Was he crazy to be doing this? Mia wasn’t an extrovert, like him. She might not want the attention. There was also the fact she might think it was too much – she’d finished the manuscript, not found anyone who wanted to publish it.
He shrugged the doubts away. She’d said she wanted to celebrate, he was going to help her.
Before he could call the first person on his list, his own phone rang.
‘Hey, Pickle.’
Grace let out a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone. ‘I thought we agreed you’d stop calling me that when I turned sixteen.’
‘You asked me to stop, I said I’d try, but a sixteen-year habit is hard to break, so suck it up, kiddo. Now, what did you want?’
‘I’ve got maths homework to be in by tomorrow and I can’t fucking do it.’
‘Hey, what’s with the language. Does your mum let you say the f-word?’
Another sigh. ‘You’re not Mum though, are you?’
He’d always been the soft touch. Freya had treated motherhood much as she had her career – committed, dedicated, organised, with a spine of steel. For him, it had been his sole focus, the reason he got up in the morning. Bar work had paid the bills, but being a dad had fulfilled him. Still did, even though Grace needed him less and less now. Which brought him back to the phone call. ‘Fine, you can swear to me, but not to any other adult. Now about this maths, I hate to say it but your mum is the bright one. The only numbers I’m good with are working out the change from a tenner, and even with that I’m rusty, as most people pay by card now.’
‘Duh, I know you can’t help.’ He knew the slight was unintended. He might not have followed the academic path but in his daughter’s eyes, he still walked on water. Some of the time. ‘Do you think Mia will be able to? She’s into computers, and my friends who do computing say a lot of it is maths so I figured she might be good at it.’
A warm, fuzzy glow settled in his chest. He loved how Grace and Mia had bonded over the last few weeks. ‘I’ll ask her.’
He had half a mind to ping Grace Mia’s number so they could talk direct, but though Pete had not resurfaced in real life, Luke knew the bastard still lurked in Mia’s subconscious, preventing her from fully moving forward.
It had to be the reason she’d yet to tell him she loved him, even though he’d said the words several times to her since that first time in her flat.
Or maybe she doesn’t feel as strongly as you do, dumb arse.
He guessed that was the other explanation.
Shoving the unhelpful thoughts aside, he made the phone calls on his list, finally ending with one to Mia.
‘Finished the book huh? How many words?’
‘Just under 92,000.’
He smiled at the obvious pride in her voice. ‘That’s one hell of a big number. Definitely needs celebrating. How about you come over to the bar in a couple of hours and I’ll make you a special cocktail?’
‘Sounds good.’ She paused. ‘No Smurfs though, because I’m going to dye my hair a new colour for the occasion.’
‘Oh yeah?’ He liked the blue. Then again, he reckoned he’d like her in any colour. ‘Do I get to hear what colour?’
‘Nope, it’s a surprise.’
‘Okay, I’ll look forward to it. In the meantime, if you’ve got a spare moment, Grace is stuck with her maths homework and wonders if you’re any good at the subject.’
There was a slight pause. ‘Really? She asked you if I could help her?’
‘Well yeah, but no worries if you can’t. She thought people who were good at computers were also good at maths, but I’m a master at computer games and I can’t even spell trigonometry, so—’
‘God, I’d love to help her if I can. I did maths A Level so I might remember some of it. Did you give her my phone number?’
‘No. I wasn’t sure if you wanted that.’
He heard her sigh. ‘I really was a head case about not giving out my number, wasn’t I? But I’m done with all that crap so yes, please, give her my number and I’ll see what I can do.’
So it’s not all the crap with Pete that’s holding her back. Nope, he wasn’t going to second guess how she felt. She’d tell him when she was ready.
Mia glanced at her watch. Good, another ten minutes before she’d promised Luke she’d be at the bar.
‘We’ve just got time to finish this last question.’
Grace, who was sat next to her at the kitchen table in Freya’s flat, groaned. ‘This is like torture.’
Mia had to work hard not to laugh. ‘You said you wanted help.’
‘Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d make me do all the questions,’ Grace mumbled. ‘Miss would have been happy with the first five.’
‘But by doing all ten you now really understand how to do them.’
Just then the front door opened and Freya walked in. She did a double-take when she saw Mia and wow, that was not an I’m-pleased-to-see-you expression.
‘Hey Mum, Mia’s helping me with my maths.’
‘And Grace is really happy about it,’ Mia added, hoping to lighten the tension she felt pinging round the room.
Grace didn’t seem to be aware of it, because she sniggered. ‘Yeah, right. I’ll be happy when we’re done.’
‘And how long will that be?’ Freya asked, and bloody hell, the woman had clearly come back from the supermarket yet she was dressed in the cleanest, bluest jeans Mia had ever seen, and what looked to be a fancy cashmere jumper.
‘Mia said I have to do one more question.’
Mia slid a little down her chair. Way to make her out to be the bad guy in front of the woman who clearly, if she didn’t hate her, definitely didn’t like her. Because she was dating Luke? Because she was helping Grace? Or because she didn’t like scruffy women with funny-coloured hair?
Thankfully Grace had got the hang of the problems and five minutes later Mia stood to go. ‘You’ve got my number now, so call me any time you’re stuck, okay?’
Grace shocked her by giving her a hug. ‘Thanks, Mia, you’re ace.’
And yep, Mia didn’t miss the way Freya’s expression hardened when she turned to say goodbye to her. ‘I’m sure Grace appreciates your help.’
Message between the lines: I don’t appreciate you being in my space.
Thankful to be out of Freya’s death stare, Mia scampered down the stairs. If things between Freya and Luke were really as over as Luke claimed, why was Freya being such a bitch to her?
The thoughts percolated in her head all the way to the bar, but when she opened the door, Freya’s unpleasantness was pushed to the furthest corner of her mind.
Applause echoed around the room. Pink balloons were everywhere. Across the bar hung a banner saying CONGRATULATIONS, and scrawled on a few pieces of paper after that, in what looked like Luke’s handwriting, were the words AUTHOR-IN-THE-MAKING.
People, faces she knew, smiled broadly at her.
Naomi, Stan – Mia felt a pulse of satisfaction as she saw how close they stood next to each other. Beside them were Phil and Janet, Sandy and Jim, behind them Gary, Tony and Bill.