Chapter 1

"Steeeeevieeeeeee!"

Stevie sprinted down the stairs to find Miranda standing impatiently at the front door. "Miranda, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Well, I'm going on a coffee run, and if you don't tell me what you want, then Stevie shall not be getting anything!" Miranda said, laughing as she waited for Stevie to make up her mind.

"Stevie shall have a strong, black coffee, with two sugars… and no milk, yes please, thank you to you please," she replied. She was glad Miranda had asked her - since Miranda and Gary had spilt up, she had refused to get coffee from the restaurant, which meant if Miranda made a mistake, it was another ten minute walk to get more coffee. And, Stevie would have said that most times Miranda forgot, or made a mistake in the order.

Miranda nodded. "I'll be back in ten to fifteen minutes!"

Stevie, while irritated that Miranda had given her a heart attack, was glad that Miranda was going out to get coffee. It had been 3 months since Miranda and Gary had gone their separate ways, and slowly, Stevie was starting to see the old Miranda come back.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Gary said quietly as he sat Miranda down in the restaurant.

"What is a good idea?" Miranda was unsure of what exactly Gary was talking about. Was it the most recent idea she'd had for something on the menu, or the dinner which she had attempted to cook last night? "I know I burnt the steaks last night, but I promised you I would clean out the pan."

Gary shook his head slowly. "Us."

"Us? What do you mean us?" It was a total shock to Miranda. Gary and her had been in a relationship for over 2 years now - they'd managed to patch up their relationship, but had agreed that marriage probably wasn't the best idea at the time for them.

"Look, you still don't trust me. I can't take that anymore! I've been meaning to bring it up for months, but I couldn't bring myself to do it."

Miranda was starting to choke up. "I-I do trust you," she insisted, leaning in closer to try and make eye contact. Gary was looking away.

"No, you don't. You were jealous when I asked the waitress for another drink! This really is the right thing to do, again. And you know it."

Miranda huffed. "Well, she was LOVELY, wasn't she!? Gary, it's so easy for you to just go out there… anybody would have you. It's not so easy for me," she said angrily. And it was true. Gary didn't usually have issues being in relationships, it was normally her that had the issues.

"I'm not doing this anymore. I can't. For my own sanity. I'm struggling too much. I'm so sorry Miranda."

Miranda had only just arrived at the coffee shop, and immediately realised she had to call Stevie.

"Stevie? Really, already? How difficult is it to remember strong black coffee?! What coffee beans do you want? Coffee beans? I only asked for a coffee! Well, apparently you have to decide what type you want. Uhm, arabica? That's literally the only type of coffee beans I know! Okay, I think that should be fine." Miranda hung up and muttered under her breath about how no one should be forced to pick coffee beans.

"Hello, and welcome to the Obelis Café store, what would you like to order?" the barista asked in a very nasally, posh voice. Oh no, Miranda thought. I've accidentally gone into one of the very posh coffee shops!

Don't act posh, Miranda. "Hi, I would two coffees, with the Arabica beans, please?" Too late!

"Cold brew or hot?"

"Hot?" Miranda didn't know about cold brew, as to her it sounded crazy. Who wants cold coffee?! The only time coffee should be cold is when it's in ice cream. And even then it's not that nice!

"That'll be seven pounds," the barista said casually. Miranda's jaw dropped in typical fashion when she was shocked by something.

"I'm sorry, was that seven pounds? For two cups of coffee?" she said incredulously, as she took the change out of her purse and handed it over to the barista, who quickly placed it in the till. As Miranda stood back and waited for her coffees, she went to explain how ridiculous this was to the barista, until she heard her thoughts become audible behind her.

"It's ridiculous, isn't it?" The voice sounded extremely familiar to her, and as she turned around, she understood why. It was Mike.

"Mike? Wow, I haven't seen you in… in 2 years? How are you?" she asked, a smile appearing on her face. Mike hadn't changed at all in the 2 years that she'd been with Gary.

"Not too bad," he replied. "How are things with Gary?" Immediately Miranda's face dropped, and Mike could tell that something was wrong.

"Not, uh, not too great," she replied, choking up. Do not cry, do NOT cry! "We, um, spilt up, about 3 months ago. He went back on the proposal, so we weren't getting married, or anything, but he found somebody else." Mike frowned, as he collected his coffee. "Sorry. I've been fairly collected recently, so this is a bit out of the ordinary, for me, at least."

"No, no, no, it's okay, I promise. Did you want to sit and talk?" Miranda nodded appreciatively and they went and sat down at a table. She quickly tapped out a text to Stevie that read, I'll be a little late. "So… what happened?"

"Well, according to him, there isn't enough trust there. He's moved on now, and is together with Rose, again. Lucky for him," she added, composing herself. "I've moved on too now." I think.

"Pathetic," Mike muttered under his breath. He'd never particularly liked Gary - he'd remembered when Miranda had told him about what Gary did when he went to Hong Kong. About Tamara, and the green card. In his opinion, it was something that wasn't forgivable, but perhaps it was just him. "I'm glad you've moved on."

"How about you? Are you in a relationship?" Miranda quickly asked, taking it off the topic of Gary.

Mike shook his head, and let out a short laugh which was tinged with sadness. He hadn't really gotten over Miranda since she had rejected him. Secretly, he was hoping this unplanned meeting could be his second chance with her. "Being totally honest, I still miss you, Miranda. I had a girlfriend called Sarah for 3 or 4 months, but she didn't match up to you. She couldn't. No one does."

Miranda felt her heart melt a little, and then it was filled with guilt and sadness. "I am still so sorry about what I did." Mike nodded slowly, realising that Miranda probably didn't feel the same way, until she began speaking again. "But, I realised once Gary and I broke up that I'd made a big mistake from the start. He didn't care enough. Well, he cared for the non-literal honeymoon period, but then he just lost interest."

Mike looked up, surprised at what she'd just said. He wasn't sure if she meant turning him away, or something else, but it gave him hope in his heart.

"I am so sorry, Marple, for what I did." She used his old nickname, which made Mike smile a little. "Is there any way you could forgive me?"

"I can," he replied. "On one condition." Miranda waited for the ultimatum. "Would go out with me tonight? I completely understand if you don't want to, but, I thought I'd ask." Mike waited anxiously for Miranda's response. It was a long shot, but worth a shot in his mind.

"I would be delighted to," Miranda said, "I think this time I might actually have a little black dress." She laughed, as she remembered the police officer incident. In some ways, she was relieved, and thrilled at the same time. She'd wished that she had been able to keep in contact with him, but an incident in which she dropped her phone through a drain ruined any luck at that. Apart from the first couple of dates, her dates with Mike had always gone fairly well.

"Shall I come and pick you at seven?"

"Sounds wonderful," she smiled, taking his hand and squeezing it.

"You never did explain that story to me," Mike chuckled. "What happened to you?"

"Well, it's a long story…"

Mike looked at his watch. "I think I've got time." He smiled at Miranda as she took a sip of her coffee.

"When you first asked me out, Stevie suggested a little black dress while we were out shopping. However, I may have been asked by the store to leave. They took the clothes out of my dressing room and called it a clown outfit! It was very rude. So then, on our second date, I was going to use that costume because I thought I would be able to go back into the shop, but it didn't quite work. Then my what I call Mother was so desperate for me to go on the date, she made me swap places with her. It almost worked," she finished, exhaling after her long paragraph. Mike just chuckled.

"Damn," Mike said, checking his watch. "I have to dash now, and get back to work, apparently there's an important report that needs to be done. But, I'll see you tonight, Quirky."

"See you later," Miranda said, as he slowly leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She couldn't help but grin to herself as she walked back home.