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He picked up on her teasing tone instantly. “I’ll have you know, I’m quite fit, alright? This weekend, I’m racin’ in a charity run with me mates. A full five kilometers, I’ll have you know.”

“Okay, that’s respectable enough.”

“Respectable?” he questioned. “That’s proper impressive, so it is. Unless you’re one of those Americans who do ultra marathons.”

“Ew, no,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “No, I’m a terrible runner. I’m more of a bike-rider and yoga-doer.”

“Well, truth be told, I’m more of a reach-into-a-bag-of-crisps-and-put-me-hand-to-my-mouth-while-I-read-a-wee-book kind of exerciser.”

She laughed. “Then why are you running this weekend?”

“I was forced into it, see. Me mates from school sign up twice a year as an excuse to get together. But lately, I’m startin’ to think…are they worth it if I have to run to see ’em?”

“It does sound like a bit of a ruse,” she joked. “How long have you known them for? Your friends, I mean.”

“Goin’ on fifteen years. We met at college.”

She kept her right hand on the handlebar and leaned back in her seat, stretching out from side to side. “Your college is different from ours, right? You start at age…”

“Well, typically sixteen,” he explained. “But thirteen is when I went to Eton. It’s a boardin’ school near London.”

“Oh, really? So you were there until you graduated at, what, eighteen?”

The regret he typically experienced at any mention of his brief college days knocked at his nerves, but he answered it in the way he usually did—with self-deprecation and humor.

“Ach, I would’ve been eighteen. All my friends graduated then, but I lasted barely half a year.”

She raised her eyebrows. “What happened?”

“I was kicked out…” He looked over at her with a daring eye. “For breakin’ the rules.”

He wasn’t surprised at her smile. Most people thought he was kidding. He preferred it that way. But in reality, he’d been expelled for something utterly stupid. He’d been senseless, and he’d paid for it. His family had, too. But he finally felt like he was making it up to them now by helping Da.

Still, he didn’t want to open up that can of worms.

They fell into single file again as they passed by an older couple biking. Finn glanced at her bunny tail once more, smiling as he caught up to her. She’d been so adept at swooping it up. Had she done it before on her travels around Europe with Mrs. Parker?

At the thought, his mind strayed to another question. “So what was it that pulled your auntie home?”

“She was losing an investor for the restaurant, so she left to butter him up.” She raised a shoulder. “We’ll see if it works.”

“You don’t seem very hopeful,” he said.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m extremely hopeful. If anyone can convince someone to do something, it’s Daphne. I’m just sad to see her go, that’s all, but work comes first.”

He wanted to fault Daphne for leaving Maisie here on her own, but who was he to judge when he was putting his own job over everything else, just to ensure his family was taken care of?

“It must be hard not havin’ her with you,” he said.

“It is,” Maisie agreed. “But I’m not going to complain. Not when she’s putting in so much effort for us to work together.”

“That’s admirable of her.”

She looked away. “Yeah, it is.”

Her words trailed off, as if she was falling deep in thought, but he couldn’t help but ask another question. He was having far too grand a time to stop talking now. “So have you always wanted to open up a restaurant?”

“Well, the restaurant is kinda Daphne’s thing. I just want to work with food in some way.”