Looking for Love (7 page)

“
I don’t know. I prefer not to
match-make friends.” Not totally true, but her three girly friends
had all decided that now they were fully involved in the business,
they didn’t feel right about using
The Album
for their own counsel. Seemed like a ‘no
friends’ rule made sense. And it had been a long time since Ross
had been engrossed in another woman. She’d see him less.

“
Why? Because you’re not so sure
of your abilities? I mean, what do you base it on? How do you match
people up?” He narrowed his eyes at her.

The light from the window
filtered into the room, casting shadows ac
ross Ross’s face. It gave him a
jagged, serious look. He wouldn’t let up—like a pit-bull holding
onto its rope toy. When did he ever get so…what was it?
Interrogative, picky, difficult?

He stood up and came to her.
P
rickles ran
up and down her arms. She’d never felt this vibe from him
before—he’d always been so easy-going, just a friend to rely on,
not…like a boyfriend—possessive, checking up on her, demanding.
Hurt swirled around inside her, but she stood her ground, waiting
for what he would say.

He brought his hand up to her
face and touched her cheek, his eyes silky soft
and sending some weird sensation
into her. She gasped at the strangeness.

“
I don’t want you to get hurt.”
His tone sounded so intense.

She pulled
away. “I won’t. This is my dream.”

“
Exactly why I’m scared. A lot is dependent on this whim of
yours.”

“
It’s not a whim.” Her voice came out a semi-scream.

“
I need proof it’s going to work.”

She flung her hands down. “Oh, all right,
then. You promise me you won’t tell a soul?”

“
What?”

Close up, his skin glowed
with a strong
manliness. She’d never seen this side of Ross before and it sent
her world into a spin. His deep concern, beyond the normal casual
friendship, made her want to flee, but maybe it would pass. She
just had to show him
The Album
.

“
Come.”
No backing out now. My friends are
gonna freak!
She closed her eyes for a moment then sensed him staring at
her, waiting.

She took his hand and led him to the
observatory. “Sit.”

He sat in the client chair, frowning so
deeply and his gaze intense, that she started giggling and clamped
her hand over her mouth. “I can’t help it, Ross. You just look so
serious.”

“
This is serious.”

She stuck her
tongue out at him. “Lighten up, will you. I swear, you’ve morphed
into an old man overnight.”

He smiled and
some of the concern left his eyes. His shoulders relaxed and her
world tilted back into place.

“
Right. Well, look at this book.”
She pointed at
The Album
and then took the photo of Bernice and the photo of Steve
to place on the frames on the first page.

A strange jolt went through her
as soon as she pressed the second photo down. She tried to shift
them into the centre of the frame but they remained
stuck as if glued to
the page just like before. Her hands stayed on, too. She looked up
at Ross who stared on, his face edged like cliff rock, his mouth a
thin line. He said nothing, but his silence spoke
volumes.

“
It’ll come. Just wait.”

He shook his
head. “What?”

The jolts died down. Her hands came loose
from their Velcro-ed position on the pages of the book and then she
scribbled the names of Bernice and Steve on the lines below, in
pencil.

Rainbow l
ight like the reflection of dust
motes in the sunlight sent blotchy circles around the book. She
couldn’t help grinning at Ross as his eyes opened wide at the overt
display of magic.

“
What have you bought, Ella?” He
reached out, and then withdrew his hand in caution.

She ignored him. Opening the book, she
turned to the next page. And the next. Followed by each subsequent
one. Photos filled several pages. Photos of Steve and Bernice
together, going shopping, traveling to a game park, kissing,
sharing a meal. Photos of her with an engagement ring. Stunning
shots of a wedding with Bernice in her beautiful cream gown and
shimmery veil.

“
Aah,” she sighed. So Steve it was.

Pictures of Bernice with a swollen
stomach. A babe in arms. Her heart melted. How precious to see
a—

“
Oh, no.”

“
What?” Ross made a closer
scrutiny of
The Album
this time.

“
They’re fighting. Look at this picture. He’s pointing a finger
at her and she’s crying. The next one—she’s driving away in a mad
rush while he screams at her by the front door.”

“
What is this?”

“
There aren’t any more
photos.
The
Album
isn’t
nearly full. How terrible.”

Ross
touched one of the pages as if it
would burn him. “Is this like a crystal ball?”

“
More than that. It can reveal any scenario you wish to try.
Any couple who are placed on the first two pages can see whether
they will have a happy future together.”

“
Where did you get this?”

“
Uncle Stan.”

“
Uncle who?”

“
I know. I hardly knew him,
either.” Ross was aware of almost every fine detail of her family
life. She could understand his hesitation.
The Album
had surprised her in its
intensity.

“
How do you know what this book
predicts is really going to happen?” He gave her that look
again.

“
I don’t. I trust it, though.
Many people have been changed by the magic.”

“
You can never know unless you
live forty years into the future. You’re playing with fire here,
Ella.”

“
I want to do this.” She stood
up, her chest straight. “Never wanted something so much in my life
before. Don’t you see?” She pointed at
The Album
. “It’s going to change people’s
lives for the better. They’ll never go for the wrong person
again—never get their heart ripped out and stomped on.”

“
But that’s what makes it all beautiful.”

“
What are you talking about?” She
shook her head. Ross had changed. He’d become way too deep and
overbearing. And argumentative. Before, he’d confide all his hurt
in her. They’d bear the burdens together. Now, he had this
strange…bossiness. Had hurt made him too cynical?

“
If everything went so
smoothly, we
wouldn’t appreciate the right one. If we had to step straight into
a perfect relationship first time round, well, there wouldn’t be
anything special about it when we do find the right
one.”

He looked at her, his pupils
large, his eyes intense, prying right into her soul. She had a
feeling he meant something
more directly related to them about what he said,
but couldn’t think what. All she could work out was that he
criticized her again and she’d had enough.

“
Look,
Ross. This is my decision. I know I
want to do this. And so do Andrea, Carol, and Pauline. You’re not
going to stop us this time.”

He stood up and closed
The Album
as if to shut out
the offensive sight from his mind. “Your friends are great, El, but
this time, they’re wrong. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
He shook his head. “I’d better be going.”

“
Okay.” Get rid of him. Maybe their friendship was doomed to
die now with her dream coming true. Could it be he was jealous of
her dream finally happening?

“
See you, El. Look after
yourself.”

Sounded like a
final goodbye. Her heart lurched.

“
I’ll see you again, won’t I?”
Her voice shuddered a little.

He spun round.
“What? You think I’d cut myself off from you completely because I
don’t approve of what you’re doing?”

She shrugged
and held her quivering lip from wobbling stupidly before his
gaze.

“
I’d never do that.” He pointed
his finger at her in a skewed way. “No matter what, El, I’m always
on your side. You can come to me any time.”

His face softened and something
stirred within her. Something she violently rejected with her mind
and heart before he picked
at her feelings. He was out the door before she
had a chance to respond.

Her hands couldn’t text quickly
enough to let her friends know it had worked. She apologized
profusely for trying without
them, saying Ross pressured her, and then waited.
A slew of messages arrived, questions flowing like water down a
waterfall.

“
Come here & I’ll tell you
everything. Better still. Come & watch. I have another pair of
photos to try
,” was her last text.

While she waited for her friends
to race over, she prepared a quick lunch and sat down to read
through a blog she followed on the RSS feed on her phone. Her mind
annoyingly replayed Ross’s last words to her. Firstly, that he had
a bad feeling ‘about this’ and secondly, that he would stand by her
no matter what. Who said that nowadays? Even her other friends
didn’t say things like that. They showed it by their actions, but
saying it? With such sincerity and seriousness? Ross acted so alpha
all of a sudden. He didn’t accept her decisions like he used to. He
seemed too invested in them now.
Odd!
What to do? Would their friendship
last?

Why did it bother her so much? She had a
dream to fulfil and the best girly friends in the world. She didn’t
have to have a male friend, too.

***

A few minutes later,
Ross sat inside his
car on the driveway of his house. His legs didn’t want to budge and
neither did he feel like facing the empty dwelling again. Why had
he bought a house?

Why couldn’t he tell Ella he loved
her?

For the last few
weeks, every time
he’d gone over to her place, he’d planned to let it out, but each
time, something happened to sway him. He clammed up and lost his
nerve. Today had been the absolute worst. He’d planned to go there
to tell her he loved her but instead had climbed into her about her
new business and dream. Yeah, he was wary of it. What if things
didn’t go how she planned and she got deeply disappointed? Again.
She’d had so many nasty relationships with guys, and her job hadn’t
been the nicest place for her all the time, plus she’d had some
fallouts with her friends. Thankfully, the three close friends
seemed to stick with her no matter what. Sometimes, he got jealous
of how religiously she made time for them while
he
seemed to be the one making time for Ross
and Ella. Not that she saw it that way.

And his plans to spill the beans today had
gone horribly wrong when that funny book had lit up like a
Christmas tree and shaken the desk like some weird machine from an
H.G. Wells story. What was she playing with? Would it bite her back
if she didn’t do it right?

He buried his pounding temples into his
palms. And suddenly, she didn’t take his advice anymore as if she’d
come into her own and didn’t need him. It made her incredibly
attractive to him when she showed some spunk, but it didn’t help
their relationship status. What if she became too independent and
she didn’t need him around anymore? Would their friendship be
strong enough to hold then?

When had it all changed? They’d
been friends for years. He’d even confided all his relationship
woes to her since high school. Sometimes, they’d gone for months
without seeing one another, but whenever she
’d needed help with maintenance in
her home, or advice, she’d called. Or when he’d just suffered a
complex break-up. None of his girlfriends had ever been threatened
by her—they’d somehow known the relationship had stood at
rock-solid friendship.

Until two months ago when she’d come over
to his place one night, bored out of her mind and missing her
friends who were too busy for girl’s night. She’d worn short shorts
that barely covered her thighs and he’d teased her about something.
She’d tickled him so he’d tickled her back. Then he’d held her
hands in a one-handed firm grasp and tickled her legs with the
other hand. The soft skin on her thighs had sent a swirl of erotic
sensations through him that he’d never have expected to have with
Ella. Why, they’d decided years ago they were too familiar with one
another to pursue romance. They would probably either kill each
other or get bored sick. Romance had to be exciting, thrilling,
mysterious. It would feel like she was romancing her older brother,
Ella had said.

And he’d
agreed with her then because he’d been deeply infatuated with
Celine Morse at the time.

He’d pulled her close and nearly kissed
her, but the disgusted look on her face had made him drop all
contact with her. She’d run through to the kitchen to get some
space, but the rest of the night, he’d fantasized about kissing her
and doing a whole lot more.