I'll Be There For You. Kerry Barrett

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СКАЧАТЬ go out,’ she said when she answered the phone. Not even bothering to say hello. ‘Let’s you and me go for a long, boozy lunch, right now.’

      ‘It’s 8.45,’ I said, chuckling. ‘Did Clemmie have a bad night?’

      ‘It’s not even nine o’clock?’ Esme said, sounding genuinely surprised. ‘But I’ve been up for at least half a day.’

      We swapped sleep horror stories for a few minutes and then I took a deep breath.

      ‘Esme, I need you to do me a big favour,’ I said.

      ‘Okay,’ she said doubtfully.

      ‘Will you come to a witches’ baby group with me on Friday?’

      ‘No,’ she said. Esme was a reluctant witch and was definitely not part of the local ‘scene’ as we called it.

      ‘Do you want to think about that?’ I said, sniffily.

      ‘It’s really not my sort of thing,’ she said.

      She was right, it wasn’t. But the truth was, I needed her. I couldn’t let the other mums know I’d lost my powers ‒ there was far too much at stake. We had been approved to adopt the twins because I was a witch. What would happen if anyone found out I had no magic any more? Would we lose the kids? Would Louise still love me if we lost our children because of me? What about my job? The spa was built upon my witchcraft. Suddenly I saw a future where I’d lost everything. I let out a sob, which I tried to cover with a cough.

      ‘Harry,’ Esme said. ‘Are you okay?’

      For a minute I couldn’t answer.

      ‘I just really need you to come with me,’ I said eventually.

      Esme paused.

      ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘I’ll come. But I’ve got a few conditions.’

      I was so relieved I’d have agreed to anything.

      ‘Name them,’ I said.

      ‘Will you babysit for Clemmie so Jamie and I can have a night out?’ she asked.

      ‘Of course.’

      ‘And you have to come to my baby group on Thursday.’

      ‘Oh, Ez,’ I complained.

      ‘Please, Harry,’ she said. ‘I really want you to meet everyone. And if I’m coming to yours…’

      I gave in.

      ‘Fine,’ I said. ‘But don’t expect me to enjoy it.’

      Esme gave a delighted giggle.

      ‘But no magic,’ she said.

      ‘No magic,’ I repeated sadly.

      After I’d said goodbye to Esme, there was a knock on my office door and Nancy came in with a cup of coffee.

      ‘Thank you,’ I said gratefully. ‘I haven’t had chance to get one this morning.’

      She gave me a slightly odd look but didn’t push me.

      ‘Beth Taylor, the new reiki practitioner is here,’ she said instead. ‘Do you want to come and say hello?’

      The morning passed quickly. I never scheduled any counselling on Mondays, preferring to keep it as an admin day, so I could show Beth around and more importantly I didn’t need to worry about my lack of magic, which was a big relief.

      After lunch I had a break, so I opened my laptop again and logged into InHarmony once more.

      This time I scrolled through the sections – spells and charms, nope. Health ‒ maybe, but no, there was nothing there about losing powers. Witchcraft facts – urgh. Lots of rubbish for those ‘civilians’ who fancied popping on a pointy hat and lighting a few candles. Annoyed, I clicked on the search box and typed in ‘losing powers’.

      Result. The first entry took me to the forum. Why hadn’t I thought of that? It was by far the most popular part of our site – a private, safe and informative area for witches to chat about anything and everything.

      There were all sorts of messages from people who had lost powers after an accident, or while they were ill, or whose powers flickered on and off like lights during a thunderstorm. I read them all, and read the answers, disappointed to discover that in most of the cases their powers came back just days – or even hours – later.

      I sat thoughtfully, with my fingers resting on the keyboard. I was logged in as myself on the site but I couldn’t post a message under that name, it was far too risky. There weren’t many Harmonys around.

      Quickly, I set myself up a new email address using the name Jasmine. Esme had loved the film Aladdin when she was small and had always said I looked like the princess. I gave myself Louise’s surname, Baxter.

      Then I registered on the site. My username was Jasmine55. My location showed as Edinburgh, but that was fine – there were loads of witches in this city and I wouldn’t be identifiable just from that.

      I took a deep breath and started to type.

       Chapter 5

       From: Jasmine55

       I need some help. Since my partner and I adopted our babies almost a year ago, I’ve been struggling. We wanted children so badly and I adore them. I love my partner and on paper things are great. But I’m not myself. My life has changed so much and everything just seems ‘off’. People keep telling me that I’m not myself and they’re right. Because the truth is, my powers have been diminishing. Now they’ve gone completely. I wondered if anyone else had suffered in a similar way and, if so, what you did about it?

      I pressed send and shut my laptop before I had time to think about it. Then I went to find Nessa so we could work out the staff rota for next month.

      The good thing about the spa was it was never, ever quiet. As soon as our doors opened, there was a steady stream of people coming in for treatments, counselling and classes. Or just to sit in our relaxation area ‒ a gorgeous garden under glass with a hot tub, wind chimes and tropical plants. It was called Star’s Garden after a former member of staff who’d passed away and I loved it in there.

      As I walked past the door I peeked in. It was glorious today because it was so sunny outside, and there were women in the hot tub and lying on the reclining chairs. I smiled. Personally I preferred to sit in the garden when it was a miserable day outside and I could hear the rain hammering on the glass roof, but I could see why people liked it on sunny days too.

      Nessa was in reception, showing round a couple of prospective members. She nodded to me to show she’d be there in a minute. I mimed drinking at her and she smiled so I grabbed her jacket and mine and waited for her by the door.

      When she was done we walked to a nearby cafe and sat down.

      ‘Just СКАЧАТЬ