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He’d click his tongue in mock scolding, then help her remove the darts one-by-one.

To his delight, his friends were more than kind and welcoming to her, and he didn’t even care a lick when they sent subtle glances between him and Maisie, as if trying to deduce what was going on between them.

Let them stare. Let them guess and wonder and speculate. Because with the way Maisie was acting that evening, they could only conclude that she was a veritable star on earth.

Not only did she joke around with Finn and his friends, she also spoke comfortably one-on-one as much as she did in the whole group. She asked about each person’s home, family, jobs, everything, and her exchange with them all was so comfortable, it felt as if she’d been friends with them longer than Winnie had.

Eventually, the conversation shifted to Maisie herself, and she spoke of the restaurant she was planning to open with her aunt.

“So you chose to end a tour through Europe by going to Northern Ireland for soups and bread?” Matthew asked, pulling a face.

Finn took a shot at the dartboard, then leaned toward Matthew. “Notice how she didn’t even visit England? Just flew straight over your country entirely.”

“Absurd,” Matthew mumbled.

Finn finished his turn, then took his usual spot next to Maisie. “Did you eat at any noteworthy cafés today?”

“Not really,” she replied, leaning into him slightly to be heard above the other band still playing nearby. “I have a few more to go to tomorrow, so here’s hoping.” She raised crossed fingers.

Her long hair brushed against his forearm as she moved, and Finn suppressed the urge to stroke a lock of the silken tresses between his fingertips.

“So you’re spending the whole day going to restaurants and trying out their food?” Winnie asked beside them.

“Pretty much,” Maisie replied.

“That sounds amazing,” Winnie said wistfully. “I think I’d rather do that than run tomorrow.”

“I think anyone would rather do that than run,” Matthew piped in.

“Not me,” Cedric said, landing a dart near the center. “I love runnin’.”

Finn glanced sidelong at Maisie with a roll of his eyes, and she stifled a laugh behind her hand.

“I swear,” Winnie continued, “if it weren’t for the charity benefiting from this, there’s no way I would have signed up for it.”

“Hey,” Matthew said, pulling back with a dejected look, “I thought you signed up to be with me.”

Winnie reached over and kissed Matthew on the cheek. “I love you, Matthew. But not that much.”

The group laughed.

“How does that make you feel, Matt?” Finn asked.

But Matthew merely shrugged. “It’s alright, isn’t it? Winnie shows me she loves me in other ways.”

He flashed her a wicked grin, and Winnie swatted him on his chest. He responded in turn by pulling her in for a kiss.

The men groaned, but Maisie smiled as she looked away from the couple.

“They’ve been inseparable since they started datin’ not two months past,” Finn explained.

“More like insufferable,” Graham said with a grimace.

Matthew finally pulled back from his kiss, and Winnie beamed from ear-to-ear.

“You only say that because your love life is lacking,” Matthew said, facing Graham. “Missing Pyper still?”

“Oh, yeah,” Graham said sarcastically, his Scottish accent thick. “I miss Pyper like I miss end-of-year exams at Eton.”