Page 18 of A Midnight Kiss on Ever After Street
‘I didn’tsayanything – she didn’t let me. Itriedto make it clear that I want to take over The Cinderella Shop, but as usual, she wouldn’t hear it. I was trying to take the proverbial bull by its perfectly coiffed and manicured-to-perfection horns.’ I give Scarlett a quick rundown of what happened with Ebony last night.
‘You actually confronted her? Outright?’ Scarlett shakes her head when I nod. ‘How much “Dutch courage” had you indulged in at that ball?’
‘It’s notthatunusual for me to stand up for myself, is it?’ To be fair, it probably is. Confrontation isn’t my strong suit. I’d rather keep the peace and tiptoe around without upsetting anyone. I didn’twantto upset my aunt last night. I just wanted her to seemethe way Prince Charming saw me without even seeing me. Last night made me feel brave, like I deserve better than this and I didn’t need a mask to go out and get it, but this morning… all I can think of is that Ebony is right. What do I know about running a business? What do I know about marketing schemes and getting clients? I could learn, I suppose. Get myself on a business management course or something, but The Cinderella Shop is dying so fast that it’s probably too late. And would showing Ebony some certificate at the end of a run of evening classesreallyprove anything?
‘Sadie!’ Scarlett snaps her fingers in front of me. ‘Isaid, I didn’t come in early this morning to hear about your row with my mum. The only thing I want to hear about is the ball last night. Was it the most magical night of your life?’
‘Something like that,’ I mutter. The confrontation has overshadowed it all somehow. While lying in bed and reliving the magic of the evening, I tried to keep my mind on the nice parts of last night, like Prince Charming and who he is in real life and what might happen if I see him again, but every time I got too lost in the daydream, it was disrupted by thoughts of Ebony’s sharp words that left me wondering how I can ever prove myself to her.
‘Sadie Winters, if you don’t give me something right this instant…’ Scarlett gives me such a threatening look that I laugh.
‘Okay, okay. It was actually a bit rubbish at first, so I went exploring the castle and I ran into this guy…’
I don’t realise I’m smiling until Scarlett gasps. ‘Oh my God, IknewPrince Charming was going to be there.’
‘No, no, nothing like that.’ I try to rearrange my face into a frown, but the thought of the mystery man puts a smile there without my permission. ‘He was a bit frosty at first, but we…’
‘Oooooh!’ She’s waggling her eyebrows and waiting for more, but I don’t want to tell her about the kiss. It felt private, not a moment to be gossiped over the next day. Besides, if she knew, she’d never understand why I left at midnight. Before I can think of a way to finish the sentence, much like last night, I’m cut off by the clocktower at the castle chiming for 9a.m., except this time, I’m grateful for its interruption.
‘It was a great night.’ I go across the shop floor to unlock the door. ‘I’m glad I went.’
‘If you think you’re going to get away with such a vague description, you can think again. You’d only say something so indifferent if you were hiding somethingoutstanding. I want deeeeeetails!’
Scarlett knows me too well. She’s never going to let me hear the end of this if I don’t share something… I turn the key in the door and pull it open, and at exactly the same moment, a man appears outside and raises his hand to knock and his fist nearly collides with my face. I shriek in surprise and the man makes a noise of shock and takes a quick step backwards, and I’m unsure which one of us got the biggest fright.
‘I’m so sorry,’ he stutters, a look of horror crossing his face.
My heart is hammering from the unexpected encounter and it takes a few moments to get my breathing back under control as the adrenaline dissipates. ‘Morning, can I help you?’
The man opens his mouth to speak but no words come out. Instead of whatever he was going to say, he shakes his head. ‘No. I’m wasting your time.’
He turns and walks away, but before he gets very far, he turns again and goes to come back, but then he abandons that move too and turns to walk away again, and he ends up sort of pacing back and forth a little way up the street. There’s something about his stance that seems oddly familiar. He’s wearing glasses and there’s a leather satchel hanging from his shoulder that bangs against his hip with every movement.
Scarlett meets my eyes with a raised eyebrow. ‘Is there anything more frustrating than someone going to say something and then stopping and not telling you what it was?’
We both shuffle nearer the door so we can see the man. The hairs on the back of my neck have stood up and there’s something about him that makes me want to keep watching.
‘What’s he doing?’ Scarlett asks.
‘Having a conversation with himself, I think.’ The man is still pacing back and forth, his face moving as though he’s trying to talk himself into something.
‘Well, we’re used to that. You do that all the time.’
I do talk to myself a lot. When there’s no one else to talk to, you have no choice but to make a decent conversation partner for yourself, right?
The man must reach a decision because he turns once more and comes back towards the shop with renewed purpose, and Scarlett dives behind the counter so it doesn’t look obvious we were watching him.
I pull the door open again as he approaches. ‘Good morning.’
‘Hello.’ He stops at the step and holds a hand out to shake mine.
Not many customers greet a shopkeeper this way. I lift my hand and long fingers curl loosely around mine, and that feeling tingles at the back of my neck again. I’ve held this hand before.
‘I have an unusual problem.’
‘Unusual problems are our speciality.’ I sound smoother than I feel as I stand aside to let him through.
There really is something unnervingly familiar about him. I try to study him from behind as he goes to the counter, but it was dark last night, and I didn’t spend much time looking at the back of Prince Charming’s head…
