Page 56 of Two Hit Wonder

She walked out before anyone could respond.

THE WALK TO nowhere in particular took about twenty minutes before Maeve admitted to herself that she was being a coward and an arse. She found a bench in a small park, sat down between two pigeons who seemed deeply unimpressed with her presence, and called Glinna.

"Maeve." Glinna's voice was warm and slightly breathless. "Perfect timing. I've just finished wrestling a fence post into the ground and I need someone to complain to."

"I kissed Iona."

There was a pause. In the background, Maeve could hear one of the children yelling something about a bucket. "Right," Glinna said. "Well, that's more interesting than fence posts. When did this happen?"

"Last night. And then I panicked and left, and this morning I went to rehearsal and was horrible to everyone, and now I'm sitting on a bench in London being stared at by pigeons. Oh, and I’m an arse."

"Are they judgmental pigeons?"

"Deeply. One of them keeps looking at me like I put its mother in a pie."

"I see." Glinna made a sound that might have been a laugh. "So you kissed her, you panicked, and then you punished everyone else for your feelings. That's very on-brand for you."

"I don't need sarcasm right now."

"What do you need?"

Maeve didn't have an answer for that. She watched a pigeon waddle closer, cocking its head like it was waiting for her to say something profound. "I don't know. Someone to tell me I didn't just make a massive mistake."

"Did you want to kiss her?"

"Yes."

"Did she want you to kiss her?"

"I think so. Yes."

"Then it wasn't a mistake." Glinna's voice softened. "It was honest. And I know honesty terrifies you, because you've spent fifteen years hiding from anything that might actually matter. But you can't undo it now. Once you've been honest, you have to keep being honest. That's how it works."

"That sounds awful."

"Most of the important things are. You know that better than anyone." There was a crash in the background, followed by shrieking. "Charity, put that down! Maeve, I have to go, but call me later, will you? And stop being horrible to people who care about you. It's not a good look, and you're better than that, even if you don't believe it."

She hung up. Maeve sat on the bench for another few minutes, letting Glinna's words settle. You can't undo it. Once you've been honest, you have to keep being honest.

Terrible advice. True, probably, but terrible.

Her phone buzzed again. This time it was a name she recognized.

Can we talk? Not at rehearsal. Just us. I'll come to you if that's easier.

Iona.

Maeve stared at the message for a long moment. The pigeons stared at her. Somewhere in the distance, a siren wailed.

Chapter Twenty

The cafe was the kind of place that served coffee in mismatched vintage cups and had a blackboard menu written in chalk that was definitely supposed to look artisanal but mostly just looked smudged. Iona had arrived ten minutes early because she was constitutionally incapable of being late to anything, and had already rearranged the salt and pepper shakers a dozen times by the time Maeve walked in.

And Iona’s heart felt funny because the truth was, she hadn’t wanted anything so much for so long. The truth was that until Maeve kissed her again, until she knew that all was not lost, she’d been living on autopilot. And now this. Maeve. Her. Finally. And it was like everything had come together, all the pieces fit and… and she was damned if she was going to let Maeve get away with running again. Not when they’d had two beginnings and no ending. Not yet. Even if that meant having an uncomfortable conversation.

"You came," she said.

"You asked." Maeve slid into the seat opposite, movements stiff. "And I was already in London. It seemed inefficient to avoid you."