“Where are you going?”
She grabbed her coat from the rack and pushed an arm in. “I’m meeting Hayden for dinner.”
“What?” Carla’s voice was high-pitched. “Like a date?”
“No.” She struggled with the other arm of her coat. “He just wanted to catch up.”
“Where are you having dinner?”
“The Bakers Arms.”
“That’s totally a date place.”
“It’s not a date. We’re just meeting as friends to catch up.”
“No way. He wants to get back together with you. And he’s taking you to a country pub where couples go on dates.”
Anna rolled her eyes and picked up her bag. “It’s also just a place where people go to eat. The food is great. Hayden and I used to go there all the time.”
“Yeah, when you were dating. Because it’s a date place.”
“It’s really not a date,” Anna insisted.
“I’ll bet he thinks it is. Call me later and tell me how your date went!”
With another eye roll, Anna said goodbye to her sister and ended the call. Then she checked her reflection in the mirror and took a deep breath before heading out of the door.
Chapter Forty-Two
Walking into the Bakers Arms, Anna swept her gaze over the festive decorations while Michael Buble’s rendition ofWhite Christmashit her ears. She pulled her hat off and looked at the booth in the back corner – their preferred table. Hayden raised a hand to wave and stood when she walked over.
“Hi,” she said curtly as he kissed her cheek.
“It’s good to see you.”
She slid onto the bench seat. “How are you?” she asked, unwinding her scarf and shrugging her coat off.
“Good.” He sank back onto his seat opposite her. “Busy with work as usual.”
“How’s that going?” After university, he and a friend had set up their own software development company and, from what she’d gathered, it was going well.
“It’s great. I work crazy hours, but it pays off.”
“I’m glad.”
“How about you? It seems you’re never short of work either?”
“No. I’m pretty busy most of the time, but I love it, so it doesn’t feel like work.”
“My mum said she saw you at a Christmas market recently.”
“Yeah.” Anna brightened. “It was nice to see her. She bought a wreath and some Christmas cards.”
“The wreath has pride of place on her front door.”
They paused as the waitress came to take their order – they both opted for fish and chips like they’d done on their previous visits.
Hayden asked about her parents and Carla and Lewis, the neutral conversation feeling easy and safe.
