Page 98 of You, As You Are

If you say so.Iain grabbed a thicker fleece from his bag of clothes to wear under his coat before layering up.

Leaving Ted locked in the cabin, they met with the star-gazing group at the information centre in the middle of camp. Almost every couple and family with older kids must’ve joined, and even with Maisie’s prompt pushing of him out of the cabin, it appeared as though they were the last to arrive.

The receptionist who’d knocked on their door earlier raised her voice to gather the group then handed over to another woman who quickly ran through their night walk’s itinerary.

Iain sniffed at the thermos Maisie prepared for him and sipped on the hot chocolate as he listened. It still wasn’t his taste buds’ favourite, but Maisie had made it, so he would drink it whether he liked it or not.

“Before we go, can everyone make sure that you have one of these.” The group leader held a thin, see-through rectangle of plastic high in the air. “These are really fun. They’re maps of the constellations, and the best thing is that they glow in the dark, so you can hold them up to the sky and try to overlap the tablet with what you see.”

Iain’s brow jumped. He’d expected to only be sitting and zoning-out whilst he tried not to fall asleep on top of whatever hill they walked to, not an interactive element.

Maisie nominated herself to approach the crowd forming around the box of plastic constellations. He watched her hang back from getting too close, her pursed smiles as she let everyone else through first. When was the last time she’d ever done that for herself, he wondered.

She handed him one of the tablets on her return, whispering, “This is so exciting.”

The sky might be pitch black, but there was light in her eyes.

“I used to sneak out at night on the farm,” Iain said, throwing another nugget of his life out there into the Maisie pool of knowledge. He couldn’t stop wanting to spew out facts about himself to her. Someone might as well know them, and at least with her he knew he’d be heard.

“Really? I can’t imagine you breaking any rules.”

“You have no idea, Daffy.”

The guide led everyone off through the woodland. Most guests used the torches on their phones to light their way, but Iain took the battery torch from his backpack’s pocket, holding it to brighten the trail between them. He was used to this, but Maisie caught her boots on unsuspecting twigs and dips in the ground, grabbing him like it was first instinct, until she gave up snapping her hand away at all and left it there in the crook of his arm.

He didn’t want a girlfriend.

He didn’t need a girlfriend.

But this feeling of rightness that rippled through his puffed-up chest was … too nice. He may have subconsciously walkedtaller all the way out of the dark woodland to where a grassy field inclined to a small hill.

“Feel free to spread out,” the guide announced.

Between patches of tiny daisies beginning to grow, Maisie navigated the darkness and found a spot in the grass for them both, so Iain dropped his rucksack then himself to a knee to take out the blanket.

“That was creepy as hell,” Maisie muttered.

“Huh?”

“The forest. There could’ve been strange creatures or ghosts.”

All Iain had to do was raise one eyebrow as he lifted his chin to see her. His eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and found her shrugging.

“What? There could’ve been.”

He guffawed, his knee turning damp in the grass. “Don’t think theAdar Llwch Gwinis going to get you here, Daffy.”

“You should tell me about whatever that is,” Maisie said, “just not when it’s nearly midnight and we still have to sleep.”

Iain unbuckled the folded blanket with leather backing so their bums would stay dry – a very essential item where he came from – and laid it out over the dewy grass. He ran his hands over the scratchy chequered wool, and the stance he’d taken became painfully obvious when he caught Maisie watching him, sending a rush of blood through his body.

Only once had he been on one knee in front of a woman, and look how that turned out.

“You know, this would be a perfect date if we were doing this for real,” Maisie said.

His hands paused, and Iain risked glancing at her before returning to smoothing out the coarse fabric.

After that kiss, the definition between what was real and what was not had no meaning anymore. Iain still remembered the pinch in Maisie’s brow like she’d realised something whenhe’d pulled back, and his stupid heart hoped it was that the kiss hadn’t beennothing.

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