Page 25 of The Little Board Game Café

‘How can I help you?’ said Ludek, sitting down and gesturing for her to take a seat herself.

‘I can’t get my engagement ring off.’

She was hoping he’d ask – as the receptionist had – why she wanted to take it off. Then she could tell him that she and Peter had split up. That she was single. Available. But he didn’t.

Anyway, it was too soon even to contemplate dating. Kate always advised giving it a month or two at least, after a major break-up, before getting involved with someone new, to allow time for a bit of emotional recovery. Not that Kate ever followed her own advice.

‘Won’t take long,’ he said, then slid his chair nearer hers; it was one of those office ones with wheels, though not a fancy one like Peter had.

His sudden proximity made Emily’s heart pound. Her mouth went dry, and the fact that Ludek would know exactly which hormones caused those things to happen made him seem even sexier.

Did it make her a terrible person, having this crush on another man so soon after she’d broken off her engagement?

He grasped the ring between his thumb and fore-finger and pulled it a little. ‘That is a bit tight.’

She was thinking how long his eyelashes were, when he took hold of her hand.

For a split second, they sat there, her hand in his. She could feel his breath on her cheek, his skin against hers. She closed her eyes. Waited. Half-expecting – hoping – to feel his lips upon hers. Then he lifted her hand, raising her entire arm above her head. And he held it there.

How daft could she get? Of course, he wasn’t going to kiss her. They were in the surgery, for heaven’s sake. His workplace. And weren’t there rules about doctors and patients? Although she could always change practices, register at Hebbleswick, three miles down the road.

She glanced up at his hand holding hers, and an image popped into her head of lying beneath him, with his hands holding her wrists as he…

‘Hold it there.’ He let go and wheeled himself back to his desk. ‘So how are you, Emily?’

Was this a doctor-patient kind of ‘how are you?’ or a we’re-casual-acquaintances-who-met-at-running-club kind of ‘how are you?’?

‘Fine, thanks.’ Hopefully this covered both bases.

Emily glanced up at her arm again. She must look ridiculous with it above her head like this.

‘Will we see you at the next running club? Since the ankle’s better?’

‘No. I’ve always hated running. I only went because my friend Kate wanted a…’

She couldn’t say wingman. Kate would kill her if she told anyone they’d been there to meet men.

‘…she thought we should get out more. Meet new people.’

Her arm was beginning to ache. She felt like a child in class, waiting forever with their hand up to answer a question, but never being chosen by the teacher.

‘How much longer do I have to sit like this?’ she said.

‘A couple more minutes.’

He picked up a pen, tapping it on the desk. Emily shifted in her chair, wondering what to say next.

‘I’ve been made redundant,’ she blurted out. ‘By Peter. My fiancé. Who is now my ex-fiancé.’

She scanned his face, hoping to glean if he was pleased that she was now single, but all she saw was an expression of concern. The same one he’d had when she was sprawled across the pavement outside Nico’s.

‘Hence the ring,’ he said.

‘Yep. Hence the ring.’

There was a moment’s silence. Then Ludek said, ‘What are you going to do? For work, I mean.’

‘I’m thinking of buying a café. That’s why I fell at the running club – I was distracted by the for sale board outside Nico’s.’