Page 40 of A Witch in Notting Hill

“That’s going to take some getting used to.”

“You’re not one of those overly polite Americans, are you?”

“Isn’t that supposed to be the Brits?”

“Ah, come on. You know the type.Yes, ma’am. Pardon me, ma’am.”

Her laugh cut through the stillness of the morning, and I felt it all the way down to my toes. “That’syour an impression of an American accent?”

“What’s wrong with my accent?”

“Other than everything?”

“Like you could do a better British one.” I rolled my eyes.

“I’m an actor. I can do a perfect one,” she said, in what was indeed the most perfect British accent I’d heard from an American in all my life.

“Fair play to ya,” I said, raising my palms.

“So no, I’m not one of those overly polite Americans.” Her smile alone was enough to take the chill out of the morning. “But I am terrible at accepting help, especially if I feel like it’s a burden to someone else. So it would go against everything in me to not thank you every five minutes.”

So I was right. “Even if you know it’ll drive us crazy?”

“Even if I know it’ll drive you crazy.”

The longer we stood in the entrance to the shop, with the city coming alive just behind her head, framing her like a halo, the more certain I was she was going to drive me crazy in more waysthan one. Hell, maybe I was already crazy for agreeing to any of this. If so, she was sure to make me lose my mind completely.

And I was walking directly into the fire.

Chapter 17

Willow

“You’re stressing me out,” Vera said, watching me pace our hotel room to kill time before I was supposed to meet Oliver, Minho, and Lola at the park. “Can’t you just stretch or watch ASMR videos or put on another coat of mascara or whatever you normally do? Your energy is all out of whack and it’s making me itchy.”

“I figured out how to make you talk and this is what I get in return?”

“You also turned me into a cat, in case you’d forgotten, so I’m not exactly sure making it so I can speak is a major accomplishment.”

She had a point.

Over the past few days, we’d learned a few things: cats required way more sleep than humans, baths were suddenly a freezing nightmare, and I was the only one who could understand Vera when she spoke. Well, me and Siri, apparently. I guessed since robots didn’t have to believe in magic, there was nothing stopping Siri from comprehending.

The bellman, on the other hand... not so much.

We’d been avoiding him since a vicious meowing incident a few days ago.

Otherwise, Vera didn’t much mind hanging out in the hotel. And in a few days, we were going to relocate to a short-term apartment on a ground floor with a garden, so Vera could enjoy the next six months as much as possible while I got us sorted out.

As far as our jobs went, Vera was supposedly on a silent retreat, and we’d concocted a story about me also needing an unexpected break to relax and recharge before I took on new projects, said a few more Hollywood buzzwords about wellness, then put up a limited out-of-office message and hoped for the best.

“Imagine how my energy is making me feel.” I sighed, finally sitting down next to her on the windowsill. “I know I shouldn’t be nervous. It’s just a few people at a park. And not even a popular park, so hopefully no one will recognize me.”

“Right, so...” she said, seemingly waiting for me to identify a problem. “Is this about Oliver?”

“Of course it isn’t about Oliver.” I had a sinking feeling it was very much about Oliver. “It’s just... I’ve never gotten help from strangers with my magic before. And it’s only a matter of time before they find out I’m terrible at it. If they even believe I can do it at all. And that’s assuming they don’t change their minds before then, which they probably will, so maybe I actually have nothing to worry about.”

“Spiraling doesn’t look good on you.”