by Scott, Lisa
“Keep reading,” he said. “It’s going to get even more interesting.”
***
The next day, after rereading the scene of Jamie and Claire’s wedding night three times, I shut the book, my heart racing. Was Auggie’s hair the same shade as Jamie’s? I needed to see him to be sure. I fished his card out of my purse and called him.
“Can I come over and talk about the book?” I asked when he answered.
“You got to the first sex scene, didn’t you?” he asked.
My mouth flapped open and closed. “Can I come over or not?”
“I suppose.”
“Be right there.” I took a cab to his place, not entirely sure what I had planned. But reading about a redheaded, hunky highlander had me hot for one of my own. Say, my future husband.
He opened the door. I noticed something different about him, but couldn’t put my finger on it.
Fluffenstein charged the door, and I scooped him up, snuggling him in my arms. “Are you Scottish? McGregor is Scottish, right?”
“Sorry. I’m Irish.”
I frowned. “Do you have a kilt? The Irish wear kilts, too, right?” I asked. “I’m starting to see how it’s possible we might get married. Especially if you have a kilt.”
He crossed his arms and looked at me. “I’m afraid to answer that.”
“So you do have a kilt!” Then I noticed what was different about him. “Have you lost weight?”
“No,” he quickly said.
“Why do you pants look baggy?”
He blushed, looking down. “I just decided to try a relaxed fit.”
My stomach somersaulted. “For me? So they would fit me?” I held out my hand, wiggling my fingers. “Let me try them.”
He opened and closed his mouth like he was trying to think up a protest, but then he slid them off and handed them over.
I turned around, took off my jeans, and tugged on his. “They fit!” I cried. “They fit like skinny jeans, but they fit!”
Auggie smiled. “I’m glad.”
My heart skipped a beat or two, realizing what he’d done—and why. “These might be even better than a kilt,” I said, moving closer to him. I struggled to swallow as emotions overwhelmed me: surprise, desire, lust. “Maybe this could work.”
“I’m thinking the same thing,” he said, closing the distance between us.
He cupped the back of my head with his hand, bringing my lips to his.
I stopped breathing as we kissed. The world disappeared, and it felt like I was spinning. I probably would’ve dropped to the floor if his other arm wasn’t wrapped around my waist.
“The best kiss ever,” we said together.
“That’s why we should get married,” I said.
He kissed me again, and we made our way to his bedroom. I panicked for a moment, wondering if I was ready to take this step. Just a few weeks ago, the man ran from me. But by now it was pretty clear Auggie and I were meant for each other.
***
As I lay in his arms later that night, I sighed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I’m still worried about how this is going to turn into a nightmare.”
“Maybe it won’t. Maybe this dream is different.” He tightened his grip on me and kissed my nose. “You never thought of it as a nightmare. I did. Ignore me. This is wonderful. I can’t imagine what could go wrong.”
I snorted. “I can.”
“Then I don’t want to hear about it.” And he kissed me until I stopped trying to protest.
***
Auggie and I spent every day together after that. Even so, we’d still run into each other in unexpected places. Lara was busy, too, shopping for bridesmaid’s dresses and trying out fancy up-dos.
Several weeks later, as Auggie and I watched a movie one Friday night, I asked him, “How do we know if and when we’re supposed to get married?”
“Not sure. I suppose we’ll know when the time is right. There’s no rush, correct?”
“Correct.” I hopped up and searched for my pants. When I couldn’t find them, I grabbed his jeans. “See? I’m in the mood for ice cream, and I can run around the corner and get some while wearing your jeans.” I tried to tug them on, but they didn’t budge past my hips. “What happened to the relaxed fit?” I asked.
“Those are the relaxed fit.”
I sat back on the couch in a huff. “Guess I don’t need ice cream. You’re making me fat.”
He put his arm around my waist and squeezed. “You are not fat. You’re perfect.”
***
But pretty soon, my own jeans weren’t fitting me. “What the heck?” I said to Lara. “I’m not eating that much more with Auggie. And I’m pretty sure we’re burning off a lot of calories.”
She froze and her eyes widened. “How long since you two hooked up?”
I stopped to think. “Over a month.” I swear, my heart stopped beating.
“Have you gotten your—”
“Shut it.” I cut her off. “Not possible. We used protection. Besides, I haven’t been nauseous or anything.” My mind spun, considering the possibility. “No.”
“You can’t just convince yourself you’re not pregnant. Come on, let’s go get a test.”
***
We hurried to the grocery store and bought a triple pack of pregnancy tests. And some ice cream.
“That means nothing,” I told Lara. “I always eat ice cream.”
As we headed to the checkout, we spotted Auggie.
“Shit!” I whispered, fumbling for the tests.
But before I could snatch them up and toss them down the cereal aisle, he glanced in my cart.
He looked at the tests, then looked at me, then looked at Lara. He said nothing, just raised his eyebrows.
I looked up at the ceiling. “I’m late.”
He blew out a breath.
“Let’s go find out for sure,” Lara said.
“Call me later,” Auggie said. “Unless you want me to come with you.”
“I can’t wait. I need to find out now.” I paid for the tests, then headed to the store’s bathroom. Auggie and Lara followed.
“Do you want me to come in?” Auggie asked.
“We are going to have a closed bathroom door policy.” I paused. “Unless I’m throwing up. Then you can come in and hold my hair back.”
“So, come in if I hear you throw up?” he asked.
“Not now!” I pushed through the door with shaky hands. It took several tries to rip open the package holding the test stick. After reading the directions, I went into the stall and did my business. I looked at the stick and it almost instantly showed two plus signs.
“Must be a faulty test if it showed up so quickly,” I said to myself, tearing open another package. It took a few minutes, but I was able to pee on another stick. Positive again.
I blinked at it, then left the stall and washed my hands. I couldn’t face Auggie yet. I was still trying to convince myself this was really happening.
Someone knocked on the door. “Everything okay in there?” It was Auggie.
“Yes. No.”
“Can I come in? Are you alone?” he asked.
Tears welled up and spilled down my cheeks. “No, I’m not alone. I’m in here with your baby.”
He pushed open the door and took me in his arms.
I sniffled into his chest. “Stupid super-powered sperm. What did it do, chew a hole through the condom?”
He stroked my hair. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
“No, it’s not! I’m not ready to be a mother. I’m not married. This is not how I wanted things to go.”
He dropped to his knee and looked up at me. “Marry me. I love you.”
“Auggie, you’re just doing this because of the dream.”
“No, I love you, Kim. I have for a while. Maybe even before I met you.”
“But our dreams are always nightmares. It’s not going to work out.” My certainty that we were suppos
ed to be together had disappeared. I was scared.
“We’ll make it work.”
Lara walked in and gasped, seeing Auggie in mid-proposal. “Now? This is happening now?” She started pacing the bathroom. “I haven’t settled on a bridesmaid’s dress yet.”
“Can you give me answer?” Auggie asked. “My knee really hurts.”
I nodded through my tears. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He jumped up and took me in his arms, while Lara came over and hugged us both. Then an older woman walked in—and quickly walked out, mumbling something about sex in the bathroom and kids these days.
***
Somehow, the hotel we’d chosen for the wedding had booked two receptions at the same time. “Nightmare!” I’d declared. “Now we know!” But when we talked with the other couple, Jacey and Val, they were super cool, and we decided hey, why not have our receptions together so we can split costs on some things, like the DJ and decorations? Between the two of us couples, the ballroom was packed to the gills.
I smiled at them as they watched Auggie and I share our first dance. The tulle skirt of my wedding dress helped hide my baby pooch, bigger than I’d expected it to be at five months. “You didn’t tell me I was fat in the dream.”
He kissed me. “You didn’t look fat to me. You were perfect. Are perfect. Everything’s perfect.”
I nibbled my lip. “I’m still worried about the nightmare factor. Maybe something bad happens on our honeymoon. People get eaten by sharks and fall off cliffs all the time on honeymoons.”
“Well, Orlando is flat as a pancake and miles from the ocean, so I think we’re safe there. The worst that could happen is we get stuck for hours on the spinning teacups,” Auggie said.
“Congratulations!” said a cute brunette who ran up to Auggie when our song ended. A tall, redheaded guy tagged along behind her.
“It’s Jamie from Outlander!” I whispered to Auggie.
“You’re checking out other men on our wedding day? You’re the nightmare,” he teased.
“Mean!” I poked him in the ribs as the girl hugged him.
“Kim, this is Alana. She works with me,” Auggie said.
“So you read Outlander in the office book club and got yourself a Jamie. Well done,” I said.
“Do the accent, honey,” she said to the guy.
“Oh, don’t embarrass me like that, ye wee wicked thing,” he said in a perfect Scottish accent.
I sucked in a breath. “Can you teach Auggie how to do that?” I joked.
“I have a kilt, isn’t that enough?” he asked.
After Alana and her guy wandered off, a couple I didn’t recognize approached us. The woman had long blond hair, and the guy with her looked tall, dark, and dangerous.
“Congratulations,” the woman said. “I’m Vicky and this is Drake. And I just have to tell you, we’ve never seen a couple that seems so perfectly matched. We’re dying to know how you two met.”
I looked at Auggie, and we laughed.
“Sounds like a good story,” Drake said. “Do tell.”
“You wouldn’t believe us if we did,” Auggie said.
“Try me,” the woman said.
I smiled. “We both dreamed of each other for years before we even met.”
“And not just a dream, a wedding dream,” Auggie clarified.
Vicky and Drake said nothing for a few moments.
“I know it sounds crazy,” I said.
Drake shook his head. “Sounds like magic to me.”
“Powerful magic,” she said, taking Drake’s hand. “Come along, darling. Let’s leave these lovebirds alone.”
I looked at Auggie. “Who was that?”
He shrugged.
Then another woman whom I didn’t recognize headed our way. “Do you know her?” I whispered.
“Nope.”
“Maybe our wedding is being overrun by wedding crashers,” I said. “Can you sue them?”
“Not exactly,” Auggie said.
As the woman approached, she seemed to be mumbling to herself. She cleared her throat. “Hi, I’m Jacey’s sister, Julie. Nice wedding you four are having by the way.” She took a deep breath. “This is going to seem crazy, but I have a message from…your grandmother,” she said to Auggie.
His face went white. “She’s dead.”
“I know. But she’s very active in the afterworld—she haunts a strip club with my grandmother—and she’s here tonight forcing me to give you a message.”
Auggie’s eyes darted around the room. “She’s here?” he whispered.
“Right next to me.” The girl narrowed her eyes at the empty space beside her. “I’m getting to that,” she hissed. “You are the pushiest ghost I’ve ever had to deal with.”
“Sounds like Grandma,” Auggie said.
“Anyway, she says you have a lovely bride, and she wants you to name the baby after her.”
“Amelia?” Auggie asked.
“That’s a lovely name,” I said. “So it’s a girl?”
“One of them is,” the girl said.
Auggie grabbed me before I slumped to the floor.
The girl looked alarmed. “You didn’t know you were having twins?”
I shook my head. “We’ve only seen one on the ultrasound.”
“Better make an appointment with your doctor. We’re going to leave you to enjoy the night,” she said, taking off quickly.
“Nightmare is more like it,” I said. “Two babies?”
“It’ll be a nightmare for sure,” Auggie said. “So no more worrying about what’s going to go wrong. Case solved. That’s the nightmare.”
“You really think it’ll be bad having twins?”
“No. I just want you to stop worrying. I’m sure it’ll be tough at times. But it will also be amazing, and fun, and surprising each day. So let’s forget about this dream and just start enjoying our life together.”
“You’re right. We can handle whatever comes our way, right?”
Auggie smiled. “Right.”
I kissed him, happy my dream—our dream—had finally come true.
Want to know when the next Flirts! is coming out? Sign up for Lisa’s newsletter on her website, http://readlisascott.com/ (sign up at the bottom of the page.)
You’ve just read Magic Flirts! 5 Romantic Short Stories. Check out the other Flirts! Collections: Flirts!, Beach Flirts!, Holiday Flirts!, Fairy Tale Flirts!, Wedding Flirts!, More Flirts!, Reunion Flirts!, Fairy Tale Flirts 2!, and Office Flirts! Most titles are also available in audio. Look for another Flirts! volume in late 2014.
You might also enjoy Lisa’s romantic novella, Spouse Hunting. And try her Willowdale Romance series, first with the short stories “A Fine How-De-Do,” “A Little Hanky-Panky,” and “A Perfect Setup.” Then read the novels No Foolin’ and Man of the Month.
Lisa also writes children’s fiction as Lisa Ann Scott. Her debut novel, School of Charm, is now available from Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins.
From Lisa Scott, the Author
I hope you enjoyed reading Magic Flirts! I’m a former TV news anchor who now enjoys making up stories instead of sticking to the facts. I’ve dreamed of writing professionally ever since penning my first creative writing assignment in second grade.
When not begging my husband and two kids for a few minutes of peace to write my stories, I work as a voice actor and putter around in my koi pond and garden in upstate NY.
If you liked this story, please tell a friend—I’m trying to spread the word that short stories are fun! And if you enjoyed it, please leave a review. I always love hearing from readers at [email protected]. If you like “Read Lisa Scott” on Facebook, you’ll get the latest news on upcoming releases. (Magic Flirts! is next, along with another Willowdale Romance novel.) Occasionally, I blog on my website, ReadLisaScott.com. Stop by and say hi! You can also sign up for my newsletter so you can be notified when a new book is out. (The link is at the bottom of my website homepage.) That is the only
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