Page 24 of You, As You Are

“When were you going to tell me that!”

“I slipped on the steps of the minibus, and he was behind me. In fairness, I wouldn’t have almost fallen if his dog hadn’t ripped my pastry from my hand.”

“Is his dog cute?”

“Ted is … Ted is Iain in dog form.”

“I’ll pretend that that makes sense.”

Maisie popped herself back down on the bench. “Have you ever looked at Bash next to an animal and thought they were alike?”

“I would put him between a golden retriever and a teddy bear.”

“Then you know what I mean,” she said.

“What do you think to asking Iain out?”

“I mean … he definitely flirted a little.” Which wasthrilling.“But I didn’t come here to start dating someone, you know that.”

“I know. But I’ve also learned recently that if something good is right in front of you, then you shouldn’t push it away.” Listening to her friend, Maisie sighed. “If you like Iain, then I’ll like him too. I trust your judgement in men. You might have to convince Bash, though, and Freddy will definitely want to look him in the eye.”

Their boys had always been protective.

“And Sienna?” Maisie wondered.

Faye hummed in thought. “She’ll probably undress him with her eyes, first.”

Would it be such a bad thing if Maisie did, maybe, have the teeniest, tiniest interest in Iain? It might not even be romantic. Some of the things that he’d said – more so what hedidn’tsay – made her want to peel him like an onion. A strange compulsion to feel, but she was rolling with it.

What was the thing that made his frown soften away? That was her biggest question. Maisie refused to believe that he looked so done with the world all of the time, every day. Unfortunately for him, she came from London – scowl central city of the United Kingdom. His moody glare didn’t phase her.

He was nothing like the men who’d caught her attention before. Maybe her seven-month drought had been too long and her body was taking matters into its own hands? Like a compass pinning ‘north’ on the first male she had any form of prolongedinteraction with and deciding that he was where the arrow would point.

They ended the call half an hour later with Faye telling her the plans for the next week of renovations at the new bakery before Bash came home with their groceries and she had to go.

“Moo Moo, you’ll catch a chill!” Hernain’svoice carried from inside.

Maisie was done with her phone call anyway, so she came back to the warmth of the kitchen to find Vera digging around in the always-stocked biscuit barrel, though it was the new box of random items on the kitchen counter that caught her eye.

“What are these things?”

“Hm?” Vera’s eyes darted over and then swiftly away to the chocolate bourbons in her hand. “Oh, just some things I’m going to take to the charity shop tomorrow.”

Maisie lifted one of the cardboard flaps and peered inside. The repurposed box just heldthings: ornaments, books, empty picture frames. “Do you want me to drive you? It’s a lot to carry.”

“Don’t worry, lamb, Ronnie is picking me up.” Vera patted her arm as she passed through to the living room. “You have work to do.”

“Okay. So long as you’re not carrying anything with your wrist.”

“Pfft. My wrist is fine. That doctor is just being a worry wart.”

He wasn’t the only one.

CHAPTER EIGHT

MAISIE

That Sunday morning,twenty-four hours after she’d viewed the flat in the middle of town, Maisie was moving out of Vera’s house. The ultra-fast turnaround had given her whiplash, but the letting agent was keen to get somebody into the flat immediately and Maisie agreed with everything that’d been asked. The rent was half the price of what she’d paid in London and the flat itself was comfortable, so with the fact that her income hadn’t changed, taking the lease had been a no-brainer.

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