Page 5 of Only Ever You

Faye hadn’t seen the nervousness she did then in Maisie’s expression since the last time the redhead had psyched herself up by shifting her ample bosom under her sundress and drawing in the belt accentuating her curves, before sliding up to a man at the bar they’d been in. Her flittering gaze was agitating, too.

“I think I’m going to be moving away,” Maisie blurted.

“What do you mean? To where?” Four voices all wondered roughly the same thing.

With the slight movement of Maisie’s pale, freckled arms, Faye knew she’d begun to wring her hands together beneath the table. “My family have been talking about someone moving closer toNain?*, and at the moment I’m the only one whose job means they can go easily.” Her brows ticked up. “The perks of being remote. So … with her fall yesterday, I think I’ll be leaving for Wales soon.”

Faye’s throat became tight. Her palms, clammy. “For good?”

“I hope not, but it looks that way for now.”

“When are you going?”

Maisie bit on her lip. “Nain’sboyfriend is helping her for now, and I want to be with my family here for Christmas and with you guys for New Year, so I think straight after that.”

Faye’s heart smacked against her chest; that was only a couple of weeks away. One of her best friends was going to be gone and the stab of sadness felt too close to home.

She swallowed down her tongue and the shaky feeling high up in her chest as Bash said, “We love you, Maise. You’ll always have us here.”

Maisie looked close to tears. “Thank you. I just wanted to tell you all before any plans were confirmed.” At the last word, her hazel eyes flicked to Faye, and the guilt she’d been steadilyfeeling trickling into her body throughout the conversation doubled down on its effort to unsettle her.

Faye knew what that look was for, and why. She tried to hide how the unexpected news made her eyes water behind a forceful smile. The lamps were low enough that maybe no one would notice them glimmering as she raised her glass to her lips.

Wales was only a couple of hours away – it could be worse. Distance didn’t have to mean the end of a friendship, but Faye had always thrived with her friends nearby. They were like family, and when you came from a broken one,friendshipthat was steady meant so much more.

A touch at her knee gave a gentle squeeze and her eyes shot to Bash. He didn’t look at her, listening to their friends continue the conversation she’d blocked out, but he squeezed her knee again as if to say he was there for her, that her sadness was okay. Faye didn’t doubt he’d feel it too. His heart was too big to feel nothing at all for Maisie leaving. Bash was just better than her. More thoughtful, less selfish. He would give Maisie all of his support before he even thought about himself being left behind.

So why hadn’t she told him that she was going to be?—

“You haven’t said how your day was.”

Faye blinked herself back to the room. Back toBash.

“Good, as usual. I finished a design for another doughnut,” she said. “Actually—” She lifted her purse from her lap and dug about for her phone. “Would you mind looking at it, please? I already love it but I trust your opinion.”

Bash passed her a smile. “Sure.” He waited for her to find the image on her phone and hand it over while the others chatted without them.

“It’s one of the new Christmas designs.” Faye watched his fingers expand the image she’d spent a couple of spare hours illustrating last night, his other hand finding its way to his hair. He kept it short but not close cut, long enough for curls to just start to want to break through on top if only he’d let them, and with the ripe oldage of thirty, he’d begun greying at the temples in an endearing way.

Bash’s lips set in a shallow curve while his eyes roamed across the screen for a minute. If there was anyone Faye could trust to give her their honest opinion, it was him. Which is why he was always the first to see the illustrations of anything she baked.

All throughout university, they’d helped one another with their creative ideas – starting from the art society where they’d met. Faye liked bright and bold, whereas Bash was more natural elegance and sleek in his work. So when she’d had to formulate a suggested rebranding of a non-existent luxury timepiece company, he’d been the one she’d gone to, and when he’d been given a brief for redesigning an eccentric actor’s home with ‘eclectic’ tastes, he’d shown up at her bedroom door that same hour.

But whereas Bash was now the co-CEO ofPD&F Luxe Co.,designing luxury interiors for people who could actually afford to pay someone else for their ideas, Faye designed doughnuts.

Yes,doughnuts.

All year round she had every possible festival and celebration covered; Eid, May the 4th, International Dog Day. Now Christmas was only two weeks away, she’d begun to circulate festive doughnuts into the menu ofBaked By The Dozen. She knew of other bakeries that’d been serving their Christmas themed delights since mid-November, but she’d wanted to wait and not push the festivities too early.

She should probably think of putting decorations up in the bakery, too. Some of the shelves looked a little bare.

Bash gave a definitive hum as he straightened his head. “I’d eat it.”

A smile curled onto Faye’s lips. “You say that about everything I make.”

“Well that’s because everything that you make tastes amazing.”

Her eyes rolled though she couldn’t help but keep her smile. Bash only ever got to taste those perfect endings to her laboriouscreative sessions, so he knew no better. Faye could always find something wrong, or where she lacked. At least ninety percent of what she experimented with in the kitchen ended up in the bin.

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