“Wow, that’s awesome. I haven’t been out of the US. I’d love to go to France.”
“Yeah, me too.” I don’t want to go alone, though, and thinking of Jacques’s face when he sees what Paris is like now makes me smile.
“Thinking of a romantic getaway?”
“I might be.” I reach for the bread in the middle of the table.
Her phone dings, and she reaches into her purse to read the text message. Her body language shifts again, shoulders tensing as she types back a reply. “So both Tom and Gil work in the same department?”
I know she’s nosey, but she’s prying just a little too much. And she seems uncomfortable.
“Yeah. They do.”
“Imagine the good-cop, bad-cop they could pull. Though I’m sure you already have.” She wiggles her eyebrows and we both laugh. She turns her phone on silent and tosses it back in her purse. After that, she relaxes again, and we continue to talk and laugh throughout dinner.
Her phone has been blowing up, quietly vibrating, and she ignores it until we get to the theater. Standing in line with me for popcorn, she huffs and digs it out of her purse.
“I’ll be right back,” she tells me, and practically stomps off. The line is moving slow, and though it’s loud in here, I catch a few words of Gemma’s conversation by reading her lips. She’s telling whoever is on the phone “no” over and over, and says “because she’s a decent person” more than once. Before she hangs up, she tells the person on the phone “then you do it” and closes her eyes, slowly letting out a breath.
I turn away when she comes back, not letting her know I was listening.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” she says, waving her hand in the air. “It’s my boss. She wants me to pick up more shifts even though I’m maxed out on overtime.”
“There’s a shortage of nurses right now, isn’t there?”
“Yep. I’m seriously considering going back to school for something else.” She pushes her hair back and looks down. “I’ve always loved interior design. You said you just moved into a big old house. That’s like my dream to decorate.”
Did I tell her I moved into a “big old house?” My brain has been a bit fried and I can’t be sure. I might have mentioned moving, but I don’t think I’d ever refer to my house as “big.” That’s too braggy for me, and I can’t stand people who try to show off their material wealth like that.
“Yeah,” I say, and shuffle forward. “I did.”
“When did you move in?”
The air between us shifts, and luckily the woman ahead of us gets out of line and we’re next to order. I get a large popcorn and a Coke, and even though I’m full from dinner, keep stuffing my mouth full so Gemma won’t ask me any more questions. I’m new at this whole having a female friend thing, and I don’t know how to properly handle this. Can I just tell her to mind her own business? No, that’s rude and obvious.
If the house wasn’t harboring so many secrets, I’d have no issue talking about it. And some people, like Richard, really are interested in structures rich in history.
“Let’s talk about magic,” she says once we’re in our seats and waiting for the movie to start. She just checked her phone again and shook her head at whatever she read.
“What about it?”
“You’ve been into it, right? I know you said you’re a skeptic, but come on. It’s not like I’m going to judge you.”
“I really haven’t, and I’m still not sure it’s real.”
She frowns. “There’s nothing wrong with believing in it.”
“Oh, I know. To each their own.” I don’t want to insult my only real friend, but something isn’t sitting right with me. Maybe she’s not as good of a friend as I thought, and I know I have to look into this objectively. Though for now, there’s nothing I can do. I have to keep up the act that I don’t suspect anything. “And I do believe in it, just not as widely as you, I guess.”
She laughs. “I have no idea what you mean by that.”
Sticking my hand into the bowl of buttery popcorn, I laugh too. “I mean, I don’t think just anyone can learn how to do magic or go to Lyra’s store and get the right ingredients for a spell.Ifmagic were real, it would be more calculated than that, right? Besides, if it were so easy, everyone would do it.” I smile, then stick the popcorn in my mouth to buy me a bit more time. I stand by my answer, though. Not just anyone off the street can do magic. Any old words strung together and said while burning herbs haphazardly thrown together won’t do shit.
“Yeah, I suppose so too. Though I think people can be taught.” Her hand goes to her purse, and I can see the glowing screen of her phone from within. “So trying magic is really something new for you?”
“I can’t really say I’ve tried it. Just started not being as skeptical as before.” I look at her hand and she drops the phone. “Is everything okay?”
