“Jess,”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks,” Liam whispered.
I was silent for a while, then I said.“It’s okay, the magic will take a little while to work, but it will.”
He leaned over and kissed my head.
It wasn’t the first time he’d done that, but it was the first time I’d closed my eyes and wished that he would be my husband one day.Without knowing what that meant.
Years later, when I was twelve and we were all camping, Liam brought it up again.
“Remember the magic dust?”he asked, looking very handsome now that he was sixteen, as we sat around the fire.
I had the biggest crush by then.I felt he did too, the way he watched me in ways no other boy did.
“Yup.I know, it was silly.”I let out a laugh.
The fire flickered high, sparking in the air as our half-drunk parents danced and laughed nearby.Jayden was playing cards with some kids from another campsite, yelling because he won.
“It worked.You healed me, Squirt.”Liam nudged my shoulder.
I glanced at him, waiting for the punchline.
“Think that might’ve been the doctor who bandaged you up.”
Liam lifted his soda and shook his head.“You were protecting me from your brother.”
I snorted.“Hardly.”
“I wanted to bawl my eyes out.You knew that.Didn’t you?”
I chewed the side of my mouth and hitched my shoulder.“I guess.”
“The wand might’ve needed some tuning, but when you rested your head against my arm, I felt better,” Liam confessed.
My heart swelled in that moment, and I’d never felt so important or happy in my life.This was it, I thought, he’s going to tell me he has feelings for me.
“I tuned it pretty well.”I smiled at him, ready for his kiss or confession.
Or both.
Liam chuckled, ruffled my hair, and then climbed to his feet and joined Jay and the other boys playing cards.
I’d been disappointed.
But as I sat staring into the flames until Mom sent me to bed I imagined that he was biding his time until I got older.
With the audition done, I use the bathroom before heading out the door.
When I step out into the daylight, scrolling my phone to check the bus timetable again, I wonder if I should catch an Uber.Today rattled me, and I don’t feel like catching public transport.Then again, I don’t have a lot of cash and will need to pay a security bond if I move in with Sarah and Melanie.
It’s only five, so I decide to catch the bus, which will still get me home in time to greet Liam when he finishes work.
Pinching the screen, I recheck the bus number as I’m walking through the lot and am almost near the gate when a dark shadow makes me stop dead.
“Oh, sorry—” I start, then gasp.
