Chapter 18 #3
Margo ignored her and carried on, “My point is that a run of bad luck does not a cursed woman make.” Her tone became softer.
“Haven’t you hidden your heart away for long enough?
I’m not saying that Ajay will be The One, but there is something there, and if a spirit as jaded as me and a woman as cynical as you can feel it, then it must be pretty glaring. ”
“What if it doesn’t work out?” she asked.
“Oh, sweetie,” said Margo, for once not wielding the word sweetie like it was a rattlesnake poised to bite.
“There are no guarantees. All I can promise you is that a life spent trying to outrun love will leave you empty, but stopping to let love in will fill you up in ways you never imagined. And if it doesn’t last forever, then you will still have known the most powerful force in the universe.
Some of the greatest love stories ever told didn’t end with ‘happily ever after,’ but those who lived them wouldn’t change them for the world. ”
“It feels like a big risk, putting myself out there.”
“Faith, hope, love, they’re all high risk, but without them we might just as well be another fading star in the cosmos.”
“That was quite profound.”
“I have my moments. Now, pass me that bottle of Bolly and let’s play Never Have I Ever.”
—
Margo was snoring like a warthog. Casey had been under the impression that spirits didn’t need to sleep and yet here she was, dribbling onto a feather pillow with literal sugar plum fairies dancing in the air above her slumbering head.
After the last couple of weeks, it was going to take more than some tiny ballerinas with wings to shock Casey.
When Margo had dropped off to sleep, Casey had slipped carefully out from beneath the duvet and climbed back into her uniform.
As she set about replenishing the Christmas ornaments, she ruminated on their conversation from earlier, and having accepted that Margo may have had a point, she now felt an irrepressible drive to speak to Ajay.
She pulled out her phone and hurried off a text before she could change her mind.
—
“Is everything okay? It’s not Jared again, is it?” Ajay’s face was etched with concern as he reached her outside the back entrance to Coopers I seem to be living on high alert at the moment. Being responsible for a teenager is a lot.” He gave a small laugh. “Up until a few weeks ago I only had to worry about screwing my own life up. Now I’ve got to try not to mess Jared’s life up too.”
She smiled. “I’m sure you’re doing a lot better than you think.”
Ajay gave a skeptical “hmmm.”
“I mean, he hasn’t broken into any more department stores, has he?” she teased, and Ajay laughed.
“Not that I know of.” He mimed wiping his brow.
“What about the dodgy mates?”
“He’s been avoiding them, thank god. Nigel’s kept him pretty busy with the animals, which has helped.”
“Good. That’s good.” Her nerve was starting to leave her. “I hope I didn’t take you away from any crime fighting?”
“No, I was up in the canteen on a break.”
“Phew, I’d hate to think there was a kitten stranded up a tree somewhere waiting for you to get it down.”
“You’re thinking of the fire service.”
“Oh, right.”
“But I will have to get to work shortly…” He left the sentence hanging, giving her the chance to tell him why she’d summoned him here.
“Yes. Of course. Right. It’s only that I was thinking about what you said earlier and I think that I would like to go on a date with you.
If the offer’s still open.” Her heart was beating so fast that she’d gone a bit woozy.
She felt uncertain and vulnerable and was already thinking ahead to all the things that could crush this breakable thing before it had even begun, but she held those feelings in along with her breath and forced her feet to stay planted where they were.
Ajay chuckled kindly, his eyes twinkling mahogany and gold in the lamplight. “I’m not that fickle! I haven’t changed my mind in the last six hours.”
“Oh, good!” she burst out, relieved, and laughed.
“When’s your next day off?” he asked.
“Tuesday?”
“Tuesday?”
“Tuesday.”
Ajay smiled that smile that made her want to sigh dreamily and asked, “Casey, would you like to go out with me on Tuesday?”
“Yes please,” she managed to squeak out.
“Great.” He leaned toward her and kissed her cheek. The gentle scratch of his beard on her jaw, the softness of his lips on her cold skin, his warm breath tickling the sensitive skin on her neck, was like being doused in the sweet tingle of hot honey. “Tuesday it is,” he said, straightening up.
“Lovely,” she replied dreamily.
“I’ll see you in,” he said, nodding toward the staff door. Thoughtful and hot, did it get any better than that?
She walked as sexily as one could in baggy slacks and a puffer jacket back to the door and waved before she closed it.
He waved back. Then she stood for a full two minutes with her back leaned against the cold steel door as she relived the hottest cheek kiss she had ever received in her whole damn life.