Michael followed her with Poppy through his house and into the bookshop and then up to the flat, where he carried Poppy up to her bed.
“Thanks,” Carrie whispered, as they walked back down to the sitting room. “I think the last few days have caught up with her.”
“And I bet you thought life would be boring in a teeny seaside town, eh?”
“It’s definitely not that.” Carrie laughed.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Michael said as they went down the stairs and into the shop.
“Yeah. Let me know how Tabitha and the kittens are in the morning.”
Carrie opened the front door of the bookshop. They stood facing each other awkwardly for a moment before Michael said, “Goodnight, then.” He stepped outside and turned as if he was going to say something else, but seemed to stop himself. He gave Carrie a little nod and left, leaving her stuck with a big grin on her face.She didn’t think it was only her feeling the chemistry between them, not that anything was going to happen — Poppy was Carrie’s priority, and Layla was Michael’s. But she couldn’t help lighting up around Michael, and her mind was quite set on thinking about him in ways that were definitely not just friendly.
Chapter 10
Carrie and Poppy were having breakfast together on Sunday morning as they decided what to do with their day. Carrie wanted to be around for a delivery for the shop between ten and eleven, but after that the day was theirs.
It was raining and Carrie’s brain was trying to think of somewhere they could go that was inside and that Poppy wasn’t either too young or too old for. She was close to resorting to a movie marathon when she heard the doorbell ring.
Carrie found Michael waiting outside the shop.
“Hi,” she said, a smile immediately breaking out on her face at the sight of him.
“Hi,” he said. “Layla and I wanted to invite you to come out with us later. I was going to message you but I figured it would actually be faster to walk around and talk to you about it.”
“Come up,” said Carrie. “Would you like a coffee?”
“I’d love one.”
“Michael!” Poppy excitedly got down off the stool she was sitting on to greet him with a hug.
“Poppy! You’ve got jammy hands!” chided Carrie.
“I don’t mind,” Michael said.
“Sorry,” said Poppy, licking her fingers and Michael chuckled.
“Americano or latte?” Carrie asked, holding up two coffee pods.
“Americano, thanks,” said Michael.
He sat down at the kitchen island and Poppy climbed up next to him. He looked so comfortable in her kitchen.Not her kitchen, she reminded herself. Her kitchen was in London.
“Have you had breakfast?” Carrie asked. “I can make you some toast?”
“I’m good, thanks.”
She handed him his coffee.
“So, later, Layla and I are going climbing in a centre we sometimes go to. Well, it’s actually bouldering, which is low down climbing. You don’t need harnesses or helmets or anything. Anyway, we wondered if you’d like to come with us. Layla started bouldering when she was five, so Poppy should be fine.”
“What do you think, Pumpkin?” Carrie asked, though she already knew the answer. If an activity involved Poppy getting to spend time with her new heroine, Layla, she would definitely want to do it.
“I absolutely want to go,” Poppy decreed.
“She’s not too small?” said Carrie.
“She’ll be fine. There’s a practice room where we’ll get her started with really low walls and then when we move into the main bit of the centre you say how high you’re happy for her to go and you’ll stick to that, won’t you Poppy?”
