Page 23 of The Almost Bride

The morning air carried a dull heat, hinting at the warmth that was to come, as Mia and Luna sat together outside the coffee shop. Tourists were only just beginning to get up, so the high street wasn’t busy. And the scent of fresh bread from the bakery lingered.

“I can’t believe it’s going to be another beautiful day,”

Mia said, picking up her coffee. “That’s like four weeks in a row now.”

“That’s global warming for you,”

Luna said. “But I’ll admit that living in England is a lot more tempting when there’s weather like this.”

A vase with a single daisy in it sat on the table between them, an almost ironic touch given how delicate their new relationship felt.

Mia reached across the table, grinning as she stole a bite of Luna’s muffin. “Mmmm. I think this is better than mine,” she said.

Luna rolled her eyes but smirked. “You could just have ordered one of your own instead of pilfering mine.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

There was an easy warmth between them now, a growing comfort even in the nervous energy that they shared. They were at the beginning of something, figuring out what they were, if they were going to be anything at all. But for the moment, it felt right. Natural.

Even as doubt flickered at the edges of Mia’s mind, she pushed it away. She’d spent forever doing what was expected. Sitting here, laughing with Luna over stolen bites of breakfast, finally felt like something she had chosen for herself.

But was it real? Could it last? That little voice in the back of her head was still there. Perhaps she just had to learn to ignore it. She shook the thoughts away and focused on the way Luna’s fingers brushed against hers when she reached for her coffee again. For now, that was enough.

“Don’t you have flowers to sell?”

she teased Luna.

“They practically sell themselves,”

Luna retorted.

“Mmm, but there should probably be someone in the shop to collect the money, don’t you think? Flowers don’t have thumbs, they’d probably find it hard to open the cash drawer.”

Luna pretended to consider this. Then she sighed. “I suppose you’re right. Stupid flowers.”

But she was smiling. “I’d better be going then.”

“Me too, I’ve got about a million beds to change and Rachel won’t be happy if they’re not done before lunch.”

Luna stood up and leaned over, dropping a soft kiss on Mia’s forehead. The kind of kiss that scared Mia because she loved it so much, but was afraid to get used to it in case all this was a fleeting phase.

“See you later,”

Luna said, and went off to work.

Despite what she’d said, Mia knew that she still had a little time before most of the guests were out of the hotel, so she didn’t hurry back up the hill. She took her time and was almost at the hotel when her phone began to buzz in her pocket.

She’d barely begun to process how good, how real, her breakfast with Luna had felt, and was distracted as she pulled her phone out of her pocket.

Mikey.

Her stomach tightened as she hesitated, staring at the screen. But she’d put this off for longer than she’d intended, and she felt guilty. Against her better judgment, she answered.

“Mia.”

His voice was so smooth and familiar. A voice she once thought would wake her up every morning for the rest of her life.

“Mikey.”

She took a deep breath of clean morning air. “You’ve been calling. I’m sorry. I’ve been a little busy. It was rude of me not to phone back.”

“I’ve been thinking a lot,”

Mikey said, going on like a bulldozer, ignoring what she’d just said. “I’ve been thinking and I want you to know… I want you to know that I’m willing to forgive you.”

Her grip on the phone tightened because she almost dropped it. “Forgive me?”

“Yeah,”

he said. There was the sound of a deep breath. “I get it. I really do. You got scared, had some sort of… I don’t know, some sort of crisis. And now you’re off with Luna, doing whatever you need to do to get this out of your system. I get it. But Mia, I know you. This isn’t you.”

She stopped walking, leaned against the wall of the hotel, legs shaking.

“We can fix this,”

Mikey continued. “Come home and we’ll start over. Just you and me. Like it was supposed to be.”

Like it was all supposed to be. A life planned out. A life already decided, without doubt, without fear. Her heart pounded. He was talking as if their aborted wedding had just been a simple inconvenience, as if all she’d done was wander off for a moment and now he was here to guide her back. She’d expected anger, resentment. But his confidence was worse.

She swallowed. “I… I don’t know, Mikey.”

He said he knew her. Maybe he did. She certainly didn’t know herself. Not anymore.

“Think about it,”

he said gently. “Just think about it.”

And then he hung up, and she was left leaning against the cool brick wall with a storm in her stomach.

She hadn’t said no. And that terrified her.

Doubt gnawed at her. Not because she wanted to go back to Mikey, she honestly didn’t. Or she didn’t think that she did.

But because part of her wondered if he was right.

Had she only fallen into this whirlwind with Luna because she was running? Because she was trying to prove something to herself?

With Mikey, life had been predictable. Safe. A carefully constructed future laid out in neat, perfect steps. She knew what to do and there was comfort in that.

With Luna, everything was uncertain. It was exhilarating for sure, but also frightening.

She rubbed her face with her hands. She had beds to change. And then… and then she had to tell Luna about the call. She couldn’t keep it from her, that wouldn’t be fair. Instinctively, she knew that if she and Luna were to have anything at all, she had to be honest.

Maybe if she’d been honest with Mikey about what she wanted, things might have turned out differently.

***

Deep in the now familiar smells of fresh blooms and damp earth, Luna was at a workbench putting together an arrangement when the bell above the door jingled. She’d given up leaving the door open because tourists kept taking her by surprise.

She turned, her smile already wide. But it widened even further when she saw who had come in.

“Mia,”

she said, heart filling up. “What a surprise.”

And then she saw the look on Mia’s face. “What? What is it? What’s wrong?”

Mia hesitated, shifting from foot to foot. “Um, I have to tell you. I…”

She sighed. “Mikey called.”

Luna stilled, fingers tightening around the stem of the flower she was holding. “Oh?”

Mia looked down at the ground for a second before looking back up, cheeks pink. “He said he wants to fix things. He thinks this is all a phase or something. He says that he understands why I left, and that he’s willing to forgive me.”

She was trying to scoff, but her voice sounded thin and uncertain.

“I see,”

Luna said, brain trying to catch up with this change in circumstances. She closed her eyes, took a breath, and opened them again. “And what did you say?”

“I didn’t say yes or no,”

Mia said. She clenched her hands in front of her, knuckles turning white. “I just… I don’t know.”

Luna’s chest tightened. “So you’re considering it?”

“I don’t know what I’m considering,”

Mia said, voice getting higher now. “I just… I needed to tell you. Needed to be honest.”

Luna nodded slowly, wanting to be sympathetic, but a sharp edge of insecurity crept into her voice when she said, “Right.”

She wanted to believe Mia was just as confused as she claimed. But a dark voice in the back of her mind was whispering that she’d seen this before. People leaving. Herself leaving. People choosing something easier, safer.

She was no fool. She knew that she wasn’t the kind of person that people stayed for. Hell, she wasn’t even the kind of person that stayed for herself.

“Luna?”

Mia said. “Say something. Please.”

Luna forced a smirk, masking the hurt clawing at her chest. “Well, it makes sense, doesn’t it? You and Mikey have a history, stability. You’re a good girl, Mia, a smart and intelligent and proper girl. And I’m…”

She shook her head. “I’m temporary. Even to myself.”

Mia’s expression crumpled. “That’s not fair.”

“Isn’t it?”

Luna bit her lip, forcing herself to go on with this, forcing herself not to show how much she was hurting. “If you want to go back to him, just say it. Be honest, like you said.”

Mia exhaled sharply. “I never said I wanted that.”

“But you didn’t say you didn’t want it either,”

Luna pointed out.

Mia stepped forward, as if she could bridge the sudden distance between them. “Luna, I don’t want to lose this. I don’t want to lose you.”

Luna’s heart clenched, but she could already feel herself shutting down. Protecting herself. “Okay,”

was all she said.

For a while, they stood there. But neither of them knew how to fix what had fractured between them in a matter of minutes. There was no easy resolution here.

Luna, feeling herself unsteady and vulnerable, was already beginning to convince herself that she knew how this story would end, was already trying to protect herself from the hurt she just knew was coming her way.

“I’m not running back to Mikey,”

Mia said quietly.

“But you’re not not running back to Mikey.”

“I don’t understand what I’m feeling. I don’t understand what I’ve done,”

said Mia. “It’s all… I just don’t understand myself.”

Which was as much of an explanation as Luna was about to get. She closed her eyes and nodded. “Alright. You need time.”

“It’s why I’m here,” Mia said.

Luna blew out a breath. “Right. Okay.”

She was trying to silence the doubts, but didn’t know if she truly could. But she could pretend. At least for now. “Okay.”

“I have to go back to the hotel,”

Mia said, taking a step backward.

“Okay,”

Luna said again.

Mia gave her a long look, then turned sadly and left. Luna gripped the counter, trying to tell herself that she didn’t care. But it was a lie.