Page 33 of Closer than Ever

Anna already knew Hayley didn’t just mean the petrol but didn’t want to fight her on it after all the soul-searching she’d done to get to this point. “Fine.”

“You can be my tour guide!”

“Er, full disclosure, I still haven’t been to most of the places we put on our list all those years ago. It will be a first for me too.”

“I like that. We get to experience it for the first time together. Discover Scotland together.”

“I know.” Anna smiled.

“Woohoo!” Hayley held up her hand for a high-five. Their hands connected perfectly, making a loud and satisfying clap. “Yeah, baby!”

The contact reverberated around Anna’s body like an electric current. She cleared her throat. “But let’s be real here. We’ll be doing the touristy stuff, not the real Scotland. We won’t be hanging around the cities and we probably won’t see the poverty and the sectarianism and the whatnot.”

“We’ll do the romantic version of Scotland.”

“Ayyye,” Anna exaggerated, ironically.

“I already saw everyday life when I was living here. But maybe after our trip we could spend some time in the cities?”

Anna smiled. “That would be nice. We’ll tick off our dream list together first. But I will get you some vitamin D supplements. Lowest levels in the world here. You should be concerned.”

“I really do love your accent, Anna. Honestly, I could listen to it all day.”

“Good. Because you’re going to be around it for a hell of a lot longer.”

“I wish you would use your real accent with me more often.”

“What do you mean?”

“Every now and again you slip into an even more Scottish accent but then you cover it up. It’s like you’re keeping your guard up with me or something.”

“I’m not aware I’m doing that. It must be my telephone voice or something.”

Hayley put her hands on her hips, adopting such an attractive power pose, Anna had to look away. “You never used to speak so proper around me.”

“Didn’t I?”

“You used to speak more relaxed around me for sure. I’ve heard you when you are drunk out of your mind. I know you have a different voice under there. I want to hear it. I miss it.”

Anna could feel her cheeks starting to blush. This wasn’t a good start to their agreeing to travel together. Anna had to get a grip. Did she really speak differently around Hayley now? “Okay. Well, we are about to be spending a lot of time together so I’m sure it will come out at some point.”

“I hope it does.”

“So, we’re really going to do this together? You really want me to gate-crash your ‘quit my job, fuck it and find out era’?”

“Yes, we fucking are and yes I fucking do!” Hayley broke out into a happy dance. “The trip officially just got interesting.”

It was hard to believe the person who drove her home was the same person now dancing in front of her. Did Anna really have that big of an effect on her? “I just have one question.”

Hayley smiled, teasingly, and took a seat at the dining table. “Just one?”

“Why didn’t you ask me sooner?”

“Ask you what?”

“Ask me to come travelling with you.”

“I wanted to see you first. I didn’t know if we would still get on like before.”

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