Page 31 of This Spells Love

Dax smiles that same slow, easy half smile he gave me the first time I suggested this little wager. In another life.

His fingers tease the cuff of his henley, lifting it slowly, revealing the flesh of his forearm like a slow striptease, but before he reaches the patch of skin where I would bet my life the McGuire family crest is, he looks up. His eyes meet mine and—poof. It happens. The rest of the bar dissolves around us.

“Ah…” he drawls in his soft Irish brogue. “I’m afraid you’ve made a terrible decision. You see…”

He tugs his shirt. My fingers reach for his skin to trace the outline of the knight on horseback. My heart knows this is how we start. We’ll be planning road trips by Friday.

“Sorry to interrupt….”

Fuck.

Sunny stands just behind Dax with at least the sense to look like she’s intruded on something.

“So sorry, guys. Turns out the women who called for the cab were smoking around the corner of the building.” She holds up her phone. “The closest Uber is twenty minutes away, and they really need me at work. Any chance…” She glances from Dax to the front door.

He stands, pulls down his sleeve, and slides the Guinness in front of me in a single fluid motion.

“Looks like the universe wants you to have this beer. See you around, Gemma.”

For a second time, I watch him leave without me, wondering what kind of fucked-up universe I’ve walked into.

Chapter 8

“Dax has agirlfriend? Doesn’t that kind of fudge up your plans?”

My sister is hands-free in her minivan. She’s driving my nephew, Riley, to school and my nieces, Lucy and Jan, to daycare while talking me through this fudging crisis.

“I don’t think she’s his girlfriend,” I clarify. “I’ve dealt with girlfriends before. They stick around for three months tops before Dax finds some lame reason why he’s not into them. No, this is worse. I think she’s his best friend.” The words leave a terrible taste in my mouth, one that I’m attempting to rinse away with my secondGemma with a Goat latte of the morning.

“Well, that’s good, then,” Kiersten says, not getting it at all.

I guess in the grand scheme of the plan, it’s good. It’s a lot easier to kiss an unattached Dax than a happily-in-love one, but truth be told, it feels like Dax is cheating on me. It’s irrational, I know. Dax didn’t meet me in this timeline until yesterday. But the idea that he could find anothermefeels like a karate chop straight to the throat because I don’t think I’d ever be able to find another Dax. And part of me wonders if maybe he’s gotten an upgrade.

“So if he doesn’t have a girlfriend, when are you going to see him again? Make your moves? Seduce him with the famous Wilde sister charm? Wait! Hold your answer for just a second.”

There’s indistinguishable white noise on Kiersten’s side of the line, followed by the sound of a car door opening and closing and my sister’s distant voice yelling, “Have a great day, sweetheart.” Then there’s a second or two of shuffling and an under-the-breath curse word before Kiersten’s voice comes through clearly. “Okay, she’s gone. You can dish. How terrible is this woman? Feel free to swear and use awful language. My car is child-free.”

I blow out a long breath. I wish I could vent right now. Call Sunny all sorts of terrible names to make the nagging ache at the back of my chest go away. But something tells me it wouldn’t help.

“Honestly, Kierst, she’s lovely. So nice. So smart. She’s a legitimately good curler.”

“Well, you’re smart. And you’re also beautiful. Having seen you fail at multiple sports, I’m going to guess you’re a pretty terrible curler. Still, you always look awkwardly adorable when you’re bad at things. It’s endearing.”

I don’t know if I’m caught off guard by her statements or if it’s just taking me a second to process, but I don’t answer her right away.

“Hey,” she says. “You’re quiet. Are you still there?”

I nod, even though it’s stupid because she can’t even see me. “Yeah. I think I just really needed to hear that.”

“Yeah, well, the sisterly bond transcends dimensions.” Her voice softens. “He obviously means a lot to you, so I don’t want to see you fuck it up.”

I don’t want to fuck it up either.

“Okay. I will figure out a way to talk to him. And then come upwith some sort of diabolical plan to get him to kiss me. If you have any brilliant ideas, please send them my way.”

There’s aclick, click, clickof Kiersten’s turn signal. It reminds me of a clock. As if the universe is sending a sign that time’s a-wastin’.

“You say this guy is your best friend,” Kiersten says. “You must know all sorts of things about him. Exploit that. Be the Gemma you know he likes.”

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