Miss Spelled Read Free

leaning in to give him another kiss. ‘It was great. Oscar and Xavier had a little punch-up over the iPad, Tilly and Georgia were upset because they both had the same new pencil case but made up by play lunch and Lachlan fell over and required a Band-Aid on his knee.’
    He laughs. ‘Sounds a bit like my day, only with children who are more mature than some of the adults I work with.’
    ‘What happened?’
    ‘Nothing that can’t wait. Did the kids like the flowers I sent you?’
    ‘They loved the flowers you sent me, thank you. When they were brought in the entire class gave an appreciative woo ! They’re beautiful.’
    ‘Not as beautiful as you,’ he says, holding my hand.
    Tiny rainbows float inside me, happy rainbows. Maybe some unicorns too.
    ‘Mr St. James, your table is ready,’ says the maître d’.
    ‘Great, thanks,’ Aiden says as he helps me off the bar stool. ‘I’m not sure about you, but I’m starving. Lunch was a no-go today. I was too…’ He shakes his head.
    ‘Too what?’ I ask, because something is bothering him.
    He gets a small furrow between his eyebrows when he’s troubled, and it’s sitting there right now.
    ‘It’s…nothing. Tonight is our special night, let’s not spoil it by talking about my day,’ he says as he leads me over to our table by the window overlooking the Yarra and Southbank Promenade. It’s dusk and Melbourne is just starting to breathe its nightly luminescence, the lights bringing a whole new life to the busy city.
    Within minutes, the waiter has brought over a bottle of Verve Cliquot, popped the cork and poured two glasses. The tiny bubbles rise inside the glass, one after the other. My insides feel much the same way.
    ‘To us…to the happiest year of my life,’ he says. ‘I love you, Lou Mercer.’
    * * *
    After we share a decadent chocolate mud mousse dessert and sip on Cointreau over ice, we enjoy a slow walk up the Southbank Promenade which delivers us to the Eureka Tower. The city, which can look so grey and menacing during the daylight hours, glitters and glows in all its glory after dark. Some cities were made for night time, and Melbourne is one of them.
    ‘Here we are,’ Aiden says pointing to the top of the tower, the observation deck with a 360-degree view of Melbourne.
    ‘Isn’t it closed?’ I ask. ‘It’s past midnight.
    ‘Not for us it’s not,’ he says with a smile.
    A feeling of dread pulses around my body. Just what does he have planned?
    ‘We’re not skydiving or free-falling from the top or anything, are we? I’m not really dressed for it. And I’d bring up dinner and all that chocolate.’
    Aiden laughs. ‘No, close but not quite.’
    ‘Then what…’
    ‘Shush,’ he says, gently touching his forefinger to my lips. ‘Trust me.’
    He takes my hand and leads me through the automatic doors and into the lift. It zooms us up to the 88th floor where we are greeted by a security guard.
    ‘Aiden, how are you, mate?’ he says as they shake hands.
    ‘Great thanks, Davo. How about yourself?’ Aiden replies.
    ‘Never been better. It’s all ready for you. Come this way.’
    My brain snaps into action. Oh no!
    ‘The Edge?’ I ask. ‘The glass cube that sticks out the side of the building?’ My heart rate doubles because the cube has a glass floor that allows you to look past your feet to the ground — 300 metres below. It’s a long way, especially for anyone afraid of heights, like me.
    ‘That’s the one,’ says Aiden.
    I clasp my hand around Aiden’s and he lets out an ‘ouch’.
    ‘Sorry,’ I say and swallow hard.
    We walk across the deserted floor, over to the glass cube.
    ‘It is safe, isn’t it?’ I ask. ‘I mean, it’s not going to fall off the building or anything?’ The thought of falling all that way makes my stomach rise to my throat.
    ‘Safe as safe. It was tested by the developer himself. He came out and jumped up and down 20 times to test it.’
    ‘That’s it? That’s all the testing