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She felt her eyelids growing heavier as her gaze settled on Magnús’s lips, soft-looking and full. All she had to do was lean in.
She knew instinctively that he wasn’t going to make the move. He would hold still, making sure the kiss was definitely what she wanted. The faintest, most intimate, gentle smile at the corners of his mouth was all it took to make her tip her head and…
‘Carriages!’ Minty called from somewhere nearby, her footsteps getting closer. A brash light came on over their heads, entirely breaking the magic.
Alex gasped. ‘Everyone’s leaving.’
She and Magnús sprang apart and made a show of searching at opposite ends of the rails.
‘Ah, there you are!’ Minty announced on discovering the pair rummaging unconvincingly.
Alex’s voice was pitchy. ‘Magnús is helping me find my hat.’
The whole party was gathering by the cloakroom now. Mrs Crocombe’s right eyebrow was arched in a knowing way which Magnús hadn’t seemed to notice but which worried Alex terribly.
‘Walk you home, Alex?’ Jowan was saying, as he pulled on his jacket and tucked Aldous inside.
Wordlessly, after throwing an apologetic smile at Magnús, Alex squeezed through the crowd and made for the door in Jowan’s wake.
With that, the evening was over and Alex had somehow, in her zeal to help Magnús repair some of his hurt pride, decided to step into her mum’s shoes as a diner owner. The impulse had come from somewhere so deep within her she hadn’t even known it was there, but now that the agreement had been reached she couldn’t wait for morning, and if playing in Borrow-A-Bookshop all day was going to delay her rejoining the real world for a little longer, all the better.
