43. Mai
Mai
Mai swore she’d met every single person in the pub and—much to her shock—had been asked to take about three million selfies.
When she began to panic about the attention, Ford would squeeze her hand, touch her shoulder, or give her a quick kiss. The contact kept her grounded, her racing pulse easing at his touch.
Mai was a realist. She was going to get a lot of extra attention, but Ford was worth it.
Finally, after two hours of meeting the fans, Mai’s weekend on-call caught up with her, and she cracked a yawn, which she tried—and failed—to hide behind her hand.
“Time to leave?” Ford ran his hand gently down her cheek.
“Yeah. Sorry.” Mai leaned into his touch. “I’ve not had much sleep in the last few days.”
“I’m sorry, guys, we’re going to get out of here,” Ford announced to the people gathered around them.
Mai let Ford tug her away from the group, then she recalled Steve and his lady friend Doris were still sitting in the corner.
“Hang on. I’ll see if Steve needs a lift home.” She towed Ford this time, leading him toward her neighbour.
She stopped along the way to hug Sadie and Gloria.
George needed to take a few deep breaths before he spoke to Ford. “It was good to meet you. Sorry about the whole dropped jaw earlier.” He held his hand out to the singer.
Ford shook it. “You too. Don’t worry about it. It’s weird to meet people you never thought you would. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
“You don’t need to,” George said, although his tone suggested he was just being polite, and he really did want the band to visit.
“Nah, mate. We don’t mind. We’ll see you tomorrow.” Ford gave his hand a final shake and stepped back, then followed Mai as she tugged him along.
“Steve,” Mai said. “Do you want a ride home? We can drop Doris off.”
“No thanks. Doris has her car. She’ll drive me home later. You and your husband,” he put emphasis on the word, “should head off home.”
“I’ll bring you dinner tomorrow.” Mai leaned down and kissed his cheek.
“You shouldn’t do that. You’ll make your husband jealous,” Steve teased.
Laughing, she straightened and reached up to kiss Ford on the lips. “He knows he’s the only one for me.”
“Damm straight.” Ford caught her lips for another kiss.
“I saw enough of that onstage, thank you. I don’t require the close-up show,” Steve complained, but he had a grin on his face.
Doris, his lady friend, pushed him in the ribs. “They’re in love,” she cackled. “It’s sweet.”
“Fine,” Steve grumbled.
Mai yawned again and leaned into Ford’s side. “I really do need sleep. I’m working tomorrow.”
Ford’s head swung to her, his eyes wide. “You’re exhausted. How are you in work tomorrow?”
“That’s the roster. I’m in until the end of the week.” Mai shrugged; she was used to working when she was exhausted. Although she would rather stay home with Ford and get to know him again properly.
“Shit,” Ford sighed. “Oh well, at least we’ve now decided that we’ve got the rest of our lives.”
“We do.” Mai smiled happily.
“You should call in sick,” Hel said from behind Mai.
Mai swung to face her friend, who stood with her giant Fiancé. “You know I can’t do that.” She huffed. It was so tempting, but she wouldn’t do that to her colleagues.
“She knows you won’t, she threatens it all the time and has never once done it.” Frost slung his arm around Hel’s shoulder.
“True. It’s nice to pretend that one day I will,” Hel huffed a laugh and leaned into Frost’s side.
Mai swallowed down another yawn. “Yeah. I think I’m going to need to cut down my hours, though.”
“I keep telling you that you work too hard,” Steve chimed in.
“I know.” Mai rolled her eyes.
The older man liked to nag her about how she worked too much, didn’t have enough time to relax, and would never meet a ‘nice young man’ that way—not that the nice young man bit mattered anymore now that she had Ford again.
“I’ll let Donnie know I’m leaving my car here. I’ll drive you home.” Ford nudged her, encouraging her to leave.
Mai yawned and nodded. “Thanks.”
“Come on,” Ford said softly, guiding her toward the door of the pub.
Mai went without protest.
“Bye, guys.” She waved to her friends, chuckling when both Steve and Hel gave her two thumbs up. “I think they approve of you,” she murmured to Ford.
“Good. Because you’re stuck with me now,” Ford growled playfully in her ear.
Mai shivered at his voice, then cracked another yawn, putting her hand in front of her face. “I am so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He hugged her tighter, half supporting her as they stepped outside.
“My guitar,” she protested weakly.
“Donnie will get it, don’t worry.” Ford chuckled, the vibrations rumbling through Mai where they were pressed together.
“It must be nice having someone to look after you,” Mai said without thinking.
Ford stopped walking and turned her so he could look into her eyes.
“I’m here now. I’ll look after you.” He bent down, kissing her gently, which sent a spark of electricity fluttering through her chest.
When he pulled away, Mai attempted to suppress it, but she yawned again, right in his face, much to her embarrassment.
“I am so sorry.” She flushed and tried to pull away to hide her face.
Ford didn’t let her go; instead, he put his hand on her chin to steady her and kissed her again.
Pulling away, he grinned. “Let’s get you home to sleep.”
The moment Mai slid into the passenger seat, her eyelids drooped, and she was asleep before Ford even climbed into the car.
The next thing she was aware of was the engine turning off and Ford opening her door.
“Come on, sleeping beauty. You need to shower and go to bed.” He leaned over, unfastened her seatbelt, and helped her out of the car.
Mai blinked sleepily and followed him without question, clinging to his arm as she stumbled along. At the front door, she stood there for far too long until she recalled she needed to get the keys out of her bag and open it.
Stepping in, she gestured to the table by the door. “I’ve got a spare key in there. You should take it. I’ll clear out some wardrobe space when I arrive home from work tomorrow.”
Mai continued down to her kitchen. She needed to grab some water, shower, and then pass out.
It was only when she got to the sink that she realised Ford wasn’t with her any more. She turned around to see him standing in the hall, staring at her.
“Ford? Are you okay?” Mai asked.
“You want me to move in immediately?” he murmured.
Mai stepped towards him, unsure for a moment. Maybe he hadn’t meant what he said. Maybe he didn’t want to live with her so quickly. But she was too tired to play games; she was going to tell him exactly what she wanted.
“Of course. For me, this is it. You and me. After sixteen years without you, I don’t want to spend another day apart when we can be together.” Mai tried to read his expression.
Ford blinked slowly, and she was afraid that he’d changed his mind, when a grin split his face. “Good. You’ll have to work hard to get rid of me again.”
Mai mirrored his grin. “I won’t ever try to get rid of you.”
“I’ll remind you of that when I’m being irritating,” Ford teased, wandering into her living room.
Mai nodded. “I do see your point. Can I add a caveat to that statement?”
“Nope.” Ford shook his head.
Another yawn caught Mai, and she put her hand up to stifle it. “Okay. Showers, then bed. I’ll grab a towel for you.”
“I’m staying tonight?”
“Of course,” she said simply and walked up the stairs with her glass of water.
Mai showered quickly, crawled into bed and was asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow. Her brain fought its way back to consciousness when someone climbed into the bed next to her.
Ford gently tugged her into his arms, and she instinctively curled into the position that she had always slept in with him: her head on his chest, and his arm holding her close.
It was the best night’s sleep she’d had in sixteen years.