Chapter Twenty One

"Ash and Pen sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G," George sang.

"How old are you, five?" asked Pen, shifting on her uncomfortable plastic chair.

"Old enough to know that the two of you are getting dirty."

"We are not!"

"Are so!"

"George, we've literally just kissed."

His eyebrows almost shot off his head. "You're kidding? It's been like, two weeks."

"Which is a perfectly acceptable amount of time to kiss for," Pen said. "Not that we've been kissing for the whole two weeks. Not that I'd mind if we had, but we didn't."

"Uh-huh," said George. "Not interested in more then?"

"Stop it," said Pen. "She's new to all this, new to the idea that she might like other women, we're taking things slowly."

George sighed and sat back, banging his head against the window behind him. "Ow. If you go much slower you'll stop." He gave Pen a sideways glance as he rubbed his head. "Sure it's not because you don't want to get too attached because she might be moving away?"

"She also might not be moving away," Pen said. "She hasn't decided yet."

"She hasn't decided yet whether or not she actually owns the damn place," complained George. "You should see her ferreting around the shop looking for evidence that she's actually supposed to be there."

"She wants to do this right, I have to respect that." Pen stretched her legs out, her feet were already aching in her heels.

"It's almost like she's looking for excuses not to own the shop."

"Listen, as much as I appreciate you coming for moral support, you're not actually helping me feel better right now."

George looked around the town hall corridor which was conspicuously empty. "There's no one else here to support you."

"Ash is at the shop, as you well know, and it wouldn't be right for her to be here, it would look like she was trying to make money off the council. This has to come from us, the community, not from Ash who's trying to sell the place."

"The place she doesn't actually own yet," put in George.

"Not helpful."

"Fine." He sighed. "What are we going to do if they say no?"

Pen grinned at him. "Come up with a plan B, just like we always do."

"Sarah Hanson came around with her collection box this morning," George said, steering into safer waters.

Pen bit her lip. It had been a difficult moment, but she'd overcome it. "I put in twenty pence."

"A fair amount," agreed George. He took her hand. "You're doing okay then?"

"I'm waiting for the debt councilor to get back to me with a payment plan, but on the whole, yes. She was nice actually, kind, and she said that plenty of people get into trouble like this and the most important thing is to be willing to fix the problem."

"Good advice." George paused. "Thought anymore about whether the bakery needs an investment?"

Pen, who had thought about it and was still on the fence looked down at her hands. "I don't know. I don't want to ruin our friendship. I feel like adding money into the mix might not be a good idea."

"A fair point," said George. "But the offer's there if you want to take me up on it."

Pen was about to thank him when the door opposite them opened. "We're ready for you, Ms. Robson," said councilwoman Thurst.

"Break a leg," George whispered as Pen got up. "I've got everything crossed for you."

Pen looked back and saw that George did indeed have his arms, legs, fingers, and from the odd bumps in his shoes his toes, all crossed.

She smiled and followed councilwoman Thurst into the room.

PEN brEATHED OUT a sigh of relief that it was all over. The council members shook her hand and she felt like she'd made a decent argument as to why buying the bookshop would be a good use of the development grant.

It was a bit weird to see people that she'd known her whole life acting as town government rather than buying biscuits, but she'd taken it seriously and was proud of herself.

"What did you think?" she whispered to councilwoman Thurst as she was shown out of the room.

Thurst regarded her then gave a brief nod. "You impressed me," she said. "You're more than just a pretty face, that's clear. I can't speak for the rest of the council, but I'll be giving your suggestion some serious thought."

"It was alright then?" Pen asked, still panicking just a little.

"It's a strong candidate," Thurst said, giving her a rare smile. "We'll let you know when a decision has been made."

"Thank you," said Pen, opening the door and letting herself out.

"So?" asked George, bouncing up and down in his seat with excitement.

"They're seriously considering it," Pen squeaked. "See? I told you everything would turn out for the best. Come on, let's get back so we can tell Ash."

Once back on their street, Pen rushed into the bakery to relieve Lucy who'd been watching the cafe for her and George went to tell Ash the good news.

Five minutes later, just as Lucy left, Ash came rushing in. "That's amazing," she said, a bright smile on her face.

"Making for two amazing things in one day," Pen said.

Ash stopped. "Um, what's the second?"

"The fact that you, little miss grump, have just walked into my shop uninvited for the purpose of gossiping rather than, say, buying coffee or a bun."

"I could buy both a coffee and a bun if that would make you feel better," Ash said.

"No," said Pen, coming around the counter. "It actually makes me feel good that you can just drop in. I like that."

"Which does not give you full permission to just walk into the bookshop whenever you feel like it," Ash said, eyes twinkling.

"Does it not?" asked Pen. "What about if I walk in to do this." She stood up on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against Ash's. "Or this?" She let her lips brush against the soft skin on Ash's neck. An alarm buzzed from the kitchen and Pen jumped back. "Oops, I'd better get that."

Ash followed her into the kitchen and Pen could feel her eyes on her as she lifted a tray of warmed buns out of the oven. She carefully placed the tray down on a cooling rack, then turned back to Ash.

"So…" she said, unsure now of where this was going. She didn't want to pressure Ash or influence her in any way.

"So?" Ash said, taking a step toward her. "Weren't we in the middle of something?"

Pen grinned. "Yeah, we sort of were, weren't we?"

Ash put her hands on Pen's waist and bent to kiss her, letting their lips touch softly, then more urgently. Pen felt Ash's hips start to push into her and her heart was beating harder and her pulse was starting to race and she was responding to Ash in ways that she hadn't responded to anyone in a long time.

It was intoxicating.

But she pulled back anyway.

"Are you okay with this?"

Ash's face was flushed, her hair was falling over one eye, she was breathing a little fast. And then she was smiling. "I'm more than okay with this. In fact, um, I was sort of thinking that this is what I might be wanting. If that was alright with you? I mean, are you okay with this?"

"Are you kidding?" Pen asked, warmth flooding her core and her legs starting to feel wobbly.

"Not even a little bit," Ash said. She looked down at Pen. "I like you, Pen. I have feelings here. And, well, we're both grown ups, we've been doing all this kissy stuff for a while now and it might be time to take things a little further." She grinned. "I do own a romance bookshop, so I'm somewhat of an expert in these matters."

"Are you?" Pen asked, laughing. "Alright, well, I'm definitely a consenting adult, and you assure me that you are, so I could close the shop up for a little siesta."

"That sounds… fun," said Ash.

Pen tilted her head to look her directly in the eyes. "We stop whenever you want, there are no expectations here, Ash."

"Good," Ash said. "Because I have no idea what I'm doing, just that I want to do it."

Pen was standing up on her tiptoes again, wrapping her arms around Ash's neck when the front door of the bakery dinged open. Immediately, the sound of children's chatter filled the room. Pen groaned. She pulled back. "Just a second."

"Oh, Pen, I'm really sorry to ask," Moira said as Pen came out into the front. "But Harley has an ear infection again and I can't drag all of them to the doctor. Is it alright if I leave these three with you?"

Pen looked at the children who were already sitting on chairs and looking up at her with happy shiny faces. She bit her lip and turned back to Ash, who was standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Then she took a deep breath.

"Of course you can leave them," she said to Moira. How could she leave her in the lurch? It wouldn't be fair and honestly, the kids had to come first, didn't they? She crossed her fingers that Ash wouldn't be cross with her.

"Thank you, thank you," Moira said, dragging Harley by the hand.

"You're not cross are you?" Pen asked, turning back to Ash.

But Ash was already smiling. "No, I'm not cross. A bit disappointed maybe, but there'll be other times, won't there?"

"Absolutely," Pen said fervently.

"Just don't give all your energies to these little ones," Ash said, walking toward the door. "Make sure to save a bit for yourself."

"I will," Pen said. She watched as Ash left, walking past the window, and then turned her attention to the children.

There would be other times. And when those times happened, well, she was pretty sure that Ash was going to be a natural.