were.’ He catches my eyes again with so much intensity, the urge to reach up and stroke his jaw again, to rest my thumb in the dip of his chin isalmostimpossible to ignore.
I should tell him. Just blurt it out. It isn’t fair to carry on pretending we’ve never met before. But what if Scarlett’s right? People arealreadyasking about the missing Cinderella. There have been website hits. Retweets. If the story grows, more people will be asking, and more people will be talking about The Cinderella Shop. I love that shop more than anything. If this is theonlyway to give it a fighting chance, I can’t let a little twinge of guilt change that.
The almondy scent of Hawthorne blossom is heavy in the air as we carry on walking, past little fairy paths between patches of bluebells, giant wooden sunflowers, and a tree stump with models of Thumbelina and Prince Cornelius dancing on a pumpkin.
‘The other night, when I met the mystery Cinderella… I thought we’d get more time. I thought by the end of the night, we’d take our masks off and introduce ourselves. If I’d known it was going to end like that, I’d have been more forward. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to find her – I don’t want her to think that it didn’t matter to me.’
‘I thought you only wanted her for her whimsical storytelling ability.’ I don’t mean to sound quite so spiky, but I was so sure he felt something on Sunday night, and hearing that yesterday morning put my hackles right up and made me question everything I thought I’d felt at that ball.
‘Yeah. Um…’ He shakes his head. ‘Another example of words coming out in a way I don’t intend them to. Ido, but it wasn’t meant to sound as callous as that. She made mefeelsomething about the castle, and if she can get to my cold, lifeless heart, then potential buyers would lap it up.’
I go to do a gasp of indignation, but he interrupts it with a noise of frustration at himself and takes a few slow breaths. ‘Sorry, this is where I fail at making myself understood. What I mean is that she made me see a good side of the castle, and it’s been a long time since I saw the good side of anything… I’d like to know what else she can tell me about it.’
Guilt twinges again. I can see how much he’s struggling to make his words sound right, and I can definitely see how his clipped sentences come off as harsher than he means them to. At the ball, hewassharp at first, but he became more at ease as we spent time together, and now he seems like that quiet, peaceful gentleman again.
‘Would you want to be found?’ He blurts the words out too fast and I watch the way he takes a couple of breaths and focuses himself. ‘If you’d run away from a guy like me at a ball?’
It’s probably the most loaded question anyone’s ever asked me. I don’t know if it’s pointed, if he suspects and he’s trying to wheedle an admission out of me, or if he’s totally earnest and doesn’t know who else to ask.
‘I think it would be complicated.’ I try to sound as neutral as possible because I don’t want him to think he did anything wrong that night, and even though it would be nice to think I’m not so unmemorable after all, having to call off the search for Cinderella would be a death knell for our shop. ‘Maybe there are other factors at play. There might be other things going on in her life that don’t make it as simple as it sounds. The world can’t revolve around a guy she’s just met.’
‘Yeah, I understand that.’ He nudges his arm against mine. ‘And it’s not all about me, right?’
‘I didn’t mean to be quite so unkind when I said that yesterday, but in the nicest way possible, yes. Whatever the reason she ran away, it must have been important to her.’
I keep looking up and appreciating his face. A wide nose and cheekbones that were hidden by his mask the other night. Blue eyes that are enlarged by his glasses, and the dip in his chin that’s disguised by a five o’clock shadow tonight. He’s exactly like I thought he was. Kind, gentle, endearing, unsure on the surface but with an underlying strength of character and a sense of fun behind his twinkly eyes.
We’ve meandered around the path through the woods and ended up coming out at a different entrance to where we went in, and Witt looks behind him in surprise. ‘That place really is like a maze.’
‘You just need to have spent as much time there as I have. I used to go there to feel closer to my parents. The Cinderella Shop was their life’s work, they loved Ever After Street so much.’
‘This place is really important to you, isn’t it?’
‘I’ve never wanted to work anywhere else. My parents believed everyone deserves a fairy tale in real life, and they were so proud of being a part of making that happen. My mum made herself a dress for her first date with my dad because she knew it was special. She sewed all her hopes into it, and they fell in love that night. That’s where the “you’ll find love wearing one of our dresses” thing comes from. She believed that wearing beautiful clothes that were made to fit gave people confidence and made them feel good, and if you’re feeling good, you’re more likely to be open to whatever possibilities the universe throws your way. It was Ebony who turned it into a literal guarantee – a silly gimmick.’
‘Look at the dresses you make though. You make magic happen too.’
‘Doesn’t feel like it sometimes,’ I mutter, and then stop myself before I say any more.
We’ve reached the door to my flat, and I’m already wishing I’d taken us on a longer route just to extend our time together, even though we’ve been out for over an hour.
‘Thank you for making sure I didn’t get lost. You wouldn’t want to do it again sometime, would you? I’d love to hear more about things around here, and you’re the tour guide of my dreams.’
