Six of Hearts(24)

Yours,

Jay.

P.S. Finishing myself off last night wasn’t nearly as satisfying as having someone else do it for me.

Oh, my God, he’s so cheeky…and I kind of love it. I pick up a chip and run my fingers over the plastic. I really shouldn’t accept these, but the prospect of buying a new machine today is too tempting to walk away from. I scoop them all up and drop them into my bag like a giddy child.

Later on during my lunch break, I take a trip to the casino to see if I can cash in the chips, hoping it’s open. Turns out it opens at ten in the morning, and there are actually people already there gambling when I go inside (which is a little depressing). At night there’s a sense of glamour, but in the light of day there’s a desperation about it all.

As it happens, Jessie is working on the booth when I go to cash in my chips.

“Ah, Matilda, good to see you again,” she says.

“You, too,” I reply, sliding the chips through to her.

“Funny, I don’t remember you winning all these last night,” she continues, suppressing a grin.

“I didn’t. Jay gave me his winnings as an apology for the, uh, punching incident.”

“Oh, yeah? That was generous of him,” she says. “You going on a big shopping spree?”

I can’t keep the smile off my face. “In a sense, yes. I’m getting a new sewing machine. I make dresses and sell them online, but my old machine broke. Jay said he’d bring me to the casino to win enough for a new one, but obviously that didn’t work out.”

“Did you go to college for that? The dressmaking, I mean.”

I shake my head. “No, my mum taught me when I was little, and I did night classes when I was a teenager.”

“Cool. Well, here you go,” she says, and slides the cash out to me. I slip it into my purse and say goodbye.

I’m late getting home that evening as I lug the big brown box into the hallway. I drop it down on the floor and let out a long, heaving breath. That was some seriously heavy lifting, even if the walk from the bus stop was blessedly short. Dad’s in the living room, watching television. It looks like he ordered in a Chinese takeaway, because there are leftovers in the fridge. I heat some up and eat them quickly before getting right to work.

It’s after eleven when I finish up, tiredly packing the few orders I have into bubble-wrap envelopes for posting. Jay comes in the door just as I’m sealing the final one.

“Hey, you got it. Nice!” he exclaims, walking over to take a look at the new machine. It’s a pretty olive green with a sort of fifties-looking design.

“Yep. And I have you to thank for it,” I reply with a grateful smile. “How did your meetings go today?”

“Ah, shitty, really. Lawyers…I mean, solicitors are a bunch of old windbags. You could practically see the dollar signs in their eyes when I was speaking to them…or should I say euro signs?”

“Don’t let Dad hear you say that.”

“Your dad’s the exception. Is he still up? I need to get convincing him to take the case.”

“No, he went to bed about an hour ago,” I say, setting the stack of packages on the table.

Jay eyes them. “You need me to drop those to the post office for you in the morning?”

“Would you? I was going to go before work, but it might be cutting it a bit fine.”

“I’d be happy to. So, it’s Friday tomorrow. Any plans for the weekend?” He rubs his hands together.

I try to think. Then I remember Michelle’s adamant pleas for me to bring Jay for drinks with us. “Yes, actually. I’m going out with my friend tomorrow night. You’re welcome to come along.”

“Sounds good,” says Jay as he picks up two safety pins from a bunch I’d left by my sewing machine. He links them together and holds them up to show me.

“Safety pins, fascinating,” I murmur past a yawn.

He’s standing close to me now, and I watch as he repeatedly pulls the two apart, then links them back together like magic. It looks like metal is sliding seamlessly through metal.

“If I weren’t so tired, I’m sure I’d be able to figure out how you’re doing that,” I say softly.

His chest moves as he silently laughs. I bid him goodnight and then go to bed. When my head does finally hit the pillow, I’m overly aware of how Jay’s bed is right on the other side of the wall, our bodies barely a foot apart. I fall asleep thinking about how I wish I could bridge the gap.

***

Friday is a slow day. We only have appointments scheduled for before lunch, so once I’ve finished all my tasks, Dad says I can go home early. On my way to the bus, a car beeps its horn from behind me, and I turn to see Jay with his window rolled down, Jessie in the passenger seat beside him, smoking a cigarette.