Page 55 of Under Your Spell

His expression is stricken. ‘But… my vampires,’ he whispers, anguished.

He leans over the computer, that beautiful face of his filling the screen. Theo Eliott in high definition.

That’s when I hear it, the high-pitched squeaking sound. And it only takes me half a second longer to realize the sound is coming from Ingrid, who is not frozen in any technical sense of the word but is having some sort of Theo-Eliott-induced episode and staring out of the computer like a rabbit caught in a pair of extremely handsome headlights.

‘What’s that sound?’ Theo says in confusion. ‘I swear, I didn’t touch anything! I only opened the settings.’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ I say, pushing him quickly to the side, trying to get him away from the screen and maintain Ingrid’s dignity. ‘It’s a thing my laptop does sometimes. It’s old. Don’t worry about it.’

‘Ingrid,’ I say firmly. ‘Can you hear me now?’

I see her blink.

‘Yes, Clemmie, I’m here,’ she says haltingly. ‘I think there was a technical issue on my end.’

‘There you go,’ I say to Theo. ‘No threat to your TV viewing.’

‘Thank God for that.’ Theo lifts his hand to Ingrid, who raises her own (is it shaking?). ‘Nice to meet you, Ingrid. I’ll leave you guys to it.’

Theo leaves the room, and Ingrid and I just look at one another for a long moment.

‘I’m sorry, Clementine,’ she says. ‘That was very unprofessional of me.’

I smile sympathetically. ‘Don’t worry about it. He has that effect on people.’

‘I would imagine so.’ Ingrid seems to have regained her composure now and she’s watching me closely, keenly. ‘Is that… difficult for you?’

‘Why would it be difficult for me?’ I say unconvincingly. ‘It’s nothing to do with me.’

It would seem that Ingrid doesn’t need to be in the same room with me to use her Jedi silent treatment effectively.

‘Fine,’ I exhale slowly, listening to make sure I can hear the sound of Theo’s guitar coming from his room. I snatch up the ice cream he has left for me and tear off the wrapper. ‘But I hope you’ve got time for a double session.’

‘I’ll clear my diary,’ Ingrid says.

Around an hour after Ingrid and I say goodbye, Theo knocks on the doorframe before coming in the room. ‘Are you all finished?’ he asks, clocking that I’m sitting on the sofa with my laptop.

‘Yeah, we finished a while ago,’ I say. ‘I was just doing some writing.’

‘On your book?’ he asks.

‘No, I still can’t face that. This is actually something Ingrid suggested.’

‘Ah. I’m really sorry I interrupted your session like that.’

‘It’s fine.’ I smile up at him. ‘I should have done it in my room but it’s so hot in there.’

Theo drops onto the sofa. ‘Have you been seeing a therapist for long?’

‘I’ve been seeing Ingrid for about two years now, but I’ve had therapy for a long time. It’s sort of mandatory if you come from my family.’

‘I wish it had been mandatory in mine,’ Theo huffs. ‘I had loads of hang-ups about it at first.’

‘You’ve had therapy too?’

He lifts a brow. ‘I do live in LA, you know. Talk about mandatory.’

I laugh and he does too. ‘It helps a lot, actually,’ Theo carries on. ‘I’ve spent twenty years doing this very weird job that comes with a lot of challenges that aren’t exactly typical. My whole adult life I’ve been famous. Public property. I was only a teenager when I joined the band so it’s honestly like, at this point, I don’t know anything different. This is my normal, and that actually doesn’t make for great mental health. It seems like a good idea to get some help with that.’