Page 22 of You, As You Are

What the—Maisie grabbed the vibrating phone before Vera could get any closer, outwardly relieved to see that they hadn’t summoned the Grinch.

“It’s my friend, Faye. The one who’s opening the bakery in Manchester. Sorry, I’m just going to …” She jumped at the chance to grab her cardigan from a dining chair and dash through the kitchen. “You don’t know how happy I am to hear your voice,” she said all at once as she stepped out into the garden. It was a short, thin sort of thing, mostly paved-over for convenience, that Vera had arranged plant pots with tiny shrubs around the edges of.

“I’ve missed you too, Maise.” Faye’s smile carried through her voice.

Maisie sat down on a bench beneath a few dangling, solar powered lanterns, the salty breeze from the ocean reaching her even here as they caught up with one another. “What’s your new flat like?” she asked.

“Bigger than what I had in London.” Faye only moved into it yesterday. “I have a kitchen that’s separate to my living room, now. And my sofa no longer smells like a takeaway.”

“Small wins, take them.”

Faye chuckled. “I will.”

“And how are things with you and Bash?” Maisie pried as she crossed one ankle over the other, still giddy over how her best friends had started dating recently.

She could hear the contented smile in Faye’s voice. “It’s early days, but it’s really,reallygood, Maise.”

“There’s no such thing as ‘early days’ when you’ve known each other for eleven years, Faye.”

“It’s different now. I’m allowed to touch him and not pull my hand away, and I get giddy doing it.”

Ugh.They were an adorable couple who’d finally taken the blinders from around their eyes and seen what was right in front of them: that they’d been in love with one another for a decade with only their shared group of friends telling them about it. After a romp to Bash’s family home for Christmas when Faye was otherwise going to have been in London by herself, they’d gotten together, andyearsof held back feelings had been released, resulting in one of the best love stories Maisie had ever seen.

Ever since Faye got together with Bash, she’d been like a new woman. So much happier than she already was. Maisie would have to have an ice-cold heart to not even be a little jealous of beingseenand heard the way that Bash understood Faye’s every emotional need. And from what she’d been told, Faye’sphysicalneeds were being well taken care of, too.

“Bash is staying here for the week,” Faye said. “He’s gone off to do some grocery shopping while I’m supposed to be figuring out how to hang up this shelving unit I’ve bought for the shower.” A disgruntled sound travelled down the phone. “It’s not going well.”

“I believe in you.”

“Thank you. So what’s it like living with your grandma?”

They made conversation about Maisie’s new living situation for ten minutes, recounting how many times Vera had simply walked in on her naked without apology, and how Mister Roberts gave her the side-eye as if she wasn’t the one to have been the apple of Vera’s eye first, albeit twenty-nine years ago.

“Have you met anyone new yet?” Faye asked.

Maisie tucked herself within her chunky knit cardigan. “There’s this … guy.”

Faye dropped something with aclank. “Tell me –everything.”

This is what Maisie missed: getting to gossip with Faye and Sienna too over cheesecake and wine about guys they’d had two seconds of interaction with.

She glanced towards the kitchen window to make sure that Vera wasn’t on the other side eavesdropping. Instead, Mister Roberts sat on the sill glaring at her like usual. She narrowed her eyes for a second in return.

“He’s the only one roughly my age inNain’shiking group she signed me up for. And he’s … He’s nice. He has a dog.”

“Is that it?” Faye wasn’t impressed.

“What else do you want me to say?”

“What does he look like? What does he do? What’s hisname?”

Maisie raised her eyes to the night sky. “His name is Iain. He definitely works out, and he said he plays rugby. Dark hair. Green eyes. Beard.” It was like reeling off his dating profile.

“Good beard?”

“Very good beard.” She realised after she’d said so that it’d been with a smile on her lips.

“Welsh?”

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