Page 89 of You, As You Are

Maisie nudged his shoulder with hers. “If it makes any difference, I think that following your heart is always the best choice.”

“Are you following yours?” Iain asked.

She drew in a slow breath. “I’m starting to.”

He gazed at her, and she gazed at him, and something so infinitely new changed yet again.

Ted squirmed in her lap and shifted his position.

With a clearing of his throat, Iain drew his hand out of hers, yet Maisie wanted to plead for more, just another minute. It could be pretend – it didn’t have to be real – she just didn’t want to let him go.

Realising that this moment was coming to an end, Maisie got ahead of the disappointment. She rubbed her palms over her thighs and said, “I should probably go home. I have pre-orders to pack.”

Iain inhaled. Turning his face out to sea, he said, “I think I might stay here for a while longer.”

“Okay.” Maisie shimmied back from the edge and took the hand that Iain offered to help her onto her feet. It was strange being the one looking down on him for once. “See you tomorrow?”

He bobbed his head in a nod. “Tomorrow.”

She took one step and turned back. His eyes were still upon her, and in all this darkness, knowing he wasn’t going to look away was the safest she’d ever felt.

“Nos da,”she said.

Those mossy eyes sparkled with the moonlight’s reflection from the water as his lips tipped in a smile. “Nos da i chdi,Daffy.?*”

* Goodnight to you, Daffy

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

MAISIE

She hadn’t paidmuch attention to where the minibus delivered them today. The journey had taken almost two hours and they’d crossed the border into England – according to the location tags on the photos she’d taken – and walked through a valley in the first blooms of spring. Now they sat in a quaint, rustic tearoom belonging to the National Trust.

Maisie watched Iain as he ordered at the counter. All through last night she couldn’t stop thinking about the way they’d sat together on the shorefront airing their painful secrets to one another. A line felt like it blurred when he’d held her hand as though thefakenessto their relationship wasn’tfakeat all. His palm utterly massive compared to hers, and yetsafe.

She wouldn’t have said the things she had if she weren’t so emotional in the first place. But when he’d opened himself up as well, it’d told her that he was there to catch her. He’d done it before in the physical sense, but the security to know that she wouldn’t be judged was more important to her.

And at the end of the night when she’d laid in bed, she processed his words: “Maybe you don’t know where you fit until you make a home outside of the mould you were cast into.”She’d shamefully underestimated his ability to say something soprofound and make sense of her moment of crisis. And it helped, somewhat. At least for her to understand that not having the sense of belonging anymore was okay.

She’d broken from her mould. Free to decide whatever came next.

It all explained why her brain had been so hazy on the drive.

Turning from the counter with a loaded tray in his hands, Iain awkwardly manoeuvred through the busy tearoom. Maisie found it far too amusing how his frame struggled to wiggle between the backs of chairs and corners of tables, when it was normallyherwho had that problem. Still, her eyes tracked him all the way to their long table.

“I got you a blueberry muffin,” he said as he slid a plate in front of her.

Opposite to them, Vera ogled the muffin like she wanted one for herself. “Ooo, they’re your favourite, sweet pea.”

“They are,” Maisie said as Iain pulled out the chair beside her and folded himself down. “But I’ve never told you that.”

He shrugged as if the fact he’d picked out her favourite from all of the ones on display meant nothing. “You always have blueberry muffins on your kitchen counter.”

Maisie’s heartbeat stuttered. He’d only been to her flat a handful of times – had he really noticed that?

“Thank you.”

Iain nodded, which she guessed was man-code for ‘you’re welcome’, before lifting the sausage roll he’d bought for himself to his mouth.

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