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“That seems… unfair,”

Jan said. She was braiding wire around flower stems to make a wreath.

“I’m not sure fairness comes into it,”

said Luna, munching on a biscuit. “I mean, the money’s there. It’s not stolen or anything. I’m just not allowed to spend it.”

“Until you prove that you’re responsible,” Jan said.

“Right. Except, you know, I am responsible. I mean, I managed to travel my way around the world without getting into any trouble. I can book tickets, plan tours, all that kind of stuff. I was fully responsible for myself for seven years. I don’t think grandmother really gives me credit for that.”

Jan squinted at her. “I think she might be looking for a different kind of responsibility.”

She picked up another flower. “And given that your inheritance is behind lock and key, how did you afford to go off in the first place?”

“There was money put aside for university,”

Luna said airily, picking up another biscuit.

“But you didn’t go to uni… Ah, I’m beginning to see the problem.”

Luna sighed. “I got into university, but it just wasn’t me. I wanted the university of life.”

“Trite.”

“But true. I wanted more than to be stuck in a classroom. I wanted to learn from experience.”

“So you took the money that had been set aside for education and used it to go traveling.”

Luna blew out a breath. “Yeah, alright, I didn’t leave in the best way. I can see that now. I was young and eager to go and I should have been more honest about my intentions.”

“Which sort of explains why your grandmother might be slightly reluctant to sign money over to you now,”

Jan said, holding up the finished wreath.

“Since when did you get so wise?”

Luna scowled.

“I’m not wise, just sensible, and there’s nothing wrong with being a bit sensible.”

“Other than that it’s boring.”

“Boring makes the world go ‘round. It pays bills and makes laws and keeps people safe and all kinds of other things, so that people like you can go around being spontaneous without fear for their lives,”

Jan said, wrapping up the thin silver wire she’d been using.

Luna considered this for a minute, then nodded. “Yeah, that’s fair. Sorry I said you were boring.”

Jan chuckled. “I’ve been called worse. So what are you going to do now then? I don’t think I can pay you enough over a summer for you to afford to disappear again for seven years.”

“I just need enough for a ticket and a bit of starting money,”

Luna said. “I can work on the road, that’s fine. But…”

She sighed.

“But it irks you that your grandmother thinks you can’t do anything?”

asked Jan. “It would irk me.”

“Yeah, yeah, it kind of does. I know I’m not the perfect granddaughter or anything, but I’m not a little kid anymore, either. I’ve grown up and done some amazing things and, well, I suppose I wish my grandmother could see that.”

Jan shrugged. “So maybe you make a bit of an effort to meet her halfway?”

“What do you mean?”

asked Luna curiously.

“Maybe you try a bit harder to show her that you’re responsible over the next few weeks. Give her a reason to take a second look at you, a reason to realize that maybe she’s been misjudging you.”

“That’s easy for you to say,”

said Luna, finally pushing the plate of biscuits away. “You are responsible. What am I supposed to do to impress her?”

“Well, you’ve got a job already,”

Jan said slowly. “You’re getting up early in the morning and being productive. That’s a good start.”

“Not good enough, according to her,”

Luna grumbled.

Jan grinned. “Then there’s only one thing for it. You’ll have to get a girlfriend. Nothing shows maturity and dependability like settling down into a relationship.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding. Around here?”

“Things have changed since you left,”

said Jan. “New people have moved in. There’s loads of tourists to choose from. Or maybe you’ll meet an old face that looks new again. Who knows?”

“And what if I don’t want to settle down with a girlfriend?”

Luna demanded.

Jan laughed. “Then you’ll have to pay someone to pretend, won’t you? Like in the films.”

THE BELL ABOVE the bakery door jingled as Luna stepped into the yeasty warmth. She rubbed a hand across her forehead. It must be thirty degrees outside, and probably closer to forty in here. She made a bee-line for the counter.

“The usual?”

asked Miguel.

“I’ve been here for less than two weeks, is that long enough to have a usual?”

she asked.

“Well, you’ve bought whatever the sandwich special is every working day so far,” he said.

“That’s not a usual. That’s something different every day. That’s what a special means.”

Luna leaned in conspiratorially. “You know, I don’t even read the board outside. I just let you surprise me with whatever the sandwich is when I bite into it.”

Miguel laughed. “Here, it’s already wrapped up and ready to go.”

He handed over a paper bag just as the bakery bell rang again. Luna turned around to see Mia.

“Just the cakes for the hotel, please,”

Mia said to Miguel.

“Jason’s got them in the back. Let me get them for you,”

he said, before disappearing through a door.

“Oh dear,”

Luna said, studying Mia’s expression. “What’s with all the gloom and doom? Did you run over someone’s puppy on the way here?”

“No! Obviously not,”

Mia said. She sighed. “If you must know, my fiancé rang. Ex-fiancé? Ex, I suppose.”

“Oh dear,”

Luna said again.

“He’s coming here.”

“Oh dear,”

said Luna for a third time.

“You can stop saying that.”

Luna shrugged. “Not sure what else to say, to be honest.”

She paused, thinking. “Wait, what’s he coming here for?”

“To see why I left him standing at the altar in front of all our friends and family. Why do you think?”

Mia snapped.

“Yeah, I suppose that would make sense,”

said Luna thoughtfully. “I’d probably want an explanation or two.”

She tilted her head and took in Mia’s flowery sundress, her long tanned legs, her perfectly waved blonde hair. “What are you going to tell him?”

Mia sighed again. “Not a clue. To be honest, I really don’t want him here at all. I need some time to figure things out, a bit of space, you know? I can’t explain things yet, at least not in a way that will satisfy him.”

“This bloke’s not a reasonable one, then?”

“He’s got a name. Mikey. And he is reasonable. I’m just not sure what reason I’m going to give him. I mean, is not being able to breathe a good reason to run away?”

Luna thought about this. “Yes,”

she said. “I think it is, anyway.”

“Not sure that it’s going to convince Mikey, though.”

Mia tapped her fingers on the counter and Luna could see that she was really worried about this. Worried and starting to panic. “I could always propose again?”

Luna said with a grin.

Mia raised an eyebrow. “I thought you only ever proposed once? No second chances.”

Luna laughed. “Yeah, fair point.”

She frowned. “Although, actually.”

“Uh-oh. That ‘actually’ sounds dangerous.”

Mia eyed her warily.

“It could make this whole thing easier,”

said Luna.

“What could? I’m almost afraid to ask.”

Luna wiggled her eyebrows. “I could pretend to be your girlfriend.”

Mia snorted. “What?”

“Think about it,”

Luna said, her grin widening. “If this Mikey sees you with someone else, especially someone as irresistible as me, well, he’ll have to understand, won’t he? There won’t be a need for elaborate explanations. He can’t compete with me, not a woman. He won’t have any lingering hopes. It’s the perfect excuse.”

Mia gave another snort, her cute little nose wrinkling. “You’re out of your mind.”

“Am I though?”

asked Luna, warming to the idea. “Picture it: we stroll into Helen’s hand in hand, gazing into each other’s eyes like a pair of lovebirds. I laugh at all your jokes. You swoon at my impossible-to-miss charms. We’ll put on an Oscar-worthy performance.”

“Please stop,”

Mia groaned, although she was at least smiling now.

“And when he shows up,”

Luna continued with a flourish, really getting into the bit now, “I’ll shoot him a look that says, ‘hands off, punk, she’s mine.’”

Mia was fully laughing now. “Punk?”

The tension that had been hunching her shoulders had lifted. “You’re ridiculous, do you know that?”

“If you mean I’m ridiculously helpful, then yes,”

said Luna, picking up her sandwich. “Come on, you have to admit that it’s a bit tempting?”

“Do you know what tempting actually means?”

Mia asked.

“You’re tempted,”

Luna asserted, hugging her sandwich to her body.

Mia’s smile lingered as she met Luna’s eyes, her amusement tinged with something that Luna thought might be affection. “It’s tempting,”

she admitted. She shook her head. “But it’s also crazy.”

“Crazy is what I do best,”

said Luna airily. “Crazy is me. Crazy is…”

“Crazy is ordering the daily special sandwich without ever checking what it is,”

Miguel said, coming back to the counter with a large cardboard box that he passed to Mia.

“I like surprises,”

shrugged Luna.

“But… aren’t there things you don’t like? Don’t you have any allergies?”

asked Mia.

“Loads,”

Luna said. “Anchovies, eggs, ham, butter. In fact, I’m allergic to bread.”

“She’s kidding,”

Miguel said. “I hope.”

“No, I just spend my life taking anti-allergy pills and hoping for the best,”

said Luna with a grin. She waved her sandwich bag at them both. “Hopefully, this won’t be the one that kills me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,”

said Miguel. “That’s my anchovy, egg, and ham special.”

Luna snorted a laugh and opened the bakery door so that the little bell rang. “I’ll let you know whether I’m dead or not tomorrow,”

she said. She looked over at Mia. “And that offer stands, by the way.”

Then she made her way out into the sunny afternoon to eat her lunch.