Page 64 of Take Her On

If only you knew, Grandma. If only you knew.

So much had changed since Jamie had stepped foot in this house, but Maya couldn’t explain why she’d kept those parts of her life separate. She knew Jamie wanted to meet her grandparents properly, but she still had reservations. It felt like a huge deal, like it’d open the doors to weddings and U-hauls and bloody Linda’s fertility brew. She just wasn’t ready yet. The idea that this could end the same way things did with Carly was playing on her mind too. The last thing Maya wanted was to be an unsuspecting doormat again.

She decided to steer the conversation in another direction. “Do you have any plans tonight?”

Grandma wasn’t having any of it. “Me, your grandpa, and hours of soaps to catch up on. He’s delighted.” She gave me a pointed look. “And you?”

“Do you need any help with anything?”

“Nope.” She grinned. “What do you two have planned?”

Maya sighed. “Jamie asked if I wanted to go to the beach—”

Grandma clapped her hands together and squealed. “A romantic getaway? How lovely!”

Maya’s eyes did roll then, and Grandma flicked the tea towel at her. “Not a romantic getaway,” Maya said. “Just…a little road trip. We’ll be back later. I have classes tomorrow.”

“Your grandpa used to take me to Blackpool all the time. That was very romantic. Lots of visits up the Blackpool tower, if you catch my drift.”

“Grandma!” Maya’s hand flew to her mouth, and she laughed. This woman was ridiculous. “I don’t want to know that.”

She shrugged. “When you know, you know, dear. Love is funny like that.”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself.” She shook her head. “Anyway…I just wanted to check if you needed anything. Or Grandpa?”

“We’re fine. We have the leftover macaroni you made last night. Nothing to worry about here.” She shooed Maya with the towel. “Now get going. Be young. Have fun.”

Grandma had really blossomed at the idea of Maya having a social life that didn’t revolve around football training and studies. Maya just needed to permanently erase that Blackpool Tower comment from her brain. She was barely able to grab her sunglasses and coat before her grandmother practically shoved her out the door.

Jamie rested on the hood of her car, watching Maya descend the steps with amusement. “I assume we’re all good to go?” She grinned and waved behind her, and Maya spun to catch her grandma spying on them through the window. She wanted to make fun of them for their enthusiastic waving, but it was actually really cute.

“As long as I’m back by midnight.”

“Okay, Cinderella. A whole evening with you to myself? Lucky me.” She slid off the hood, and they both climbed inside the car.

The scent of Jamie’s car was a comfort, but Maya felt a little guilty about leaving her grandparents. She looked up and spotted her grandma, still spying on them through the window, and some of that dissipated. Grandma wanted her to go. She needed to stop overthinking it.

Jamie was right—they both needed this. A break from the stresses of exams and football and sickness and mothers. Thinking about seeing the sea sparked excitement inside her.

“You ready to go?” she asked, letting her eyes roam over Jamie’s jawline, and her cute little chin dimple.

“Absolutely.” Jamie reached out to cup her cheek then stilled, as if remembering Maya’s hawk-eyed grandma in the background. Instead, a huge grin stretched across her face. “But I’m picking the music.”

Chapter Nineteen

Jamie

As they passed the same peeling paint of the pier for the fourth time, Maya turned to her. “I think it’s time you admit you’re lost.”

Jamie drummed her finger against the steering wheel, finishing the chorus to an Erasure song before answering, “I’m not lost. It’s around here somewhere.”

The journey had gone fast, a combination of her speedy driving, the surprisingly quiet motorway, and Maya’s DJ skills—even if she was using her playlists. But despite arriving ten minutes ago, and there being places to park close to the arcades and the walkway to the beach, she’d carried on driving. There was a free place to park she’d found online that apparently all the locals used.

A fat seagull nosedived off a lamppost, expertly pinching a handful of chips out of an old lady’s paper cone. She thrust her fist after the bird, spilling more chips as she did so, and a flock of birds swarmed her feet.

“There! That’s it!” Her shout cut through the music. She pulled in behind a run-down red brick building which, judging from the limp sign hanging from the top, used to be a bakery of some sort. The place was deserted, the windows washed out, and the majority of the bays were empty. It was a little strange, even Jamie would admit, but she wasn’t worried.

“You sure you can park here?” Maya asked, eyeing the “No Parking” sign sprayed onto the brickwork in white paint.