Once Upon Stilettos

by Shanna Swendson

  I couldn’t turn back. The tears had already started to fall and I didn’t want him to see them. Instead, I ignored him and kept on walking. I wasn’t even sure why I was crying. It wasn’t like I’d really fallen in love with him. Deep down inside, I had to admit to myself that he was right, in a way. I did want normal, as much as I’d hated being so utterly ordinary before I joined MSI. I didn’t see how normal and the magical world were necessarily mutually exclusive. The time I’d had dinner with Owen flashed into my brain. That had been such a delightfully normal, ordinary evening, even though Owen was about as magical as you could get. And Ethan was also right about where my heart really was. That didn’t make me feel any less heartbroken. Not only did I not have Owen as anything more than a friend, but I didn’t have Ethan, either.

  I paused on the sidewalk to find a tissue in my purse so I could wipe away the tears, and that’s when I felt the tingle. I might not have been able to see anything veiled by magic, but I’d learned to recognize the sensation of magic in use. And magic was in use very close by me, but without my magical immunity I had no idea what was happening. I was as good as blind, and more vulnerable than I’d ever been.

  Unfortunately, the magical tingle wasn’t a directional thing. I got the same sense of the little hairs at the back of my neck standing on end no matter where the magic came from. The best I could manage was to play “hot or cold” and see if the tingle got stronger in a particular direction. But I was not up to playing games at that moment. Instead, I stood my ground, facing straight ahead the way I would have even if I could have seen what magical mischief was afoot. “Look, I don’t know what you’re up to, but this really is not the time,” I said to no one in particular. “I’m tired and I’m pissed off, so get the hell out of my way and leave me alone.”

  Even a magical creature must have known better than to mess with a woman who’d just been dumped, for the tingle quickly faded. Not wanting to take any chances, I hurried forward to get to the safety of the office before my invisible stalker had second thoughts about letting me go.

  I paused before I turned the corner to approach the MSI building and found a clean tissue in my purse. Then I dabbed at my eyes, blew my nose, and checked my reflection in my compact mirror. I didn’t look great, but there was no mascara running down my face, and any redness around my eyes could have come from being out in the cold. With a deep breath, I forced myself to hold my head high and walk toward the entrance with my most confident stride.

  I gave a passing nod to the guardian gargoyle—not one I knew, thank goodness—then hurried up to my office. The reigning paranoia meant I didn’t have to worry about anyone trying to strike up a conversation with me along the way. I didn’t even have to worry about anyone making eye contact. I managed to hold myself together until I got to Merlin’s office suite, where Trix cheerfully asked, “So, how was the hot lunch date?” without looking up from her computer.

  Then I lost it utterly. The tears came once more, and I couldn’t shut them off. “He broke up with me,” I sobbed.

  She immediately jumped up, flew over the top of her desk, and grabbed me by the shoulders. “You poor thing,” she said as she hustled me into my office, where she shut the door behind us and pushed me into my desk chair. Then she conjured up a cup of tea, a box of tissues, and a tray of chocolates. “Now, tell me all about it,” she said, sitting in the chair next to my desk. “Why did he break up with you? Things seemed to be going so well, even when he picked you up today.”

  I tried to shrug, but it was difficult because my shoulders were shaking so badly. “Because I’m boring.” I grabbed a tissue out of the box and blew my nose loudly.

  “Did he actually say that?”

  “Well, he did say I was too ‘normal,’ but he meant boring.” I adopted a mocking tone. “Apparently, he wants to explore and experience this new world he’s discovered, and he thinks I want things to be too normal, so we have totally opposite ideas of a good time.” I bit a chocolate in two, then licked the caramel filling off my lips.

  The light on my phone indicating a call coming in to Trix’s line flashed. “Hold that thought,” Trix said, leaning over my desk to grab the phone. “Mr. Mervyn’s office,” she said briskly, then after a pause said, “One moment, please. Let me connect you.” She pushed a few buttons, hung up the phone, then picked it up again and pushed more buttons. “Ari, emergency summit meeting, Katie’s office, now. Get Isabel.”

  When she hung up and returned to her chair, I asked, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  She waved a hand, dismissing my concern. “I wouldn’t take her romantic advice, but there’s no one better for venting when you’re mad at a guy. Once we get past that, then we can strategize about what to do next. It should be easy enough to convince him that you’re not too normal for him.”

  “But he’s right. I do like things normal. Don’t get me wrong, I like magical people, but for fun I like to do normal stuff. When magic intrudes on my personal life, everything always goes horribly wrong.”

  “If he’s looking for magical excitement, he’s going to be unpleasantly surprised. Most of us aren’t usually off doing wild and crazy magical things. Magic is a convenience, not a lifestyle, except among certain fringe groups.” She giggled, a sound like tinkling bells. “And I can’t picture him in any of those groups. They’d kick him out for being too normal.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Talk about irony!”

  There was a knock at my door and Trix called out, “Come in.” The door opened and Isabel and Ari spilled into my office.

  “What’s up?” Ari asked, then she got a good look at me. “Don’t tell me, he ditched you already?”

  I nodded sadly while Trix got them up to speed. “If you can believe it, he made a lunch date with her, took her out, then dumped her at the restaurant. He said she wanted things too normal while he wanted to really get into the whole magical world.”

  Ari licked her lips slyly. “So, what exactly did he want that you thought was too out there?”

  Isabel smacked her lightly on the shoulder, which sent her reeling. “Really, Ari. Please!”

  “It wasn’t like that,” I explained wearily. “I don’t like it when weird, magical stuff gets in the way of my personal life, and he finds that exciting.”

  “Too bad you didn’t find that out earlier,” Ari said. “You could have used that as a great seduction technique.”

  “That was kind of the plan for this weekend,” I admitted. “But not the using-magic-to-get-him-excited part. I had this really hot pair of red shoes.”

  Trix clapped her hands delightedly. “You bought them!”

  Isabel put her arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze, nearly suffocating me in the process. “Oh, honey, no wonder you were so disappointed. I hate it when guys do that. Why is it that just when you’re ready to take things to the next level, they decide they want out?”

  “Though normally they back out right after that particular next level, rather than before it,” Ari put in. “So, what do we have planned for revenge?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t need revenge. This is a situation where we can let the universe handle it.”

  “Yeah, he’ll get himself ditched by some magical girl for being too normal,” Trix said. “And in the meantime, Katie will find herself someone fabulous.”

  I got another tissue and wiped my eyes and nose. I was already feeling much better. “You know what’s funny?” I asked. “I wasn’t that incredibly into him to begin with. I only asked him out in the first place because we needed an intellectual property attorney. I thought he was okay, but it was definitely not love at first sight. And then when he kept asking me out after that, I thought I might as well go out with him. I mean, he seemed nice, he’s cute, and he’d be a good catch.”

  “He’s good on paper,” Trix agreed with a world-weary sigh. “But he can be the perfect catch and not be right for you if there’s no chemistry.”

  “I t
hought there was chemistry,” I said. “But maybe I was only trying to convince myself.” I knew better than to share the real reason why I’d tried to talk myself into falling for Ethan with this bunch. That would be asking to become the center of office gossip and dragging Owen with me. “I think I just wanted somebody, and he was better than my other options at the time.”

  “That doesn’t get him off the hook,” Ari insisted. “He dumped you at lunch in a restaurant, for crying out loud.”

  “But at least he told me,” I argued. “Most guys would have just fallen off the face of the earth. They’d have stopped calling me and left me to figure it out for myself when I didn’t hear from them for a few weeks.”

  “She does have a point,” Isabel said with a sigh.

  “Still,” Ari said, “lunchtime! So she had to go back to work and face the rest of the day. What, he couldn’t spring for dinner for his breakup meal? Or did he already have something lined up for the evening?”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said with only the tiniest of sniffles.

  “Want to go out for drinks after work?” Isabel offered.

  I shook my head. “No, I want to go home and eat ice cream. My roommates will look out for me.” That was, if they weren’t out with their boyfriends. I was the lone single girl once more.

  “Girls’ night out Friday,” Trix declared. “I think we can all use the break.”

  I wasn’t so sure. The first time I’d gone out with all of them, we’d wound up kissing frogs in Central Park, which was how both Philip and Jeff had come into my life. But since then, we’d had a few perfectly normal (there was that word again) outings where the only things that were magical or odd were Trix’s and Ari’s wings.

  “You could even wear those hot red shoes and let other men get the benefit,” Ari suggested.

  “Can I get back to you later in the week?” I asked. “Let’s see how I’m feeling then. Right now, I just want to hibernate for a while.”

  Ari and Isabel soon left, then Trix said, “Why don’t you go on home? I’ll cover for you.”

  “No, I can’t abandon you like that, not after taking the day off before Thanksgiving.”

  She snorted. “Yeah, like that was a busy day. I gave myself a manicure and pedicure. And I missed a whole day of work from my breakup.”

  “But I have work to do.”

  “And how effective will you be? Will you get anything done at all, or will you stare into space and think about what you should have said?”

  I sighed deeply. “Maybe you’re right. But if I go home early, won’t he know he got to me?”

  She winked. “How will he know you went home early? As far as he’ll know—if he even checks—you’re in important meetings all afternoon. Go home or go shopping or make something for your holiday buddy. That’ll count as work, sort of. This program was your idea, so you have to set an example and do it right.”

  “Okay, you don’t have to twist my arm. I’ll go.” As much as I felt like a slacker and a wimp, I didn’t want to be in the office. I’d never before taken time off because a boyfriend had broken up with me, but that could be because I hadn’t had much of anything resembling a boyfriend since I’d been working. I’d had dates since moving to New York, but nobody around long enough to be called a boyfriend, and while I was working at my parents’ store after graduating from college, there had been nobody. No wonder I’d let myself fall for Ethan in spite of my doubts. I’d been lonely, pathetic, and desperate.

  On my way home, I stopped at a neighborhood grocery store to pick up ingredients for my favorite Christmas cookies. As I approached the entrance to my apartment building, I saw Mrs. Jacobs with her little rat-like dog (actually, I kind of suspected she’d put a leash on a real rat) going through the door. There was no point in picking up my pace and asking her to hold the door for me, even though it would have helped if I didn’t have to juggle my grocery bags while unlocking the front door. She’d let the door slam in my face, smugly citing the rule that we weren’t supposed to let anyone follow us into the building.

  But she did hold the door for me. I’d have to call the Times when I got upstairs. She even greeted me with a smile. “You’re home from work early today. Is everything okay?” The Times story moved to the front page. I had proof of alien invasion. The body snatchers had definitely landed.

  “Just taking a little time off,” I said as I stepped through the door and allowed her to close it. “Thanks for holding the door.”

  “You had your arms full,” she said. “Come on, Winkie.” She tugged on her rat’s leash and headed up the stairs.

  I watched her in shock until she was inside her apartment, then climbed the stairs to my own place. Of all days, I needed her to be nice to me today. If she’d been her usual self, I’d have burst into tears.

  Inside my apartment, I put away the eggs and butter, then tried to decide what I should do. Now that I was home, being alone in the empty apartment didn’t seem like such a good idea. At work I’d have had something to distract me. If I sat on my bed and cried my eyes out, I could get it out of my system enough so I could act like I was fine when my roommates came home. I didn’t want them pitying me.

  That decided, I went into the bedroom and changed out of my work clothes. After I’d put on jeans and a sweatshirt, I paused to touch the shoe box. I couldn’t even bring myself to look at the red shoes now that I knew they weren’t going to get me what I wanted.

  That was when the tears returned. It was so unfair. I was doomed to be alone the rest of my life because I was too boring and ordinary for anyone to want me. I’d never have a chance to wear the wonderful red shoes because I’d never have another date again.

  Finally the sobs subsided and I began laughing instead. I was being an utter idiot. So what if I was having the suckiest week ever, from losing the magical immunity that was the main reason I had my job to losing my boyfriend. I still had a lot going for me. I couldn’t think of much at the moment, but I was sure there was something.

  I went into the bathroom to wash my face. On the way back into the living room, I noticed the light on the answering machine blinking. I hit the message PLAY button and heard my mother’s voice. “Um, this message is for Katie. This is your mother. I wanted to let you know I got the information on that place where Mavis went to dry out. I put a brochure in the mail to you. Maybe you could give it to that friend of yours next time he bothers you.” That was the final thing I needed for my cure, the mental image of doing an intervention on Phelan Idris and sending him off to the Betty Ford Center.

  When I finished laughing, I turned on the radio to a station that was already playing Christmas music and went to work on my cookies. Baking always made me feel better about life. The kitchen was a mess and I was covered in flour when my roommates got home, but at least I was no longer weeping. I was able to give them a reasonably cheerful greeting, and when Gemma asked, “How did your date go? I want details,” I managed to roll my eyes instead of crying.

  “Would you believe, it wasn’t a date at all? He planned the whole thing just to break up with me.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  “I told you he was an ass,” Marcia muttered. “Can I have a cookie, or are these for something?”

  “Take one of those over there that aren’t shaped right,” I said, pointing with an icing-covered spatula. “And he wasn’t quite an ass. He simply didn’t want to go any further with me, so he told me about it. It’s not like I can blame him for having an opinion that differs from mine.”

  “On the first day of a breakup?” Gemma asked, picking up a cookie. “You can blame him for anything you want to. It’s only a day or so later that you have to start being reasonable.”

  I went back to stirring icing. “Well, it’s not like I’d want him to keep going out with me if he wasn’t really interested, and I definitely wouldn’t want him sleeping with me if he wasn’t interested. I’d be even more pissed off if he hadn’t told me at all and had left me hanging with no
explanation and a lot of ‘I’ve been busy’ excuses.”

  “Girl, you are way too reasonable,” Marcia said. “I’d still be calling for his balls.”

  “He did break up with you at lunch, therefore ruining your whole day,” Gemma added. “It looks like you came home early, based on your cookie output.”

  “My coworker said she’d cover for me,” I explained. “And besides, we’ve started this secret Santa thing around the company, so I had to come up with some treats for my secret pal.”

  She eyed the stacks of gingerbread on the table. “You must really like your secret pal. Wait, are those pieces for a gingerbread house?”

  I couldn’t look her in the eye. Maybe I had gone a little overboard. “The house may not be for him. It may be a little something for us, since, if we put up a tree, we’d have to charge it rent.”

  “Oh, a him, is it?” Marcia said around a mouthful of cookie. “The plot thickens. Do we have any milk?”

  While she rummaged in the refrigerator, Gemma picked up the inquisition. “This wouldn’t happen to be that cute guy you’ve mentioned, now, would it?”

  “Maybe,” I hedged.

  “Now, that’s an interesting color of pink,” she teased. “Marce, get a load of that blush. I do believe our girl has already moved on to greener pastures.”

  “He’s just a friend,” I insisted. “He’s shown no signs whatsoever of being interested in me as anything other than a friend.”

  “Then why are you turning into Betty Crocker here?”

  “Because I kind of feel sorry for him.”

  Marcia finished pouring milk for all of us and put the bottle back in the refrigerator. “We still don’t have any water,” she said.

  “Because it’s your turn to buy it,” Gemma shot back. “And don’t change the subject. We’re dissecting Katie’s love life. Now, why would you feel sorry for Mr. Cutie?”

  “I think he’s lonely. He’s an orphan, and it sounds like the people who brought him up kept him at a distance emotionally. I thought some homemade treats would help give him a nicer holiday.”