Read Online Flirting With Magick by Leigh Bennett - Free Book Online Page B

nice to have Scott with me; I certain ly didn’t want to be the third wheel. I just didn’t want to be the one to ask him. I was actually thrilled Kate was taking it out of my hands.
    “So we’ll leave him a message.” She looked at me expectantly. I gave her the number and sat down next to her, pretending to study my nails. “Oh hello, is this Scott? Hi, it’s Kate. Kate Manning. Abby’s friend... Nathan’s... yeah. Did I get you up? No? Oh good.” She gave me a thumbs up. “Um, has Nathan mentioned to you that I won a trip away for a weekend? He has?” She was getting excited. “What do you think ?” She glanced at me and grinned. “I think she’d like to go, but she’s too chicken-shit to ah- OW!” I had punched her on the arm. “Hang on, she’s right here.” She handed me the phone and rubbed her arm. “That hurt, you bitch.”
    “Sorry,” I whispered, bringing the phone to my ear. “Scott.”
    “How are you?”
    I melted at the sound of his voice. “Fine. What do you think about the weekend thing?”
    “Sounds fun actually. And I could do with a trip away from the city — might get rid of some of my writer’s block. It’s in a couple of weeks, isn’t it?”
    “Um, I think so.” He knew more about it than I did.
    “Great. Well, see you Wednesday I guess.”
    “How easy was that?” Kate remarked after I hung up the phone. I was still taken aback. I'd obviously been overreacting. It wasn’t as if we were going on a romantic getaway; it was just a weekend away with friends. Nothing more, nothing less.
    “ You’re not really used to this, are you?” Kate went to the kitchen and finished making the coffee. “You’re obviously doing something right because, as you can see, he’s not exactly threatened with the ide a of you being some psycho chick.” She handed me a steaming hot cup. “ Don’t be so uptight, and just enjoy it for what it is. Honestly, it’s eas y, as long as you keep your feelings in check. If you start to feel more strongly towards him, then you either tell him or you finish it.”
    I nodded. She was right, and she should know. I hadn’t known her to be with anyone you could call a steady boyfriend in the years we had been friends. But she was never short of male company, had good friends and family, and she was happy. What’s more, she seemed to stay friends with the men she had slept with, a bit of a foreign concept for me. “So you and Nathan are the same?” I asked.
    “Of course. We just handle it better than you do.”
    “But you seem so lovey-dovey.”
    “We’ve got nothing to hide. And neither should you. It’s not as if no one knows, anyway.”
    “True. Luke isn’t exactly subtle, and obviously Nathan knows. I guess I’m just not into public displays of affection." Of course, Josh and I had our moments at the start of our relationship, but they had tapered off towards the end. "It just feels a bit weird for me when he’s not my partner. So anyway, what’s the deal with the weekend thing?”
    “It’s a self-contained cabin with a couple of bedrooms, log fire, spa bath, kitchen facilities... made for skiers really, not that we’ll be doing any of that.”
    “Hmm, sounds nice.” I pondered the idea of a cosy cabin, snow falling outside, a burning log fire, just the two of us—oops, I mean four of us. Obviously I needed to get my shit together before then if I was to do this right.
    “When Nathan and I were talking about it, we figured we can all go in the one car. Scott’s van would be ideal, and we all just buy some food and beer and wine, take turns cooking perhaps…”
    “How about we do a Christmas in July dinner, with turkey and stuff?” The idea popped into my head and out my mouth before I had a chance think about it-– knowing with Kate’s limited kitchen repertoire I’d probably end up cooking it. Hopefully one of the boys was Masterchef material.
    “Hmm, yum.” Kate licked her lips.
    My excitement had grown enormously.