Page 32 of A Wish For Jo
'Did he have nice breath, or did it honk like a monkey's armpit?'
'Who went first? Ooh, you did, you saucy mare!'
Jo resorted to the playground response of sticking her fingers in her ears and chanting, 'I'm not listening!' With ten minutes until opening time, she needed to crack on — and Aaliyah needed to zip her gob and get on with her job.
'You know, for someone in their forties, you really need to give up your membership to Old Fartsville,' shouted Aaliyah. 'You kissed a guy, woo hoo! Honestly, Jo, sometimes you make nuns look flighty.'
Ouch.That stung. Jo knew she could be a bit set in her ways, but that didn't make her an old fart. Did it? And there had been nothing remotely nun-like about Saturday night's episode. One minute she'd been sitting at home, musing over the turn of events, then she'd grabbed her coat and marched to Harvey's cottage. OK, it was out of character, but she remembered wishing that they could have kissed—
Jo removed her fingers from her ears. 'Aaliyah, did you by any chance engineer the whole kiss thing?' Jo adopted a stern headmistress pose which probably reinforced the 'old fart' criticism.
'Moi?' Her face a picture of innocence, Aaliyah picked up a tray of freshly baked cinnamon buns and showily arranged them on the display shelf. 'You know how the wish thing goes. If you happened to wish for a snog, how would I know about it?'
Leaving Aaliyah to carry on setting things up, Jo flipped the café sign to 'open'. Did she believe her? Not that it mattered, unless… Would that count as her third wish? But surely that would mean the end of the road for her and Aaliyah?
Nope, Aaliyah showed no sign of vanishing into the ether. Jo eyed the his 'n' hers lamps and wondered how Dhassim was doing. He couldn't be having much fun stuck in there. Then again, Jo pitied the poor soul (or souls) who inherited them next.
'Hi, Jo.' Jinnie, wrapped up in a fluffy coat, hurried through the door. Yet again, the east-coast weather had flipped from moderately warm to freeze-your-bits-off overnight.
'Hi, Jinnie. No Sam?'
Jinnie's gaze skittered around the room, alighting on Aaliyah, and the cosy atmosphere in the café dropped as the two women squared up to each other.
In the red corner we have Aaliyah. Genie, monumental pain in the arse, prone to the odd moment of unexpected kindness.
And in the blue corner, we have Jinnie. Gorgeous, warm-hearted girl, engaged to Sam, with her own personal experience of lamp dwellers.
Lordy, she didn't need this right now. She'd received a lovely message from Harvey shortly after they'd locked lips. That was all they had done, although the heat level between them had reached thermometer-busting levels. His decision, or hers? Probably more evidence of Jo's 'get thee to a nunnery' status.
'Aaliyah, if you could grind some coffee for the machine, that would be lovely. Give me and Jinnie time for a quick natter.'
Aaliyah backed down and stomped off to find the coffee beans. Jinnie, meanwhile, slumped in a corner, unwinding a multi-coloured scarf from her neck.
'Are you all right? Is everything OK with Sam?' Jo pulled up a chair, regarding her younger friend with concern.
'Yes. No. Oh, I don't know.' Jinnie's bottom lip quivered and Jo's heart sank. Surely not trouble in paradise? Sidling closer lest Aaliyah's flappy ears tune in to the conversation, she urged Jinnie to continue.
'It's probably nothing, but Sam was really rattled by her reaction on Saturday night.' Jinnie put extra emphasis on 'her', twisting her scarf around her fingers into a noose. 'He's been acting strangely ever since, disappearing into his study for hours and barely eating.'
'He's probably working on his latest book,' said Jo. 'Don't all writers get a bit hermit-like if they've got a deadline approaching?'
Jinnie shook her head. 'It's not that, Jo. I sneaked into the study when he went to bed last night and peeked at his search history. It's full of genie stuff and masters and mythological weirdness.'
'Maybe you should tell him about Dhassim. And the other one.' Jo nodded at the counter, where Aaliyah's bean-grinding meant little chance of her overhearing.
'I can't! Jo, he'd think I was a sandwich short of a picnic. He's always been suspicious about Dhassim, and never really bought the whole long-lost cousin thing. But I can't believe Sam has anything to do with them, aside from picking up the lamps from some old dear's house.'
Jo pondered the whole bizarre situation. A stray thought meandered through her brain, halted, and demanded to be heard. 'But when Dhassim met Sam he didn't react that way, did he?'
'No, but Dhassim wasn't exactly the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. OK, he was a sweetheart, but Aaliyah's definitely got the edge in the brains department.'
Before Jo could continue her train of thought, Janette stomped into the café, a beanie hat pulled over her brow and a dog in tow. 'Sorry, Janette, no pets allowed.'
Janette tutted loudly, her canine companion letting out a supportive yelp. 'Och, he'll be no bother, Jo. Compared tae some of those wee ankle-biters that run around the place, he's a cherub.'
'I didn't know you had a dog,' said Jinnie, as Janette blithely ignored Jo and let the dog off the leash. He promptly charged at Jinnie and propelled himself into her lap. 'Oof! Thank goodness he's not a Great Dane, or I'd be flattened.’ She stroked the dog's silky ears.
'He's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel,' announced Janette, looking as proud and devoted as a mum showing off her newborn. 'And he's no mine. Alison from the boutique got him to keep her company after … you know. I'm just minding Hector for the day.'
