1514642093 (R) (17 page)

“I like the peace and quiet first thing in the morning. Feels like the day is still deciding what it’s going to be. Makes me feel special, being there when it does.”

I don’t know how she did it, but she always seemed to turn the trivial on its head, making it feel spiritual. I could see why she and Bridget had clicked straight away. Like Bridget, she seemed like an old soul, someone who had been here before and who already had it all figured out. I was jealous.

“I want you to come with me tomorrow,” I said, while the idea was still forming in my head. “I want to introduce you to someone.”

She looked at me quizzically.

“Em’s grandfather, Henry. He’s probably one of my most favourite people on the planet. I’d really like you to meet him.”

She smiled. “Bridget’s Dad? The one with the sweet tooth?”

“That’s not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of him,” I chuckled. “But yeah.”

“I’d love to meet him. I’ve heard so much about him.”

I grinned. “I think you’d really like him.”

I reached over for her hand and she gave it up willingly. As we laced our fingers together, I felt like I was ten feet tall. Like I could leap tall buildings in a single bound. Like I had nothing to fear and everything to look forward to. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt that way.

I took her into town after breakfast, and we checked her car. She had parked it on a side street the day before, only a few blocks from the café. She stuffed some clothes into a bag and I took her back to my place so she could get ready for work. Once we’d both showered and changed, I dropped her back at the café.

I sat beside her, the truck’s engine idling, and held up a key.

“Front door key,” I said, reaching out to take her hand, placing the key in it.

“Thanks.”

She smiled then, a smile that seemed to fly directly inside my chest, bypassing my ribs and alighting on my heart. I was struck by the familiarity of the sensation, like an echo of a song I’d heard somewhere before. The realisation temporarily stole my breath.

Trying to drown out my own inner voice, I leaned over and kissed her, a little more deeply than I’d meant to. She kissed me back, as if she wanted to reassure me. When we slowly drew apart moments later, we were both breathless.

“Why do you do that?” she breathed, her eyes holding mine.

“Do what?”

“Sometimes you kiss me as if you’re afraid I’m going to disappear.”

I couldn’t think of a single word to say that would make any sense. How did she know? How
could
she know?

“I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered, reaching up to gently run her thumb across my eyebrow.

The gesture was simple enough, yet it sent a shiver through me that almost stopped my heart. Em used to do that, and it used to drive me wild. Just like it was doing now.

“Maybe because sometimes I feel like this is all too good to be true,” I murmured.

Forcing the ghosts aside, I leaned forward to kiss her again, closing my eyes and inhaling the sweet scent of her. She didn’t need to speak. I could feel the urgency in her kiss, as if she felt the same way but was too afraid to say it out loud.

It soothed me, knowing we were in agreement. Perhaps the shared wonder at what we had stumbled across was part of the magic.

I SPENT THE ENTIRE DAY
thinking about that. Perhaps it was a mixture of magic, timing and fate, stepping in just when I’d given up. Some kind of cosmic cupid’s arrow, even. I wanted to laugh at the notion – at myself, for even thinking like that. I didn’t believe in that kind of thing.

Did I?

Maybe it wasn’t a matter of belief. Maybe it was a matter of experience. I had never had this happen to me before, so I had nothing to compare it to. Scepticism, born out of ignorance. Whatever it was, it felt real, and it was happening to me. To us.

As I was finishing up for the day, my phone buzzed with an incoming text and I fished it out of my pocket. It was from Vinnie.

’Sup stranger?

Sledgehammer subtle, as usual. He was right, though. I hadn’t spoken to him since his party on Friday night. I’d been so busy with Maia, I hadn’t even noticed. I felt a bit guilty, now. I swiped the text off the screen and called him back instead. He answered on the first ring.

“Who is this?”

“Yeah yeah, very funny,” I smiled.

“Hello?”

“Vin.
You
texted
me
, remember?”

He chuckled. “So I did. How’s things?”

“Great. You?”

“Fine.” He paused for a moment. “You sound weird.”

“Define
weird
.”

“Happy. Not your usual self. Weird.”

I couldn’t help smiling. “Whatever.”

“It’s Maia isn’t it?”

The smile disappeared. “What? I mean, how –“

He chuckled. “Bridget. She told Jas you were seeing a bit of her. I was just calling to find out which bit.”

“Jesus, Vin… ”

“What?”

He was loving this, I could tell.

“Let’s have dinner, or go for a drink. Jas spent some time with her setting up for the party, and she says she’s pretty cool, so she has the Jas seal of approval. I feel left out, though. I want to get to know her better, too – there are some things she should know, and being your big brother, it’s kinda my job to fill her in.” I could just imagine the kinds of stories he wanted to tell, and I was less than keen to subject Maia to that. “So, tonight?”

“No bloody way!”

“Why not?”

“Because!”

Him acting like a two-year-old was making me act like one, too.

“Aw, come on. I’ll be on my best behaviour – promise. So will Jas. Please?”

“Jas isn’t the one I’m worried about. She’s got class, unlike you.”

He gasped dramatically. “Whoah! That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?”

“Look, it’s way too soon for that. We just need a bit more time to, y’know, sort through some stuff. Trust me though, when she’s ready for this, you’ll be the first to know. Okay?”

I wanted to keep Maia to myself for a little while longer. We were still figuring this thing out. Henry was one thing – I knew he wouldn’t embarrass me – but Vinnie was something else entirely. I needed to make sure Maia was able to handle his particular kind of ‘humour.’

“Fine,” he huffed. “But meet me for a drink after work? If she’ll let you out unsupervised, that is.”

I was torn. I wanted to spend the evening with Maia, but I needed to see Vinnie, too, to try and explain properly so he’d get off my back for a while.

“Funny,” I said, without a trace of humour. “Yeah, okay. Just one though. I’ve got plans with Maia tonight and I don’t want to be late home and screw them up.”

“Jeez, it must be serious,” he mumbled. “One beer. Hardly seems worth it, but okay. Because I miss you and because you never call anymore.” Sarcastic bastard. “What kind of plans?”

“Picnic.”

He started making kissing noises into the phone.

“I’m not doing this,” I sighed. “See you at the pub in an hour. I need to finish up here and get a shower.”

He was still making kissing noises.

“Vin?”

He stopped. “Yeah, alright. See you there, Romeo.”

I finished up and went home to shower. It’d been less than a week since I’d met Maia, yet it felt like my whole world had turned upside down. Hell, we were living together and I still knew bugger all about her. Still, I had plans to rectify that, hopefully tonight.

I was planning on taking her on another picnic, this time to a different spot. I was going to show her all my favourite picnic spots, one after another. It’d be like a magical mystery tour of the area. She said she liked surprises.

When I got to the café shortly afterward, I went to the back door, as had become my habit over the past week. The door from the kitchen into the delivery lane was open, and I poked my head in. Maia was standing with her back to me, at the counter, preparing food. Just the sight of her made my heart race. I crept up behind her, sliding my hands around her waist.

“Oh!”

I spun her around to face me, and her expression changed from shock to relief.

“Oh my God!” she breathed, giving me a solid smack on the arm.

“Sorry,” I lied, pulling her closer as she tried to shimmy out of my grasp.

Within milliseconds, she’d given up the struggle and melted into my arms. She pulled back slightly and stared up at me, and suddenly whatever I was going to say to her vanished.

“I’ve missed you,” I said instead.

It was the truth. The day had seemed unbearably long. But now that she was in my arms again, I felt like the whole evening stretched out in front of us. Her body sighed as she looked up at me, her eyes lit with a raging fire from within.

“I’ve missed you, too.”

Seeing that look in her eyes sent a flash of realisation roaring through me. I was through trying to figure out what was happening between us. I was over it – I didn’t care anymore. Some things just defied logic and explanation and that was just the way it was sometimes. I bent down to kiss her, pulling her even closer. She seemed to fit, our bodies blending into each other like it was second nature already.

“Ahem.”

I looked up to see Bridget standing in the doorway to the café, smiling. “Hi.”

“Hi,” I said, backing away from Maia like a teenager caught red-handed.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Its fine,” Maia said quickly, turning her back on me as she resumed her work.

I stared at the back of her head, clearing my throat and taking another step backwards. “I just came by to say hi.”

“Is that all you came by for?” Bridget smiled, winking so fast I wondered if I was seeing things.

I nodded. I had no reason to feel guilty, yet I did anyway.

“Do you want a coffee while you’re here?” she asked, still smiling, clearly enjoying my discomfort.

“No, thanks though. I was just on my way to catch up with Vinnie.”

“Ah. I see. Well, I’ll let you get on, then.”

With that, she turned and left us alone again.

I doubled over with relief and Maia tried her best to stifle a giggle.

“Jesus,” I breathed, standing up straight again. “Awkward or what?”

She grinned at me and grabbed my arm, throwing it around her shoulder as she snuggled close to me again. “She didn’t seem upset.”

No, she didn’t. I glanced down at her. There was no other way to describe it. She was glowing.

“I’m going to meet Vinnie for a beer. I’ll see you at home after work?”

“Okay.”

“I’ve got plans for us tonight, for dinner,” I added. “Think you can handle that?”

She nodded and reached up to kiss me. It was the first time she had made a move on me and it made me deliriously happy.

I SAT ACROSS FROM
Vinnie in the pub, trying hard not to smile.

“Come on,” he grinned eagerly. “I’m your brother. Your
only
brother. You can tell me. Yes or no?”

I shook my head and took another sip of beer before putting the glass back down on the table. “Not kissing and telling.”

“Ah, so there’s been kissing! Way to go, little bro!”

I grinned back at him. “You’re acting like a two-year-old again.”

“Am not!”

I shook my head, refusing to be drawn – partly because it was fun to watch him suffer. It was rare that I had any secrets from Vinnie. Partly because I just wasn’t sure he’d get it. His courtship, if you could even call it that, with Jas, was a long, drawn-out affair. They were one of those ‘on-again, off-again’ couples for a long time, until they settled into each other. He was a confirmed bachelor, and she was headstrong. She made him fight for her, which I completely understood, knowing him as I did.

Partly because I wasn’t sure how to explain it in such a way that he would understand – I wasn’t even sure I understood it myself, yet. I only knew that I felt the need to coddle my relationship with Maia, protect it from the outside world until it was strong enough to take the scrutiny. I didn’t want anything ruining it while we were still finding our feet.

“Whatever,” he said, taking a swig of beer and feigning indifference. “I’ll get it out of you eventually. You were always shit at keeping secrets.”