Page 10

Mia adjusted her sundress one more time, sliding the strap back up her shoulder. Then she pulled on a light blazer that she’d found in the hotel’s lost property box, the better to protect her shoulders from the evening sun.

And then she wondered why she was bothering. This wasn’t important, she told herself. It wasn’t like it was a real date or anything. But still, she lingered nervously behind the reception desk like she was waiting for her first beau to come.

Why she’d entered into this agreement was beyond her. It was crazy, idiotic even. And why had she trusted Luna, of all people? She wondered if there was any chance at all of her surviving this fake date without turning into a puddle of embarrassment. She tugged at her collar to adjust it and the big front door of the hotel swung open.

Luna strolled in with effortless confidence, wearing dark jeans and a flowing white shirt, silver rings glinting on her fingers, curls as messy as ever. Her grin, bright and wicked, lit up the dim lobby. She spotted Mia behind the desk and raised an eyebrow. “Why do you look like you’re about to give me a timeshare presentation?”

Mia looked down at the dress and blazer. “Um, this is a very appropriate outfit, I’ll have you know.”

“For what?”

asked Luna. “Tonight, you’re dating me, not leading a staff meeting.”

She pulled a single daisy from behind her back with a dramatic flourish. “Here. For you.”

Mia blinked. “Um, where did that come from?”

“Magic,”

shrugged Luna, wiggling her eyebrows. “But also from Jan’s flower cart, I snagged it on my way out. Shall we?”

She put the daisy on the desk and gestured toward the door.

But before Mia could answer, a voice called out from the back room. “Hold on just one minute there.”

Rachel appeared with a jangling of bracelets and a swish of skirt, her eagle eyes looking for gossip, positively sparkling with curiosity.

“Well, well,”

she said. “What do we have here? Is this what is looks like?”

Luna beamed and took a step toward Mia, who had extricated herself from behind the desk, and slid an arm around her waist. “Surprise!”

“Surprise indeed,”

Rachel said. “In fact, this is downright shocking. Are you two…? I mean, is this…?”

Mia took a breath. “Mmm, yes, it is. A date, I mean.”

Rachel gave her a look.

Mia shrugged helplessly. “I need to figure some things out.”

“That you do, love,”

said Rachel. She sucked on her teeth for a second. “Is this serious?”

Mia felt heat crawl up her neck. “Um…”

“Very serious,”

Luna said, cutting her off smoothly. She squeezed Mia’s side playfully. “Bit of a whirlwind romance, actually, wasn’t it, my love?”

Mia swallowed. “Whirlwind is… one way to describe it.”

Rachel’s eyes narrowed. “Mmmm. I see. Well, I’ll be watching the two of you.”

She gave Mia a curious look, and then turned and pointed a finger at Luna. “And you’d better treat her right, or you’ll be answering to me.”

“I don’t doubt it,”

said Luna solemnly. She placed a hand over her heart. “I swear I’ll do the right thing.”

Mia rolled her eyes. “We’ll be getting out of your hair,” she said.

“Have fun,”

said Rachel, still watching Mia carefully. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“Which rules out what exactly?”

asked Luna pertly. She offered her arm to Mia. “Lead the way, darling.”

“I don’t think she bought that at all,”

Mia muttered as they went out into the street.

“She’s a tough nut to crack,”

Luna said. “I always wondered if she might be a bit psychic.”

“Because of course you believe in that sort of nonsense,”

sighed Mia.

“She’ll warm to the idea,”

Luna said confidently. “And on the bright side, if we can convince Rachel, then we can convince anyone. She’s like the boss level. Come on, let’s go into town for a romantic evening walk. We’ll convince everyone there easily, it’ll be a confidence boost. Plus, gossip will get back to Rachel and then she’ll settle down.”

The walk into town was blessedly quiet at first. The sun was starting to set, painting the sky in shades of pink and orange. Mia stole a glance at Luna as they walked side by side, her heart once again mysteriously thudding in her chest.

This situation was patently ridiculous. But despite that ridiculousness, there was something about Luna’s easy confidence that felt… nice. Uncomplicated. Unexpected. There was something calming about being with her, which was odd, given that she was obviously spontaneous and possibly also slightly deranged.

But when they got onto the high street, things quickly got far less quiet. Luna reached out and took Mia’s hand, squeezing it a little, so that Mia felt a shiver of warmth go up her arm.

Helen was rearranging patio chairs in front of the coffee shop when she spotted them. She gasped, wiped her hands on her apron, and hurried over, eyes wide with delight.

“Here we go,”

whispered Luna.

“Oh heavens,”

said Helen. “You two? Together? Since when?”

Luna grinned. “Since right now. It’s, um, new.”

“I see,”

said Helen with a knowing look. “Makes sense. I’ve got an eye for these things. I’d definitely have seen something brewing.”

“We’ve been keeping things low-key,”

said Mia, thinking that she should add something helpful to the conversation. Her face started to grow warm.

Helen cackled, her cat-eye glasses sliding down her nose a little. “Low-key? In Little Chipping? Good luck with that. Everyone in town will know by breakfast time.”

Luna turned her head and muttered, “Hopefully,”

so that only Mia could hear it.

Helen took a step back and regarded them both. “You know, you make a cute couple. You’d better take life a bit more seriously if you want to keep a hold of this one, Luna. Look after her.”

“Oh, I plan to,”

said Luna, giving Mia a lascivious wink.

Mia scowled at her.

“Ooo, a customer,”

Helen said, looking almost disappointed. “I’d better go. Have a nice evening.”

“Easy,”

Luna said as they moved off down the street. “Told you this would be easy. Uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh what?”

Mia asked.

Luna grimaced but didn’t have time to say anything else as a plump, red-haired woman bustled over, a bunch of peonies in one hand and a watering can in the other. “Luna?”

Luna smiled a little sickly, Mia thought. “Hi. Um, Mia, this is my boss at the flower shop, Jan. And Jan, this is Mia. My girlfriend.”

Mia felt a shiver at the word. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Well, don’t the two of you look cozy,”

said Jan, shooting a look at Luna. “I can’t believe you didn’t mention anything.”

Luna blew out a breath. “You know how it is. I didn’t want to jinx anything.”

“And there’s me wittering on about settling down and getting a girlfriend,” said Jan.

“Yeah, but I hadn’t even asked Mia out then,”

protested Luna. “So, you know, it was a bit awkward.”

“The two of you look lovely together, though,”

Jan said with a grin. “And, well, I suppose opposites attract, don’t they?”

She looked from Mia’s blonde hair to Luna’s dark curls.

Mia was about to thank her when Luna dramatically swooped in and dipped her down. “Indeed they do,”

she said gruffly, her face a bare inch from Mia’s.

Mia yelped, gripping Luna’s shoulders to avoid falling over. “Put me down,”

she hissed.

“Selling it,”

Luna whispered.

“You’re going to break my back.”

“Never!”

They straightened up just as Miguel and Jason emerged from the bakery, their jeans sprinkled with flour. The two men exchanged knowing glances.

“Well, well,”

said Miguel, folding his arms. “What’s all this then?”

“A love story in the making?”

smirked Jason.

“Something like that,”

said Luna airily. “We were just out for a romantic stroll.”

“And I’m not interfering anymore,”

said Jan, holding up her watering can. “I’m back to watering my flowers.”

She wandered away.

“Romantic, huh?”

said Miguel, eyeing them both suspiciously.

Jason raised an eyebrow. “If this is romance, there’s a lot of struggling and whispering going on.”

“We’re passionate,”

said Luna. “It’s our thing.”

“Your thing. Mmm,”

said Miguel.

Mia gave them both a pained smile and dragged Luna away, trying desperately to maintain some level of dignity. “This is like the most horrendous job interview ever,”

she said to Luna.

“We could have gone for a coffee,”

Luna admitted. “But I thought it might be best to get everything over with at once. You know, to ‘debut’ our relationship. It’ll get the gossipers gossiping faster.”

Mia groaned, but allowed Luna to take her arm again and continue walking.

Their next encounter of the evening came in the form of Mrs. Hargrove. She was wearing a wide-brimmed hat against the evening sun, and scowled suspiciously the moment she caught sight of Luna.

“Mrs. Hargrove,”

Luna said under her breath. “She plays bridge with my grandmother, so make this a good one, alright?”

Mia beamed up her best smile.

“Luna Truman,”

sniffed Mrs. Hargrove. “I’d heard you were back. Showing up like a bad penny. What are you up to now?”

“Just taking a walk with my girlfriend,”

said Luna smoothly, draping her arm around Mia’s shoulders. “Have you met Mia?”

Mrs. Hargrove narrowed her eyes and sniffed again. “Mmm. We’ll see how long this lasts, shall we?”

Mia bit back a laugh as Luna dragged her away.

Finally, they reached the bookshop, where a younger man with shaggy hair and a lazy smile was leaning against the doorframe, enjoying the last rays of the sun. “Ladies,”

he drawled.

“Sam,”

grinned Luna. “I had no idea you’d taken over the bookshop.”

“A couple of years back now,”

he said. He turned to Mia. “And you must be a very patient woman.”

“Why’s that?”

asked Mia, already falling for Sam’s easy charm.

“Because dating Luna is like wrestling a tornado. Exhilarating, but exhausting.”

“I’m a delight!”

protested Luna.

Sam grinned at Mia. “A delight is one way to put it. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

He gave her a wink and disappeared back into the shop.

Luna pulled them both over to the bench where she’d been eating lunch earlier. Mia let out a long breath and sat down. “That was exhausting.”

“You’re welcome,”

Luna said, flopping down beside her. “I think we sold it pretty well.”

Mia rubbed at her temples. “I feel like I just survived a circus.”

“A small price to pay for a convincing romance,”

said Luna. “And come on, it wasn’t all bad.”

“I liked the part where everyone was deadly suspicious of the fact that you, of all people, could hold down a relationship,”

Mia said tartly.

Luna snorted. “See, it wasn’t all terrible. That’s progress.”

Mia looked at Luna. Really looked at her. And for the first time since this whole charade started, she felt her stomach relaxing and her shoulders dropping. Her lips curved into a smile. “You’re impossible.”

“And you’re stuck with me,”

grinned Luna. “At least for now.”