Page 23 of A Midnight Kiss on Ever After Street
‘No one would run away fromhimforanyreason. This is the best idea you’ve ever had. My mum challenged you to do something fantastic on a business and marketing front, and the very next day, an actual Cinderella story falls into your lap. That incredible dress will be in the window for all the world to see – and this is the kind of feel-good story that social media loves, so all the worldwillsee it. We can do so much with this. We’ll get everyone on Ever After Street involved. It’ll be the biggest publicity hit The Cinderella Shop has ever had, and no one’s had to fly to Finland or make tentacle-laden catsuits to achieve it. The only thing we have to hope for is that the missing Cinderella doesn’t come forward for a while otherwise it’ll be over too soon.’
‘Hah.’ I snort at the irony. ‘Not much chance of that happening.’
‘What’s got into you today, Sade? This is a brilliant opportunity to geteveryonetalking about us. It’s probably our only chance to save The Cinderella Shop. It could bring in so many new customers, and yet, you couldn’t have been any ruder to our princely friend if you’d tried.’
‘He’s just not who I thought he was.’ I’m distracted, looking through the window at the empty street, half-wishing he’d reappear and half-wishing he’d never come again. ‘I thought last night meant something, but he just wants, what, someone local to write appealing copy to attract potential buyers? He probably gets a cash bonus if he offloads the castle quickly.’
‘All right, what am I missing here? Have you met him before or…’ Her face shifts as she starts putting two and two together.
I wasn’t going to tell her, but I’ve already said too much and if I don’t say something now, she’s going to have figured it out for herself in about thirty seconds. I take a deep breath. ‘There’s absolutely no chance of the missing Cinderella coming forward… because she’s standing right in front of you.’
* * *
‘What?What? And may I respectfully add a “the hell” onto the end of thatwhat?’ Scarlett is pacing the floor so hard that I’m surprised she hasn’t worn a hole through the wood flooring. ‘The guy you “ran into” at the ball, the one you werejustabout to start telling meallabout… wasthatguy? And the woman who ran away from him… wasyou?’
‘Yes.’ I cringe.
‘Why would you— oh God,didhe do something to make you run away?’ She stops pacing and looks worried.
‘No! Heck, no, he was the most perfect gentleman in the universe. There couldn’t be a more considerate and respectful—’
‘Then why the flippingheckwould you run away from him?’
‘It was midnight!’
‘A time that means nothing when you’ve met Prince Charming! Unless you’re literally Cinderella and your carriageisabout to turn back into a pumpkin! Were there lizards? Mice?’
‘I wasn’t supposed to go to that ball. I was just going to have a look around the castle and be home ages before your mum got here, but then I met him. Time ceased to exist. And then the clock struck midnight and time came thundering back into existence with blinding breath-taking reality.’
‘Who cares about my mum whenthatis on offer?’
‘I do! I need her to trust me to take over The Cinderella Shop! If she knows I went to the ball, she’ll never forgive me. She’llneverdeem me ready to take over. I’ve worked here for most of my life. I wasn’t about to throw all that away for some guy I’d just met. I didn’t have time to think it through, I just had to get back.’
‘So much so that you couldn’t have yelled a quick “I’m Sadie from The Cinderella Shop, come find me” instead of dropping your shoe?’
‘I didn’t plan to drop the shoe. I didn’t want him to find me. I mean, I did, but not inthisway. I thought I’d run into him again when the time was right. Not this sodding morning.’
She pushes a hand through her choppy blonde hair. ‘Why didn’t you say something just now?’
‘Seriously?’ I raise an eyebrow. ‘He didn’t even recognise me.’
‘Oh, come on, Sade, cut the man some slack. EvenIwouldn’t have recognised you last night. The whole point of the fairy godcousin makeover was sono onewould recognise you. You can’t blame him for that. All right, you’re a bit hurt, but you have to tell him… Oh, wait. No, for God’s sake,don’ttell him! We need the publicity from this. Thelastthing you should do is tell him. Our shop needs a missing Cinderella to find!’
‘I don’t want to tell him. I’m not the person he met last night. She was a perfect version of me that doesn’t exist. A pretty, well made-up, flawlessly styled, nicely dressed, elegant fairy-tale princess. That isn’t me. It’s 9a.m. and I’ve already got bits of cotton in my frizzy hair. And he didn’t have his glasses on at the ball. He said everything was fuzzy. He’ll see me as I am and recoil in horror. I’m never going to live up to his idea of the “missing Cinderella”. It’s better to stay as one magical night that will never be anything else.’
‘Sade…’ She’s going to tell me off for being self-deprecating, but she knows I won’t listen so she lets out a huff and rolls her eyes instead. ‘How karmic that you going to a ball that was thrown solely to accomplish the sale of the castle could be the one thing that gives us a leg to stand on. If anyone could have any influence over who buys the castle, it’s the estate agent managing the sale – Prince Charming himself.’
‘He wasn’tthatcharming. He was, last night, but it seems like he turned back into a pumpkin at midnight too.’
‘Sadie, he’ssocharming! All right, he seemed a bit shy and nervous, a bit difficult to talk to. I don’t think even he knew what he wanted to say, but he can’t have been that bad last night because you kissed him!Youkissed a man on a first date!’
‘It wasn’t a—’
‘You dated that Danny for three months and never got as far as kissing him!’
‘That Danny had a tongue like a lizard! He’d stick it out and wriggle it around occasionally, like he was hoping some random girl might fall and spear herself on it. And I didn’t date him – I went out to lunch with him a few times because your mum wanted to be part of his mum’s “elite social circle” and it took me a while to stand up for myself and tell her we had nothing in common and I was sick of him always “forgetting” his wallet so I had to pay.’
She shakes her head. ‘To get a kiss from you on the first date, Prince Charminghasto be some sort of phenomenon previously unstudied by humankind and—’
