Page 9

Mia walked all the way back to the hotel, deposited the cakes in the sunny kitchen, then turned on her heel and walked all the way back to town.

The thing was… The thing was… Luna might have a point.

The longer she thought about it, the less crazy the idea seemed. Actually, that wasn’t precisely true. The longer she thought about it, the crazier the idea seemed, and yet, and yet, it might be just what she needed.

Pretending to date someone else, someone that Mikey knew he couldn’t compete with, might be the gentlest way of letting him down. It might be the best way of getting herself some space so that she could figure out what she needed. There’d be time later to go back with apologies and explanations. For now, she just wanted some time to herself. Some time to work out just what was wrong with her.

One thing was very, very clear to her.

She couldn’t marry Mikey.

She wasn’t entirely sure why or what had happened. She just knew that she couldn’t do it. She knew… She knew that she didn’t love him. Which sounded harsh, but there was no nicer way of making it sound.

And if maybe, just maybe, Luna could help her delay matters until she could find a way to make that sound just a little nicer, well, she’d be a fool not to take her up on it, wouldn’t she?

Which was why she was marching right back into town to find Luna before she had a chance to change her mind. She wasn’t in the most decisive state in the world. If she didn’t do this now, she might waver over it until Mikey actually showed up.

Little Chipping was a stop off on a long countryside walk, Mia had discovered. Which meant that when the weather was as beautiful as it was now, the little town thronged with tourists. So it took a minute to find Luna perched on a bench, feeding the last crusts of her sandwich to the birds.

“There you are,” Mia said.

“Here I am,”

said Luna. She held up the paper from her sandwich. “Ham and pickle,”

she said. “So nothing to worry about if you’re thinking about going for the special.”

“I’m not thinking about that.”

Mia shifted her feet and swallowed. “Actually, I’m thinking about that thing.”

“What thing?”

asked Luna, puzzled.

Mia took a deep breath. “I’m thinking about you and I pretending to date,”

she said clearly.

A cloud descended over Luna’s face. “Jesus, woman, hush your mouth.”

She stood up, grabbed Mia’s arm, and pulled her close. “There’s an alleyway right behind me. Get yourself in there, fast.”

The scent of warm leather swam in her nose and Mia was overtaken by it just enough to start to panic. She’d done something wrong, and she didn’t know what.

She looked over both shoulders, then darted into the narrow alley between a chemist and an old bookshop, the shadows stretching out cool and soothing against the stone cobbles.

Once inside, she leaned back against the wall, exhaling a slow breath as her pulse steadied. The heat of the day was getting to be too much, she decided. Much more of this and she’d have to start having a siesta. A faint breeze whispered through the alley, carrying the scent of lavender from the nearby flower shop.

Footsteps echoed behind her, and a moment later, Luna sauntered into the alley, all sun-kissed skin and untamed curls, her hands casually tucked into the pockets of her jeans. She grinned. “You look like you’re hiding from someone.”

Mia narrowed her eyes. “If I was hiding from anyone, it would be you. What were all the dramatics about?”

Luna rolled her eyes. “It’s a small town. I thought we’d already discussed that? If you have a secret to keep, chatting about it in the middle of the street isn’t a smart thing to do.”

“Sounds like an over-reaction to me.”

“Rude,”

Luna chuckled, leaning a shoulder against the brick wall opposite Mia. “And I thought you wanted to talk.”

“I do,”

Mia said, crossing her arms. “We need to set some ground rules.”

“For what?”

Luna tilted her head innocently to one side.

Mia gritted her teeth. “You know exactly for what.”

Her tone was sharp. “For this… this fake relationship idea you’ve roped me into. If we’re doing this, we’re going to do it properly.”

Luna raised her eyebrows. “Roped you into? I don’t remember doing that. Sounds fun though.”

Mia took a breath. “Fine. For the idea. Your idea.”

She stopped for a second, thinking. Then she looked at Luna. “Wait, what’s in this for you?”

“Can’t I just help you out of the goodness of my heart?”

“Not if you’re just hoping to get into my knickers.”

Luna snorted. “You should be so lucky. But as it happens, I’ve a few… issues of my own. This would… help sort them out.”

“Issues like what?”

pressed Mia. The alleyway was cool, and the air prickled on her skin.

“If you must know,”

Luna sighed, “I’ve got an inheritance to collect and an evil grandmother to collect it from.”

“Ha ha.”

Mia re-folded her arms across her chest. “Do you ever take things seriously?”

“I try not to,”

said Luna. “But in this case, unfortunately, I’m not kidding. I actually do have an inheritance to collect, from my mother. And my grandmother, as executor of the will, is refusing to hand it over until I prove that I’m respectable, dependable, and all grown up. Which, I’m thinking, a sensible relationship would help me achieve.”

“Oh.”

Mia didn’t quite know what to say to that. “My condolences on losing your mother.”

For a second, Luna’s face quivered in the shadows. “It was a long time ago,”

she said softly. “But I have my reasons for wanting to go through with this. And for my sake, this relationship will need to look real, thus why we’re lurking around in alleyways. If my grandmother finds out this is all a setup, she’ll never hand over the money.”

“Fair,”

Mia said. She licked dry lips. “That does make this all rather long term, though. Longer term than I’d bargained for.”

“But still helpful to you,”

Luna pointed out. “And I’m fun to spend time with. I’m not going to bore you to death. You might actually have a nice time. Couldn’t you use a friend around these parts?”

A fair point, Mia thought. She sniffed. “Alright then. But we do need some ground rules.”

“Right, because you want to do things properly,”

smirked Luna.

“Don’t.”

Mia pointed a finger at her. “This is serious. There have to be boundaries.”

Luna sighed, though her eyes danced with mischief. “Fine. Lay down the law.”

“Rule one,”

Mia began, thinking on her feet. “No actual physical affection. No kissing, no hugging, no touching that might be… misconstrued.”

Luna made a face. “Where’s the fun in that? No hugging? I’m a very affectionate person, you know. People are going to think we’re a right pair of cold cucumbers.”

“They’ll think nothing of the sort. They won’t even notice.”

Mia’s voice was firm. “This is about making Mikey understand that there’s someone else in the picture, so that he moves on. Nothing more.”

“And about making my grandmother and therefore the town believe that we’re in love,”

put in Luna. “When is this Mikey liable to turn up?”

Mia had given this some thought. “He loves his job and I’m willing to bet that he’s gone back to work despite already having taken off time for the… uh, for the honeymoon.”

She swallowed and recovered herself. “He’s not likely to be here before the weekend, so we’ve got some time, a few days.”

Luna arched an eyebrow but said nothing.

“Rule two,”

Mia continued, ignoring the look that Luna was giving her. “We don’t overdo it. No elaborate backstories or big dramatic displays.”

“No romantic declarations in the middle of the town square?”

Luna teased. “No shouting your name from the rooftops or graffiti-ing it on the church wall?”

Mia groaned. “Luna…”

“Okay, okay,”

Luna said, holding up her hands in surrender. “No drama. Got it.”

“And rule three,”

Mia added, her eyes narrowing because she thought she had Luna’s number by now. “No flirting with anyone else while we’re doing this. You said it has to look real, and you’re right, it does.”

“Ah,”

Luna said. “So you get to dictate who I flirt with now?”

“Only for the duration of the arrangement,”

Mia said. “If we’re going to be fake girlfriends, then we have to act like it.”

Luna folded her arms, her gaze faintly amused. “Is that all? Because I feel like there’s a rule four coming any minute now.”

Mia hesitated, chewing on her lower lip before speaking. “No getting carried away. This ends when Mikey and your grandmother are both convinced. We go back to normal after that.”

For a moment, there was silence between them, broken only by the distant hum of bees in the lavender at the front of the shop. Luna’s face softened as she studied Mia.

“That’s a lot of rules,”

she said gently.

Mia sighed. “I need things to be clear.”

“I get it.”

Luna shifted, her eyes darker and kinder. “But what’s really bothering you?”

Mia looked away, staring at the uneven stones beneath her feet. “It’s not going to be easy seeing him again. Mikey, I mean.”

“You’re worried.”

Mia nodded. “And you… you don’t take any of this seriously. You think that this is all a big joke. Maybe this is a terrible idea.”

“Hey.”

Luna’s voice sharpened. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t want to help you.”

“And help yourself,” said Mia.

Luna shrugged. “So we both get a little help. What’s the problem with that?”

“You just seem so…”

Mia struggled for the right word. “So casual about everything.”

“Life’s too short to be serious all the time,”

said Luna. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to be when it matters.”

Their eyes met across the narrow space between them. The air seemed heavier, hotter, despite the shade.

“Is this going to work?”

Mia asked quietly.

Luna smiled slowly, the mischief returning to her eyes. “It’ll work. We’ll make it work.”

The tension between them lingered, a thread that neither one of them seemed ready to cut. Until Mia swallowed hard and forced herself to break the moment, taking a step toward the street.

“Fine,”

she said. “But if you break any of the rules…”

“I’ll be good,”

Luna said, a wicked gleam in her eye. “And I’ll pick you up after work.”

This stopped Mia in her tracks. “You’ll… what?”

“For our first date,”

Luna said. “You’re right. We need to do this properly.”

Luna’s laughter chased Mia back out into the sunshine.