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With tentative fingers, she peeled off the top piece of bread. She couldn’t live off of chips and a cupcake for lunch, so she’d need to salvage whatever she could of this sandwich if she was going to have enough energy to get back to Tasha’s house.

“What are you doing?” Liam asked as she used the plastic edge of the container to scrape off a bit of the relish.

“Trying to make this somewhat edible.”

His eyes remained on her task. “There’s no need.” He rummaged through his bag for a minute, then produced a small, white paper bag with Greggs’s four-square logo on the center of it. “You can have this.”

“What?” She pulled back. “No, I’m not going to eat your food. I’ve got plenty.”

“It’s alright. I purchased this one specifically for you.”

Had he really been that confident that she wouldn’t like the sandwich? Obviously, he had. She stopped leaning back, though she still didn’t reach for the bag. What had he bought for her?

“Go on. You’ll like this one.”

As he wiggled the bag up and down, the scent caused the hunger ache in her stomach to grow until finally, she relented with a sigh and accepted the bag from him.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, her fingers warming instantly from the hot pastry.

She set it in the center of her lap, cleaning up her now-deconstructed sandwich. Pausing, she held it up for Liam. “I don’t suppose you’d like any of this?”

His eyes gleamed. “I think I’ll pass, but thank you for such a generous offer.”

She grinned, tucking away her garbage before finally peeking into the white bag Liam had given her.

“So what is this?” she asked, eying the square, flat pastry with suspicion.

“Shrimp.”

TWELVE

Instantly, Claire’s eyes flew to Liam’s, but the smile he tried to hide amidst his chews gave away his teasing instantly. Staring out at the Thames, he finished off the last of his pastry before continuing.

“It’s a Sausage, Bean, and Cheese Melt. Very neutral tasting. Very safe for your American tongue.”

She ignored another teasing look. “It’s not going to give me food poisoning, is it?”

This time, it was his turn to give her a glance of annoyance. “No, it will not,” he said firmly.

He reached into his bag and pulled out the same pastry for himself. Claire watched him take a bite before finally doing the same with her own.

Instantly, the flavor of the baked beans and cheese filled her mouth with warmth and a happy, homemade flavor. A soothing heat filtered through her body an inch at a time, a pleasant contrast to the cold air nipping at her limbs.

If the inside of Greggs didn’t appear like a typical, cozy bakery, the food certainly made her feel like she had been in one anyway.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Liam said.

She eyed the warm beans inside the pastry from where she’d taken her bite. “It kills me to admit it, but yeah. This is amazing.” Then she dove in for more. “I will say, though, the name is pretty unimaginative.”

“It’s British,” he defended. “Straightforward. To the point.”

She swallowed another bite. “In America, it’d probably be called something like the Big, Cheesy, Half-Pound Melt Meal.”

He gave a short laugh, but she missed the sight of it as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

The two of them sat together in silence, watching tourists take pictures of one another at the edge of the concrete barrier to the river where a ferry ambled down the brown water. Claire couldn’t deny the strange sense of peace settling over her as she sat there with Liam. She’d been picturing the worst day ever with him, and now…was she actually enjoying herself?

“Was the Eye part of your plan for today?” Liam asked as he finished off the last of his melt, crumpling up his paper as he motioned across the river.