Page 50 of You, As You Are

Vera hummed in thought, her permed hair still perfectly in place after removing her rain bonnet. “I’m not sure yet. I believe I’ll know it when I see it.”

Lucky you,Maisie thought bitterly,to have that luxury.

Party wear was arranged on mannequins and railings in one corner of the shop. Maisie’s fingers trailed across the assortment of fabrics, all too used to touching without ever being able to try on. Every once in a while, the numbers on the hangers gave her a little spark of hope that they might actually stock something in her size here, but nothing she liked the look of so far.

There weren’t too many other customers around, only a woman folding pairs of trousers for a display, certainly quiet enough to slide into the conversation Maisie hadn’t been able to do earlier.

“Have you found any more stuff you’d like to take to the charity shop?” She broached the question like she would handle a delicate clay piece. She was all for spring cleaning, but hernaindidn’t have all that much to be sprung.

“A few things. What do you think to this?” Vera held a dress on its hanger in front of her body, using her leg to kick out the frilly skirt.

“It looks very … modern.” Not quite thechique,classic look that Vera normally wore, but the woman would look good in a potato sack if that was the option.

“Well I’ve got to keep up with the times, Moo Moo.” Replacing the dress on the rail, Vera eyed her curiously. “Do you have something to wear tonight?”

“I have a few dresses.” Failing that, Maisie owned enough long skirts and blouses to choose from for a party.

“Well why don’t you have a look and see if there’s anything you fancy here? I’ll pay.”

All of a sudden, Maisie was plunged back to being a teenager, and worst of all – she’d seen it coming.

Clothes shopping had never been a simple case of walking into a random high street store and picking whatever she liked the look of off the rail. She was used to having a different experience to her friends when they went out clothes shopping together. Faye and Sienna wore straight sizes, meaning they could always pluck something to fit them right off any hanger. Maisie told herself that she didn’t mind, she was there to see her friends and laugh together, but a part of herdidcare.

At first glance, this particular shop didn’t seem so bad for choice. Still, when she stood in place and looked around, awareof hernainwatching her scrunched mouth, she grew nervous. She already had a dress in mind for the party, but she needed an excuse to bring Iain into conversation – soften the blow of the shock of seeing them together tonight.

They had no plan. They were going in blind. And Maisie didn’t like the feeling of that at all. But having the rumour mill spinning in advance would play excellently into their hands.

She pretended to peruse and unhooked a purposefully bold choice of dress from its railing; something low cut with a slit up the thigh, nothing that she would ever usually wear; and searched out Vera across the shop.

Red faced, she bolstered up some courage to nonchalantly ask, “Do you think Iain would like this?”

“Why are you concerned what Iain might like?” Sparkly eyed, Vera’s tone in no veiled way said that she already knew.

Here it goes. Time to set the cat amongst the pigeons, the ball into play, and ten other epithets.

“Because … he kind of asked me on an official date.”

“Moo Moo! When were you going to tell me?” Vera dropped the jumpsuit in her hands with her excitement to crowd her.

Maisie crouched to pick up the garment before giving in to hernain’ssqueezing arms. Her ears warmed, even if the ‘date’ didn’t actually exist. “Don’t tell anyone, please?”

“Of course, no. My lips are sealed.”

Your lips lie.Vera will have texted each and every one of her hiking friends before Maisie had gotten her home. Exactly according to the plan she formulated a minute ago.

“Are you going to my party together?”

The question put her on the spot. “Iain’s going to walk Ted and then meet me there. So he might be a little late.” She made a mental note to find his phone number in the group chat and text him that, since she’d made it up three seconds ago. “Why do you look so happy?”

“I’m happy foryou, Moo Moo. Iain is a world away from the boys you’ve dated before.”

The differentiation really couldn’t have been any more obvious. Maisie would bet her whole life’s savings that Iain didn’t own a gingham bow tie.

“He’s aman,” Vera stressed wistfully. “A whole lot of man …”

Maisie’s lips pulled together in a bashful smile that was genuine. The more time she spent around Iain, the more painfully obvious it became that, aesthetically at least, he was in a separate universe to the people she’d dated before – the antithesis of the lanky, colt-limbed ‘men’ that Sienna once informed her she had eyes for because they were, quote: ‘easy prey’.

He’d already said that he wasn’t in a position to date and Maisie respected that, but she couldn’t help but wonder: if this was real and Iain actually proposed that they see where the spark of chemistry between them went, would she push him away?

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