Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
“I’m already late and now I can’t wear that heel. I can’t even touch it. You shouldn’t, either!” She yanks it out of my hand and flings it away as if it’s radioactive. For all I know, it might be. “What shite luck.”
“I really am sorry,” I tell her sheepishly.
She shakes her head, finally looking at me. She’s beautiful, startlingly so. She has dark black hair, almost the same shade as mine, the perfect complement to her tawny brown skin. Her short pixie haircut works on exactly zero percent of the human population and yet she pulls it off flawlessly. The style accentuates her sharp cheekbones and doe-like eyes. “No, it was my fault,” she argues. “I had my attention down on my mobile. That’s what I get for scrolling instead of looking where I was walking. Sorry about your leg.”
“No, it’s totally fine. A scrape.”
Once the apologies are out of the way, she looks down at her legs again. The bleeding is only getting worse. She drags a hand down her face. “What am I meant to do now?”
The same question was just rattling around my own brain.
She continues, sounding more hopeless with every second. “I’m headed to work and I was already going to be late. We don’t usually have to go in so early, but we have this training thing that’s going to start any minute and I was meant to wear those high heels once I got there, but now that’s totally not happening. What do you reckon that is? Not poo, surely?”
A laugh bubbles out of me. “I’m too scared to check.”
She laughs, too, and then suddenly I know how I might be able to help.
“Look, I can’t make you less late for work, but I can give you a new pair of shoes. What size are you?”
“Eight and a half.”
“I’m an eight!” I exclaim. “Us colliding is meant to be. I definitely have a pair that will work on you.” I’m already bent down, riffling through my duffel bag. I could have organized it better when I was packing this morning, but it doesn’t take me long to find the shoes I’m looking for. Of course I don’t want to part with them; Winnie bought the hot-pink Louboutins with the sole purpose of rocking them in an Ibiza club. But I get the sense she would approve of my passing them on to this particular stranger.
The girl laughs when I try to hand them over to her and looks at me like I’m certifiably insane. “Are you kidding? Babes, those have red soles, which means they’re worth more than I’ll make all summer. I’m not taking those!”
“No. It’s fine.” I hold them out toward her more forcefully. “It’s the least I can do. I wish I had a Band-Aid or something to offer you. Can you clean up your knees at work or should we try to find a pharmacy—”
She props her hands on her hips and ignores the shoes in favor of giving me an astute once-over. “What’s going on? Where were you headed with all your stuff? Waiting for a lift to the airport?”
Why does it even matter?
“No.”
“Off to a hotel?”
I shake my head again, and her eyes narrow shrewdly.
“Something’s strange with you, I can feel it.” She lifts her chin as she continues studying me. “I’m magical that way.”
I laugh. “Sure. Yes, something’s off,” I admit quickly, trying to hurry us along. “Doesn’t matter. You’re already late for work, so here.” I wave the shoes, but she continues to ignore them.
“Tell me.”
I frown and reluctantly let the Louboutins hang limp at my side. Why does she care?
I stay silent for another moment, thinking with a little resistance that she’ll take the shoes and be on her merry way, but she continues our staring contest long enough that I know I won’t win this battle. A tingle racks my spine, and it’s seriously spooky to have a stranger look at me the way she is. Maybe she is magical.
With a sigh, I release the floodgates, talking fast. “Fine. Yeah, it’s been a shitty morning. Someone stole money from me at my last hostel and I had to wait forever to file a police report and now I need to find a new place to stay and a job, but it’s nothing.” I laugh. “Seriously, it sounds worse than it actually is. It’ll work itself out, but now will you please just take these shoes? I’m going to worry about you the rest of the day if you don’t take them.”
“There, see?” She grins, and her whole face lights up. “I knew I read you right. You’re a good egg. What’s your name?”
“Isabel.”
She holds her hurt palm out for me, winces, then trades it out for her uninjured one. “I’m Simone.”
“Nice to meet you. I like your hair.”