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“There’s no call to be scundered, like,” he continued, “I know I’m dead handsome, so why wouldn’t you want a wee stare?”
She made to speak again, then shook her head, pulling in her lips and causing her dimples to deepen even further. “I’m just gonna stop talking now.”
He chuckled. “Are you out here alone?”
“No, my aunt’s just up there.” She motioned to the end of the bridge.
His eyes followed to where a woman stood near Pans Rock, her long parka zipped up to her chin and hood tucked securely over her head.
“Ach, aye, the famous auntie,” he said, noting the woman on her phone, animatedly talking with her hand in the air.
“Yup,” Maisie responded. “She’s got some business to take care of right now, but I’m sure she’ll be off the phone soon.”
Was she saying that for him to stay so he could meet her? Or was she wanting him to leave before her aunt was done?
Eh, he’d rather believe the former.
“Business,” he said. “On holiday? That’s not right, that.”
Maisie shrugged. “That’s kinda why we’re here, actually.”
“You came to Norn Iron for business? Can’t say I’ve heard that before. Lookin’ to run a bus tour yourselves in the States?”
“Oh, I’m definitely not entertaining enough to have my own bus tour.”
“Ach, you wee flatterer.”
She blushed again but this time didn’t bother to correct him.
“Now stop your flattery, or I’ll be gettin’ a big head.” He winked, and the smile he was rewarded with was enough to convince him that making her grin was the most accomplished he’d felt since obtaining his bus operator’s license.
Although, now that he thought of it, he was dead certain Maisie hadn’t stopped smiling since the first time they’d locked eyes in Bob’s mirror. It was refreshing, seeing someone so chuffed. Not just surface-level, either. Hers was a proper joy that seemed to beam right from her heart.
Was that true, though? Was she really that happy deep inside? He hadn’t met very many people who could claim that. He couldn’t at certain points in his life. He was happy enough now, but he definitely didn’t radiate joy like she did.
“So what business is it, then?” he asked next.
“Research, mostly,” she said, giving nothing more.
“Are you tryin’ to make this conversation a challenge by givin’ me one- or two-word answers?” he teased. “Or are you just not wantin’ me to pry and this is your polite way of tellin’ me to stop bletherin’?”
Her blue eyes shimmered with delight, and an image was brought to his mind of when his mate, Matthew, had made him watch Romeo and Juliet when they were at college together.
The play had been mind-numbingly boring—not to mention utterly stupid in the way it wrapped up. But now, Finn could almost understand it. If that Capulet girl looked even slightly like Maisie did right now, staring down at him from the bridge with that inner glow lingering around her despite the dimming light of the sun…he could see himself pulling a Romeo from the bottom of a balcony and going completely mad over a woman, too.
“No, I just didn’t want to bore you with the details,” she finally responded. “It’s nothing too exciting. Aunt Daphne is planning to open up a restaurant back in Boston, so I’m here to help with the research for the menu.”
The pieces of the puzzle he’d picked up from watching Maisie all day slowly fit together. “Ach, the notebook.”
Her eyes snapped to his. “Notebook?”
“Aye, I saw you scribblin’ away at Doherty’s.”
She chewed on her lower lip. “Oh, I, uh, wasn’t aware that anyone was watching me.”
“Bleedin’ hard not to notice a beautiful woman sittin’ at the back of a café, writin’ away ’stead of eatin’ that cracker soup right in front of her.”
Did he just drop the word ‘beautiful’? Aye, he did. Was it inappropriate? Probably. But he wasn’t on the job right now, so, as Shakespeare would say, “All’s fair in love and war.”
