FicWad

“So, everything’s set?” Anna’s mother checked again, her eyes red-rimmed and glassed over; yet still a reflection of her daughters. She looked like a woman who had lost someone very important to her, and he couldn’t help but feel the same.

“Yes, I’ve checked every detail to make sure everything will run smoothly.” He verified his tone of voice much less aggressive than he felt. He glanced over the woman once again. Anna really did take after her mother, he thought. This put a lump in his throat.
“Thank you, Mr Smith. I don’t know how I would have managed this without you” The older woman sniffed, before wiping her nose with a handkerchief. Gregory sighed internally at the cliché. He’d heard it all before, but had trained himself to sound courteous and caring.

“It really is no problem at all, Mrs Grant. Anna was a wonderful girl.” Too far, you’re going too far.
“Oh, I didn’t know you knew each other,” she responded, her voice rising in question at the end. This was a fair point, although he did know a lot of people, not a lot of people knew him.
“Not very well,” he sighed sadly, letting his mask slip for a few minutes. So much so that she even reached out and patted his arm in a way that was supposed to be reassuring, but just ended up awkward. She moved her hand back quickly after that, rising out of her seat.

“Well, I must be on my way now,” Mrs Grant said simply, flashing a sad smile his way and waiting for one in return before leaving. One she had gone, Gregory let his elbows slipped and banged his head against the table.

“What’s wrong with me?!” he asked himself, tugging on his dark hair as if it could clear his mind.
“Well I don’t think anyone knows really, but you look like you could use a drink to me” A voice replied, sounding smug. He looked up and saw a woman in her early twenties standing by the door, smirking. She was quite small and had blonde hair with blue eyes. Simone.
Collecting himself, he decided to play dumb. “Who are you?” Was he coming across as too rude? He panicked, and then gave her a polite smile.

“Maybe we haven’t been properly introduced, I’m Simone,” she explained as she walked forward, holding out her hand. Gregory shook it, and she continued, “You’re Mr Smith, aren’t you? Quite the recluse, so they say.”
“Firstly you don’t have to call me Mr Smith, its Greg. Secondly, I think we’ve met before somewhere,” he raised an eyebrow then continued, “and I hadn’t realised I was being monitored,” he smiled widely, a real smile this time.

“Well over at the bakery, which is where I’m assuming we’ve met before,” Simone checked, her gaze meeting Greg’s as he nodded lightly, “my mother is very concerned for you, when she found out you weren’t married she lost her shit.”
Greg laughed darkly, loving how Simone never apologised for swearing in front of anyone, although she managed to contain herself around some people. “Really? I remember her, every time I go to buy a loaf of bread she sends me off with cakes saying how someone should be feeding me.”

She rolled her eyes, making it clear that not everyone in her family was a stranger loving, pastry giving lunatic. “Yes, she sent me over with this actually, saying that it’s on the house, and thank you for the lovely service you put together for great uncle Derek.” She gestured to the brown paper bag Gregory hadn’t realised she’d been holding.
“Oh, thank you,” he stood up and walked towards her quietly, reaching out for the bag.
“Its raisin bread, your favourite,” she commented as she handed the bag over, arching her eyebrow slightly as if it had been a wild guess. Gregory knew it wasn’t a guess; you don’t live for three hundred years and misjudge body language.

“It is my favourite, thank you!” he smiled at the woman, noticing how her cheeks flushed slightly as he opened the bag and inhaled deeply. “As for your great uncle, I’m sorry for your loss and I was just simply doing my job.”
“Well you’re very good at your job” Simone lost her composure for a split second, then fixed her face back into a smirk and mentally convinced herself that his smile wasn’t that nice to look at. “I’d better get back to the shop before someone burns it down.”

Gregory rested the paper bag on the desk before opening the door, then turning back to shake Simone’s hand. He beamed, while she looked at his outstretched hand with an expression that was a combination of shock and a smirk. “Such a gentleman,” she commented before shaking his hand.
“Thank you again, Simone,” he said once again as she walked out, enjoying the light blush that re-turned to her cheeks.

Nice going, genius! Simone thought to herself as she walked back to the bakery. She couldn’t even handle talking to the man without messing up and blushing, but there was just something about Greg that made him so… different. She pushed open the door and walked into the shop, hearing the bell above the door ring as she rolled her eyes. Her mother was so old fashioned sometimes.

“Simone Kelly Williams, where have you been?” Her mother appeared from the back room covered in flour, holding a rolling pin. “I turn my back for three seconds and you go off without warning! For all you know I could have needed your help with the shop.”
“I’m sorry mother; did a flock of customers attack the shop searching for bread while I went? Also, I’m twenty-two years old; I don’t need your permission to leave,” She sighed deeply, knowing she was in trouble. No one used her full no name unless they were angry. Very angry.
“Don’t take the tone with me!” This time it was Mrs Williams turn to sigh. “And no, but you can’t just leave without warning! Where did you go?”

"I went to Gre- Mr Smith’s to give him a raisin loaf, you said you’d been meaning to thank him,”
She lied, but after raising her; her mother could read her like a book, which was displayed in the raised eyebrow and smile.
“No ulterior motive there at all then…” the older woman said as she walked away. Simone frowned at her back, hating how well her mother knew her.