The Hearts Series

by L.H. Cosway

  He smiles at me, showing teeth, and jangles some car keys in his pocket. “You all set, Matilda?” he asks.

  I take a deep breath and nod my head.

  Two

  The first thing I notice as we round the corner to where Jay parked is that he’s got a really nice car. A black Aston Martin V8. One of Dad’s favourite television shows is Top Gear, so I can’t help unconsciously absorbing useless car information sometimes. The second is that he seems to have all his worldly possessions packed in the back seat.

  It’s bizarre to think that he’s temporarily homeless, and yet he’s driving around in a car worth well over 100,000 euros. It just doesn’t make sense. I slide into the passenger seat when Jay opens the door for me, savouring the feel of the leather. For a second I pretend I’m a sassy Bond girl about to be chauffeured by my spy lover to a swanky hotel for sweaty, passionate, over-the-top sex.

  “So, where to?” Jay asks, now in the driver’s seat and waiting for my instructions. I got a little lost in the fantasy there.

  “Oh, our house is in Clontarf. Do you know the way?”

  “I know the gist of it. You can direct me once we get close,” he responds, smiling, and pulling away from the curb.

  As he starts the engine, the radio comes on, heavy rock music blasting from the speakers. I glance at the dash to check what station is playing, my nervous disposition urging me to fill this short car journey with some variety of conversation.

  “Oh, I see you’re a Phantom FM fan,” I say over the music. The sentence couldn’t have come out any nerdier, but it’s the first crappy thing that popped into my head.

  Jay’s eyes flick to me, then to the dash, then back to the road ahead of him. His expression is blank before the edges of his mouth curve in a smile.

  “Yeah, I guess I am,” he finally responds before lowering the music so we can talk properly. Oh, no, don’t do that. “They play some good shit.”

  “You should give Radio Nova a listen. They play some, uh, good shit, too.”

  Jay lets out a deep chuckle, and I resist the urge to face-palm. “Oh, yeah? What kind of good shit?”

  “Um, the usual rock fare. They play a lot of Fleetwood Mac. I love Fleetwood Mac.”

  Jay laughs some more, and I can’t tell if he’s laughing at me or laughing with me. Then he gives me this warm look that tells me it’s the latter. There’s the fire again. I really wish he’d stop looking at me like that, but asking him to stop would surely be too weird a request.

  “What’s a kid like you doing listening to Fleetwood Mac? Shouldn’t you be swooning over Brandon Flowers or something?” he teases, and it raises my hackles slightly.

  “I’m not a kid. I’m twenty-three, for your information.”

  Jay turns his head to look at me again for a brief moment. His lips curve, and it makes me realise he was only teasing.

  “So, Fleetwood Mac?” he probes.

  I shrug. “I don’t know. I just love every single one of their songs — not to mention there was this palpable angst about them back in the day. So many emotions flying around, you know?”

  “I get you,” says Jay, fixing his attention back on the road. “Do I bang a left here or a right?” he asks as we approach a roundabout.

  His turn of phrase amuses me as I respond, “Go left, then keep on driving straight ahead. Our house isn’t far. Also, on the subject of our house, why on earth do you want to rent a room when you’re driving around in a car like this? People who drive Aston Martins can generally afford to buy their own house — buy several, in fact.”

  Jay gives me a sneaky look. “If you really want to know the truth, I won this car on a bet.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “That must have been some bet.”

  “It was. Found myself playing poker with a bunch of guys who performed with the circus one night. Long story short, I came away with an Aston Martin, five grand, two llamas and an elephant. I was feeling generous, so I let them keep the llamas and the elephant. I mean, who has a backyard big enough for an elephant?”

  I stare at him, my mouth open slightly. “Is that true?”

  His hands flex on the steering wheel. “Of course it’s true. Why would I lie?”

  Laughter bubbles out of me. “You must lead a very colourful life, Mr Fields.”

  The way he smiles after I say it makes me think he likes that idea. When we pull into the drive, Jay gets out first, and before I have the chance to do it myself, he walks around the car and opens my door for me. I like that.

  I rummage through my bag as I exit, trying to locate my keys. By the time I reach the door, I still haven’t found them, and I try to backtrack in my head to remember if I forgot to bring them with me this morning.

  A little jingle sounds at my ear, and I turn to see Jay standing behind me, my keys hanging from his hand and a brazen gleam in his eyes.

  “Are these what you’re looking for?” he asks with a smirk.

  I stare at him, hands on my hips, while a little rush of curiosity goes through me. “Okay, how did you do that?”

  He gives me the keys before answering innocently, “Do what?”

  I snicker. “You’d make a great pickpocket, you know.”

  “Correction,” Jay replies. “I made a great pickpocket.”

  I laugh in spite of myself. “Are you sure this is something you want to be telling a prospective housemate?”

  “Generally, no, but you’ve already decided that you like me, and discovering I used to pick pockets isn’t going to change that,” he says with absolute certainty as he rocks back on his heels and looks down at me, a devilish smile on his lips.

  Okay, hold on a second. How can he possibly know that? Even if it is true. I step inside the hallway, and he follows suit.

  “When did you come to this conclusion?” I ask in a low, self-conscious voice.

  “Do you really want to know?” He grins, leaning closer.

  I stare at him for a second, and my heart stutters. He really is gorgeous, especially up this close. I’m thinking that if I say yes, I could be opening a whole can of worms, so I go for the safe answer. “No. I guess I don’t.”

  His eyes sparkle with mischief, and I quickly walk forward to lead him up the stairs. “The room’s this way,” I call behind me.

  I’m halfway up, and he’s so quiet that I have to turn to make sure he’s following. What I find when I do makes my heart stutter even harder, because those hypnotic eyes are unmistakably glued to my arse, and it looks like he’s enjoying the view. Tingles spread through my chest as his gaze travels up to me and his lips form a smirk. Oh, God. Before he can say anything, I turn back around and practically jog the rest of the way up.

  When we reach the spare room Jay takes a look around. The only furniture is a pine double bed, a matching wardrobe, and a bedside dresser. The walls are painted a plain magnolia, and there are simple cream cotton curtains on the window. Jay has a happy look on his face as he steps inside the en-suite. He emerges a minute later, declaring, “The room is perfect, Matilda. Where do I sign?”

  I almost stammer. “Oh, well, I’ll have to talk to Dad first. He probably has a few more prospective tenants he needs to show around before he selects the person he’s going to rent it to. He’ll also want to do a background check.”

  Jay leans his arm against the door frame and eyes me. “Hmm, is she lying or telling the truth? I think she’s lying. You don’t want me living here, darlin’?”

  “I’m not lying,” I state, crossing my arms defensively over my chest. “I’ll call Dad now if you like and let him tell you himself,” I say, shoving my hand into my bag for my phone. I can’t find it, though, and I let out a little huff of frustration.

  Eyeing him suspiciously, I ask, “You didn’t happen to swipe my phone as well as my keys, did you?”

  Two dimples deepen in each of Jay’s cheeks as he answers, “I never swiped your keys, Matilda. They fell out of your bag when you were leaving the car. I simply picked them up for you.” />
  Great, that means I’ve lost my phone and will probably have to fork out for a new one. I distinctly remember slipping it into my bag about twenty minutes before lunch. Did I drop it when I was on the street?

  Jay pushes off the doorframe and takes a few steps toward me, stopping a mere foot away. As he tilts his head to the side, his eyes never leave mine. A second that feels like an hour passes before he shoves his hand in his pocket and pulls out an iPhone. “I’ll just call your Dad myself, let him know I’m interested.”

  “Yeah, you go right ahead,” I reply, doing my best to sound breezy.

  He’s silent for a moment as he holds the phone to his ear, then says, “Hugh? Yeah, it’s Jay. Listen, I’ve just had a look at the room, and it’s exactly what I had in mind.”

  He pauses for a second as my dad talks to him down the line. I walk over to the window and glance out at the view of the houses on the street behind ours, my skin goose-pimpling. Jay was right when he said I liked him, and I don’t even know why I do, aside from his obvious attractions. There’s something about him that tells me he’s one of the good guys, despite what the little I know of him would lead me to believe. And yet, the idea of us living under the same roof has my stomach all a-flutter.

  “Cool, cool. I’ll see you tomorrow, then, Hugh,” says Jay, hanging up the phone and bringing his attention back to me. The grin on his face says he’s won this round. I knew he’d managed to charm Dad earlier. “Your old man said there’s a copy of the tenancy agreement in the living room cabinet. He also said I could sign and move in tomorrow. He’ll take me on good faith for now and do the background check in the morning.”

  “Right, I’ll just fetch the papers for you,” I say tightly, and move to go downstairs. As I walk by him, he catches my elbow in his hand to stop me. His fingers are warm on my skin, burning a fire right through to my veins.

  “You okay with this, darlin’?” he asks, his voice pure gravel.

  The way he says “darlin’” in that accent literally kills me every time. He says it like this: “dahlin’.” God. Stupid hormones. I swallow. “I’m fine with it. Do you mind if we stop here for a couple of minutes? I have a sandwich in my bag for lunch that I want to eat.”

  I’m proud of that speedy subject change. He eyes me for another second before letting go. “No problem. Take as long as you need.”

  First I go get the papers for him to sign, and he spreads them out over the kitchen counter, reading all the small print. I sit at the table and unwrap my chicken and onion relish sandwich, taking a big hungry bite.

  “This is a six -month lease,” says Jay. “You think your old man might be open to extending it to twelve months? I hate moving once I’ve settled in a place.”

  “I’m not sure. You’ll have to ask him yourself.”

  He nods thoughtfully but doesn’t bring his attention immediately back to the papers. Instead he walks over to the few picture frames hanging on the wall opposite him. Gesturing to a photograph of me sitting on the couch with my old cat Maggie on my lap, he observes, “Nice cat.”

  “She was,” I tell him, chewing. “She died last year.”

  “I’m sorry. You gonna get another?”

  I shake my head. “No cat could ever live up to Maggie. She was a feline of mystery. Every evening when I came home from work, I’d find her sitting in the back garden, smelling of lavender perfume.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Jay says, coming to sit across from me at the table, a look of interest on his face, so I tell him the story.

  “Yeah. I made it my secret detective mission to find out how she was coming to smell like that. So, whenever I had the morning off, I’d follow her. She was too quick for me, though, and I lost her every time. I never found out what the deal was until she died. An old woman who lives a few doors down showed up at the house, bawling her eyes out. She had a bunch of photos of Maggie from her house, and she reeked of lavender. Apparently my cat had been living a double life. Spending the daytime hours with this old lady and the evenings with me.”

  “Sounds like Maggie was one clever cat, Watson.”

  I burst out laughing. “Oh, she definitely was.” A pause. “Why’d you call me that?”

  “You know, because of your detective work. Watson and Holmes.”

  I wrinkle my nose. “Why can’t I be Holmes?”

  Jay folds his arms and quirks an eyebrow. “Because only I’m allowed to be Holmes.”

  “Well, he was a bit of a lunatic,” I agree teasingly. What’s this? Am I actually flirting? Jay looks like he’s suppressing a big smile. It’s enough encouragement for me to go on, “So, am I a Lucy Liu Watson or a Martin Freeman Watson?”

  He leans forward, resting his elbows on the table and bringing our faces closer. “Which do you want to be?”

  “Eh, Martin Freeman, obviously. That way I could be BFFs with Benedict Cumberbatch.”

  “But if you were Lucy Liu you could be BFFs with Jonny Lee Miller,” Jay counters.

  “Ugh, no, thank you. I’d have to listen to him whine on and on about missing his chance with Angelina Jolie and how it’s the biggest regret of his life.”

  Jay’s mouth opens as he lets out a loud guffaw of a laugh. “That was a good one, Watson!”

  Ignoring his compliment, I ask, “Do you want the other half of my sandwich?” My belly is too full of butterflies in his presence to eat it all myself.

  “Give it here.”

  I push it across the table to him, and he eats it in less than four bites. There’s something about watching him eat that gives me a pang of déjà vu. Strange. Jay signs the tenancy agreement and tells me he’ll be around some time tomorrow evening to move in, provided his references all check out.

  “Can I ask you a question?” I request shyly as he’s driving me back to the office.

  “Fire away.”

  “Did David Murphy really die because of the ordeal you put him through?”

  Jay’s fists reflexively tighten on the steering wheel, and he doesn’t look at me as he answers, “What am I, Matilda?”

  “Uh, I don’t….”

  “What’s my profession?”

  “You’re an illusionist.”

  “Right, and what’s an illusion?”

  I hesitate a moment before replying, “Something that isn’t real?”

  “Exactly. Despite what some of the crazies out there would have you believe, everything I do is a trick. Sleight of hand, misdirection, smoke and mirrors. I show people a table and make them believe it’s a chair. But in the end it’s still a table. David’s heart attack would’ve happened that night whether he’d taken part in my stunt or not.”

  “But Una Harris’ article said you gave his family twenty grand,” I practically whisper.

  “Yeah, I did. Because David wasn’t just some random volunteer. He was a good friend of mine. I wanted to help pay for the funeral.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah, oh,” Jay replies, and there’s a long silence before a small smile splits his lips. “You feeling like a bit of a shit now, Watson?”

  I do my best not to smile back. “Just a little.”

  He chuckles softly. “Good.”

  A minute later he lets me off at the office and then pulls away in his flashy car. I can’t believe this man could be officially sharing a house with me in only a day’s time. There are a few people already sitting in the reception area, waiting to be seen, when I arrive and hurry to my desk. As I take my seat and quickly register each of the waiting clients, something red catches my eye. Sitting atop a stack of folders that have been placed on the floor, waiting to be filed, is my phone.

  And quite mysteriously, resting on the screen is a red and white six of hearts, taken from a deck of playing cards.

  Three

  Dad and I arrive home the next evening at six-thirty, having taken the bus as usual. We have a car, but Dad says it’s not economical to drive to the office and pay exorbitant parking fees when we can simply use public transport.
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br />   As it happens, Jay’s references did check out, so Dad called him earlier to give him the good news. There’s no sign of him yet, and I can’t say I’m not relieved. I definitely need some time to relax into the idea of him living here. In the kitchen I put the oven on to pre-heat, planning on cooking a lasagne for dinner. Dad sits at the table, sorting through files in his briefcase.

  “Put those away,” I scold him mildly. “I think you should spend this one evening work-free. You’ve been overdoing it lately.”

  Dad puts down a file and rubs his forehead. “I know, love. It’s just so hard to turn off these days.”

  “What do you think about joining that book club I mentioned last week? It sounds like fun and will give you something to do that’s not work-related.”

  “A-ha, but what if they’re reading a novel about a court case?” he counters, and I sigh.

  “Dad.”

  “Okay, I’ll go to the book club if it makes you happy.”

  “Great, the next meeting is on Wednesday.”

  Dad smiles at me now. “It’s funny how the roles change, isn’t it? I remember a time when I was the one who looked out for you. Now you’re the one who’s looking out for me.”

  I smile fondly back him. “We look out for each other, Dad. Always.”

  He’s right, though. Up until around the time I turned twenty-one, Dad had been very protective of me, always making sure I was safe and sheltering me as much as he could. He’d even sent me to an all-girls convent school growing up, which could be why I’m a little behind other women my age when it comes to men.

  Losing Mum when she was so young made Dad cling to me more tightly than your average parent.

  I make a quick trip to my room to change out of my work clothes and get into some comfy yoga pants and my favourite, a Game of Thrones T-shirt that reads, Stick ’em with the pointy end. If Jay’s going to be living here, then I might as well let him see the real me. I have no desire to put in the effort of pretending I go around the house all dolled up to the nines twenty-four/seven. Better to disillusion the illusionist from the get-go.