As I get out of the shower, I hear the door swing open and then crash shut again. That can only mean one thing…Danny’s home!

“Hey sweets,” he yells. “You here?”

“Hey you!” I cheer, running towards him and giving him a big hug.

He’s wearing a particularly brash cap today, but he throws it to one side now that he’s home. He’s not conscious of his increasingly receding hairline around me. He’s certainly not lacking in the facial hair department though and I give his beard an affectionate tug.

I start to pick up the bags of shopping he’s surrounded by, peeking at the goodies he’s bought. He’s certainly not one to scrimp on groceries, we could feed a small army!

“You’re not drinking again, are you?” I ask, as he lifts a bag clinking with bottles.

“Noooo, this isn’t alcohol, it’s kombucha. Amazing stuff.”

“I see.” I’m glad he hadn’t succumbed. And besides, I definitely didn’t feel like drinking tonight.

“So, what’s new?” he asks. “I feel like I haven’t seen you for years.”

“I know, I’ve missed you! How was vacation?”

“Really good. Incredibly relaxing. I spent it mostly in group meditation.”

I scrunch up my nose. “That’s what you call a vacation?”

“Don’t knock it until you try it. How was the head this morning, by the way?” he asks, winking.

My eyes widen. “How did you know?”

He blows me a kiss. “Well, let me see. Clothes everywhere, the half-drunk pint glass of Berocca next to the sink… all very important clues.”

I’m scrunching my face up. “Yeah, I guess it was pretty obvious now that I think about it.”

“So, the usual terrible trio? I miss those girls. Well, Nina anyway.”

“Yep, who else? And they miss you too! You know, you can still come and hang out with us in a bar and not drink.”

“I’m not sure I’m quite at that stage yet… but how about we all go to yoga tomorrow morning instead? I’ve been invited to a sunrise class on a friend’s rooftop terrace.”

“It sounds amazing, if a little early….” I hesitate. I really should do more yoga, but… sunrise? On a Sunday? I think not.

“Oh, come on! It’s good for the body, the mind, and the spirit to get up with the sun.”

“I’m sure Andrea will go with you,” I offer. I’m not budging on this one.

“Hmmm, Andrea. I like her. You know I do. But I think you and Nina balance her out a bit. Alone, she can be a little…well, brash.”

I giggle. Andrea and Danny don’t see eye to eye about a lot of things, and he doesn’t really appreciate her business-like way of solving problems.

“She’s just not very spiritual,” he goes on. “I mean, she told me that the only reason she practices yoga is for the stretching. She doesn’t get it at all!”

I just smile. I don’t want to get into a discussion about Andrea right now. Especially when there are more pressing issues to discuss. “Listen, I need to ask you opinion on something?”

“Shoot,” he says.

So I tell him how my shoe landed on the Mr. Montfort’s face. His eyebrows fly up into his receding hairline, but he doesn’t say anything until I end with the all-important question, “So what do you think? What would you do in my shoes?”

He shrugs. “Quite frankly. I wouldn’t do anything.”

I look at him curiously. “Really?”

“Yeah. I don’t think you should grovel to your boss or team mates either. You should go in on Monday with your head held high.”

“Did you actually get the gist of my story? I’ve lost the project that everybody was counting on. My boss was sobbing into his palms when I left his office.”

“Your boss is too heavily invested in the outcome. He can’t see the forest for the trees.”

“What do you mean?”

He sits on a stool and leans his elbows on the island top. “You said your company’s software is miles better than your competitors, right?”

“Absolutely,” I agree immediately.

“Then you have nothing to worry about. The way I see it, if Mr. Monfort were going to be petty and not give your company the job because of an unfortunate accident, he wouldn’t have let you carry on. He didn’t get to where is he is today by not putting his company before anything else.”

I nod and smile slowly. Of course, Danny is right. I knew he would make me feel better. “So you think I should brave it out on Monday.”

“Hell, yeah. That’s what I’d do.”

I grin. “Okay, that’s what I will do. Thanks, Danny.”

He grins back. “That’s my girl. Now, I’ve got to jump in the shower.”

“Umm…Danny?”

“Yeah?”

“I was going to ask you something else too…” I start, tentatively.

He now looks really curious. “This sounds interesting. What is it?”

“Well, I kind of have a busy day tomorrow… and I was wondering if you’re going to be around tomorrow evening?”

He thinks for a second before he replies, “There’s a dinner slash poetry reading thing at this place in Haight-Ashbury, but I can change my plans if you wanna hang out? Or do you want to join?”

“No, no… actually I was hoping you might be out… I have someone coming over for dinner.”

His eyes shine with interest. “Someone?” he asks, raising his eyebrow, “Like a date, you mean?”

“Yes, a date.” My stomach flutters at the thought of it.

“Who is he?” he demands.

“You’ll never guess who.”

“Did you meet someone last night?”

I shake my head.

“Not Mr. Sexy and Mysterious from across the hall?!” he exclaims.

“No way. How did you know!?” Maybe all this spiritual stuff Danny was into really did make him a bit telepathic.

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you lust over him!”

“I have not been lusting over him.”

“Yes, I believe you have.”

“Stop it.”

He grins from ear to ear. “I’m impressed, honey!”

I reach out my hands and reciprocate his double high five. I can’t control the size of my grin either as I’m not only feeling pretty pleased with myself, I also feel quite empowered too.

“I love this new confident you!” he gushes.

“Actually, it’s Andrea who should take the credit. She basically made me pinkie promise that I would ask him out.”

He rolls his eyes, “And how did she do that?”

I hesitate and sigh. I knew I’d have to tell him at some point, so it may as well be now. “I did something very stupid last night…”

“Oh?”

I pull a fake grimace and then smile. I’m actually feeling remarkably blasé about the whole gypsy malarkey now. First of all, I might not be losing my job after all so it’s only money I’ve lost. Also, if not for the gypsy and the ensuing mess, I definitely would not have gotten the guts to ask Jackson out.

I sure as hell know Danny is going to love the story so I start from the beginning. From where I know he will appreciate. From Nina’s penis problems. Danny is in rapture. He’s always a perfect audience, it’s one of the many reasons I love him so much. I’m at the point where I’m handing over the cash, but still only encouraging ‘ooh’s’ and ‘ah’s’ have come out of his mouth.

“So, what happened then?” he asks me, like I’ve missed the end of the story or something.

“I just got conned out of four hundred bucks!”

He shrugs. “Didn’t she give you the potion?”

“Yeah, she did. I have it,” I say, a little surprised he’s not baulking at the amount of cash involved.

“So, what’s the problem?”

“Danny, she’s a con artist. I was slurring all over the place and she must have realized I was already more than half drunk so she lured me to her house and sold me a vial of bullshit.”

“Said Andrea,” he replies, looking at me knowingly.

I laugh. “You know us all too well sometimes.” I give him a nudge. “So, do you really think it could work then? I mean, it just looks like pinkish water.”

He puts on a deep voice and says, “Seeing is not always believing, my dear. And believing is not always understanding.”

“Huh?”

He sighs. “You have to trust that some people in this world are blessed with a heightened spiritual sense than the rest of us. They are ultra-connected somehow and they can guide spirits together, and do all sorts of things that we just have to accept we will never understand.”

I study his face looking to see if he is messing with me, but those dark brown eyes of his seem completely genuine.

“Look, sweets. Whether you believe in the powers of the potion or not, what have you got to lose? You may as well try it.”

“What? No, I can’t,” I say, my heart suddenly beating a little faster.

He nods and goes wide-eyed. “So, let’s see. The gypsy woman told you to give it to the ‘intended’ aka Mr. Sexy and Mysterious from across the hall, before the full moon, right?” He grabs his schedule, and flicks through it, then gasps dramatically. “That’s tomorrow!”

I stare at him in amusement.

“It’s meant to be,” he whispers.

“Do you really think I should give it to him?” I ask curiously.

“Why not? Do you like this guy, or not?”

“Of course, I do. I mean, he’s gorgeous.” My stomach flutters at the thought of him. I still can’t believe he’s coming over for dinner tomorrow.

“Then there’s nothing more to be said about it. Apart from how you’re going to get it in him? So that he wants to get in you!” He makes a crude gesture with his pointed index finger.

I whack him hard. “Quite frankly, Mr. Daniel Purdy, I’m shocked at you. I can’t believe you would encourage me to do something that would obstruct someone else’s freedom of choice.”

“Excuse me. You just said it was a load of old baloney. I’m just trying to jazz up your life.”

“Regardless, I will not be using the potion.”

“Fine. Do you mind if I keep the potion and use it on someone I fancy?”

I giggle. “You don’t need a love potion. You already have too many men falling at your feet and begging to be your humble servant.”

“This is true, but I need a more permanent addition to my harem.”

“Take it.” I walk to the living room, grab the vial and give it to him.

“Thanks,” he says, “Okay, then. I’ll go have my shower and we’ll get started on cooking dinner.” He starts walking away then, turns back. “What will you make for dessert tomorrow?”

I shrug. “Don’t know yet.”

“How about those delicious red velvet cupcakes with your mother’s famous frosting? Everybody loves them.”

I make a face. “Except me.”

“How about you bake some for him and me, and I’ll help you make a batch of vanilla ones for you.” He smiles winningly.

I smile back. It’s hard to say no to Danny. “Okay.”

“Great. You’ll see, with one bite of those and he’ll never be able to resist your charms.”

“If I didn’t love you so much I would be insulted by that comment.”

“But you do love me so much, so chill. You think we have everything we need?”

“Aw, you’re such a star!” I give him a big bear hug and then go to look through our fridge and cupboards. “Yeah, I reckon we have everything.”

“Okay, I’m off. Start chopping these,” he says as he throws me an onion then a couple of tomatoes and grins. “We’ve got a busy night, sweets. Remember, we’ve got two episodes of Tits and Dragons to catch up on.”

“It’s called Game of Thrones,” I reply, sinking a sharp knife deep into the onion.

Yep, Danny really is the best roomie ever.