Chapter 8
‘Morning, Mia.’ Mark – another of the community nurses – waved to her from across the car park.
Mia caught her bag in the car door and yanked it out with far more force than strictly needed before cursing and slamming the door for good measure.
‘Uh, are you OK?’ Mark regarded her with concern. ‘Anything I can help with?’
‘What makes you ask that?’
‘You don’t really seem like yourself. You’re usually the one who’s cheering everyone else up first thing on a Monday.’
‘Sorry, just not feeling very cheery today.’
‘That much is obvious.’ Mark held the door open for her. ‘Anything I can do?’
‘Not really.’ Mia sighed. ‘Second date didn’t go very well. Actually, that’s understating it massively. It was horrible. He was horrible.’
‘Sorry to hear that,’ Mark sympathised. ‘I know you were excited.’
‘More fool me, I guess,’ Mia grumbled. ‘Disappointing dates seem to be my standard lately.’ She wouldn’t allow herself to think about the fact that the only man who hadn’t disappointed her recently was the last one she should have any interest in dating.
‘Sorry for being such a grump. I’d better go shake this funk off before my patients start arriving. ’
It was one of Mia’s worst days at work in a long time, and she couldn’t shake her bad mood, despite her best efforts. She smiled briefly when Katie messaged, calling Phillip an impressive variety of crude and rude names, but it didn’t last long.
It was Aiden who cheered her up.
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
She sent the reply back in-between patients, while glaring at the old kettle in the staff room and willing it to boil faster.
Don’t know… you still won’t tell me what Mia is short for.
Oh well, too bad. And that’s not how the joke goes.
Knock, knock.
He tried again.
Still not telling you.
Different one. Play along? I think you’ll like it.
He sent smiley face and fingers crossed emojis.
Knock, knock.
Fine. Who’s there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you curious to know?
Orange I curious to know who?
Not who. What. At the front desk.
What is?
Aha, it worked! You’re curious. A little bird mentioned you might need a pick-me-up. Hoping this helps.
Mia checked her watch. She had a few minutes still, so headed to reception.
‘Oh good, you’re here.’ Karen smiled at her from behind the desk and grabbed something from the side. ‘This smells incredible. I was going to come find you if you didn’t appear soon.’ She handed Mia a large tray bundled up in tea towels. ‘The young man who works for Ophelia dropped it off.’
‘Oh, it’s warm!’ Mia peeled back a corner of the fabric to find a layer of tinfoil which gave way to the most deliciously heady scent of warm chocolate and cinnamon. ‘Brownies.’
‘There’s this too.’ Karen held up a jam jar half-filled with pale purple fluff.
‘Icing.’ Mia smiled as she read the label. ‘Cinnamon chocolate brownies and Banish the (Lavender) Blues frosting.’
‘An interesting name…’
‘Aiden names all his blends.’ Mia shrugged. ‘Do you want some?’
‘Are you sure? Your friend brought it for you.’
‘There’s a whole tray here – I can’t eat them all!’
‘Oh, go on then. Let’s pop the kettle on.’
‘I did before I came out here. With any luck it might have boiled by now.’ Mia giggled, already feeling a bit happier.
Aiden looked up at the tap at the window, and grinned to see Mia standing there.
‘Hello.’ He unlocked the door and held it open for her. ‘Your timing’s great. I just finished cashing up, and Ophelia and Katie should be back in a bit.’
‘I hear the Hudsbury grapevine is alive and thriving.’ Mia held up the now clean tray Aiden had borrowed from the shop kitchen.
‘Possibly.’
‘Let me guess… Mark told Christine, who told Cheryl, who probably told everyone… in the nice sense, of course.’
‘Like I said, a little bird told me.’ That seemed pretty close to the truth of it being Rayenne’s sparrows twittering that the honey-and-chestnut-haired lady who fed them tidbits at lunch was upset.
‘Honestly, this place, some days.’ Mia laughed. ‘I’m convinced if someone sneezes more than twice in the park Cheryl will have heard and got the chicken soup on before they’ve walked to the café.’
‘It does seem to be a very tight-knit community.’
‘Yeah. But that’s usually a good thing. Like with these. I wanted to bring your tray back and say thank you.’
‘So, they helped?’ He tried to ignore the prickling itch on his shoulder. It only seemed to happen when Mia was around – or in his thoughts – which made him far less inclined to speak to Rayenne or Ophelia about it.
‘I’m smiling, aren’t I?’
‘Did you like?’
‘Yeah. Delicious. I’m not sure about the name though…’
‘Think you can do better?’
‘Unbreak My Heart Brownies?’
‘Maybe…’
They both looked up when the door crashed open, to see Katie stomp, practically radiating anger, across the shop floor and throw her arms around Mia. ‘Mimi, what happened? More details than you texted me.’
‘He was just a toad, Katie.’
Aiden went back to tidying up and waved when Ophelia walked in – a lot more calmly than Katie had – and locked the door once more.
‘Hey, boss. Sage?’ He knew she’d want to smudge any negative energy out of the shop as soon as possible.
‘Quite probably.’ Ophelia took the cash box from him and headed upstairs to the safe, leaving him to dig out sage bundles.
He wasn’t trying to eavesdrop – but it was difficult not to overhear in the very quiet room when Katie was less than calm.
Especially when certain crystals seemed intent on reflecting the conversation back to him as the shop started to buzz and murmur angrily.
‘What an absolute twatting moron!’
Aiden sighed and reached for Ophelia’s incense as well. The way this was going, sage wouldn’t make a dent, and palo santo would be needed to bring back some positivity.
‘Aiden, did you hear what that idiot said to Mia?’
‘Trying not to listen.’
‘He said he didn’t think it could work, and that he wasn’t interested in seeing her again, because “women who didn’t make an effort gave him the ick”. Will you please tell her how fucking absurd that is?’
‘Maybe he had a point.’ Mia shrugged, looking sad. ‘I hadn’t made anywhere near the same amount of effort as I had the date before. Maybe I should have.’
‘Aiden, will you please tell her?’
‘I think Mia would look great in whatever she wore.’ His eyes locked with hers, and the flash of heat and memories gave him an unexpected jolt.
He forced his attention back to the incense box, not wanting her to see the look on his face.
He felt bad for Mia having to add another would-be to her toad list, but he was glad the grade-A pillock hadn’t been allowed to touch her in the way he had.
‘See, it’s not just me who thinks that.’
‘Thanks.’ Mia still sounded sad, so he looked up again.
‘Also, I think you shouldn’t have to change who you are to be with someone.
If he couldn’t see how gorgeous you are without a load of make-up and sexy clothes and whatever else he expected, then he’s not really your Prince Charming.
I think when you meet the right person, he’ll adore you just as much when you’re at your most relaxed – even scruffiest – and most authentic self as he does when you’re glammed up.
You shouldn’t need barriers like special clothes and make-up when it’s true love.
He shouldn’t care about the clothes and hair and cosmetics, because that’s just wrapping.
He should care about you because you, Mia, you’re the gift.
’ He shrugged, feeling a bit self-conscious when he realised both women were staring at him.
‘But what do I know? The serial relationship dodger that I am.’
‘I think you’re right.’ Katie agreed with him. ‘I love Phe best wearing nothing.’
Aiden laughed. ‘Didn’t need that image of my boss!’
Katie giggled. ‘I meant nothing special. But now you mention it… yeah, that too! When Ophelia goes full glam she is spectacular. But on a lazy day, when she’s thrown on whatever mismatch of clothes she’s grabbed first and she’s just relaxed and happy… to me that’s Phe at her best.’
‘Wow.’
‘And if your Prince Charming, when he eventually turns up, doesn’t say the same about you, I’ll be the first in line to set him to rights!’
‘Thank you. Both of you.’ Mia’s smile looked a bit more genuine this time. ‘You’re right. I’m just fed up and annoyed because the one-eighty turn was such a shock, and because he was so rude. And probably because he hit on some old scars a bit.’
‘What do you mean?’ Katie asked.
‘It wasn’t just that I hadn’t made enough effort and didn’t look as good as my profile picture or the previous time. Apparently, women who wear glasses aren’t attractive either.’ She shrugged again.
‘Like I said – moron.’ Katie shook her head in disgust.
They all looked up when a crash sounded from upstairs.
‘Do you mind if I go check and see what Phe’s up to?’
‘Of course not,’ Mia reassured her friend. ‘I’m fine.’
‘I don’t think I knew you wore glasses,’ Aiden mused.
‘No, you probably didn’t. I wear contacts. It’s silly, but I got bullied about it when I was younger.’
‘That’s crap.’
‘Yeah, but you can imagine: frizzy hair, freckles and glasses? I was pretty much the trifecta for bullies growing up. I was gawky and lanky too.’
‘Kids can be jerks. And too young to know how stupid they are. By the sounds of it, the idiot who upset you hadn’t grown up either.
Certainly not enough to appreciate a woman like you.
’ He probably shouldn’t have said it, and definitely shouldn’t have taken a step closer, but her blush was so pretty and it reminded him so much of when he…
He wasn’t sure if he was grateful for the footsteps on the stairs that interrupted him or not.
‘Do you want to stay for dinner, Mimi? Chilli nachos?’
‘Nah, I’m OK thanks. I just want to go home, shower and wash the rest of this funk down the drain.’
‘Fair enough. But message me if you need me to bash Prince Moron some more. What about you, Aiden? Gooey cheesy chilli nachos?’