“Is it?”
She opened her door. “Yes. I want to know more about that part of your life.”
I couldn’t tell if she was serious, and she was out of the van before I could ask. I got out too and trailed her to the back, thankful we’d thought to spray the board blocking the broken window the same colour as the rest of the van. God knew what anyone around these parts would’ve made of us rocking up sporting a chipboard bodge job. “What do you need me to do?”
“Carry stuff.”
I could do that. I loaded up with boxes and followed Mia into the venue. We ditched our haul in the grand hall and went back for a second run.
“Stop snagging all the heavy stuff.” Mia kicked my ankle. “I’d be doing this on my own if you weren’t here, like I’ve done dozens of times. I don’t need a white knight.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. I’m here, why not make use of me?”
“Dick.”
We went back inside, and after two more runs, were ready to set up.
Mia tasked me with the simple job of placing a modified lampshade in the middle of each round table, and scattering dried rose petals around them. I eyed my handiwork on the first table and decided there was a reason I’d been kicked off my GCSE art course.
“Not bad,” Mia said when I was done. “I don’t think you missed your calling, though.”
“Come roofing with me and we’ll talk.”
“Don’t say shit like that. You know I’d do it.”
I did. Her mother had been almost entirely self-sufficient, even down to repaving their garden by hand. If a fraction of that had rubbed off on Mia, she could roof me under the table.
The backwards turn of phrase made me chuckle. Mia glared at me like I was an annoying child and flitted away to work her own magic.
Two hours later, and the venue was done. I glanced around, awed. “You do all this by yourself every weekend?”
She shrugged. “Depends on the wedding. Sometimes the bride’s family do some of it. And it’s only a spring and summer thing. I won’t have as many weddings in the winter.”
My mind instantly imagined lazy Saturday mornings, waking up together, fucking, cooking breakfast, and taking it back to bed. I’d never had that with anyone. Never wanted it. But fuck, I wanted it now. I wanted everything.
The speed at which my entire outlook on life had flipped should’ve been frightening, but I hadn’t fallen in love with Mia in the space of a few volatile months. I’d always loved her.
We returned to the van and drove back to Rushmere. The bride’s house was on the opposite side of town to my mine, but the groom’s family turned out to live just around the corner.
I hovered outside while Mia delivered the buttonholes. Lack of sleep was starting to catch up with me, but it was a nice day, and the sun on my face felt good. So good, in fact, I was pretty much asleep on my feet when I sensed eyes on me.
Expecting Mia, I straightened up from where I’d been slouched against her van, a grin automatically forming on my lips, but it wasn’t her. Instead some plum dressed in a seriously bad suit was staring at me. It took me a moment to realise it was the Benson brother who liked to eyeball me in the gym.
If I’d been stood beside a van with my own name plastered all over it, I’d have told him to fuck off, but this was Mia’s van, and her livelihood.
I found a bland smile from somewhere and plastered it on my face. “All right, mate?”
“Did you come with Mia from the flower shop?”
“I did. Why? Does she need something?”
Benson shrugged and continued to gaze at me with an expression I couldn’t read. It wasn’t overtly hostile, but it wasn’t friendly either.
I searched for something pleasant to say to break the weird silence and scoured my limited knowledge of weddings. “Who’s getting married today? Friend of yours?”
“My brother. I’m his best man.”
“Sound. Send my regards, yeah? I haven’t spoken to him since school.”
Benson shoved his hands in his pockets and opened his mouth, but I was saved from further painful conversation by Mia emerging from the house.
She slipped past the man on the pathway without seeming to notice him, but his gaze tracked her as she strode to the gate, and possessiveness swept over me. A growl formed in my throat and it took everything I had to swallow it down. Jesus. She was fucking beautiful. Could I blame him or anyone else for looking at her?
I couldn’t think of a sensible reason why I could, but something about him set me on edge and I wanted to rip his throat out.
“Wow.” Mia nudged me. “You really do get grumpy when you’re tired these days, old man. I thought Gus was exaggerating.”
With considerable effort, I tore my gaze from the suit still loitering on the path. “Gus talks shit. And I’m not grumpy.” I pulled her close, and despite the rest of the groom’s party spilling out of the house, kissed her, just for a moment. A taste. “I am eager to get home, though. How about you?”
Mia kissed me back, darting her tongue into my mouth for a blissful split second. “Sold.”
We drove the fifteen seconds back to my house and she parked on my driveway in the space where my van should’ve been. Safely inside the house, she stretched like a cat. “Do you mind if I have a bath?”
“Only if you shut the door.”
“Perv.”
“If you say so.”
She laughed and disappeared upstairs. I watched her go, seriously considering trailing after her like a horny dog, but my phone rang before I could move, and Billy’s name flashed up on the screen—the only person in the world who could distract me from Mia right now.
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself,” Billy answered, distant and woozy. If he hadn’t been in hospital, I’d have assumed he was drunk. “You told me to call when I got out of surgery, so here I am.”
My heart dropped through the floor. I’d forgotten. That was impossible. I lurched towards the calendar on the back of the kitchen door and scanned the days for Billy’s surgery, but today was blank. “Fuck. I thought that was happening on Tuesday. Fuck, fuck, fuck, I’m so sorry, man. I must’ve got the dates wrong.”
“Calm your tits.” Billy laughed quietly. “I told you the wrong date so you wouldn’t stress. Thought I’d get it over with without you having a guilt meltdown.”
“The fuck?” Despite my fatigue, I was instantly awake. “Why would you do that?”