Page 11 of The Trouble With Love

‘Yep.’ She was trying not to giggle.

‘Ah.’ I turned around slowly. Kai was leaning against a wall looking exotic in another leather jacket, and faded-to-grey jeans. The fact he was wearing dark glasses just added to the image. ‘Then you did hear me say that I didn’t want you to think that.’

‘Never crossed my mind.’

‘Good.’

A conversational impasse resulted. I stared at my shopping trolley, wishing it wasn’t quite so full of single-woman crap. A packet of biscuits wobbled atop multi-pack crisps and the only really nutritious food, a pack of frozen steak and some fruit, was right at the bottom. I didn’t really care what Kai thought of me, but some tiny little niggle of pride didn’t want him to see me as an ‘insta-food for one’ girl.

‘Why don’t you come over for a meal?’ Cerys must have caught a look at the Birds Eye specials crammed in the far side. ‘I am so bored with my own company that I could make conversation with Fred and Rosemary West if they dropped by. Please, Holly.’

‘Bring Nicholas,’ Kai added. ‘I need to do a follow-up on that drugs article anyhow. Need a bit more input from him.’

‘Nicholas’s in Scotland at the moment. Staying with Ma and Dad. He’ll be back in a fortnight, so we could come then.’

Cerys groaned. ‘I might have exploded by then. Come tomorrow, please. Look, I need distracting from my predicament, don’t I, Kai? You’d be doing me a kindness.’

Kai pushed off from the wall. It was like someone erecting a skyscraper right next to me. ‘Go on, Holly. You could return my flashlight at the same time.’

‘And do your photographs.’

‘It’ll be dark.’

‘I’ll describe the place to you, then.’ Cerys said, in a ‘standing no nonsense’ tone that boded well for her future as a mother of twins.

I finally gave in and agreed. Otherwise I was afraid they’d keep me talking until my syrup-topped cones melted. They let me go and I drove home, to find Megan camped out on my doorstep.

‘Good, you’re back.’

‘Good, you’re here. You can help me unpack the shopping.’ I unlocked the front door and she went inside, carrying a loaf of bread while I struggled behind with four carrier bags with stretching handles. ‘Don’t strain yourself.’

‘Vivienne says it’s time to start doing proper magic.’ Megan could barely contain herself. ‘She says we can start our wishing spell.’

‘How long have you been possessed by the ghost of Enid Blyton?’ I pushed past her and started filling the freezer.

‘We had a meeting while you were in Scotland.’ She peered inside my freezer. ‘Did you see Aiden, by the way?’

‘Might have.’

‘I think I might get one of these.’ She wiggled the hinge experimentally. ‘Your doors have never blown off, have they?’

‘I’ve never kept a Big Mac for seven weeks. Why are you bringing up Aiden, all of a sudden?’ Megan knew about Aiden, of course; keeping the fact that I’d had sex from her was like hiding Smarties from a dog.

‘I think he’s delish.’ She took one of the apples I’d rolled into the fruit bowl. ‘If you don’t want him, I’ll have him.’

‘I do “want him”, but not like that. He’s happy with the whole “no strings” thing, I’m happy with it, end of. Why does that make everyone — by which I mean you, Meg — so uneasy?’

‘It’s not very romantic though, Holl, is it? Having a sex-only relationship?’ She bit the apple. ‘Don’t you sometimes think it’s a bit shallow?’

‘Nope. Well, yes, but it is kind of the point. Shallow is good. Kama Sutra sex, no ties and definitely no meeting-the-family, how-shall-we-spend-Christmas talks. Fan-bloody-tastic, my dear. I recommend it.’

Megan shrugged. ‘You say. So, are you on for Wednesday? Vivienne’s at seven. Oh . . .’ she looked a little embarrassed, and, as she’d been discussing my shag-pal without so much as a pink cheek, it must be bad. ‘She’s given us a list of things.’

‘Things?’

‘For the spell. Hold on.’ Megan raked about in the pocket of her robustly tight jeans. She did look fantastically curvy in them, I had to admit. ‘Here.’

I read the typed list twice. ‘But this is . . . I mean, it’s some kind of joke, isn’t it? A horrible, sick joke?’

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