Page 25

Around mid-day, I looked in on Kaya. She was still asleep. She was clearly exhausted.

I decided to google the term sho’qa’i.

I found out that it was a native American word that meant different things in different tribes. It basically was someone who had supernatural powers or abilities. A witch. But also, a protector. Someone who was strong enough to stand up to evil forces.

It fitted with everything that Kaya had told me about herself. Except for her special abilities. I had no idea what these could be.

I wondered if the trauma that had befallen her as a child had somehow blocked this gift, put up a kind of wall.

My phone rang and I picked it up.

“Hey, stranger,” came Charlotte’s seductive voice. “Long time no hear?”

I thought we’d broken up and couldn’t figure out why she’d call me.

“I thought maybe you wanted to go away over the weekend?”

Before I could say anything, she interrupted, “I know we’re not together or anything but we can still have fun, right?”

She sounded flirty and upbeat but I detected the desperation behind the cheerful tone.

“I’ve met someone else, Charlotte, it’s over.”

When I put down the phone, Kaya was standing in the doorway, watching me.

“You’ve met someone else, have you?” she asked with a small smile, lifting one eyebrow. It was the first time that she seemed a bit more like her old self.

“Well,” I said. “Sort of, you know.”

She walked up to me, still dressed in her robe, her slim feet bare on the tiles

“And who might this mystery lady be?”

She sounded completely normal, well-rested and calm, but I had to be careful.

“I think you have an idea,” I said.

She was right in front of me, close enough for me to see the tiny mole on the swell of her breast as it disappeared into her robe. I was beginning to lose focus on the conversation, aware only of an incredible urge to slip that robe off her shoulder and kiss her.

But then she walked past me to get some grapes off a fruit platter on the table.

“Thank you for looking after me these past few days,” she said. “You really have been amazing.”

I gave an exaggerated shrug. “Anything to please the lady.”

“But you’re a busy man and I have been anything but nice to you,” she reminded me.

"You’re worth it,” I said to her, meaning every word. “You really are. I’d do anything to prove it.”

The mood between us changed. The flirty vibe, the sexy talk, it all disappeared. She flopped down on the sofa and dropped her head in her hands.

“I’m a mess, Jack, you don’t want to get involved with me.”

I sat down next to her and put my arm around her shoulders.

“But I do, don’t you get it? I don’t care who you are or what happened to you. I want us to be together, to give this a shot. We’ll figure it out along the way.”

She looked up at me, tears swimming in her beautiful black eyes.