Page 53 of A Midnight Kiss on Ever After Street
‘No one’s ever been this comfy sitting on a rock before.’ His voice sounds drunk with relaxation and it makes something inside me melt. To have that effect on this huge, protected man who doesn’t let people see his vulnerable side… It means something. He’sjusttold me that he doesn’t do exactly what he’s doing.
‘Can we stay here forever? No balls, no castle, no Cinderella Shop, just me and you? We’ll drink filtered river water and survive on foraged berries and probably-not-poisonous mushrooms?’
I can’t hold back the laughorthe kiss to the top of his head again. ‘I wish.’
‘When we get back, you’ll be up sewing half the night, won’t you?’
Scarlett has already texted from Rapunzel’s salon with intel that The Cinderella Shop is still open, so Ebony must have stayed, and judging by every other day lately, there will be another pile of alterations to do to the second-chance dresses later.
‘Of course I will. I’ve got all those alterations to do. They don’t take long, but I haven’t done any today.’ I sigh. ‘I need to… I don’t know, Witt. Maybe it’s time to think about moving on. The castle being knocked down will change everything on Ever After Street. It’s a huge part of my life, and I know it sounds daft because it’s just a building that has nothing to do with me, but I’m not sure Icanwatch it become a supermarket without my heart breaking. And you’re right, and Scarlett’s right: Ebony is never going to give me the shop. I don’t want to drag her through the courts and fight for it, so maybe it’s time to think about finding somewhere else to live and work.’
He lifts his head in surprise. ‘That’s not what you want.’
‘No, it isn’t. I want to run The Cinderella Shop as my parents would’ve run it. I want the castle to stay exactly as it is for another few centuries, but neither of those things are going to happen. I’ve worked on Ever After Street forever – literally. It’s my comfort zone, and maybe I need to see what happens when I step outside it.’
He drops his head into the hand that’s not still holding mine. ‘This is my fault.’
‘No, it’s not. You’ve inspired me. It’s not a bad thing to want more from life. You’ve shown me that fairy talescanhappen in real life if you’re brave enough to take a chance. And I’m in awe of you. You’re an inspiration. I can’t imagine what it’s like to open your mouth and not know whether the words are going to come out or not, but you deal with it admirably, and you don’t let anything hold you back.’
Even under the smudged tiger stripes, I can see his cheeks reddening. ‘No, no, no.Youdo that tome. I’m a different person around you. I feel respected and cared for. The stutter doesn’t come out as much because I’m so at ease with you. Before I came here, I shut myself away from the world. I do a job where I barely need to interact with people and most conversations can be achieved over email. I stop myself doingeverythingin case something brings up a need to speak. Shop assistants and acquaintances must think I’m the rudest person ever because it’s better to stay silent than to risk the embarrassment that inevitably comes with speaking. But with you… I forgot myself from the moment I met you, and since then, you make me feel accepted and unjudged.’
‘Are you happy in your job?’
He makes a non-committal noise. ‘It suits me. I spend a lot of time by myself in old buildings, and I often have to travel to places and stay for weeks at a time, which gets me out of my grandma’s little cottage that’s seemed more and more oppressive lately. But happy?’ He shakes his head. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been happy, Sade. Maybe when I was a kid, but it’s easy to be happy when you’re a kid because your parents protect you from the worst parts of the world.’
‘And then something happens to them, and the worst parts of the world come rushing at you all at once?’
‘Exactly. And for a really long time, I’veonlyseen the bad parts, and since coming here, I see the good in it again, and I don’t want to lose that.’ He’s quiet for a while. ‘I just told you a lie. I’ve been happy once lately – that night at the ball. When I was dancing with the mystery Cinderella. I felt something, and I think it was pure, unadulterated happiness, and that’s why I can’t give up on her. Because I think she felt it too, and…’ The stutter comes out and he shakes his head instead of finishing the sentence.
It’s the first time he’s said it, actually said it out loud, to me. The first time I’vereallyknown that he did feel something that night, and it feels like a big step for him to admit that. The hand that was around his knee is now on his thigh and I give it a squeeze. ‘Of course she did. Things like that are never one-sided…’ I have to force the words out past the lump in my throat, which gets tighter when he meets my eyes, giving me the perfect opportunity to tell him. I could say it. Just blurt it out. Three little words.It was me. Followed by five more words.And you didn’t recognise me. I could say it out here, in the quiet of the countryside, where everything is peaceful and maybe he’s relaxed enough to hear me out while I try to explain why I’ve let this go on for as long as I have.
But those words coming out will hurt him. They’ll ruin whatever this could be between us, and they stick in my throat before I can say them.
The one thing he understands is words not coming out when you want them to, and he squeezes the hand he’s still holding in my lap, and then lifts his arm across my head so it encircles my shoulders, and he pulls me into his side in a one-armed hug.
‘I’m not unhappy right now.’ He whispers the words into my hair.
‘I’m not unhappy right now either.’ I lean my head against his chest and we stay, being not unhappy with each other for an abnormally long time.
14
It’s a couple of days later and I haven’t seen Ebony since the moment I walked out on her. Scarlett tells me she was asleep on the sofa by 7p.m. that night while soaking her blistered feet in a footbath, and she needed a few days to recover.
Second-chance dresses are still flying off the shelves, and I’m thinking about ways to move forward. A step away from princess ball gowns and into something more practical and suitable for everyday wear, even if that means a step away from The Cinderella Shop too.
I’m standing at the counter, drawing up a design for a dress with a non-corseted bodice and deep V-neck, a swishy, swingy skirt with elements of Baby’s peachy-pinkDirty Dancingdress and Marilyn Monroe’s infamous subway-grate dress fromThe Seven Year Itch. Something that’s suitable for date nights and summer weddings rather than fairy-tale balls. Ilovemaking the princess dresses, and while people still want them forreallyspecial occasions, like bridal gowns, I’ve realised that the second-chance dresses appeal so much because they’re affordable. Even £50 for a dress is a lot of money if you’re only going to wear it once, whereas if a customer can see several potential upcoming occasions where it would work, then £50 is a reasonable investment and people are happy to pay it.
‘Is this the future of The Cinderella Shop or you?’ Witt’s leaning over the counter from the other side, his fingers fiddling with the flower-shaped pin cushion that’s around the wrist of my free hand as he watches my pencil moving across my sketchbook as I draw smooth outlines, with no ruffles and not a crinoline in sight, the kind of elegant dress that Kate Middleton would wear without the need for her budget.
‘I don’t know.’ I look up and see the understanding in his eyes. ‘Just feeling inspired, I guess. It’s been ages since I could design the dresses I want to make and have a chance of actually making them. I’ll talk to Ebony, tell her what I’m thinking – that we change how things are done around here or I move on.’ I’m heartbroken at the thought of leaving The Cinderella Shop, but the other shopkeepers are right – without the castle, I’m not sure how much of a future Ever After Street itself will have, but I also feel empowered. Things have been going this way for far too long, Ebony and me at an impasse, and one of us has to dosomethingabout it. Witt makes me want to sort my life out, to address the not-good things head on, even if that means leaving my comfort zone and the shop that’s always been a part of me. ‘I always thought that would be terrifying, but it feels invigorating now. Like I have a choice. Like I have some agency over what I do. Everything feels different since I met you. You are—’
‘Prince Charming!’ The door bursts open and a woman with red hair barrels through it. ‘It’s me! I’m the one you’ve been looking for!’
Witt pushes himself upright and looks at me before looking at her. ‘I really don’t think so.’
‘No, I’m really her. I was just out for a walk and saw my dress in the window.Mydress. And my shoe. I’ve been looking for that! Can I have it back?’
‘No.’ I give her a stern look. What is this woman playing at? ‘Not unless you can produce your original receipt, anyway.’
