03. A FORK IN THE ROAD

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"Sorry," she says, "You're famous."

"So you told them all about me?"

"Yeah, I boasted about my conquest at breakfast, how good I was in bed, how much you loved it."

Kat's grinning, then she nods over to the blonde woman.

"Nah," she confesses, "Carla's made sure that everyone knows what happened last night. Kelsey was pissed off that I was somewhere else with a rugged stallion instead of her party, but, y'know, I just don't give a fuck."

Aidan watches her face as she talks, delighting in the way her lovely eyes dance between her friends and him. There's a confidence in the way she holds herself that wasn't there before.

"They're gonna make your life hell, aren't they?" Aidan replies.

"Shit yeah, I'm gonna get paid out for months," she tells him, and her face softens, "But it was worth it."

There is a pause. Her name is called, and Aidan can see it's Kelsey.

"I tell you what," Aidan says, "Let me finish my run and I'll come back. I guess you'll all be getting coffee after. I'll introduce myself, how's that?"

"You want to meet the coven? Really?"

"Your dirty little secret's out. Might as well add fuel to the fire."

"Oh Aidan, you have no idea what you're doing," Kat laughs, "But, yeah, we'll just be up on the promenade."

Aidan can feel many eyes watching them. "See you soon," he says, turning back on his way.

"Yeah, see you soon," Kat calls behind him.

Aidan smiles to himself as he picks up the pace again. It hadn't felt forced, he hadn't felt awkward. He would sit down with all her friends and allow himself to be inspected. It would do her reputation no harm for them to see her with him, how she'd snagged a man, how she was back on the horse after her marriage ended. He would get to sit next to her, in the cold light of day, and see how it made him feel. After the thoughts about Rosa on the run, he desperately needed perspective.

He grinds through another few minutes, reaching the northern end of the beach and then turning around, putting his shoes back on and running on the promenade this time. His calves are aching from running on the sand, and he knows he's sweaty, but something tells him that Kat won't mind. He spots them in the distance, sitting at a table outside, and angles across the road to meeting them. Kat sees him approach, though she doesn't wave or cause a commotion. She's playing it cool, but all the same, she's saved an empty space on the bench next to her.

"I got you a coffee," she says, by way of introduction. "I don't know how you like it though."

"Time enough for that," says the blonde woman sitting on the other side of her, smirking lewdly.

"This is Carla."

Aidan smiles at her. "Hi Carla," he says, and the smile he receives in return tells him a lot.

Kat goes around the table and he nods to acknowledge each of them, pausing to note Kelsey's disposition towards him. Unlike Carla's knowing smile, Kelsey's surveying him coolly. She looks like a woman who doesn't like coming in second place, he thinks, and somehow Kat's snagged the prize. He sits down and picks up his coffee, looking around the table, bracing for a question, but he's at one end and the conversation at the other is already picking up again. Kelsey turns, launching with a little too much zeal back into her story from last night. Yes, Aidan thinks, that's the issue: Kat's story is better.

Sitting opposite across the table from him, and the last to be introduced is Marley. She's not one of them, she's the yoga instructor, taking a coffee with the group by invitation, like him. She's lean, with light grey eyes and a narrow face, lined but striking. The way she bears herself belies a subtle confidence in the way she looks; she's nearly twice as old as some of the women at the table, but she hasn't coloured her hair; she's wearing the grey proudly.

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