Page 26

Late afternoon sun filtered through the flower shop windows, casting a warm, golden light over the displays of fresh-cut flowers. The air smelled of roses and flowers that Mia couldn’t even name, but she was content watching Luna arranging bouquets.

“Don’t you have a job to do?”

Luna teased.

“I did the morning shift, so I’m all done,”

said Mia. “I only came into town to get a latte from Helen.”

“And then my siren charms ensnared you?”

Luna asked, grinning.

“Something like that,”

said Mia, somehow reluctant to admit that it was exactly that. That she wanted to see Luna, just be in her presence, that she felt better when Luna was around.

“Crap, I need some baby’s breath, hold on, it’s in the back.”

Luna raised an eyebrow at her. “Don’t go stealing the cash register while I’m gone.”

“I’ll try not to,” said Mia.

The shop was so peaceful and quiet, it was like a little oasis from the heat and bustle outside. Mia found her thoughts drifting. Thinking about Mikey, about his proposal, thinking about Luna, and all the choices she still hadn’t made.

She started slightly when Luna reappeared, leaning against the counter beside her, arms crossed and a smirk playing on her lips.

“So,”

Luna began casually, though there was a sharpness in her eyes. “How do you feel about dinner with my grandmother tonight?”

Mia blinked, pausing for a moment. “Dinner? Like… an actual, real dinner?”

“That’s usually what dinner means,”

Luna said, but there was an edge of something else in her voice, something more serious. “I thought it was about time that you met the infamous Evelyn Truman.”

Mia’s stomach flipped. This was… unexpected. Meeting someone’s family, that was the kind of thing that meant something. Wasn’t it? Unless… She took a breath. They were still fake dating. At least, sort of. In the middle of something that might be real dating. She wasn’t sure. Another breath. Obviously, Luna’s grandmother would need to meet her. Obviously.

Was that what this was? Just a part of their arrangement? Or did this mean something to Luna?

She thought about it carefully and decided that whatever the reason, the idea of meeting the woman who held so much sway over Luna’s life was intriguing.

“Okay,”

she said slowly, trying to sound more confident than she felt. “I can handle that.”

Luna’s grin widened. “Guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”

IT WAS ONLY as she was turning into the neat front garden, the sky turning a dusky violet, that Mia thought she should have brought something with her.

It wasn’t like her to forget the pleasantries of life, the politenesses. It was a sign of how much this dinner unnerved her, mostly because she still hadn’t decided whether this was real or not. She still hadn’t decided what Luna was thinking, how she was feeling. And now it was too late.

She looked up at the house. It was larger than she’d expected, beautiful, clean, pristine even, a little too perfect. The kind of house that looked like it would demand perfection from the people inside it, too. The kind of house that Luna seemed far too wild to belong to.

She took a deep breath, rolled her shoulders, and approached the front door. “It’s just dinner,”

she said out loud. Because it was just dinner. It wasn’t as momentous an occasion as her mind seemed to want to make it.

What had meeting Mikey’s family for the first time been like? She could barely remember. She’d been so young.

She was about to knock when she noticed that the front door was slightly ajar.

She frowned down at the door handle. It seemed… careless. Perhaps something was wrong? On the other hand, it also seemed… very Luna. Of course Luna would leave the front door open knowing that she was coming, without a thought of what could happen in the worst-case scenario.

Mia hesitated before pushing the door open a little further and stepping cautiously inside. “Hello?”

she called out softly, but there was no immediate answer.

Then, voices.

She took another step forward, the murmur of conversation growing clearer, unsure whether she was supposed to continue or not. But… they were expecting her. She took a breath and another step down the hall.

She hadn’t intended to eavesdrop, but she heard Luna’s voice and it made her pause. She didn’t hear the words exactly, there was something in her tone, though.

She took a breath and a step.

“You’ve done well, Luna,”

said a smooth, measured voice that Mia assumed belonged to Luna’s grandmother. “People say that you’ve changed, I wasn’t leading you on when I said I was impressed."

Luna made a noise that sounded like scoffing, but there was a weariness beneath it. “This whole ‘responsible girlfriend’ act is exhausting, you were the one that said I needed to be a grown-up to get my inheritance.”

Mia stopped breathing.

Her hands tightened into fists, her heartbeat slammed into her ribs. What?

The very air seemed to get heavier, denser, pressing against her as she tried to understand what she’d just heard.

Her mind spiraled. The tandem-riding, the talking, the touching, the way Luna looked at her, the laughter. Was it all just a performance? All just a part of the game? A way to make it all seem real to everyone else? Surely not?

She wasn’t sure she could believe that. She was sure that she couldn’t stay in this house a moment longer, though.

She took a step back and then another, retreating back to the door before she could hear any more.

***

“Honestly, though,”

Luna said, looking down at her seated grandmother. “Being with Mia… it’s different.”

“Different?”

asked her grandmother, eyes sharp.

Luna took a deep breath and closed her eyes and, for once in her life, told the truth. Without joking, without being sarcastic. The words spilled from her, completely unplanned. “I don’t think the money matters. I’d give it up in a second if it meant I could keep Mia.”

Her eyes opened, and she saw that her grandmother was smiling at her. A smile that she didn’t think she’d seen before. Warm. Happy. Sympathetic even.

Luna cleared her throat, embarrassed that she’d shared so much. “And she really should be here by now, she’s not usually late. I wonder what’s happened?”

“Give her half an hour,”

advised her grandmother. “Then you can go looking for her. I’m sure she’ll turn up.”

***

Mia barely registered the trip back to the hotel. She walked, then she jogged, then she practically ran to get back to the safety of her room. Her vision was blurring at the edges, her thoughts were racing in jagged, painful circles.

What had she just heard? What had she just done? She should never have gone through the door, she should have rung the bell, she should have waited. She was an idiot, a complete idiot.

So what? Said a voice in her head. So what? This was an arrangement, after all, wasn’t it? She shouldn’t have let herself get in so deep. She shouldn’t have let herself feel. And, after all, didn’t she deserve this? Hadn’t she left someone at the altar, left someone hurting and destroyed? Maybe this was cosmic karma.

Rachel was nowhere to be seen, a small blessing, Mia thought, as she raced up the stairs to her room. Her breathing was shaky, her hands were unsteady as she unlocked her door, went in, and then slammed it behind her.

It was all too much.

She collapsed onto the edge of the bed, wrapping her arms around herself as though that might help her hold herself together. She shouldn’t be this upset. This wasn’t real.

But… it had felt real.

The way Luna had made her laugh, the way Luna challenged her, the way Luna made her feel like she could be someone else, someone freer and braver. She’d started to believe. To believe Luna, to believe in herself, to believe in them.

Which was stupid. So stupid.

How could she have been so stupid?

A choked sob slipped from her lips and she pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes, willing herself to stop. But she couldn’t. The tears came, silent and steady, until they engulfed her and she couldn’t control them any longer.

She didn’t want this to mean so much.

And yet, it did.

AFTER A WHILE, the tears stopped. She was all out, there was nothing more to give. Mia breathed hot into her pillow. The room was quiet except for the sound of her own breathing, uneven and shallow. Her eyes felt puffy and itchy, her chest was heavy with the weight of it all.

Luna had never promised her anything, she’d realized. Just as she’d never promised Luna anything. At least nothing more than the arrangement that they’d made.

All of this had to be a sign. A sign that she needed to stop living this stupid fantasy life and start thinking about what was real. About what she’d run from. A sign that she needed to start being an adult again.

The phone on the nightstand buzzed.

Mia sniffed and picked it up, glancing at the screen, heart hoping that it was Luna. Then her heart stuttered as she saw the name flashing across the screen.

Mikey.

Mikey who was safe and familiar and steady. Mikey who was never wild or spontaneous. Mikey who wouldn’t take her on a tandem bike unless they’d had lessons first and were wearing helmets. Mikey, the man she’d left standing at the altar in front of everyone, and who’d forgiven her, regardless.

Her fingers hovered over the screen. Did she answer? Did she want to?

Maybe she just wanted to hear a familiar voice, someone who understood her, someone who had once made her believe in a different kind of love.

Or maybe she just wanted to forget about Luna. About what she’d heard. About the stupid mistakes she’d made and just kept on making.

She stared at her phone as it rang, biting her lip, her heart pounding, her decision hanging in the balance.