Page 21 of An Enchanted Moment on Ever After Street
‘Ahh, what a charmer that guy is. I didn’t think there were many swearwords I hadn’t heard, but he’s invented his own batch of them. The threats were a nice touch too.’ I can almosthearhim rolling his eyes. ‘What on earth did you ever see in him? Well, other than money, prestige, and insanely good looks.’
‘Something I ask myself every day,’ I mutter.
We’re standing directly opposite each other again, and I lower myself down to the concrete path and sit cross-legged, and listen to the familiar pained noises as he does the same. I want to ask him about them. We all grunt and groan a little bit as we move, but his seems… excessive, and I don’t think he’s even aware of it.
‘I know you likeBeauty and the Beast, but you seem to have taken a wrong turn and accidentally dated Gaston… He doesn’t enjoy hunting, decorating with antlers, and singing songs about how wonderful he is, does he?’
The fact he knows the story so well makes my heart swell, and I laugh, because Rick does have some Gaston-like qualities. If you could call them qualities. And he’d definitely like his friends to gather in a bar and sing his praises. I tell Darcy the whole story, from his endless support while Mum was ill to his stamping of Shannon’s library card.
‘Ahh, I get that. Relationships with people who are only happy if you’re unhappy. Been there, done that.’
Ah-ha! So he can’t always have been as withdrawn as he is these days. ‘Are you single now?’
‘What do you think?’ His tone is so sarcastically incredulous that it makes me smile.
‘Are you looking?’ I’m trying to sound casual, but I’m suddenly desperately invested in his answer.
‘Hah.’ He lets out such a shrill laugh that it makes me jump, and when he speaks, there’s an irate tone to his voice. ‘I hate people and avoid them at all costs. Funnily enough, no, I’m not looking for a relationship and never will be again. I’m alone, forever.’
I wince because it sounds so sharp and so final, and so very sad. ‘You’re okay with that?’
‘Y-yes.’ He swallows before he answers, and there’s just enough of a hesitation to convince me he isn’tquiteas assured as he sounds. ‘I would never subject another human to getting close to me. I curse everything I come into contact with.’
I chew the inside of my lip. He sounds so raw and broken, and for the first time, I desperately want to give him a hug. ‘Who’s told you that?’
‘No one needs to tell me. There are mirrors that show me every day. There’s a trail of destruction behind me – the destroyed lives of people I once loved.’
I want to say something like I’m sure that’s not true, but I don’t want to trivialise it. He’s obviously been throughsomething, I just don’t know what and don’t think he’ll ever tell me. ‘Rick is living proof that beasts can be princes in disguise, and equally, princes can be disguised as beasts. No one is all good or all bad.’
‘I can think of a few ex-prime ministers who are the exception to that rule.’
I laugh again because no one can argue with that astute observation.
The half-open back door to the shop moves and Mrs Potts puts a tentative paw out onto the step and then slinks the rest of her body outside with abrrrripnoise.
‘Oh, hello, Madam.’ I make a squeaking noise and pat my lap, even though she rarely sits on my lap at the best of times.‘Mrs Potts just came out to see if she can wrangle any more kitty biscuits.’
‘You called your cat Mrs Potts?’ Darcy asks from the other side of the hedge.
‘Technically she was my mum’s cat, but I inherited her. She’s grey and white and as soon as we saw her at the rescue centre, we both said she reminded us of Mrs Potts from the animated film, so that became her name.’
He’s laughing to himself and I imagine him shaking his head fondly. ‘Your dedication toBeauty and the Beastis unrivalled.’
‘It’s the love story every lonely bookworm dreams of, isn’t it? I thought IwasBelle when I was younger. I loved to read and I never fitted in at school, and I wanted life to be more exciting and fairy tale-esque than it actually is. I fell in love with the “tale as old as time” scene and dreamed of waltzing around a ballroom with a handsome Beast.’
‘I think you mean prince.’
‘No. Even as a child, the scene where the Beast became a prince again was the most disappointing moment of the entire film to me. I loved him as he was. He didn’t need to be a prince again to show he was kind-hearted and good.’
There’s just a hint of a quiver in his good-natured scoff. ‘SoBeauty and the Beastreally is a lifelong obsession then?’
‘I was certain that a big magical adventure was coming my way, like it does in all Disney movies. My father died when I was young and I always thought he wasn’t really dead and one day I’d stumble across a castle in the forest where a Beast was keeping him a prisoner and I’d save him by taking his place and then fall in love with said Beast.’ Mrs Potts comes to sit beside me, flipping her tail from side to side. She bats my hand away when I go to stroke her – no claws this time, but a severe warning that it won’t be clawless next time. ‘Obviously with adult hindsight, I see those were the thoughts of a grieving child, but even now, themovie reminds me of everything that’s good about the world. Iwantthere to be an enchanted castle filled with magical things.’
‘The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.’
‘W.B. Yeats,’ I say, impressed. Darcy never stops surprising me. ‘You’re very well read for someone who hates books.’
‘I don’t hate books, I just… reading isn’t for me these days.’
