She’d just finished selling a copy of Jilly Cooper’sRivalsto a very cute elderly lady who said she’d lost her copy, when the bell over the door rang. She looked up to see Michael coming in. Her heart started to beat a little faster. He walked over to the counter. “I wondered if you had time to join me for a coffee next door? My treat,” he said.
“Um, I’ll need to check with Seren,” Carrie replied, feeling suddenly hot and flustered.
“Go,” shooed Seren, coming out of the office with a pile of books to put out on the shelves. “I can manage here for an hour or so.”
“OK, great,” Carrie said, suddenly feeling butterflies in her stomach. “Um, thanks. I’ll be back in a bit then.”
Carrie and Michael walked in silence out of the shop and into The First Sip.
The coffee shop smelled amazing — fresh coffee, pastries and toast. It was a lot bigger than it looked from the outside, going back further than Carrie had expected, and was painted adark green. Its wooden floorboards gleamed and the walls were covered with framed vintage tea and coffee adverts. The tables and chairs were mismatched and varied from a velvety sofa to a pine table which would easily sit six. Cakes and pastries were displayed under large glass domes on the counter with a gleaming coffee machine behind.
“Shall we sit by the window?” Michael suggested, indicating two comfy looking brown leather armchairs with a little table between them at the front of the coffee shop.
“Sure,” said Carrie, taking a seat.
“Are you going to make me order something ridiculously complicated? I should warn you, I’ll probably mess up terribly.”
Carrie laughed. “I wouldn’t do that to you! A cappuccino would be lovely.”
“That I think I can manage,” Michael said and he went up to the counter to order.
Lucy was serving and waved to Carrie before she turned her attention to Michael.
He returned with their drinks and a couple of delicious-looking chocolate brownies.
“They’re still warm from the oven and I couldn’t resist,” he explained.
“I don’t blame you,” said Carrie. “Great call. Lucy’s baking is incredible. She brought some cheese twists last night to book club. They were absolutely delicious.”
She took a bite from one of the brownies and gave a little happy groan. “So good.”
Michael broke a piece off the other brownie and popped it in his mouth. “Agreed,” he announced. “So, how was your first book club meeting?”
“It was quite the revelation!”
“Did they choose something spicy again for next month?”
“They did,” Carrie admitted.
“Interesting. I always suspected your aunt was behind that trend, but it appears I was wrong. Did you have a good time?”
“I definitely did.” Carrie grinned. “Once I got over the surprise! I guess there had to be something that Auntie Mary failed to put in her copious notes. I honestly have no idea how she managed to find the time to write everything down before she went.”
“I wish I could have seen your face when they all turned up out of the blue.”
“Armed with bottles of wine and platters of food.” Carrie giggled. “They were so welcoming, and I’d already read the book...” She blushed, recalling some of the romantic scenes that featured in the story. “Thank goodness for Layla,” she said, quickly. “She was amazing, looking after Poppy. I’m so grateful to her.”
“She was more than happy to help, and she’s thrilled she’s going to be working in the shop on Saturdays. She’s had a bit of a rough time recently and I think it’ll be really good for her. That’s kind of why I asked you to join me today actually, so that I could thank you properly.”
Carrie wondered whether she should mention what happened in Boots to Michael. He was Layla’s dad after all. But Layla had said it wouldn’t happen again, and Carrie believed her. Everyone messed up when they were a teenager and no one’s parents knew everything they got up to. She really did think that keeping Layla’s confidence was the most sensible thing to do in this case. Of course, if she had any more worries about Layla, she’d speak to Michael about them straight away, but if Layla was struggling at the moment, having another adult around she knew she could trust would only be a good thing. She also liked the fact that Layla had obviously spent time with her Auntie Mary, who was an excellent judge of character.
“I’m honestly really pleased she’s available. Auntie Mary left a note saying the shop needed someone and, to be honest I didn’t have any idea how to go about it. I’ve never had to hire anyone before,” she explained.
“I haven’t either,” confided Michael. “I’m not sure I’d be very good at it. Especially if I had to conduct interviews.”
“That would be horrific!”
“Agreed,” Michael said, laughing.
