Page 56 of A Midnight Kiss on Ever After Street
She fixes me with a look that could turn a mannequin to stone. ‘There is no doubt in my mind that he knows exactly who “the one” is, and it’s not her.’
‘He doesn’t know, Scar.’
‘Have you seen the way he looks at you? Every time he comes in here, he doesn’t have a face – he’s just a yellow blob with heart-shaped eyes like a walking emoji. Even if he doesn’t realise you’re who he met at the ball, he’s as topsy-turvy for you as you are for him. And he’s certainly not stupid enough to fall for that crock of codswallop from someone he knows full well he hasn’t met before.’ She sighs when I don’t agree. ‘Maybe she stood him up?’
‘Better than any of the other things she could’ve done to him.’ I give up and clamber out of the window display, knocking over the singular shoe on my way. A bad omen, perhaps? ‘Then why didn’t he go home last night?’
She doesn’t justify my worrying with an answer.
The morning rolls onforever. I watch every tick of the second hand on the clock. Endless minutes pass as though each one lasts for an hour… Well, it feels that way, but in reality, it’s ten past nine when Wittfinallycomes through the door.
I inhale a gasp of relief and force myself not to vault over the counter and wrap him in a relieved hug.
Which is probably just as well, when he throws his arms out wide and spins in circles. ‘I’m in love! I’m in love and I want to shout it from the rooftops!’
So this is what it feels like when your heart breaks. I can’t breathe. My throat is too tight and my internal organs feel too big for my body. Everything’s pulsating and my entire body is shaking. My vision blurs so much that I might be about to pass out. Tears have sprung to my eyes. That’s it. I’ve lost himandI’ve let him fall for that falsifying ferret. Our ‘once upon a dream’ is ove—
‘Seriously?’ Scarlett raises an unimpressed eyebrow.
‘No, of course not.’ He laughs. ‘Are you kidding? She was barmy. Think she wanted to boil my bunnies. She gave me a minute-by-minute itinerary of how we’d spent the night at the ball – none of which happened. You know, we’d walked round the maze, and gone to the dungeons and had raunchy dungeon sex, when neither mazes, dungeons, or the possibility of me having sex with someone I don’t know are things that exist. Then she produced the shoe. It was green and about this big.’ He holds up a thumb and forefinger about an inch apart. ‘She’d made it herself out of Play-Doh and when I said that wasn’tquitewhat I’d had in mind, she threw another table’s jug of water over me and screamed that I’d led her on because I’d said I was looking for the other shoe and hadn’t specifiedwhichshoe, and then she stormed out, but not before getting a stamp on her 1001 Nights card. Ali said he’s seen her in there hundreds of times with different people. Gotta admire her dedication to getting those 1001 free nights.’
I burst into a, quite frankly,terrifyingmix of relieved tears and unhinged laughter and make a noise that can only be likened to an angle grinder on the blink.
He looks taken aback when his eyes fall on me and he approaches the counter. ‘Sorry, I was just joking. Winding you up for being so worried abo—’
I push myself upwards until I can grab him and yank him into a hug across the wide wooden desk. I get my arms around his shoulders and pull him into the awkwardest hug that’s ever awkwarded, sort of squeezing his head and burying my face in his neck.
In keeping with the awkward theme, his arms slide around me awkwardly, and he rubs my back, moving his chin as though he’s got a mouthful of my hair. The counter digs into my stomach at a sharp angle, but I didn’t know how else to let out the rush of relief that he’s okayandnot in love with her.
‘That’s not funny, Witt!’ I eventually release him and give him a smack that comes out harder than intended and stings both my hand and his arm, and then I feel guilty and hold his wrist in my palm while I use the other hand to rub over the sting. ‘Sorry.’
‘Sadie thought you’d been murdered,’ Scarlett adds helpfully.
‘You should have called or something. You could have at least texted me proof of life. Why didn’t you go home last night?’ Who knew blushing was an extreme sport? I wasn’t intending to let him knowquitehow much of the evening I spent spying on him. ‘I’ve got used to seeing the castle lived in again. I happened to notice your light wasn’t on…’
‘Sadie watched from her window for 99 per cent of last night. She watched from the shop for the other 1 per cent.’ Scarlett’s not letting me get away with glossing over it.
‘That’s an exaggeration,’ I protest. And it really is. It was a fair 2 per cent from the shop and no more than 98 per cent from the bedroom window.
He laughs, a little bit nervously, as though he’s slightly concerned about my stalkerish tendencies. ‘I went to sit by the river and lost track of time. It was about 3a.m. when I got back to the castle; I didn’t want to wake you with a text. The light wasn’t on because I went for a shower and straight to bed to try to blot it out. I’m sorry, I didn’t think you’d bethatbothered.’
‘Of course I’m that bothered! I lov—’ The half-word hangs in the air, and I don’t know how to save it. I can’tlovehim. I can’t even be bloody honest with him. ‘I was worried about you.’
It’s the lamest ‘save’ ever. He knows it, Scarlett knows it, and I know it. Somewhere, there’s a random pigeon on a distant roof who knows it. What I felt last night wasn’t just worry. The unadulterated and instant heartbreak when he made that joke just now wasn’t because I thought he’d fallen for a liar – it was because I thought he’d fallen for someone who isn’t me.
His face has brightened and his mischievous smile suggests he knows exactly what that cut-off word was meant to be, but he doesn’t press it. ‘I wanted to be on my own. Think things through. I was just so fed up and disillusioned by it all. Plus, wet. I didn’t want to come here and drag you down too. Incidents like that are exactly why I avoid people.’
My hand is still on his arm and he twists his fingers until he can grip my hand and lift it to his mouth to press a kiss there. ‘I’m sorry, Sade. I didn’t mean to worry you.’
I’m still trying to get my breathing under control and my fingers press into his, trying to get across how much he means to me and how sorry I am for dragging him through this. All of this is my doing. At first, I thought it was worth it – whatever it took to save The Cinderella Shop. None of it would matter, as long as wedid. And now… it’s gone too far. It does matter. I’m hurting him and further reinforcing his lack of faith in love.
He looks around the shop. ‘Can we forget this now? The Cinderella dress, the stupid website, the calls for people to come forward. I don’t want any more nights like that. If she hasn’t told me yet, maybe she can’t, or she doesn’t want to, or she will when she’s ready.’
‘Not on your life, my friend.’ Scarlett crosses her arms. ‘Do you know how much publicity it’s bringing us? People are still taking selfies with that dress. I can’t walk down the street without someone asking me if we’ve found the mystery Cinderella yet. My clients in Rapunzel’s are always gossiping about who it might be. Someone came up with Carol Vorderman in disguise the other day. The favourite theory is that she was really a princess from a foreign country and she wouldn’t be allowed to tell you becauseyou’rea commoner.’
My hand is still in his. Why is my hand still in his? Why haven’t I pulled my fingers away yet and why hasn’t he let go yet?
‘I think we can rule out Carol Vorderman.’ He tries to make light of it, but Scarlett continues glaring at him.
