Page 91 of You, As You Are

“I’m trying,” she whispered harshly in return. “You touching me doesn’t help.”

He held her hand tighter.

Maisie used the fork that came on her plate to stab off a big chunk of muffin and stuck it into her mouth, reminded again of why they’d committed to the fake date plan in the first place–to take conversations likethatoff of the table. She expected there to besomeinterest in what she and Iain did together, but talking about their intimacy – or lack thereof – was a massive, red, NO.

She’d zoned out of the conversation, glancing around at the exposed wood beams and old fireplaces for five minutes, when hernainpiped up again.

“We have a proposal,” Vera said to the table.

“Oh dear,” Maisie muttered, playing with the purple-tinted crumbs on her plate.

Vera’s hands splayed like she were in a musical. “Glamping.”

Maisie’s brows rose an inch … and then another.“Glamping?”

“For the weekend. Next weekend specifically,” Vera clarified, and Maisie crumbled a little into Iain’s side.

Glamping.As in tents and mud and all sorts of wildlife creeping in at night?Bloody hell.

She held still, not blinking once as she asked, “Why?”

“Because it will be fun!” A chorus of hums and nods agreed with Vera. “We found somewhere on the internet about ninety minutes north. It’s a campsite of pods within a forest.”

“They run organised walks around the area,” Ronnie chimed in.

Vera twisted to Iain who did well to not resist the death grip that Maisie’s hand had on his. “And dogs are welcome, which is perfect for you, Iain.” His thumb pressed down over her knuckle in response. “We know it’s last minute, but it would be a great idea if we all went. Wouldn’t it be fun?”

Enthusiastic commentary struck up for half a minute about how excited the others were, while Maisie stared between them without really seeing them at all. A weekend holiday was one method she hadn’t pre-planned to be blindsided by, and it didn’t feel right that they were the last to know about this.

“You’ll come, won’t you Moo Moo?” Vera’s pink lips smiled at her.

Her fingers tightened on Iain’s, her body rigid in her chair. She didn’t know how to say no. “Of course. It sounds … fun.”

Walking in the wilds was one thing, but sleepingout there?Shitting hell.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad as her brain imagined? ‘Glamping’gave some illusion of glamour,did it not?

“And you, Iain?”

Iain’s grip on her hand, their fingers still linked on the table between them, pulsed. Maisie finally looked at his face, and for once she didn’t blame his moody expression.

“Gwna,?*”he said grudgingly, all that cheeriness she’d noted earlier dissipating.

Darting her good hand across the table, Vera patted their joined ones. “Excellent! I have the phone number. I’ll give them a call.”

“You two will drive up together, won’t you?” Ronnie’s hopeful eyes bounced between them. “We weren’t thinking of hiring the minibus – too much luggage.”

They weren’t thinking.

It became abundantly clear then – even more than before – that all thirteen of them knew about this plan to go away days before this meeting.

A small but very definite grunt left the man beside her.

“I’ll drive,” Iain said, resigned.

“Perfect,” Maisie mumbled.

At around half past two, Steffan, the man in charge of organising all their transport, received the call from their minibus driver to say he was waiting in the car park, which meant that all of their group began to disperse from the tearoom. Maisie headed to the bathroom first and came back to find everyone halted by the doors.

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