Page 7 of The Wedding Pact
‘Whoa.’
‘Yep.’ Flynn paused for a moment, unsure what to say, and the woman took her purse from her pocket.
‘Welcome to Bath!’ she smiled, shrugging, and he found himself smiling along with her.
‘Thank you. It’s quite an introductory service you have going on there.’
‘Listen, first things first, I’m going to buy us both another coffee, because you lost half of yours during the collision too.’
‘You don’t have to do that.’
‘I want to. I have enough on my plate today without the crushing anxiety of having cocked up your day too. Let me make it up to you, starting with coffee. And then we’ll figure out what to do next.’
She turned to the barista and ordered two more coffees, ‘To go, please. Is that okay?’ she asked him.
‘Where are we going?’
‘I don’t know, but I’ve overstayed my welcome here for one day, and I think I need a cup with a lid.’
There was a pause in conversation while they waited for the new coffees to be made, and Flynn noticed the woman side-eyeing the damage to his shirt. He looked down at the large brown stain and tried not to sigh.
‘So where were you off to at this time of day in your Sunday best? Work?’ she asked him.
‘No, I start a new job tomorrow, actually.’
‘Is that why you moved here? For the job?’
‘Yep,’ he answered.
‘ … Were you planning to wear that tomorrow?’
He couldn’t help but smile at the way she contorted her face in anticipation of his answer. ‘Yep. I didn’t bring a lot of clothes with me and this is far from the first food and drink-related soaking I’ve taken since leaving Japan. I was kind of out of options this morning.’
‘More so now,’ she commented, and paid for the coffees.
The two of them stepped outside the coffee shop and back into the morning sunshine, the air fresh in a way that felt reviving to him. ‘Thank you,’ he said.
‘You’re welcome. I’m August, by the way, and I’m not always a walking disaster.’
‘August. Like the month.’ He felt like an idiot for saying that.
‘Just like the month,’ she smiled with the kindness of someone who has heard that comment a thousand times.
‘I’m Flynn.’
‘Hi, Flynn.’ He observed her for a second, holding his coffee close to him in case of any more sudden movements. She had caramel hair in loose curls to her chin, a rainbow of clothing, bright pink lips and green eyes that looked like they were studying him, or plotting something.
‘Is this your first time living in Bath? Did you visit much … from Japan?’ August asked.
‘This is my first time in Bath, full stop. I arrived on Friday night, or yesterday morning, strictly speaking, and don’t really know anything, or anywhere, or anyone.’
‘You moved here without ever having been here? That’s adventurous.’
Flynn raised his eyebrows. He’d never been called adventurous before. In fact, it became something of a needle between him and Yui. He could hear her voice now, her sigh, after she’d suggest something for them to do and he’d brush it off with a ‘maybe one day’.‘You’re so unadventurous,’she’d tell him, and walk away. It stung to remember those missed opportunities. It stung to think that’s how she thought of him.
‘Well, guess what?’ August asked, pulling him from his memories.
‘What?’
