Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
MAISIE
Miles
Nain says you have a boyfriend.
Maisie
Nope.
Morgan
His name is Iain.
Maisie
Don’t know any Iains, sorry xxxx
Maks
Nain says you’re in Manchester with him.
Morgan
Is he hot?
Miles
I FOUND HIM ONLINE!
Maisie
I hate you all.
Miles
You’re dating a mountain.
Maisie
I AM NOT DATING A MOUNTAIN (he practically is one though) and I want you all to ignore anything that nain says about him, okay? I’ll explain it all in five years. Maybe never? We’ll see.
Morgan
Nain likes him, so I’m calling it that you’ll be engaged within a year.
Maisie
What did I do wrong to end up with three ANNOYING brothers???
Don’t answer that.
Maks
Has nain told you anything about what she’s hiding from us yet?
Maisie
Not a peep. I’m working on it, but I’m getting more worried.
Maks
Keep us updated x
The brand new ‘Baked By The Dozen’ sign – bold, rosy pink with white lettering and outlines of doughnuts and pastries at the corners – gleamed above the polished shop front windows. Balloons of the same colours formed an arch around the shining green door. Customers already waited outside, just like usual for the original Covent Garden bakery.
Maisie’s pride bubbled through her veins as she tapped on the door’s glass freshly printed with Baked’s opening times. Faye’s hazel eyes locked with hers from where she did her final fussing inside, and the door muffled the excited scream Maisie watched leave her lips.
Faye ran forwards and turned a latch, yanking the door open with gusto to engulf her in her arms. “Maisie – you came! I worried you wouldn’t make it.”
Maisie squeezed her best friend like a lemon. “I had a little help getting here.” Pulling back for the sake of explaining, she peeked over her shoulder at Iain, and another bulb added to the lights in Faye’s eyes. “This is Iain.”
Back and forth, Faye’s focus flicked between them. “ This is Iain?”
“... Yes.”
After she’d not been able to keep what had happened a few nights ago to herself, Maisie had given in and told Faye and Sienna everything about that evening, including how the reason that she was able to be here today was because of Iain.
“Congratulations on your bakery,” he said to Faye, either oblivious or ignorant to the appreciative eyes of the young, city girls around them. Maisie couldn’t blame them; he was a shocking sight to see on a high street.
“Thank you. Please, come inside.” Faye ushered them in, and announced to the queue that they would open in five minutes before closing the door. She turned on Maisie with wide eyes, a silent interrogation where, due to the mountain man taking in the décor, the main question was: what is going on?
Maisie couldn’t explain herself out loud with Iain in the same room. She wasn’t even sure that she could explain it to herself, either. One moment, she’d been breaking her own heart on the minibus, the dream of being able to come today fading away. The next, she’d been offered a ride for free that she couldn’t pass on, even if it meant being in the same car as Iain for three hours.
Silently.
Who didn’t listen to music, or at very least the radio, when they drove?
The answer was Iain, apparently. He’d let her connect her phone to the car’s speakers for the journey, and she opted to give him a lesson on why – apart from jazz – early noughties music was superior.
He hadn’t agreed.
Maisie inhaled sharply and spun to take in the room right as Faye’s lips began to part. “The place looks amazing! Better than the photos you sent.”
Her friend gave her a side-eye that knew what she’d done. “Thank you. It’s been a lot of work.” Faye laughed through a relieved sigh. “But we’ve made it happen.”
“ You , Peanut. You made it happen.” Bash appeared from the stairs Maisie hadn’t fully noticed, next to a sign advertising upstairs seating, only to wrap his arms around Faye from behind and rest his chin on her head. Faye’s pale cheeks coloured at the praise.
Neither of them had changed at all in the time she’d been gone. They’d video called, of course, for Maisie to know that, but seeing her friends in person was different. Faye’s blonde waves that touched her shoulders had been freshly coloured, whereas Bash’s short, dark cut needed just that. Not to mention the shadow of stubble he wore along his strong jaw. They looked so … right together. Maisie couldn’t believe it’d taken them eleven years to realise it.
Snuggling into her boyfriend’s embrace, Faye introduced their guest. “Iain, this is Bash.”
“Nice to meet you.” Bash extended his hand that Iain shook.
“Likewise.”
They stood roughly the same height, though Iain was stockier – muscle built by rugby for power compared to Bash’s more athletic frame. Maisie looked between them, feeling the same kind of strange dread she used to feel whenever she introduced a man to either of her brothers. In some regards, she was doing. Bash had been in her life for a third of it – she considered him family just like her own blood.
Before her fickle nerves overanalysed the studying going on between the two men, she asked, “Where’s Freddy?” Glancing between the pristine tables and chairs as if he could be hiding amongst them.
Faye’s lips curled in a grimace. “He’s looking after the twins this weekend, and he didn’t want to bring them all the way up here.”
The logic was understandable. Maisie wouldn’t want to travel for hours with two seven-year-old boys just for a day trip, either. The last that she’d heard, Freddy’s co-parenting of his nephews wasn’t getting any easier, with his brother-in-law constantly changing their agreement at the drop of a hat.
“Oh, well that’s okay,” she said softly. “What about Sienna?”
“She’s—”
“I’m here.” That voice came like a goddess from above.
“Si!” Maisie dodged between tables and squeezed her arms around the other woman.
“How come Sienna got a hug and I didn’t?” Bash moaned.
“Because you’ve yet to take your hands off of Faye,” Sienna rebuffed as Maisie savoured the hug that was returned. Of their quintet, Sienna was the least communicative, purely because of her aversion to phones outside of working hours. If she could live in a pre-technological era, then she would.
Two of them laughed at that remark before Sienna’s dark, cat-like gaze settled on Iain. “And who is this?”
Maisie felt her stomach grow uneasy – Dolly’s ‘Jolene’ sounding familiar to her then. “This is Iain.”
“Right. The hiker.” Bridging the gap between their side and his, Sienna glided to Iain like a dancer on ice, all long limbs and sexily swishing hips. “I’m Sienna.”
“Iain.” His accent sounded stronger when surrounded by Londoners, his stoic demeanour more filled with warmth.
He’s just being polite to your friends, Maisie said to herself . There was no fake couple facade for them to keep up, here. Iain was free to look at anyone else however he liked.
Sienna perused him up and down, just like Faye had said on the phone that she would. “I can see why Granny Vera is trying to set you two up. They don’t make them like you in London.”
Hands came down on her shoulders. “Sienna,” Faye warned light-heartedly, “Iain isn’t here for you to flirt with.” Maisie was thankful that somebody pointed it out.
“Why? Was there something I missed?” Dark eyes flicked between Maisie and him.
“No.” Maisie bumbled. “Nothing missed.” Iain had driven her here as a friend and that was all.
Bash cleared his throat. “Are you here all day?”
“I was hoping to spend some time with you all,” Maisie said.
“Absolutely,” Faye answered. “I’d love you all to be our first customers, and you’re free to hang around for a while. We’ll be closing at five this evening. You could come and see the new flat for dinner?”
“Hang on” — Sienna held out her hand where gold rings were bright against her deep bronze skin — “it’s been months since we’ve been in the same room together. Dinner , yes. But we’re going out tonight.”
Maisie’s mind went straight to Iain. It was enough that he’d brought her here when he could’ve been spending his Saturday doing something he actually wanted to do. Hanging out with strangers probably wasn’t on that list. “ Um , Iain?—”
“Sounds good to me.” Bringing himself into their group, Iain flicked his focus between them all. “If you don’t mind me tagging along.”
“Of course you can!” Faye wiggled out of Bash’s reach and headed for the front door where customers had pretended not to watch them talking. The five minutes that she’d promised was up, and Maisie knew it wasn’t good business to keep people waiting.
She scanned quickly to see if there was something she could help with, but knowing Faye, she would have everything covered, and Bash would never let her feel unprepared to face the day.
In a few distracted strides, Bash was with Faye on his way to the door. “If we’re out late, where will you stay?” he asked behind him.
“I already reserved their sofa,” Sienna said, shrugging her folded arms. “Sorry.”
At least Maisie had had the forethought for this, since the happy couple’s time together was limited, what with Bash working out of London four days a week. “We’ve got rooms at a hotel just in case.”
The range of expressions that whipped to stare at her and Iain were on a spectrum of excitement for a scandalous insinuation to stone-cold warning. Whose face was whose was easy enough to guess. Luckily no one was able to comment, and Maisie ceased fiddling with her hands.
Faye and Bash swung the doors open and customers flooded in with eager smiles on their faces. Enough numbers to easily fill the indoor seats and the tables that were upstairs too.
Iain touched her arm for her attention, the tiny contact awakening Maisie right to her spine. “We should get a table.”
“You sit,” she said. “I’ll get you something.”
“I’m able to get my own?—”
“I promised you payment in doughnuts.” She’d trusted his judgement at the ice cream shop and so he should trust hers. Also, if anyone knew the ins and outs of Baked’s menu, it was Maisie. “So be prepared to eat the best ones you’ll ever taste.”
“I really wish I could’ve been there today to celebrate with you all. I’ve only just managed to get the boys to eat their dinner.”
“You’ve missed meeting Maisie’s fake man-friend,” Faye said tauntingly.
“ What ?” Freddy’s ice-blue eyes darted around the phone screen they all leaned over. “Where is this guy? Let me talk to him.”
Maisie struggled to not blush at this restaurant dinner table. “He’s not here, Fred, he’s moving his car before he gets fined.”
Freddy didn’t budge. “He’s messing around with one of my best friends. I want to talk to him.”
“I consented to this, by the way.”
“And by the way” — Sienna leaned into view — “I would too.”
Raising an eyebrow, Freddy uttered, “That tells me everything I need to know.”
“He seems like a solid man, Maisie deserves that.”
Maisie hung her face in her hand. “He’s not my anything . Only a friend.”
Slipping his arm around Faye, Bash grinned as his girlfriend melted into his side. “That’s all we were too this time last year.”
Propped up against the drinks menu, Freddy’s pale face held firm on the phone. “I still want to talk to him. Make sure he knows not to play any games.”
Sienna half coughed and laughed. “Freds, you are the least intimidating man that I know.”
“What about me?” Bash sounded offended.
“The tattoo sleeve does give Freddy an edge on the intimidation front.”
As they started to bicker, Maisie caught sight of Iain’s frame moving in the front windows. “Okay! Guys, I have a request for my favourite gallery framer before I forget.”
Her friends looked at her oddly, Freddy the most. “Okay?”
“If I send you some measurements, could you make a frame for me?” she asked. “It’s only small, but I’d rather something unique than shop bought.” What was the point of having creative friends if she couldn’t make use of their talents from time to time? Especially when one of those friends was a framer for one of London’s most famous art museums.
“Sure, what’s it for?” Freddy preened.
“A painting that my grandad did.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Great. Thank you.”
Faye bolted up straight. “Oh look, Iain’s back.”
“The guy?” Freddy moved like he’d be able to see. “Let me?—”
“ Okaygottogoweloveyou .” Maisie grabbed the phone and smashed her thumbs to the screen.