Page 4 of Midnight Wishes

‘How did you meet Abby?’

He took a long sip of red wine, and for the first time, she noticed a tattoo sitting below his rolled sleeve. The blur of colours and stark, inky black lines had been hidden the night they’d first met. It was a distraction she didn’t need, and she took a large gulp of her own drink before responding.

‘First day of uni orientation week, I was carefully unpacking my clothes and art supplies, deciding how best to organise my immense pile of stuff to maximise my space, when I heard a thump in the room next door. I went to investigate and found her dropping about twenty tote bags bursting with books—’

‘It was five!’ Abby exclaimed from the edge of the table.

‘—swearing as she did so. Within half an hour, Abby had occupied the entire bookshelf in our shared living room—’

‘I was doing an English degree. I needed books,’ Abby whispered.

‘I know, baby. I know.’ Erik smoothed her hair, hiding his smile in the golden mass.

‘—and a decent chunk of my heart, and by the time my actual flatmate arrived an hour later, we knew we were destined to be best friends, and we convinced the office to let us switch rooms. We’ve been inseparable ever since. And she still takes upall the bookshelf space, but I don’t mind because she keeps me well fed with her collection of historical romances.’ This, talking about one of the best days of her life, which had led to the two friendships that kept her sane,thiswas easy. Sarah had known immediately that her new flatmate would become a permanent fixture in her life, and when Abby had met Zoe in an English class two weeks later, she had become the perfectly balanced final member of their trio.

‘And Sarah now occupies all the extra cupboard space with her art supplies, but I don’t mind because she’s incredible, and when the art world finally wakes up and realises that, I’ll get to say, “I knew her when.”‘ Abby’s eyes sparkled with pride.

‘We are absolutely coming back to you being a chaos demon who devours five books a week but couldn’t read your uni hall assignment.’ Alex pointed towards Abby.

She flipped him off and opened her mouth to respond. Erik pulled her towards him and distracted her with butterfly kisses along her cheekbone.

Sarah was only dimly aware of the hushed whispers that moved between them as Alex leaned forwards again, his face suddenly alight with interest. ‘So you’re an artist? What kind of work do you do?’

‘Oh, she’s amazing! You’d love her work, Alex—’

Midway through her sentence, Abby let out an inelegant huff as she was dragged from her chair. Erik mumbled something about helping him get dessert ready, leaving Sarah with Alex.

Alone.

But if he wasn’t going to acknowledge their history, neither was she.

Although there was more light in those bright blue eyes than Erik’s clear grey ones, their intense stare was the same. But Sarah wasn’t used to it being levelled at her. And compared to gushing about her best friend, opening up about herself, her work, was less comfortable. The gallery wall filled with breathtaking artwork right behind Alex’s head made it worse. Her paintings of golden retrievers weren’t going to impress someone with a collection likethat.

‘I work in oils, mainly. Still lifes, landscapes. But until a gallery deigns to show my real pieces, I, uh, paint pet portraits.’ The last phrase left her in a rush.

‘Pet portraits?’ His eyebrows drifted up his forehead, voice shifting back to amusement.

‘It pays the bills,’ she said stiffly, back straightening. It wasn’t meaningful work, sure, but she was making a living from painting, which was more than could be said for most of her former classmates.

‘Can I see something you’ve done?’

Sarah hesitated for a moment before pulling up her Instagram. You had to scroll pretty far back to find anything she was particularly proud of, dozens of rows on her grid filled instead with pugs, Siamese cats, and even a ferret. She’d tried a number of times to intersperse the animals with progress shots and final images of her personal projects, but it always tanked her reach for weeks afterwards. From a business perspective, not ideal.

She’d spent a year flogging pieces no one wanted to see, never mind purchase, for a handful of likes. Then she’d painted her aunt’s French bulldog as a birthday present. Engagementon that had skyrocketed, and she’d received an offer for her first commission. Work had continued to trickle in steadily, and she’d spent countless sleepless nights perfecting the way light reflected off every type of animal skin covering imaginable. Until suddenly, a year before, she’d realised she was making more from her painting than her soul-sucking office job. She’d handed in her notice the following day.

Alex’s eyebrows—annoyingly more perfect than her own—lowered as he moved through her feed. ‘Impressive technique,’ he finally said in a flat voice, handing her phone back. ‘Pity about the subject matter.’

His eyes drifted towards the kitchen door, giving Sarah a welcome reprieve from that piercing gaze. She wasn’t typically embarrassed about her work, even if it didn’t light her up. But there was a hint of disappointment in Alex’s tone that made it feel small and insignificant.

Madeherfeel small and insignificant.

She’d deal with why she cared what he thought later. For now, she needed her buffers back.

‘They’ve been gone a while.’

The smallest wince flashed across Alex’s face as he raised his wineglass again. ‘It happens. I try not to think too hard about what they do in this house when I’m not around.’

Sarah, admittedly, felt the same about the flat. Even if Abby had assured her that the public areas saw little more than kissing.

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