Page 85 of Under Your Spell

‘Sounds good,’ I smile weakly.

Not too long later, Lisa, Alice, Lisa’s best friend, Cara, and I are reclining in soft white leather massage chairs inside a long brick building that has been converted into a spa. Outside the tall glass doors bees dip drowsily through the Victorian walled garden. The room is draped in a hazy web of golden sunlight, everything from the floors to the furniture is in soft shades of white and cream, and the overall effect is of floating serenely in a cloud. The air smells like lavender; the chair is digging pleasantly into the muscles in my back; there’s a glass of something sparkling and alcoholic in my hand; and my feet are soaking in a basin of warm, scented water scattered with rose petals.

I think it probably takes a special skill to be tense in such a situation, but I’m doing a great job. Mostly because of the three sets of eager eyes trained on me.

‘So, you and Theo…’ Lisa looks at me over the top of her glass.

‘Yeah,’ I say weakly. ‘It’s… new.’

‘He seems very taken with you.’ Alice’s words are casual but I can sense the steel behind them. ‘It must be serious for him to bring you to the wedding. He hasn’t introduced us to anyone in a very, very long time.’

I’m not sure how to respond to that. ‘I care about him a lot’ is what I settle for.

‘I hope so,’ Alice says, the sharpness less covert now. ‘He’s not as tough as people think. I’d hate to see him have his heart broken.’

‘We’re all just a bit cautious, you know,’ Lisa says almost apologetically, ‘with Theo’s… life being what it is. There have been plenty of people happy to take advantage of him.’

I’m starting to feel a much deeper sympathy for Theo over his encounters with my sisters now. ‘Mmm,’ I say, wiggling my toes. I wonder how much Theo has told them about my own history. ‘I know a little bit about that. My father is a musician.’

‘Is he?’ Alice’s eyebrows lift.

‘Anyone we’d know?’ Cara asks idly, topping up her glass with the chilled wine sitting beside her in an ice bucket.

I grimace. ‘Er… probably. His name’s Ripp.’ I never really know how to introduce my dad, but the single name usually seems to do the trick and today is no exception.

Alice chokes spectacularly on her prosecco. ‘Your father is Ripp Harris?’ she finally croaks.

‘Holy shit!’ Cara exclaims, sloshing her perfumed foot water everywhere. ‘He’s actually quite fit for an older man,’ she adds ponderously.

‘Cara!’ Lisa hisses.

‘What?!’ Cara’s words have a slightly slurred edge. ‘It’s a compliment. That’s in her DNA. She’s got hot genes. Hot old guy genes.’

Don’t love that, but I maintain a stoic silence, try to keep the polite smile frozen on my lips.

Lisa turns to me. ‘I’m so sorry; this is the down side of being fed mimosas from the moment you wake up.’

‘It’s fine,’ I say.

‘No, it’s not,’ Lisa insists. ‘People do that to me all the time with Theo and it’s like, “The man is my little brother. Will you please put your tongue back in your mouth?” ’

‘Ripp Harris,’ Alice says a little dreamily. ‘I had all his records when I was a teenager. Saw him in concert once.’

Lisa’s head thuds against the back of her chair and she lets out a pained groan. The gesture reminds me so much of Theo that my smile is genuine.

‘Alice?’ A woman with luminous skin and a perfect manicure appears from behind a gently swishing screen door. Her voice is hushed and I worry for a second that she’s going to try to get me to meditate again. ‘If you’d like to come through to the treatment room?’

Theo’s mum glides off, leaving me and Lisa behind. Cara is lying back in her seat, eyes closed, and the odd snuffling sound issuing from her lips indicates that she is not exactly present with us.

‘Ripp Harris is your dad,’ Lisa says, shaking her head. ‘What’s that like?’

‘We don’t really have much to do with each other,’ I explain. ‘But I just… you know, I get it. How weird it can be, being related to someone like that.’

There’s a flicker of shared understanding between us, a pulse of recognition.

‘Yeah,’ Lisa says, letting out a deep breath. ‘It is pretty weird. When you’re not the famous one, but you’re sort of… famous-adjacent. Not that we’re not proud of his success,’ she adds quickly. ‘But it’s probably good that you have an idea what you’re getting yourself into. I have to admit, when Theo told me you weren’t in the business, I was a bit worried.’

‘Sure,’ I agree. ‘It’s quite a full-on thing.’ I say the words easily enough but they’re accompanied by a ripple of anxiety, the worry I can feel like a living thing crawling under my skin. I take another deep gulp from my glass.