‘Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!’
I look up at the sound of a very enthusiastic greeting and grin as Ava bounces in the open door.
‘Hiiiiii!’ I squeak back, easily matching her enthusiasm. She made me feel good yesterday – it’s always nice to meet someone who understands where you’re coming from, especially when you’re not even sure ifyoudo any more, and while I hoped I might see her again sometime, I didn’t expect it would be the very next day.
I shouldn’t, but I can’t help looking beyond her to where Ren is standing outside, and I suddenly feel all of a flutter at the sight of him.
‘Hello.’ I give him a much more solemn nod and sensible-adult type greeting as he hovers in the doorway, holding a Wonderland Teapot-branded box and cup.
He nods in response, but he’s obviously not moving fast enough for Ava’s liking because she marches back over to the door, takes the box and cup out of his hands, and plonks them on the counter in front of me. ‘We got you these! Dad wanted to apologise for being the rudest man on the planet.’
I stand upright in surprise. I wasn’t expecting that. I open the box and find a red velvet cupcake inside. ‘Oh, my favourite! How did you know?’
‘When Dad went up to pay, we were talking about what you might like, and the lady in there overheard your name and said red velvet was your favourite, and tea with vanilla milk.’ She nudges the cup towards me too.
I’m so touched, it’s a struggle not to well up. What a kind and thoughtful thing to do. ‘That’s Cleo, she opened last spring and it’s been my favourite place on the street since.’
‘It’s awesome in there! The Mad Hatter did a trick with a rose! He threw it in the air and made it vanish, and then heart-shaped confetti rained down all over us, and then he clicked his fingers and it reappeared again!’ She shoves a hand into her pocket and pulls out a handful of heart-shaped confetti made from playing cards and scatters it all over the counter.
I can’t help smiling at her excitement. ‘That’s Bram. Did you love his blue hair?’
‘Coolest man ever!’
‘Well, you read my mind, I wasjustthinking of running over there to grab some lunch.’ I let my eyes flick to Ren again. ‘Thank you both.’
‘Thought you might not let me back in without some sort of peace offering,’ he says, despite the fact he’s still hovering in the doorway and he hasn’tcomein.
‘I would have.’ I don’t have enough customers to be turning any away, even the disparaging ones, but I’m not about to tell him that. ‘But it was a nice touch. Thank you.’
I smile at him as he finally takes a step inside, looking around warily for the hanging birdcage candle holder, which I’ve moved to one side of the window, safely tucked away where it can’t cause any further harm. ‘Thought there might be glaciers in hell before you came back here.’
‘I’m weak in the face of being badgered relentlessly all night. I had to accept that we were coming back today or give up a night’s sleep because she kept on and on. Apparently I was rude to you yesterday and owe you an apology.’
‘Youwererude, but you’re entitled to your opinions, and as far as an apology goes, tea and cake more than covers it.’ I hold my cup up like I’m making a toast before taking another sip.
‘No. I went too far, and Iamsorry. It wasn’t just Ava’s badgering. I felt bad too.’
That apologeticness again. I didn’t expect him to give me another thought after yesterday, other than every time he looked in the mirror and saw the cut on his forehead, which is covered up with a couple of butterfly stitch plasters today. I certainly didn’t expect him to show up with tea and a cupcake, but it’s nice that he did, even if it was mainly Ava’s idea.
He doesn’t seem like a man of many words, and I’m surprised when he continues. ‘I keep doing this thing where I know I shouldn’t say something but it comes out anyway. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but you didn’t deserve to be on the receiving end of it.’
It’s a curious confession, an odd thing to admit to a stranger, and yet he sounds humble and serious, so I decide to challenge him a little. ‘So what youreallythink is that my shop is charming and quirky and full of treasures untold?’
‘No, of course not, I think it’s an indoor junkyard, but it would be rude of me to say that.’
I burst into laughter, and he clamps a hand over his mouth and his blue eyes widen as he realises hedidjust say that.
He looks at me in horror for a moment, but slowly, slowly, the lines at the edges of his eyes crinkle up like he’s trying not to smile, and he starts laughing too. ‘See? I’m a lost cause.’
Again, I should probably be annoyed, but his laughter fills the shop and I realise it’s the most I’ve laughed in ages, and we’re both standing there giggling for no real reason.
Ava looks between us like we’ve both lost the plot. ‘Dad thinks you’re pretty.’
‘Idon’tthink you’re pretty. I mean, no, wait, you are, of course you are, in an ethereal “creature of the deep” sort of way, with the Ariel hair and the sea-flower.’ He touches the side of his head, indicating my hair clip of choice for today – a billowing flower made of blue net and glitter-edged petals. ‘Sorry, this has got horribly convoluted. What I was trying to say is Ava was talking about you on the way home yesterday, and I started singing that “Hey Mickey” song, and she didn’t get it because she’s too young to know it. It wasn’tmetalking, it was the lyrics.’ He hums a few lines of ‘Hey Mickey’ by Toni Basil, and abruptly stops. ‘From the look on your face, I’m guessing you’ve had creeps quoting that song at you all your life?’
‘Ihavehad creeps quoting that song at me all my life.’
‘At least I had the self-awareness to stop?’
