Chapter Six

“You could have warned me, you know.” Aliya ran her palms down the front of her jeans. Her hands shook and she tried to take deep breaths to still her breathing.

“I did. I told you we weren’t traveling by plane. It’s not the first time I’ve transported you by magic.”

“Maybe not, but it’s the first time I’ve been awake for it. One minute I’m in my living room, and the next, I’m in Atlanta. Swirling lights and high winds. Very scary.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

“Doubt it.” Aliya took a look around.

They were in a park. Bright sunshine gleamed off the equipment where children played. Aliya watched them, and then turned her gaze to the parents sitting around. Groups of men and women talked amongst themselves, alternating their gazes between the people sitting next to them, and their children as they played together.

It didn’t take long to locate Rebecca. She looked exactly the same as she had in high school, except for a few extra pounds. She sat on a bench talking to a woman, her hand on a baby carriage that she gently pushed to and fro. Every few minutes, she would search the crowd, find her child, smile, and turn back to the person sitting next to her.

“She’s very pretty,” Matuse said.

“Yes, she is. You could see why I would be jealous.”

“Jealousy is a useless emotion that eats away at a person’s soul. All it means is that you don’t like something about yourself. You should learn to change that something, and not envy the person who has what you want. Jealousy brings nothing but pain, for everyone involved.”

“Humph.” Aliya studied the woman who sat there, laughing with her friends. Even now a twinge of jealousy ate at her. What she now witnessed was something she would never have, and it hurt to know that. “Well I think… oh crap, she’s seen me. She’s coming this way. What do I say? Matuse?”

She took his hand and looked up into his eyes. The gentle look he gave her calmed her somewhat.

“I chose Rebecca first because she is going to be the simplest, and it will help ease you into the situation. Just let it flow out of you. Do what your heart knows is right.”

“But I…”

“Aliya?”

Aliya did her best to look surprised. “Rebecca. Hi.”

“I thought that was you.” She stopped the carriage in front of them and gave her a bright smile. “What are you doing here? Do you live in Atlanta?”

“No, I’m just…”

“Visiting.” Matuse put his hand out. “Hi. I’m Matuse, a friend of Aliya’s. I had to come down for business and I dragged her along. I didn’t want to be alone.”

“Hi, I’m Rebecca Gilroy.” She shook his hand, then turned her gaze back to the playground, found her child and looked back at them.

“Gilroy?”

“Yes, Steven Gilroy and I got married.”

“Your date at prom?”

“Of course. He’s a few years older than I am, but we’d been dating since I was sixteen. As a matter of fact, he popped the question on prom night, but we waited a few years until he had some college under his belt. He’s a hospital administrator now.”

“Wow, that’s fantastic. I didn’t know. I’ve hardly kept up with things from back home, even though I still live in the city.”

“My mother told me your parents moved from the old neighborhood right after our graduation. Did you go with them? What are you doing now?” She cut a sly look at Matuse. “Not married yet?”

“No, I’m not. I haven’t found the right one.” Aliya bit her lip, then clamped her mouth shut before opening it again. “I’m living in Manhattan, and I work at an advertising agency.”

“Wow, that sounds like fun.”

Rebecca looked back at the children, then motioned for a young boy to come to her. Aliya watched him as he walked over. He looked like he was about six or seven, with a mop of curly dark hair. He had the look of Rebecca’s prom date around his eyes and Aliya’s heart softened.

“This is Stevie, and that’s Maddie in the carraige. She’s almost two, and she gets tired while we’re out, so I always make sure to bring the carriage so she can sleep.”

Matuse tousled the boy’s hair. “Shall we go for ice cream? I saw a spot over near the edge of the park. We can walk there.”

“That sounds good,” Rebecca said. “What do you say, Stevie?”

“Yes, please.” An infectious smile spread across his face and they all started to walk toward the ice cream shop. When Matuse lifted the boy onto his shoulders, and jogged ahead of them, Rebecca laughed.

“Your friend is very sweet.”

“Sometimes,” Aliya responded. “Listen, while we have a minute alone, I want to say something to you.”

“Yes?” Rebecca’s voice was accepting, but cautious.

“Prom night. I was, well, I was very rude to you. And I’m sorry.”

Aliya’s actually felt the words instead of just saying them. When this whole thing had started, she’d had every intention of playing along, and making Matuse think she was doing as he bid. But now, after seeing Rebecca with her children and seeing how happy she was, she wanted to talk to her about that night. She remembered Matuse’s edict for her to think about how her words had harmed Rebecca. The woman seemed so happy and carefree now. Maybe she didn’t even remember what had happened that night.

“Thank you,” Rebecca said. “That means a lot to me. And while we’re talking, can I ask you why you said it? You’d never done anything like that to me before, even though I’d seen you do it to others.”

Her words cut into Aliya’s soul. Her reputation as a bitch was not something she wanted her high school classmates to remember. “Jealousy, pure and simple. When Doug said something about you being pretty, I got angry. It’s crappy, I know, but it’s the truth. But seeing you here, I just wanted to, well, hopefully set things to right.”

The words that were meant to appease Matuse hit her heart. When she heard his voice whisper, “good job, she-devil,” she bit back a snort.

“I hope I didn’t make things bad for you,” Aliya added.

“Well, it’s not a pleasant memory, that’s for sure. But Steven helped me work it out. He said it was jealousy, and he’ll be happy to hear he was right. But it confused me. You’re so beautiful yourself that I found it hard to believe that you’d be jealous of anyone.”

A memory tugged at Aliya’s brain, but she pushed it back into the recesses of her mind. “I’m sorry.”

“I accept your apology, as long as I get ice cream with it.” She laughed and pushed her shoulder gently into Aliya’s. “Just kidding. I’ll take it without the ice cream, too.”

They reached the small cluster of food stands where Matuse and Stevie had already staked out a table. When the women approached, he clapped his hands together once.

“Flavors?”

“Chocolate!” Stevie said at the same time as his mother.

“Vanilla,” Aliya added. “Frozen yogurt if they have it.”

“I didn’t know you were allergic to ice cream,” Matuse said.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m not, but it has less calories. And a small serving.”

He gave her a wicked grin that she knew meant she wouldn’t be getting what she asked for. He held out his hand and asked Stevie to come with him and help him carry things.

As he walked away, Rebecca gave his ass an appreciative glance. “Nice.”

“You’re married,” Aliya said with a laugh.

“Doesn’t mean I can’t look. Nobody will ever replace Steven, but asses like that make anyone appreciate the male form.”

“He is rather fine,” Aliya admitted, muttering to herself that the looks didn’t overcome the fact he was a jerk sometimes.

I heard that. There was humor in Matuse’s voice, and she laughed.

Minutes later, he and Stevie were back with huge sundaes for all four of them. Each bowl had two scoops of chocolate ice cream covered in hot fudge and topped with whipped cream and nuts.

“This isn’t yogurt,” Aliya grumbled as she picked up the spoon and twirled it in the whipped cream.

“True, but we can work off the calories,” Matuse replied with a sweet smile. “We’ll walk Rebecca back to her car. How’s that?”

“Works for me,” Rebecca said as she took a large bite. “Delicious.”

Aliya thought about pushing her bowl away, but the appreciative sounds of her cohorts made her reconsider. She took a tentative bite, rolled her eyes back in her head and dug in, eating every bite, making sure to scrape the spoon along the bottom to get all the fudge.

When she was done, she sat back. “That was so good. I can’t remember the last time I had ice cream.”

The horrified look Stevie gave her made her laugh. She laughed so hard that tears formed in her eyes.

She leaned over so that her face was close to the young man’s. “I promise I’ll eat it more often, okay?”

He nodded and went back to his own dish.

She watched Rebecca and Stevie interact, then sighed when Rebecca picked up a now wide-awake Maddie and fed her some ice cream.

When she turned to Matuse, he was smiling at her.

So, I’ve done fine by you.

Very well, she-devil.

The ice cream was a nice reward. Thank you.

It’s a treat, not a reward. I had a different idea for that.

Really, but this one had whipped cream, with nuts on top.

Yes, but I have some bigger nuts that will be part of your reward, too. And I promise you’ll enjoy them much more than the ones you just ate.