When Pierre opened her eyes, the waitress hadn’t moved. She was staring at Martin’s message, her face suddenly pale.
Then she blinked and glanced back at Pierre. “Sorry, what did you say?” Her voice broke on the last word and she hurried away without waiting for an answer.
Either Martin could hurt women from 200 miles away or the other woman had had a heartbreak of her own. Pierre borrowed a napkin from one of the empty tables and wrapped her phone with it. That should muffle the vibration and hide the screen.
She could block his number, but she wasn’t strong enough for that yet. As it was, she’d only managed to stay away by coming out to La Canette two days early which put a lot of English Channel waters between her and the man currently chasing her. Until she got the job and moved here permanently, it would be far too easy to let him catch her – she had let him do that too many times before.
“Excuse me.” Another waitress placed a tray on the table and began unloading a pot of tea, cup, milk jug and a 3-tier cake stand.
“I didn’t order this.”
The girl looked at her uncertainly then back towards the main part of the café. “Millie told me to bring you this and to apologise for messing up your order.”
“Millie?”
“The other lady, my boss. She said to bring you the full afternoon tea on the house. I’m Suzie, by the way.”
“Thank you, Suzie, but there’s really no need. Besides, I couldn’t eat all of this.”
The cake-stand had a selection of cucumber and herb sandwiches in the bottom tier. The other tiers were filled with what looked like slices of every cake on the menu, to say nothing of scones and tiny pots of jams and clotted cream. Enough food for several broken-hearted women.
“It’s all right; they’re all delicious. Stay as long as you like, and what you can’t eat, I’ll box for you to take away.”
Well, that should save her having to order dinner tonight. The little guesthouse where she was staying up on the main part of the island had a small restaurant, but she’d eaten there last night. She could take a walk later and explore the fields of wildflowers around the tiny island. Or stay here and watch the sea until evening.
She could see the other woman; Millie, serving customers in a cheerful, friendly way. Now that Pierre knew what to look for, though, it was clear the woman was sad. Every so often she would turn away from a table and her face would crumple. Then she would make a visible effort and paste on a smile for a new customer.
When the afternoon rush died down, and it looked like Suzie could manage alone, Pierre made a point of catching Millie’s eye and waved to her.
“Would you like a fresh pot of tea?” Millie asked, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. She had nice bouncy golden-brown hair.
“Only if you’ll join me.” Pierre smiled up at her.
“I’d love to but—” She looked around at the half empty café terrace. “It might get busy again when the next water taxi comes.” She tipped her head slightly. “Easter weekend, you know.”
It was rare that Pierre got a strong feeling about someone, but her instinct pushed her to try harder with Millie.
“You’ve been running around all afternoon, you could do with the rest, and I could do with some company.”
Millie’s face softened. “All right. I suppose I could take a short break.”
She fetched another cup and a new pot of tea. “This is Ceylon tea.” She poured two cups and pushed one towards Pierre. “You’re new to the island?”
“I hope to be.” Pierre answered taking a little sip from her cup. “If I get the job.”
“When do you start?”
“I don’t know about starting it, I’m here for an interview to be a personal assistant and companion to an old man.”
Milli’s eyes widened. “You don’t mean working for Mr Du Montfort?”
“Yes, I think that was the name. Do you know him?”
“Very well. I used to have that job until a few months ago.” The sadness disappeared briefly as Millie’s face lit up.
“What’s he like?”
“Well… He will shout at you and call you rude names.” She grinned happily. “But he has a wonderful heart. If you can put up with his grumpy moods, you’ll grow to adore him.” There was no mistaking the affection in Millie’s eyes. “And the job is easy; you’ll have bags of free time to do whatever you like.”
