Page 12 of The Almost Bride

Mia was standing at the reception desk, handing a room key over to a very nice couple who were enquiring about restaurants in the area, when the phone rang.

“If you head out of the door and turn right, you’ll go straight into town and have your pick of restaurants,”

she said with a smile. “Sorry, I have to answer this.”

The couple took their key and went off up the stairs to leave their luggage, and Mia picked up the phone.

“Little Chipping Hotel, how can I help you?”

Had it really only been two weeks? Those words rolled off her tongue like she’d been born here. Like she’d been doing this all her life. Mia marveled at just how fast she’d gotten used to being in town.

“Mia?”

Her hands started to tremble. That was the problem with being here. Between the hotel and Luna and being in such a quaint, safe little town, it was very easy to forget that there was a world outside Little Chipping. A world that was now pushing its nose into her life. “Mikey,”

she said, voice wavering.

“Look, I’m coming to town tomorrow.”

His tone was strained, but his voice was patient. “We need to talk.”

“Mikey…”

She sighed and rubbed her face with her hands. “Mikey, I don’t think—”

“No,”

he interrupted firmly. “You owe me this, Mia. You owe me an explanation. Closure. Whatever you want to call it. You literally left me standing at the altar.”

As though she could forget. “Tomorrow is—”

“Tomorrow is when I’m coming,”

he interrupted again. “I should be there early afternoon, and I expect you to make time for this. To make time for me. It’s important.”

She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes closed. “Okay,”

she said, because what else could she say? He’d at least had the decency to call again and tell her when he’d be there. And he was right. She owed him this. She just didn’t know what she was going to say.

Her chest felt heavy again, in a way that it hadn’t felt for days now. She swallowed, tried to catch her breath, and then did the only thing she could think of. She picked up the phone and rang the florist’s.

“Hi, Jan, is Luna there?”

she asked, eyes still closed as she drummed her fingers on the wooden desk in front of her.

“Hey, you,”

Luna’s cheerful voice came over the line. “What’s up?”

“Mikey just called,”

Mia blurted out, the words sounding even worse out loud than they had in her head. “He wants to talk.”

“Ah.”

“Right. Ah.”

There was the sound of a sigh. “That sounds like a lot.”

Luna’s voice was gentle. “Want me to come over? I’m about done here.”

Suddenly, Mia couldn’t think of anything she wanted more. “Are you sure?”

she asked.

“I’ll be there in ten,”

was all Luna said before hanging up.

***

Rachel was arranging a vase of fresh daisies on the reception desk when Luna strolled into the hotel. The older woman straightened up when she saw Luna. “These flowers are fresh as, well, fresh as a daisy, I suppose. So you don’t need to be delivering any new ones right now.”

“Just as well I’m not delivering flowers. I’m here to see Mia,”

Luna said, flashing her signature grin, though she could feel it wavering a little under Rachel’s scrutiny.

Rachel closed one eye and studied Luna with the other. “I didn’t realize that you and Mia were so… close.”

“Very close,”

said Luna airily. “Practically inseparable.”

Rachel arched an eyebrow, sharp eyes never leaving Luna’s. “Funny,”

she said, her tone light but pointed at the same time. “I don’t recall Mia ever saying that she was looking for someone else. Not after she literally just walked out on a wedding.”

Luna leaned forward, resting her elbows on the counter. “Well, you know how it is with whirlwind romances,”

she said with an exaggerated air of nonchalance. “One day, you’re strangers, and the next, you’re madly in love.”

Rachel laughed. “Madly in love, huh?”

She sounded skeptical.

“A little protective of your new employee, are you?”

Luna asked innocently.

“She needs someone to protect her,”

retorted Rachel.

“Not from me,”

Luna said. “As I said. Madly in love. Can’t keep our hands off each other.”

Rachel crossed her arms, tapping a finger against her elbow as she studied Luna. “Mmm. You’ll have to forgive me if I find that a little hard to believe.”

Luna put one hand over her heart, feigning offense. “You wound me! Why would I lie about something as sacred as love?”

“Because you’re you, Luna,”

chuckled Rachel. “You’ve always been a wild card, always danced to the beat of your own drum. But Mia… Mia’s been through a lot. I just don’t want to see her get hurt again.”

Luna’s grin faltered a little, and she straightened up, expression softening. “I get it. You’re looking out for her. That’s good. She deserves people like you in her corner.”

“So you won’t take it personally that I’ll be keeping an eye on you, then?”

Rachel said.

Luna smirked. “Feel free. But I promise you, Mia’s in safe hands.”

Rachel’s lips twitched, as if she was fighting back a smile. “We’ll see about that.”

She gestured toward the stairs. “Go on then, your beloved is waiting. Turn right at the top of the stairs and it’s the room at the end of the hall.”

“Thank you.”

Luna gave a deep, dramatic bow, and set off up the stairs.

But as she went up, the conversation she’d just had preyed on her mind. Rachel wasn’t convinced she and Mia were dating. If they couldn’t convince her, could they convince Mikey? Could they convince her grandmother?

A wild card. It wasn’t the first time someone had called her that. But Luna found that hearing it in the context of Mia stung more than she might have expected.

***

“Come in,”

Mia said, fully expecting Rachel to come through the door. When she saw Luna, she dropped the shirt she’d been folding. “That was fast. I didn’t expect you here so soon, else I’d have been downstairs to meet you.”

“It’s alright,”

shrugged Luna. “It’s probably better that I come up here. We can have some privacy, and maybe it’ll finally convince Rachel that we’re a couple.”

“She’s still not buying it?”

Mia asked.

“Not completely,”

Luna said with a sigh. She flopped onto the bed. “Like I said, though, she’s a tough nut. She’ll get there. And from what you said, she’d not the immediate problem.”

Mia sat down in the armchair by the empty fireplace. “I’m not sure this is going to work.”

“It will work,”

Luna said.

“He’s coming tomorrow afternoon,” said Mia.

“And he’s going to take one look at us, see how madly in love we are, and realize that he doesn’t stand a chance of reversing your decision. He’ll leave, and you’ll have the space you need to figure things out.”

Mia gave her a doubtful look. “You make it sound simple.”

“Because it is,”

Luna said, giving her a playful wink. “Trust me. We’ve got this.”

Mia managed a small smile. “I hope so. I just… I don’t want to hurt him any more than he’s already been hurt. I’m not an idiot. I humiliated him. It was a terrible thing to do. I acted on impulse. I just hope that when he sees the two of us together, it’s… more understandable, maybe.”

“I suppose finding out your future wife is in love with another woman is slightly better than finding out she just didn’t want to marry you,”

said Luna.

“Right?”

Mia said, before realizing that maybe Luna was joking.

“Ignore me,”

said Luna. “What would I know about anything like that?”

She looked around the room. “No personal effects, huh?”

“Like what?”

asked Mia. “I literally walked in here wearing a wedding dress, remember?”

She thought about the car and again thought that she’d have to move it.

“Right,”

said Luna. She cocked her head and looked at Mia in a way that made Mia feel strangely warm. “Do your parents know where you are?”

“If Mikey’s told them,”

Mia said. “Otherwise, no. They know I’m safe.”

“That’s good. It’s good that you contacted them.”

Luna looked down at the comforter on the bed and picked a piece of lint off it. Mia felt a shift in the mood, felt Luna’s demeanor changing. It took her a second to figure out why. “You must miss her,”

she said, when she finally worked out what must be going on.

“My mum?”

Luna said, looking up. She hesitated, then nodded. “It sounds strange. I was so small when…”

There was a small hiccup of breath. “When she died. But I don’t remember nothing. I remember how warm she was. I remember…”

She looked off out of the window. “I remember how safe she made me feel.”

Mia watched her, surprised by the vulnerability in her voice. Luna was usually so carefree, so full of bravado. It was easy to assume that that was all she was, that there was nothing more under the surface. “I’m sorry you lost her.”

“MS,”

Luna said, though Mia hadn’t asked. “It wasn’t exactly fast. But I suppose it could have been worse. Or maybe… maybe she just never let me see how bad it really was.”

Mia frowned. She had a faint suspicion that some kinds of MS could be genetic. Was that why Luna was the way she was? There was no point planning on a future if you might not have one. But she couldn’t bring herself to ask. “For what it’s worth, I think she’d be proud of you,”

Mia said, reaching out to put her hand on Luna’s.

“You do?”

Luna’s eyes sparked in surprise.

“Who wouldn’t be?”

Mia laughed. “You’re beautiful and brave and smart. Any parent would be proud of such a fierce daughter.”

Luna smiled a crooked smile, different from her usual wide, confident grin. “I wish my grandmother agreed with you,”

she said. She raised one eyebrow. “Do you really think all those things about me?”

Mia pulled her hand away. “Now you’re just angling for a compliment.”

Luna tugged her hand back. “You’re a pretty good fake girlfriend, you know?”

Mia laughed. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

And for the first time, Mia thought that she might not be carrying her burdens alone. And she was deeply, quietly grateful.