Page 47 of The Mended Hearts Bookshop

“And no charity,” Pen said, pulling away from him.

“I wasn’t offering it,” said George. “I would, on the other hand, be willing to make an investment in the bakery if you needed one. Think it over. We’d do it properly, with contracts and things. No pressure, but the offer is there if you need it.”

Pen blinked away a fresh tear. “I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve all this,” she said. “People like you and Ash just helping me without getting anything back.”

“Well, Ash got a smacker of a kiss, apparently. Not that that’s what I’m looking for,” he added hurriedly. He took her hands again. “You deserve this because you’re always the one giving, Pen. You deserve a little help in return.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“But you do need to learn a lesson from this,” he said. “You can’t feed people from an empty pantry, Pen.”

She rolled her eyes and pretended like she didn’t know what he meant, and they had no time to finish the conversation as Lucy came barreling in with her coat on.

Pen watched them walk down the street together and marveled at how her world had changed in just a few minutes. And then she wondered if Ash was her guardian angel, like she was Lucy’s. And then she remembered the kiss and warmthflooded her skin and suddenly debt was the least important thing she could think of.

Chapter Twenty

It was a chilly afternoon and Ash wrapped her jacket around herself as gray clouds scudded across the sky.

By all rights she should be feeling… confused, angry perhaps, uprooted maybe. But she felt none of those things. Alright the last couple of days had been big ones, but far from being overwhelmed she was almost relieved. Relieved that perhaps she fit in better in the world than she’d imagined.

Not that that had ever worried her before. Or maybe she just hadn’t let it worry her, it was hard to tell.

But there was something about all this that was slowly starting to feel right. It was a strange feeling and one she wasn’t quite used to. One she didn’t really know how to examine.

It wasn’t until she turned around at the end of the beach to head back that she saw someone wildly waving and yelling at her. She grinned to herself because Pen looked for all the world like a beach ball, her comfortably round body wrapped up in a bright red and yellow coat.

“I’ve been shouting for ages,” Pen said when she finally caught up. Her cheeks were pink with chill and her long blonde curls whipped around in the breeze.

“It’s windy out, I couldn’t hear you.” Ash pulled out her phone. “Why didn’t you text or something?”

“I didn’t think about it,” said Pen, beaming up at her.

Ash felt a sudden need to kiss her again, to hold her close, to feel her heart beat. She swallowed and took a breath because she still didn’t know what the rules were here. But as they started to walk again, Pen naturally slid her hand into Ash’s and Ash found that she too was smiling slightly.

“Did you get everything I sent you?” Ash asked.

Pen nodded. “All the appointments are in my calendar already.”

“Do you want me to go with you to the debt counselor?”

Pen’s fingers tightened around Ash’s.

“Let me rephrase that, I’ll go with you to the debt counselor,” said Ash. “It’s nothing to worry about. I’m not going to pretend that the situation is all sweetness and light, but once your debts are consolidated and payment plans are set up, you’ll do just fine.” She stopped on the sand. “As long as you start paying attention to what’s in the accounts before you start taking things out.”

“I do,” Pen started.

“Do you?” asked Ash. She sighed. “You’re a very good person, Pen. But half the direct debits from your account are donations to the animal shelter or UNICEF or half a dozen other things.”

“But I have to help.”

“You can’t help if you don’t have any money at all, can you? How helpful are you going to be if you’re living in a box under a bridge somewhere?” asked Ash reasonably, looking down into Pen’s wide blue eyes.

Pen swallowed but nodded. “Got it.” They started walking again, Ash slowing her pace to match Pen’s. “Any news on the inheritance front?”

Ash sighed. “Those stupid gene sites are worthless. Not a hit on any of them. As for the rest, well, I don’t think I’ll ever get a real hold on who Mary was. I never knew her, I suppose I just have to accept that.”

“But it’s important to you, why?”

---