Flirting With Magick (27 page)

"I'm sorry, Abby." A tortured look swept over his face.

I squeezed his arm again-– it was the most affection I could muster
at that moment, "And you still need to sign the contract for the apartment."

"I'll do it tomorrow, during lunch," he said, glowering. I wasn’t
nagging him, just reminding; it was probably just the tone of my voice
that was making him defensive. He snatched his car keys off the kitc
hen
counter. "I haven't had much time to think since getting back to work."

"
Yeah, I know." It was beginning to feel like old times. "You going
to Troy's?"

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." He grumbled, slamming the door behind him.

“WILL YOU BE MY MAID OF HONOUR?”
Kate looked up from
painting her toenails while I sifted through the remaining colours late
r that afternoon. Her hair was gathered on the top of her head for our
run that morning, and she’d left it frizzy, so it looked a bit like an
apricot coloured poodle tail, rather than her gorgeous ringlets. It was rather distracting.

“
Of course I will, you know that,” I answered, testing a berry hue
on my pinky fingernail. “When’s the big day, anyway?”

“Oh, it won’t be for a while, but I just wanted to ask. And also let
you know that Nathan’s asking Scott to be best man. Are you two
friends again?”

“I think so. We were getting along well last night until...” I shrugged.

“I noticed that. Until Carolyn and Josh turned up, anyway.” She pouted. “I really miss the fun we had, the four of us.

“Yeah it was fun, but we can do the same stuff with Josh.”

“I love you, Abs, but you know
Josh
and I have never
really gotten
along.”

“
Yeah, I know.” I swore for some reason Josh and Kate had hated
each other from first sight. It was mainly due to a personality clash but,
when Josh left and went interstate, Kate had held a supportive but silen
t
protest against my taking him back. "He might get on alright with
Nathan?" I suggested, clutching at straws.

“Does he know I’ll kill him if he hurts you again?”

I laughed, “Yes, I think so. He’s been, I don’t know, different somehow
.
Like he’s really trying hard to make it up to me.” I left out the bit wh
ere he went all stupidly jealous that morning. I didn't want to add fuel to th
e already huge bonfire which Kate kept burning and had no intenti
on of extinguishing.

“It’s just that...” I watched as Kate searched for the right words, “it was awful when he left, the way he did it, and then to see you so upset.“ She sighed. “And then, when you and Scott were having fun together, you just seemed so much happier... more
you
than I think I ever saw you with Josh.”

“Really?” As close as Kate and I were, we rarely had these sorts
of conversations. We talked about men, but rarely did the talks get
deep. Those conversations I usually reserved for Dianne.

“You always seemed to be trying to impress Josh, running around
,
trying to make sure he was happy. You never came out with us. It w
as like he shoved a great big stick up your arse.”

"
Well, that's all he's getting up there." I giggled, but when Kate didn’t
join me, I realised she wasn’t kidding around. I’d never really seen it
that way. “Perhaps because Scott and I weren’t really getting into anything
serious, maybe I was just more relaxed.” I offered.

“
You must have really hated me when Nathan and I got serious.”

I thought back to the weekend away and cringed. “No, of course not.”

“Did you really only stop it with him because Sean asked you out?
Or because you couldn't deal with your feelings?”

I shook my head. "Sean asked me out afterwards. When he told me what he saw, and lets face it, he had no reason to lie. I suppose it was just easier to call it off than tell Scott how I felt and have him say 'thanks but no thanks'."

She stood up, slamming her palms loudly on the table, making me
jump. “Damn him!”

“What?”

“I wish he’d see how perfect you and he were together.”

“
Even if he did, Kate, I’m with Josh now.” That’s what I said aloud
, but in my head there was a niggling ‘what if?’ which I shook away. "And he's happy with Carolyn, if last night was anything to go by."

“I know you know what I’m getting at.”
I did know.
She was wish
ing I had told him, but it was too late now.

“There’s no point in this conversation, okay? As far as I can see, everyone’s happy. You and Nathan are together; Scott’s got his great
career. You can’t say it’s not going well, especially now that he's going
out with a shit hot TV exec, and now I’ve finally got what I ultimately
wanted from Josh. Can you please give him a chance? He’s sorry for what he did, and I’ve forgiven him. Can you please do the same?”

Kate let out an annoyed sigh of surrender. “Yeah, okay. Only for you though.”

“Of course.” I squeezed her hand, careful not to smudge her
newly painted nails as I stretched out and admired my own, freshly orange toes.

WITHOUT JOSH AT HOME
to hold me up in the morning, by getting
in the way of my cupboards and morning routine, I got to work earlier
than usual. Chris was in, and I heard him humming to himself thro
ugh the closed office door.

“Hi Chris.” I called, just loud enough for him to notice me.

He responded by opening his door “Hey, Abby. You’re in early.”

“Coffee?” I pulled out my purse. “I was thinking of grabbing a latte from the shop before everyone piles in.“

He laughed conspiratorially and checked his watch. “Actually, can you please get an extra one? I’ve got someone coming in shortly.
Just take the money from petty cash and receipt the lot to my expenses
.” He winked and retreated to his office.

“Thanks." Getting to work early had its advantages.

I messaged Josh as I waited for the coffees:

Good morning. Message me when you’ve signed please.

Me x

He would sulk, but I wanted to let him know that I wasn’t still angry
with him, as long as he hurried up and signed those forms.

Most of my colleagues had arrived by the time I got back in. “Hey
Rach,” I chirped as she routinely redirected the phone back, after liste
ning to the overnight messages. “I’ve just got to take these in to Chris.”

“I’ll do it.” Her eyes were wide as she took the remaining coffees
from me and carried them to Chris’ office herself. I took a sip of my
own and savoured the creamy bitterness as it slid warmly down my
throat. I then pulled up the document I had left the previous night,
hardly noticing when Rachel appeared beside me again, speaking in a lower tone than I’d ever heard from her.

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

The seriousness in her voice caught my attention. I stopped typing
and slid my chair back to look at her. “What’s wrong?”

Her eyes flickered over to Chris’ closed door. “It’s Sean; he’s bac
k at Avalon. He’s been offered the job of Sales Manager.”

“Oh.” I reached for my coffee and held it, my hand shaking too
much to be able to bring it to my lips.

“He arrived just before you got back.”

“
Oh.” I finally took a sip. Tasteless foam. She gave me a questioning
look, searching for answers that I didn't have. She didn't even know we'd
stopped being 'friends', only that he and Bronwyn had a relationship
that went awry, and the whole office found out about it. The last I had
seen of Sean, was when I ran down the stairs from his apartment, telling
him I never wanted to see him again.

I shrugged and gave Rachel a weak smile, turning back to my work
. “News to me. I haven’t spoken to him.”

So he lied to me about Bronwyn. So what? I could be grown up about this, if we were going to be working together again. I checked my phone—still no message back from Josh. He was obviously still sulking, right when I needed him.

As Chris’ office door opened, I kept my eyes on the monitor in front
of me, trying not to make it obvious that I was holding my breath.

“Hi, Abby.” Hearing Sean’s voice was normal, until I remembered
he hadn’t worked at Avalon IT for a few months. And that I had dated
him. And he was a two-timing scumbag.

I forced a pleasant smile, knowing perfectly well that it didn’t reach
my eyes. “Nice to see you back.”

He held my gaze for a moment before turning to Rachel and hugg
ing her hello. Was that regret I saw on his face? Guilt?

Whatever. Who cares?

I found I had been deliberately avoiding him all day, an act that
could easily become a habit, though I knew deep down I'd have to face
him eventually. Quitting wasn't an option, especially now that Kate's wedding was coming up, and it wasn’t going to be cheap. Hopefully the money spell would work before it came to that. The heightened awareness proved to be exhausting and distracting, so it wasn’t until I got to my floor of my unit block that I realised I hadn’t heard from
Josh. I wondered if he'd signed the documents yet. I also wondered when
I was going to tell him that Sean was back at work, a conversation I was not keen on having, especially since his last little reaction about Scott, but best to just get it over with.

As soon as I opened the door, I knew something was up. Candl
es flickered in the dimming evening light, and delicious smells of fried garlic emanated from the kitchen.

“Josh?” I called tentatively, although really, who else could it be?

He greeted me with a glass of champagne and a soft kiss. “I’m sorr
y about yesterday.”

"Thank you." I accepted the drink and took a grateful swig.

"And before you ask," he continued, "I signed the rental contract this afternoon. Are you hungry?"

"Starving," I replied, putting my intention to tell him about Sean on hold, it was nice to have Josh back in a good mood. I didn’t want to spoil it now.

"Great." He turned around and stirred a pot on the stove. "Your
mail's sitting on the table." He informed me and I flipped through the
envelopes while I waited, opening up an official looking one from my
current property manager.

"I have to be out in six weeks." I relayed the letter. "My flat's
been re-leased."

"Well that works out; we get the keys to the other place then." He smiled as he placed a bowl of steaming noodles in front of me. This was all really going to happen.

JOSH HAD BEEN BUSY
at work all week, often not getting home until
after I was in bed. Summer sport had started, and he went to most games
, so I still hadn't had a chance to let him know about Sean, though I knew I couldn't leave it much longer.

Rachel and I spent the Friday afternoon working together on some
old files, getting them ready to archive. Such a long, boring, and tedious
job that we had run out of conversation with an hour and a half left
before we could go home. I was thankful when the internal ringtone sounded on my desk phone.

"Hello?"

"
Can you please see me in Chris' office?" Sean's voice was professional
and nothing else. Ray was off on sick leave with stomach flu, and Chris
was away at one of our interstate offices for meetings, leaving Sean in
charge. I put the phone down, and Rachel cocked an inquisitive bro
w.

"Back in a minute." I mumbled, picking up my pad and pen.

Sean looked every inch at home in the large office, but then again
, he probably did plenty of un-worklike things in there when it used to be Bronwyn's.

"
Take a seat," he greeted me with a charming smile. I wasn’t upset
with him anymore. I was no longer hurt or even angry, but he was
certainly off my Christmas card list. Well, he would have been, if I eve
r sent out Christmas cards.

Sitting down on the seat across from him, I placed the pad on the de
sk and folded my arms, waiting for what he had to say. He just looked
at me
with an over friendly grin on his face, his blue eyes dark and sparkling
.

"
Why are you in Chris' office?" Dammit, I wasn’t supposed to talk first.

Still smiling, he answered, "I was just speaking to Chris, and we were discussing your review."

My review? My pay review?
"What's that got to do with you?"

"I know that Bronwyn was supposed to do it before... well before
she quit and you went on leave." Curiously, he was leaving himself
out of the equation.

"Yeah, I was just going to ask Ray or Chris to do it instead."

"Trust me. You don't want Ray to do your pay review," he stated.

"Why not?"

"He doesn't give out pay raises. He never gave me one."

"Maybe you didn't deserve it." Yes, with all the extracurricular
activity and whatnot.