She seems to be thinking. “Are you ever wrong?”
“I’m sure it’s possible, but I’ve never had anyone tell me I didn’t get it right. Of course, there are matches that haven’t happened yet, so some of those clients won’t know for a while.”
“Does your skill work on guys?”
“Yes. I don’t discriminate. But the number of men who actually want to pay money to find their soulmate is significantly lower than women.”
She looks at me, and for a second, I feel I know what it’s like to be on the end of one of my own gazes. I’m not sure if I like it or not.
“You want me to do you, don’t you?” I ask.
She blinks. “Excuse me?”
“You want me to prove it to you.”
She laughs nervously. “Oh, right. Um, no. That’s okay.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “What did you think I meant?”
She blushes again. “Nothing.”
I consider the wording of what I just said and grin. “Ah. Well, I wouldn’t object if you wanted to do that either, but…”
“Beatrix Mackenzie?”
She practically jumps out of her wheelchair in her haste to respond to the nurse in front of us. “Yes?”
“Let’s get you through to X-ray.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
She quickly acknowledges me. “I’ll call Charlie. You should go home.”
“I already told you, I’m happy to stay.”
“Please. I’ll be fine.”
I wave my hand dismissively. “Go. Don’t worry about me.”
She isn’t able to respond because the nurse is wheeling her away.
I wonder if maybe I should leave. Clearly, I’m making her uncomfortable.
But I have to admit, she’s having the same effect on me.
And I’ve decided I like it. A lot.
FIVE
Beatrix
It turns out Kellan was right. It’s just a sprain. The doctor wraps my ankle in a bandage and sends me on my way with a pair of rented crutches. Apparently, I’ll only need them for a couple of days, as long as I elevate my foot and keep it iced.
While I was waiting for the X-rays to process, I’d texted Charlie to tell her where I was. She’d immediately written back, saying she was on her way. I felt a little bad, because I knew she wouldn’t be much help. She’d been drinking, so she wouldn’t be able to drive, but I felt awkward being around Kellan by myself. I needed Charlie as a buffer.
But I didn’t expect her to act like a total groupie when she saw him.
I lumber out into the waiting room, trying to get the hang of the crutches, and stop when I see her practically sitting on Kellan’s lap. She smiles up at me, eyes shining.
“Oh my God, Bea! You didn’t tell me Kellan Gallo was your knight in shining armour!”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Kellan says, looking embarrassed.
“But you rescued her and brought her here, on a Saturday evening! Surely you’d have a line of women out the door of any place you frequent, waiting to see you.”
“Actually, that’s true, but I decided to have an early night tonight.”
“Beatrix doesn’t believe you’re for real, but I do. How much do you charge? Can I book in with you?”
He laughs. “You should call Heaven Sent and check my availability. The waiting list is usually about a month.”
She pouts. “A month? What if I can’t wait that long?”
“Charlie!” I protest. “The guy has already gone significantly out of his way tonight. Please don’t take advantage of his kindness.”
“I’m afraid I’m closed for the evening,” Kellan says. “But I’d be happy to give you both a lift home?”
“Oh, isn’t he dreamy?” Charlie gushes, as if the guy isn’t sitting right beside her.
I cover my eyes with a hand. “I’m sorry about my friend here. She was born without a sense of social decency.”
“She’s right,” Charlie confirms. “I have no filter.”
Kellan laughs again. “I guess people say the same about me, so I won’t judge. Come on. I’ll take you home. Charlie, do you live near Beatrix at West End?”
“No, I live at…hang on. How do you know where she lives?” She looks at me accusingly.
“We were in the same cab earlier,” I explain. “It had a flat tyre, so I never got home.”
“Hmm. Okay. That’s very convenient.”
“It’s what happened. Anyway, you can stay at my place tonight. We can’t expect Kellan to drive you all the way to Wellington Point. Even at this time of night, it would take half an hour each way.”
“You’d be okay to do that, wouldn’t you, Kellan?” she asks huskily.
“Actually, normally I’d say yes, but I do have an early start tomorrow,” he says regretfully.
“Fine. I’ll stay at Bea’s.” She looks at me. “I should really just move in with you. I stay there enough anyway.”
“We’ll discuss that another time. But for now, Kellan, it’s very sweet of you to offer to drop us at my place.”
“Let’s go then, shall we?”
We return to the car, and Kellan refuses the money I offer him to pay for the carpark. Charlie charges on ahead and looks as if she’s going to claim shotgun, but Kellan points out that it will be easier for me to sit in the front passenger seat. I’m not sure if that’s true, but I suspect he wants to avoid having her feel him up while he’s driving.
Once we’re on the road and Charlie has sufficiently admired the fact that Kellan’s car is electric, I lean over and whisper in his ear. “I’m sorry about Charlie. She’s had a bit to drink tonight.”
“You don’t say,” he whispers back, smiling.
“Hey! What are you two talking about? It’s about me, isn’t it?” she demands.
“No. You’re being paranoid. Just relax.”
“Fine.” She seems to take me at my word, and within seconds, she’s out like a light, leaning her head against the window and drooling. Wow. She must be more intoxicated than I realised.
“Your friend is…interesting,” he says, glancing in the rear-view mirror.
“Yeah, I’m sorry. She’s intense even at the best of times. But she’s awesome. We go way back.”
“How did you meet?”
“At university. And we were lucky enough to land similar jobs at the same stem cell company once we graduated.”
“You work for a stem cell company?”
“That’s right.”
“So you’re a fancy scientist?”
“I don’t know about fancy, but yes, I’m a scientist. Although, my job is mostly sales. Charlie and I are each in charge of a team. We do presentations around Australia and in various countries in the South Pacific.”
“Wow. And I thought people were impressed by what I do.”
“Believe me. Most people don’t have the patience to listen to me explain what I do unless they’re in the industry. But I do love talking about it. There are so many cool new developments happening right now. My favourite is figuring out how stem cells can be used to restore normal function after injury.”
“See, the stuff you do is way more interesting than what I do. You’re changing the world.”
“I’m not personally changing the world, but my company is. And while I know I gave you a hard time earlier, even if you don’t do what you claim you’re able to do, at least you’re giving people hope.”
“Is that a backhanded compliment?” he asks, a trace of amusement in his voice.
“Sorry, yes. I didn’t mean it to be backhanded.”
“I’ll take it as it was intended, then.”
I direct Kellan to my street, and he pulls up out the front.
“I’ll help you inside,” he says.
“No, no. I’m fine. Charlie can open the door for me. Charlie!”
She sits up, and her eyes pop open. “What? Are we there already?”
“Yes, we’re at my place. Now come on. Make yours
elf useful.”
Despite my protests for him to stay in the car, Kellan still gets out and makes sure both Charlie and I reach the front door safely.
“Nice place,” he says, impressed.
“Yeah, I got it a few years ago,” I say, looking at it with a mixture of pride and sadness. It’s taking a lot longer than I expected to overcome the feelings associated with how it entered my possession.
“Stem cell sales must pay well.”
“Not well enough to pay almost a million for a house in West End,” Charlie drawls. “Bea got a…”
“Charlie, Kellan does not need to hear my entire life story right now. It’s almost 2am, and I’m sure he’d like to get home to bed.”
“You want to come in for a drink?” Charlie asks him, ignoring me.
He quickly glances at me. “Actually, I might call it a night. But thank you for the offer.” He looks down at my ankle. “If you get stuck over the next few days and need someone to drive you around, call me. You know, if you run out of groceries or anything…”
Why is Kellan Gallo offering to buy me groceries? “Uh, that’s very sweet of you, but you’ve already done more than enough. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
He looks uncertainly between both me and Charlie. “Right. I’ll be off. Sleep tight.”
He abruptly returns to his car.
“Thanks for looking after us!” Charlie calls out.
He briefly turns around and smiles. Our eyes connect, and I shyly smile in return.
Charlie nudges me, so I quickly busy myself with looking for my keys.
“Oh my God, you like the guy,” she says, surprised.
“Shh. I’m just grateful he could help me out when I needed it, that’s all.” Despite a slight inexplicable attraction, the guy is completely unsuitable for me.
Charlie takes my key and shoves it in the lock, pushing the door open and waiting for me to hobble in.
“Admit it. You want to sleep with him.”
“Charlie, we’re not all like you and want to jump into bed the second we meet someone.”
“I’m sorry, but are you trying to slut-shame me?”
“No! You know what I mean. I don’t care who you sleep with. But for the record, I am not interested in Kellan that way. The guy is either a fraud or he has a mental illness. So no, I do not want to have sex with him.”
“What’s that quote about protesting too much?” she teases.
“It’s from Hamlet, and I will not dignify your question with the actual wording. Now, do you want to stay here tonight, or would you rather pay Uber a ton of money to take you home?”
“Okay, okay. I promise I’ll stop talking about Kellan Gallo. Besides, I’m glad you’re not interested. Because that means I won’t have to feel guilty about asking him out.”
“Go ahead. I really don’t mind.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yes, really. Now off you go. It’s been a big night, and I’m exhausted. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She skips off to the spare room, and I make my way to my bedroom.
It’s only when I’ve brushed my teeth, changed into my PJs, and slid into bed that a tiny chink in my protective armour appears.
If I hadn’t read that article about Kellan in YZ, I would probably object a lot more to Charlie wanting to date him.
The guy is much nicer than I like to admit.
SIX
Kellan
I’m glad it’s Sunday. After last night, I’m exhausted, and the idea of having to go back to Heaven Sent tonight would have tipped me over the edge.
Meeting Beatrix has unsettled me. Other than the fact she’s drop-dead gorgeous, she’s not my usual type. I’ve never dated a scientist before, and I suspect that’s not going to change in the near future. Unless I ask out Charlie—which is definitely not happening.
I’ve had encounters with women who have worked in medical fields before, such as dental nurses and doctor’s assistants, but none who devote their lives to science. I understand that Beatrix might find it difficult to reconcile who I am with her way of thinking.
And while I can normally convince most people I’m legitimate, I don’t lose any sleep over those who disagree with me. I know who I am, and there are plenty of people out there who will vouch for me. But for some reason, I really want to earn Beatrix’s trust.
Maybe if I told her who her soulmate was, she’d change her mind. But a part of me doesn’t want to do that, and I’m not prepared to analyse why that might be.
But…I could show her the truth via Charlie. Beatrix’s best friend flat out asked me for an appointment last night. And in a way, Beatrix might be more willing to trust Charlie’s account of what’s happening rather than if I tried to appeal to her directly.
I get out my phone and google Charlie stem cell.
A bunch of articles appear, along with a couple of photos confirming I have the right person. I find her Facebook page and look at her friend list. For a scientist, she doesn’t have very good privacy controls on her account. Beatrix’s face jumps out at me straight away. I’m tempted to send her a friend request but refrain. I don’t want her thinking I’m a stalker. Even sending a message to Charlie this way is going to look suspicious. I never solicit business by approaching people on social media.
I wonder if I could hide behind some other excuse. I research stem cells and end up falling into a rabbit hole of information that reads like science fiction. I can’t believe we’re so far along in research that there are rules banning the introduction of human stem cells in animal breeding.
But despite learning a lot, I soon realise it’s implausible for me to use the topic as a less obvious way of getting close to Beatrix and Charlie. I bite the bullet and write Charlie a message via Messenger, letting her know I have availability on Friday to see her. I don’t want to look too desperate by asking to meet her outside office hours, but I do offer to waive the fee, as a friend. I click send before I can think too hard about it, and breathe out a puff of air.
It’s going to be a long week.
***
Beatrix
“Oh my God! Bea! Wake up!”
I slowly sit up and groan. My ankle is in agony, and my eyes are scratchy. I glance at my watch and see it’s still only 8am. “Why are you up so early?”
“Kellan messaged me!”
I frown, confused. “What? Why?”
“He’s offering me a session to learn about my soulmate!” She bounces around on the bed, jostling my leg.
“Hey, careful, please.”
“Sorry.” She jumps onto the floor and starts dancing around. “I’m going to know who my future husband is!”
“Great.” I bury my head under the pillow. Her perkiness is too much for me. “When are you seeing him?”
“On Friday. He said there was a cancellation, so I’m booked in for the first session of the night. And he said I can have it for free because I’m a friend! You know what that means, don’t you?”
“No?”
“He totally wants to date me.”
I peer out from under the pillow. “Wait, but what if he reveals your soulmate?”
“Maybe he thinks it will be him!”
“That’s a pretty big risk to take.” I sit up again. “Unless that’s his thing. I mean, I haven’t really looked into him, but what if he tells half the women that he’s their soulmate so he can get them into bed?”
“He wouldn’t do that!” she protests.
“How do you know? He contacted you out of the blue, didn’t he?”
“Yes, but that’s only because he likes us. Anyway, I do hope we’re soulmates! Wouldn’t that be something?”
“Yeah, that’d be something, all right.”
I’m starting to wonder if my initial assessment of the guy was right after all. “You know what? You should ask if you can bring the session forward. Tell him you’ll pay a premium. Why should you have to wait almost a whole week to hear what he has to
say?”
“You’re right! I don’t want to wait. But I don’t have any money. I just bought a pair of Louboutin heels.”
I roll my eyes. “You blew your whole paycheck on shoes?”
“Yeah, I know. You can lecture me another time.”
“I’ll cover the fee, then. And I want to come along. See for myself what the big deal is.”
“Sure!” She claps her hands together and picks up her phone. “Should I ask him to do it today?”
“Whatever works, but yeah, the sooner, the better.”
She types up a reply and giggles manically. “I can’t wait!”
Despite myself, I’m quite looking forward to the impending spectacle. I wonder if Kellan uses a crystal ball or any of that other fortune-telling nonsense. At least by the time he’s done with Charlie, I’ll have him well and truly out of my system.
Because I don’t need another guy like Brock in my life.
SEVEN
Kellan
My phone beeps. Charlie has written back suggesting we do the session sooner—and Beatrix is offering to pay. I smile. My plan has worked better than I expected. I don’t even have to suggest to Charlie that she bring her friend along.
I text her back, telling her my fees, but I have no intention of taking Beatrix’s money. I’ll find a way to refuse payment once they’re here.
Heaven Sent is closed throughout the day, and I can just imagine what Beatrix would say if I tried to get the two of them to meet me at the strip club, so when Charlie messages me to ask the location, I only hesitate for a second.
Why don’t you both come over this afternoon? Beatrix knows where I live.
She replies immediately. Great. We’ll be there at 4pm.
I spend the next hour tidying the apartment and taking a shower. Sundays for me usually involve a lazy morning spent in bed with a client from the evening before, and then heading out for drinks later in the day at one of the city’s rooftop bars. I never have a shortage of people to while away the hours with, but I know if I went out with anyone today, I’d be too distracted to be my usual charming self.
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